I mean, they are making the Hawks play on a WEDNESDAY to start the season, and almost had the season opener stolen from us by the Rams/49ers …

Now they’ve got our squad on HBO’s training camp documentary, Hard Knocks. This used to be reserved for the worst teams every year and was avoided like the plague. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Well, sometimes it be like that; but the ‘that’ is a chance to tell the world who we are.

Ya’ see, this team has already played and won a Super Bowl while participating in a constant limelight. Over the course of the last 5 years, NFL teams have blitzed online engagement to an nth degree. Social media teams have blown up, the schedule release seems like a national holiday, and it seems like every single player has a podcast.

Access is the new wave, and it may have something to do with the expansion and proliferation of the sport of American Football, globally. It’s all too much to keep up with, if we’re all being honest.

Remember when I said the Seahawks have already operated within the limelight?

A local documentary called the Sound of the Seahawks rolls throughout the season. Hawks players will probably feel right at home.

Even the front office has gotten its shine, with the offseason documentary entitled: Before the Noise.

The Seahawks have become more accessible and a more integrated part of the Seattle community. Think about just the food: Legion Restaurant, Big Walt’s Kitchen, Bam Bam’s Smash Burger.

Leo Williams was out on the diamond for the Opening Day with the Seattle Mariners. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was at the weigh-ins for the Israel Adesanya UFC fight in Seattle. Multiple star Seahawks players have openly campaigned to bring the Seattle Sonics back to town. They are weaving themselves in deep, into the fabric of the town.

Doesn’t hurt that the Seahawks have one of the strongest cultures in today’s NFL. I didn’t stutter. It’s led by John Schneider, hand-delivered and gift-wrapped for a new owner / ownership group. It’s set in stone in the hearts of one of the more excitable and sports-thirsty fan bases in the country. Every time there is a chance for Seattle fans to show out for a new team (I just want to talk to Dwayne Johnson and the XFL) or sporting event, we do! Clock that.

Check the stats. Then, I want you to put the word out, that we back up. Put the word out that we stand by our teams, as a city. We are a sports town. This opportunity in front of a national audience could serve to seal that knowledge and help to keep the good times rolling. The Seahawks are up for sale by Jody Allen, if you hadn’t heard.

The good news is that the Portland Trailblazers just sold (also from the Allen Estate). Peep this, from Bleacher Report on the sale of the Blazers: “Even before the sale agreement was announced in September, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst reported Dundon’s intention to keep the Blazers in Portland as part of the deal”.

We need that kind of an agreement and understanding from the jump!

Seattle has other, large things on the horizon. Sea-Town will host World Cup games in the near future for an international audience! When the Sonics come back, there will be celebration in the streets. Ok, maybe at least my street and a few dive bars on and around 99.

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This is a TV show that has won the Sports Emmy 19 times over the years. It’s a big deal.

Fans can expect a healthy dose of Witherspoon, JSN, Kupp, Barner, Love, Emmanwori, Murphy, Zabel and both Charbonnet and McIntosh’s respective recoveries from injury.

Will the affable young white boy, Rylie Mills have some golden interactions with surly vet, Jarran Reed? They are going to dote on Derick Hall and all his hobbies, aren’t they? Can we get Drew Lock a meet and greet with Jeezy? Can we get a 2nd-date (team) update on DK Metcalf to ask him if the grass was really greener? Is Ernest Jones IV destined to fight a whole offensive line in a joint practice? Will they cover Schneider’s drunken jabs at SB MVP, Ken Walker on the way out the door? This may be just the beginning of Sam Darnold’s redemption arc.

Hard Knocks may feel like more of the same of what we’re used to as 12’s… but it is a coming cultural zeitgeist. One that’ll have a few Californians and New Yorkers consider a trip out to catch a game sometime, and maybe see MOPOP, the waterfront, Pike Place, the needle and the Fremont Troll.

They did miss the Ride the Ducks.

We see some of the new players coming into the league talking about having watched the Legion of Boom as kids… (yikes for us millennials doe…). My Haitian Florida homie from Tampa Bay talks to me about having watched Seattle games for the first time when Marshawn Lynch was authoring earth-shaking TD runs. That’s the mark our previous Super Bowl-winning team left. It stands as one of the more prominent thing people in other parts of the country (and world, to an extent) know Seattle for.

The wild thing is that people don’t even know Mike Macdonald yet. BOOOOO to “East Coast Bias”. I didn’t quite believe it when I authored this tweet:

I believe that 1 of the 6 views on that X(tw)eet was none other than Kyle Brandt . If that is assumed to be true, he set out to prove me wrong, that the rest of the country truly does not pay attention to Seattle.

Okay, STOP THE COUNT! Prove me wrong he did. Touche Mr. Brandt , I hereby cease. I cease and desist all of my complaints about the aggravating narrative that Seattle is some secluded outpost of passing interest, forever toiling under the radar of the NFL landscape. I’m going to embrace that $h!t. Underdogs, we like it that way!

Give our team a national feel-good story to ruin. Talking our talk (when we deserve to) in the direction of the beloved darlings of the national media is the only way Seattle ever truly gets any respect or attention. Whether it’s Gary Payton at M.J., Richard Sherman at Brady, Doug Baldwin at Prime, Devon Witherspoon at the world. We. Did. Not. Care.

You are dealing with a team that is riding the cutting edge of modern defensive football schematics. That’s kinda a thing around these here parts… Pete Carroll constructed and conducted the Legion of Boom (with help). Now, the gloom of Mike Macdonald’s Dark Side team will be on full display.

On the John Schnieder show on 4/2, the namesake GM said, “it will allow people to see how beautiful the city is”. Seattle is the Emerald City, and I hope to see it shine in a unique fashion and glint. It’s also known as the Rainy City. Through the fog, a studied, eclectic, focused, forward-thinking and devoted city is there for the highlighting.

From rain, to grunge, to fish, to coffee, to stars like Gary Payton, Ichiro, Ken Griffey Jr., Shaun Alexander and the Legion of Boom… let’s give them something else to talk about.

The Seahawks have A+ juice at this moment in time. You can’t have the secret sauce, but the juice will be flowing. The entire country is now free to be blessed with a peek into how Seattle gets down. It should further help to defend and reinforce our way of life.

Curse be damned.

The news is a little hard to keep up with these days, ain’t it? It’s like one beat drop after another, with wave after wave of significant developments crashing into our collective consciousness, all while we look at each other in shock while attempting to process the previously delivered consequential happenings.

In this new day of fluid rosters and this age of wheelin’ and dealin’ in the NFL, the Free Agency period this week has been WILD…! It’s a sight to behold to see all of these teams and how they compete with and navigate one another to build a team according to a shared organizational vision. I’ll catch up on the football analysis side of things soon, soon, but let us talk about how during one of X/Twitter’s prime traffic usage times of the year, the social media platform went down!!! Hmm that’s suspicious, no? The funny thing is that the (semi-new) owner, Elon Musk came out and said it was a cyber-attack. Well, the lad has not been making a ton of (non-rich) friends recently, so maybe that clears.

What’s that? “Why”, you say? Isn’t he the glorious hero of a new age of technology and free speech? I’ve got a lot of links for you to check out (since this is not a topic to be talking out of your ass on), so let’s discuss why it’s a “no” from me, dawg.

What I’m trying to figure out is why he’s playing victim, which could be valid… but blaming it on (as one of the best comments points out), “a tiny war-torn country” that his governmental comrades were just seen disrespecting in front of the cameras? That’s a little weird. You see, what many Americans saw was a shouting match between President Donald J. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, in hosting Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That didn’t exactly scream (pun always intended) diplomacy to the global audience, no matter what your opinion of foreign aid may be.

You know what? That may have been the first time we’ve all seen that (complete with finger wagging), and it was a disgrace to see the man in the Oval Office disrespect the leader of an invaded country, cutting short a meeting at the White House. Prominent quotes from the president and VP included: “Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel!” and “Have you said thank you, even one time?”. How about a little, “You’re gambling with World War III!” for good measure? Yeah, you could say that escalated quickly!

Ok, now let’s balance that with how Trump treated the Israeli PM . Why does Israel get the peaceful, patient and paying version of America? Who owes who? He wants to talk tough around a small country who is requesting help during an invasion, then act like a lap dog around those who are pulling puppet strings… for what it’s worth, Apple News reported that, “prior to Friday’s meeting, the defense secretary ordered the pentagon to pause offensive cyber operation against Russia, but didn’t offer further explanation as to why”. Fascinating!

I think we can all agree that the current administration makes a habit of propaganda and lies. Just ask the VP. There was an estimated total of 30K lies and pieces of misinformation reported in his first term. This dude Musk is accessing the same vein of wonton and reckless misinformation. I think we can all agree.

I mean, it’s not even about the policies anymore! It needs to be studied, because it’s more of a social movement than political prose. The answer, to me, is that the MAGA movement is founded on toxic white outrage. I believe the move to elect someone like Donald Trump was a direct response to the hiring of America’s first ever black president, in Barack Obama. There are some that really hated that the U.S. elected a black man to lead and felt that the culture of America had gone too far. They then decided to answer by electing a reality star / corporate magnate / nationalist bully as the very next president.

Since that point, we’ve seen the presidential race devolve into tacky debates about each other’s golf game… and now, he’s revealed himself as an imperialist beyond a shadow of a doubt, in his quest for Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Let me get this $h*t outta the way up front: I am no democrat.

I was in college, when I started to see the ills in the world on a global level for the first time. Then you start to see, read and learn things. The whole capitalist two-party system is crooked anyway. Both sides want to benefit off of people and feed billion-dollar industries.

There is something worse happening now, however. I mean, look at this atrocious video, rife with colonizing overtones I’m glad they left comments on so we can so how even his own supporters are dogging this . And yet, here we are, saying goodbye to the department of education. It won’t go away completely, as this is a boundary that Trump is sure to test… but USA Today had this to say: “Programs and activities receiving ‘any remaining Department of Education funds’ won’t be permitted to promote diversity, equity and inclusion”.

Now they want to erase Harriet Tubman from history… This is not D.E.I., this is American history under assault.

The current regime are masters of rhetoric. They try to distract from concerning plane crashes with talk of DEI. The COVID outbreak forced a lot of pilots, mechanics and flight attendants to retire early, causing somewhat of a shortage… then Trump comes along to fire everybody that isn’t loyal to him. Aviation safety reporter, Darrell Campbell being interviewed for Apple News had this to say: “It takes two years to get an air traffic controller from initial hiring to qualified enough to start actually working in the tower. It takes about that long for a pilot to get certified. This is not just a switch that you can turn on and off overnight”. With that scalding soup of ingredients, here’s what comes out in the soup.

Don’t be surprised if Elon Musk and SpaceX come in and institute ‘changes’ to the FAA and aviation industry at large that purport to ‘solve’ all the problems we’ve been seeing. Those problems will have been partly created by Trump and his men in the first place! We’ll see if the use of strategic and widespread international tariffs follow that same pattern. Taking out the competition to gain more control over markets and industries? Listen to Reagan, man. I’ve heard it said that all the trump supporters (especially those in gov’t and military) complaining about how they didn’t know about how things would affect them is like the trees voting for the axe… It’s sad.

And now, we have classified war plans being accidentally shared in a group text to a reporter from The Atlantic… they said some of the messages were set to disappear it seems that the new administration needs a little bit of help from some of those diverse, equitable and inclusive people who know what they’re doing.

Now, let’s shift our focus to le Trump’s powerful lackey: Mr. Musky. Great guy, btw .
Greeeaaaat guy!

He was recently seen trying to convince voters to dissolve the pillars of American democracy. He’s trying to create apartheid in America, because it’s what he and his family benefited from and were molded by in South Africa. The majority benefits from the exploitation of the minority. The rules will not be the same for everybody. They don’t give a is what I’m trying to tell y’all. Here’s his daddy, describing the process of grooming as “getting along well”.

Did you hear about the Gold Cards idea that Trump unveiled? They are going to be selling the rights to be an American citizen. How far from the idea of the United States of America have we strayed? Actually, don’t answer that. This may actually be a callback to America’s ugly past…

Both Trump and Musk are dangerously powerful individuals who have made their goals pretty damn obvious. Like how do you really justify this? It’s a true American disgrace. And on the left, you’ll see Elon trying to rally people to see the system of checks and balances that are paramount to the American democracy as bad things. someone get this guy off my TL.

No matter our political ideologies, let’s keep it a buck about this guy and who he is… Bill Burr can.

Elon’s business ventures benefitted greatly from (and some say only lived due to) government funding and loans and yet, he has been hacking and slashing that same funding. Musk has “called to end the consumer credit for electric vehicles that experts say helped boost sales for Tesla”. Way to take out the competition and establish a monopoly So you think that’s the end of it? This man wants to make the USA a dystopia for most, and a playground for a very few elites!!! Welcome to the hellscape of an American oligarchy.

People were making fun of the term “woke”, and now we’ve got to wake your asses up.

This is what is happening, and it’s real. This is way bigger than democrat vs. republican at this point. It’s bigger than anything about race. This is about powers and mechanisms of greed and evil. The richest men in the world, including Jeff Bezos, are ready to collude.

Social media bans should scare you. I’m not saying we’ll become an isolationist state, but searching the social media accounts of incoming travelers for any “hatred of Trump’s policies” at immigration definitely moves us one step closer. It’s also important to keep in mind that propaganda is a very powerful and proven tool of the government. They have that tool in their grasps at this very moment. Look at the level of control and manipulation at the border. Not just that, but they are trying to get their hands on public data regarding crime, class, race and justice. These men are trying to distort reality to fit their own list for power and currency. I mean shit, at this rate we may have to vote to get Trump out of office, and the results could very well be rigged. Ya think Trump and Musk want the kind of power that Putin has over his country? 

THIS IS ALL VERY WILD! but not completely unprecedented… Fascism is a real thing.

I recently saw that Musk-eteer endorsed the idea of pardoning George Floyd’s killer… a concept that NOBODY was pushing for. That’s not the end. Musk has continued to reference, like and interact with nazi pages and ideals. Each time he does, even if it’s innocent, drives follows, engagement, views and dogma/paradigm setting. I believe he, and people associated with his agenda, are at the heart of vitriolic hate and negative discourse around films, shows and video games that depict non-white, non-men in any way (Captain America, The Last of Us, Snow White, Assassins Creed, etc.). The linked tweet was less than a week after the named game’s release after it debuted to strong reviews… It’s got me rollin’ to see him get ratio’d by the gaming studio itself! Look at the way his tweet of a fake news article impacted an actress that had nothing to do with the situation. Expect more and more and more and more and more of this rhetoric. Some conspiracies would point to this very rhetoric being manufactured by people who wanted to create a racial divide in America. The kind of divide that would allow a leader to gain the kind of support that would allow him to grab all available power.

Musk’s tweets about bitcoin literally impact its value, devaluing markets with his influence is nothing new. This man is trying to exploit the public perception of doge coin just like he did for Tesla (and will do again) when they were not a profitable company. In fact, exploitation is his whole modus operandi! I do not think that he’s dumb at all. I think he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing!

Should we dive into how the whole tariff thing has turned out to be simple market manipulation? The profit is not meant for your grubby little paws, either (unless you are among the extremely wealthy, of course). This is not for the good of the people.

Donald Trump made a presidency out of saying whatever he wanted, then when confronted about it, giving some dismissive explanation for it to the media. That salute by Musk was right in line with that whole ideology. This man does not give two cares about what you have to say, and he does not care if you know that he’s profiting, or if you find inconsistencies in his actions. Remember that in the election process leading up to his second term back in October, Donald stated that he would leverage U.S. forces and the National Guard to quell “radical left lunatics”. The current administration has their hands on so many levers of control and propaganda, that it’s hard to keep up.

Trump wanted to send immigrants to a war prison reserved for 9/11 terrorists… until that was struck down by people with sense, who’s said the conditions weren’t humane. Man, who is the lunatic here? There were reports in the Washington Post of invasive strip searches any time a migrant left/returned to their cell. I mean, what can we expect from the first president that’s a felon, right? That’s 34x felon to you, bucko!

Elon Musk contributed $250M to the Trump presidential campaign, and in return, he was given access to sensitive American data. Musk now has access to your social security number, home address and more. in the hands of a recreational ketamine user (and all that entails).

The final straw is this… Elon Musk has openly talked of some of the things he’s about. He wants people to know that empathy is a negative thing. Tough to get more evil than that jawn right there. Since he wants to allude to nazis, let’s play on the same field and bring up a quote from when the world was finally able to purge one of the greatest large-scale evils:

These are real life bad guys lol. The types of guys that were (somewhat problematically?) portrayed as Russian villains in 80’s. The guys that were looking to enslave, destroy and conquer before Bruce Willis had to ride in yelling yippee ki-yay mf’er!

Are we going to just let whatever happen? This guy gets to come to our country and tear it down from the inside fr? He must be stopped. He and his prospective tyrant leader want the power of kings… that is exactly the thing that caused people to LEAVE a ‘great’ nation (Great Britain) to create the U.S.A., as something ‘better’. But here we are .

I thought it was American to fight for your rights and freedoms, not accept a man who wants to take them away from people? Musk’s own AI thinks it’s highly probably that this regime is crooked! You couldn’t make half of this shit up if you tried. Some of ya’ll have become some straight up villains, let me tell you.

^The above is, unfortunately, one of my connections on social media. The good news is that it’s not too late to change things. Change begins with organizing. Hopefully it does not have to end in revolution. I don’t have enough trust in Musk and Trump to believe that it won’t be necessary. Even tools of the Republican machine don’t trust him.

American Football is (shockingly) very American. How appropriately meta (). It’s a true meritocracy, bringing together men of all races and creed to form a cohesive unit that works together for a common goal. We must work together and think of more than just ourselves if we want this to be the greatest nation. If we want to live up to the ideals of the America you have in your head.

Anthony Mackie said that Captain America doesn’t stand for America, but the ideal of her. Comic book fans should be relieved that’s the case. I’ve seen so many angry, possibly incel, men cussing his ass out on Facebook over this and they HATE that Cpt. America is black bruh… not all of you do, of course. But the U.S. as an ideal is very different from how the U.S., in actuality would look. Maybe more like Winter Soldier? .

If you ever wondered how a nation could let a ruler commit atrocities against humanity and take advantage of the common people, then we may be seeing your hypothetical resolve from your youth tested now as a full-grown man/woman. This article may be ironically named, as it was the pioneering black jazz musician, Thelonious Monk who supplied the name for the situation we may be in now: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

Let’s stand together, y’all! Keep your head on a swivel, die hard, and don’t be afraid to fight for those freedoms and truths that we hold to be self-evident. As Captain America stated in Brave New World: “if we can’t see the good in each other, then we’ve already lost the fight”. What makes the United States of America great, in her own way, are her people. We will not go away, with our free will stripped from us.

Listen to Reagan again, fam. Let’s remind ourselves, and anyone else who needs reminding, “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people”. Thank you, V for Vendetta.

If the USA’s newest General Manager gets us into trouble, turmoil and strife, then we all need to hire planes, buy billboards, send hate mail and let our voices be heard just like when your favorite team is being run into the ground! Come on Washington D.C., you guys saw this happen with your very team! Now look at you! We’ll lobby the owners… you know who the owners of the Unites States of America are?

We, the people.

In turn (and in a strangely unexpected twist), playing Fallout recently has reminded me of my love for football. All these layered and massive open world RPG’s that I loved as a kid are a different beast now. I’m immeasurably more analytical than I was as a kid.

When I was 13 years old, I was not going to look up the best gun tiers or the easiest path for this or that type of character build. Back then, I just knew I wanted the mad chill blue turtle.

Nowadays, as an analyst by profession and an avid Seahawks fan by heart, I try to understand the full picture. I’m searching for every advanced stat and any blip on the radar about who will be and who should be the next player to pop off. Believe me, fantasy football does not help with this mindset. It’s so easy to see players as commodities and statistics.

You see, back in the days I just knew my favorite star player would come through in the clutch. It was not about letting a company with a three-letter acronym grade my local great (not that PFF or PFN are bad things). The Seahawks were superheroes to me in my infantile fandom. It was a pure love and devotion to watching and letting my opinions form through observation. Not through an unhinged message board community (not that Reddit is a bad thing).

How about this: what if this is our chance as 12’s to see football with fresh eyes? No matter what you thought about the transition to a new coach, football is new. I mean hell we got our first joint practice this year! That was a new thing to learn for all of us, in a season of newness.

All of my characters in RPG’s now are optimally built super machines. I’ve usually looked up the most optimal way to approach each mission, and the meaningful impact of any major decisions I make as a player. This is basically me playing rpgs in my 30’s:

Just kidding, I still enjoy. Much as I try to read the numbers and learn more deeply about where the team’s strengths and weaknesses are, that doesn’t take away from the joy of a hard-fought game/boss/match.

Mike McDonald has apparently been in his bag lately. I hope to sit and watch Mikey Mac play his brand of football… The new Seahawks, brand of football, against the New York Jets this week. That will be a joyous activity, as I attend for my first game ever at MetLife Stadium in the Big Apple. There’s something about exploring a new city (guided by either your in-game pip boy, or your IRL Yelp app) that transmutes your emotions into the highest forms of joy, excitement and alertness.

Firing Pete Carroll was leaving the vault. We are wandering across the wasteland of Seahawk fandom to see what we can scrounge before the next pivotal moment in this adventure. I encourage us all to take it in, and see the simple joys of football that many of us fell in love with in our formative years.

After choking out the Arizona Cardinals, Mike Macdonald said: “I just think a credit goes to our coaches and our players, and everyone in the building of just like, understanding of what we’re trying to build and when it’s not that way, then you just hammer away. Just go to work and work on our processes, and try to figure out, schematically, what we’re good at. Puttin’ our guys in better situations… so it’s just kind of everybody working together all the time, stayin’ together, trustin’ the process, and then you have games where you feel like you played pretty good and helped your team win the game. But it’s about consistency”.

In a coach’s first year, they commonly want to boil their philosophy down to the most crucial aspects. To see a franchise be built from the ground up is akin to the type of experience I had as a kid seeing cranes and dump trucks. For my Fallout players, do you remember assigning your first perk and fighting your first ghoul? Sometimes we’ve got to revel in those simple joys of observation and experience.

The Seahawks looked ferocious and promising against the Falcons a couple weeks back. Then the squad got absolutely basted by the Buffalo Bills at home this past weekend in an embarrassing loss. It was the worst home loss for the Seattle franchise since before the Pete Carroll era… Some fans will hate to hear that I’m still bringing up Pete Carroll. But a portion of this fanbase believes that Pete should’ve never been fired in the first place… at least not yet. You can disagree and I won’t hate it but let me explain.

Carroll finally got to use all of the draft picks that came in the huge, franchise-altering gamble that was the Russell Wilson trade. We can look back now with 20/20 hindsight and act like it was no big deal, but that took a set of brass stones to pull off that move. All of that ammunition doesn’t necessarily pay off when the players are rookies… I believe that Pete Carroll should’ve been given one more year for all of that talent to coalesce and converge. Hell, he got to 9 wins and was fighting for a playoff spot in the final week of the season!

All of you fans bashing those of us constantly bringing up Coach Caroll as a comparison can go somewhere and take several seats. We are allowed to feel hurt about the firing of a franchise legend, one who put Seattle on the pro football map and delivered a trophy to a region where no other coach had succeeded before. We are allowed to expect improvement and promising play from his replacement. There are playmakers on this roster and Pete Carroll proved that.

I’m not just going to buy into Mike Macdonald because Seattle fans wanted something new, and some TV personality called him a boy genius… he needs to prove it to me before I have the belief in him that I had in the previous coach. Before I’m willing to pronounce it a win that we replaced Peter Clay Carroll.

Some of us do have heightened expectations now. That’s what happens when you have a good long marriage/relationship, the bar is raised. That doesn’t make me a fair-weather fan, as I will be in front of my TV every Sunday whether it’s torture or not… And no, Evan, I’m not willing to give him a pass for poor play. I don’t believe the Hawks have a poor roster!

On the other side, I am also sick and tired of seeing all the tweeters, screaming to blow up everything and trade our best players after each loss. It is the epitome of hyperbole.

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot be lying in wait to scorch the new coach at every turn just to prove my point. Of course I want the Seattle Seahawks to do well, that’s my team! I hope the man is good. It’s true that he may not have all of the personnel to fit his scheme on the roster yet. This off-season would be a good time to flush the parts and positions that don’t jive with his vision this year. I hope Coach Mike is willing to play young players and do the testing necessary to see who can be building blocks for the future.

Let’s give him this year to show promise and another year or two to really make his imprint on this team. It does take time to get out of the contracts of the previous regime, but the thing is this is not a completely new regime. John Schneider is still here as a prominent presence in the organization. The coaching factor is now a big variable.

Whether you have hopeful and protective feelings towards Mike Macdonald or whether you are slightly bitter and distrustful: let’s all sit back, not attack each other, and enjoy the ride. There is still a lot of season left to learn lessons and come to conclusions.

It’s on the new coach to keep showing why he was hired, and how he can continue to evolve and adjust the team. It’s possible that this team is not a contender for the playoffs like they have been annually. In that case, I do, hope we lose the bandwagon portions of the fan base, I’d love to advance in line for season tickets!

No matter what happens in the coming election, we all still need to live together work together and strive for our own goals. These athletes are better people than us if they can solve in-fighting between people from all over the country (hick boys to hood boys) better than we can, sitting at home or moving throughout our day. Everything doesn’t have to be life or death. That goes for football and politics, ya looneys. We can’t let the powers that be pit us against one another just for their own gain.

Real life is so unlike the circus hellscape that is Twitter / X / Elon’s playground. Take a chill pill, chase it with some H20 and let’s get ready to face each other out in real life. Sometimes we make the mistake of confusing our community with a warring tribe. Don’t.

The 2024 NFL Season will be the largest leap of change to actual gameplay since the 1970 NFL Merger.

Recently we heard about the outlawing of “hip-drop tackles” via officiating, for the 2024 NFL Season. Now, this is tough because I’m all for player safety, but this is undoubtedly the next rule change in a long line of them that has made everything easier on the offense. Quarterbacks and wide receivers are now protected, and the point-scoring and excitement has been optimized for and catered to. Many current and former players voiced their displeasure when this ban was announced.

This hasn’t been discussed a ton, but the league also decided to push the NFL trade deadline back a week. There is an extra game, but that still moves the deadline forward an incremental amount, when compared to the overall length of the season. Will this cause a slight uptick in some teams tanking and some teams loading up? I hope not.

Even the positive changes, like the NFLPA proposal to modify/move OTA’s comes with a catch. This is a piece that will fit the inevitable puzzle of adding an 18th game to the NFL schedule. We are also getting broadcast coverage moving more and more to the streaming platforms… welcome to the future of reality TV and cash cow-ism.

On that note, I want to point out that there is now a Hard Knocks documentary for every part of the year (including offseason)! This year, we’re even following a whole division, getting all up in their biz during the season. That’s mad nuts, even for a nut connoisseur. I’m grateful for more access and peaks behind to scenes of how things work, but don’t you think there’s a reason that coaches don’t want their teams to be on it? It’s added pressure that can have dudes acting out of character.

I love the game of football, so expansion to other professional leagues in different countries around the world (similar to pro basketball) sounds like an enticing idea. There’s no way Roger Goodell has eyes on competing with soccer (fútbol)… right? I just hope this league doesn’t start acting out of character.

NFL marketing IS currently devising detailed and strategic marketing for global expansion (which can also be accelerated through their partnerships with international streaming giant, Netflix). Will the Jaguars from Duvall County someday end up in the U.K.? Will there someday be teams in Brasil, México and/or Nàìjíríà? Will Tyreek Hill someday cross up a North Korean fruit stand vendor?

New NFL kickoff rules have dropped, and I’m kind of excited to see how it plays out… but it possibly eliminates Hall of Fame talents and kick return fits like Devin Hester and Dante Hall. As Coach Cowher points out, it will also do away with the onside kick part of the game. The punt play is still here, but those kinds of returns are half as likely to score. I mean, we have an entirely new phase of the game being introduced and replacing an old one at the highest level of football!

DeAndre Hopkins is petitioning the league about flag football. Cool idea, but I’m going to recommend treating flag football as the more PR-friendly version of the sport like artists are treating AI. Flag football is now in the Olympics?? This dude is lowkey cold, but brah… have several seats!

Look, this pains me as a defensive guy at heart. This is becoming a different game?? {How I wish Zuck+IG would let us embed vids…} Are the rules really about player safety…? Or more points and more revenue?

Teams are now building new stadiums with retractable roofs to attract other sports events and acts. State-of-the-art venues sounds great, but what about playing football in the elements? That’s something that is defining of American Football, and a feature that is found nowhere else in major sports…

There are current developments, like the implementation of new-age tech to replace the chain gang, that I think are welcome and necessary. I also see the new Guardian Cap allowance as really great, and a positive thing for football, but the league does not want team logos to be covered long term… Paint the cap to match?

This article about the caps makes me think about: if WRs, DBs and QBs don’t have to wear them, will the NFL eventually keep creating rules and structures to place more value on the passing game? Have they already? I’m no conspiracy theorist (maayyybe a smidge), but it would make some sense. There was a time after the Will Smith movie about CTE that I considered that the concussion issue could ultimately end the sport of American football one day. A pivot to the passing game could be the reason for survival.

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For those paying attention to the incoming rookie class, there was a record 23 offensive players taken in round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft! Only 9 defenders were taken!! 14 consecutive picks were offensive players. The previous record was 7 to start a draft!

In fact, there has never been a run of 14-straight players on one side of the ball at any point in an NFL draft. We’ve also never seen 5 of the first 10 picks being QB’s in a draft, but it happened. And directly after, 2024 broke its own record that stood for two draft picks when Bo Nix was taken at #12 by the Denver Broncos! Six of the first 12 picks in the draft were quarterbacks.

Does that mean this should be the greatest QB class in history? I’m no college ball expert, but you can call me skeptical… Nix was a player that was being projected by all the draftniks for the 2nd round. Such is the desperation for QB’s these days, that we see that desire manifesting itself in a propulsion up the draft board for all of these young signal callers.

These things also go to show the now outsized impact that passers have on the game of football. They are protected and even supported by the rules like never before in history. Just ask Tom Brady.

I heard Mike Macdonald seem to bring up an 8 DB formation?? Do I need to clean my ears? I was a DB when I played (MTHS/MHS) but… good lord.

And now, player empowerment is stretching to an NBA level? Are players starting to have the leverage to pull strings like fully guaranteed contracts and no-trade clauses? This may only increase with the vote for the trade deadline being pushed back a week (week 9). Elway, Manning, Favre, Brady, Rodgers, Watson, Wilson have all flexed the leverage of the rarity of their expertise to get what they wanted.

Don’t even get us jabbering about how NIL will possibly change everything about football one day.

And now, with the 3-helmet rule, we’ll have NBA style jersey switcheroos too. I like an alternate uni, but one of the beautiful things about the NFL is that the jerseys are classics. The NBA has some classics too, but they rarely wear them, eschewing those for experimental and loud outfits. It’s no wonder NFL teams are ahead in branding.

And finally, on cut down day (like we wouldn’t notice), a vote to make private equities a part of the game. Is this a good thing for the game of football? I have serious and persistent doubts.

I’ll admit it: I’m anxious about the direction of the game of football that I grew up with. A gritty, physical, yet graceful, lay-everything-on-the-line sport unlike any other. I proudly shed literal blood, sweat and tears on the field, learning about hard work and camaraderie even by necessity with those whom you must cooperate with.

Maybe we can make the game safer, but this game was always like stepping onto a battlefield for me. I get it. When men are making a fortune or losing that fortune based on injury luck, it must suck. But that’s the gladiator game of football that I grew up and fell in love with. Remember this football?

Do I sound like an old head if I say: let’s hope this movement doesn’t go TOO far? Look at how Seattle has rolled with a cheap vet and then traded for another cheap contract to stay within contention of SF who have a $1M bargain of their own in Purdy!

My fear is that this becomes a business of rentals, red tape, endorsements and mercenaries playing flag football. I just hope we (including the next generation) don’t lose the love of the game and the love and loyalty to a cause, no matter how long it takes. I hope we don’t lose out on what makes football inspiring and unique. Buckle up.

Clark is a gifted ball player who carried her team at Iowa to a national title. She became famous for doing the John Cena motion to celebrate… then when she was upset by LSU the next year, the celly was enacted back at her by fellow star, Angel Reese. I saw so much backlash and name calling.

Would this have been a story if it didn’t involve midwestern white girl, Caitlyn Clark and southern black girl, Angel Reese? Girls, as in they are both currently 22 years old. It’s a legit question to ask, as the same issues have seemed to interject themselves into the beginning of Clark’s WNBA career with the Indiana Fever this year. It seems that not only hype, but controversy about race, gender and sexuality have followed her as well.

This case reminds me of the instances of a couple of other famously hyped athletes when they entered the professional ranks. There are also differences with the below examples; therein lies the important discussion. It’s a worthwhile trip down memory lane to compare this situation to others in the past.

When Reggie Bush came into the league, he was thought of as possibly the greatest college player of all-time, rivaling players like Adrian Peterson, Michael Vick and Tim Tebow. Players wanted to shut that down and intimidate him, even as a form of psychological warfare…. Remember the welcome to the NFL hit in the playoffs? Nobody will go easy on you just because you are popular. In fact, if you are leading the pack, you may want to expect a bit of a target on your back. That’s sports!

I’m working on a piece about the 8 most interesting picks in each round from the 2024 NFL Draft. One of those players is Xavier Worthy as one of the eight that I’ll be paying most attention to from the 1st round of the draft. This man broke the record for fastest 40-yard dash ever recorded! As the following story touches on, coaches already understand that his speed is intimidating, and teams will try to counter with physicality… That’s competition!

I understand a lot of Caitlyn Clark fans may overlap with the Swifties, but here is something to know about sports: it’s grueling, it’s adversarial and it’s competition at the highest level! The players at this level pretty much devote their lives to their craft.

Even Clark responded and said that she doesn’t think opponents should apologize or take it easier on her… it’s sports. Many praised Clark for this, and deservedly so. I like her competitive spirit. But she said it right there: she doesn’t need to be coddled after receiving a hip-check in the throes of competition.

Did you see that Angel Reese is getting the same treatment, getting thrown down by her neck? She even had the same response that CC had before CC said it (much to this guy’s surprise . What do you think the difference in outrage is?

Ya’ll remember The Last Dance documentary about Michael Jordan that was a beacon of hope for us all in the heart of quarantine? It was the only sports we were allowed. Jordan became a dominant force in the league, but even before that point, he was coronated with all of the hype. The bad boy Detroit Pistons devised a plan to literally beat him up! It was called the Jordan rules. They wanted to let him know that it would be a fight, and not to forget that they were some of the best in the world too.

When you play professional sports, teams will test you. They will try to get in your head and gain any type of advantage they can. If you are a media darling, or dubbed as the one who is making people care about women’s sports… then you’re really going to get people’s best shots, I don’t care what color you come in.

I’ve seen so much commentary about the black women of the WNBA committing acts of HATE on the court, and “assaulting” Clark. Chiiiiiiiillll. The precious queen is going to be alright (Clark became the first WNBA player to reach 200 points and 75 assists in her first dozen games). When black people are treated unfairly and black people speak up about it, I’ve seen so many responses saying ‘Wow, of course you play the race card!’ Well, well, well… look who is deciding to play the race card hella quick!

To assume players intentions or character because of a hard foul is ridiculous. To treat the league as a monolith is preposterous. To call it jealousy and hate is a large jump to make, especially when other-colored rookies are being treated the same way. How about how Clark is not the first white woman in WNBA history?

As people are watching the WNBA with intent for the first time, is there surprise that women’s sports get physical too? Don’t be surprised. And don’t be surprised if everyone gives a generational talent like Caitlyn their best when competing against her. Especially since she does (you know we bark back in Seattle ) the same to them.

It’s possible that some players could feel resentful that they did not receive any attention before Clark. A’ja Wilson is the league’s best player at the moment, and she didn’t create this much hype. Wilson won Rookie of the Year, is a two-time WNBA MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year. She’s won two WNBA championships in just six seasons and just yesterday broke the record for most consecutive 25+ point games in WNBA history. She also had a game against the Wings where she received a bloody nose from a hard foul, then was popped again, causing her contact to come out. I don’t see jealousy and hate being used to describe that sequence.

Some players may want to gain a psychological advantage over the Indiana Fever. Some may feel like interacting and competing with her is the biggest stage that they can announce themselves on or measure themselves by. Some may want to send a message to the world by showing they can impose their will on the ‘golden goose’.

Then again, some players may be competing the way they always do, but the magnifying glass of national attention is continually trained on Caitlyn Clark. Some may even be frustrated that she seems to play up the fouls a little bit, and yet the narrative is the way it is. Don’t let the LeFlop peanuts gallery see that one… great competitors want every call.

The legend, Dawn Staley has something to say about how women’s basketball operates.

The fact that Caitlyn Clark has range that few other players have, necessitates a fuller court press, and constant defensive attention. It should be viewed as a sign of respect, even if she did not get selected as one of the top 15 women in the U.S. of A. yet. Her shooting has been great, but she also leads the league in turnovers per game. The attention and defensive tactics from coaches around the league may have something to do with it.

The truth is, C.C. is somewhat of a gift to women’s hoops, and it’s really cool to see how she has elevated the sport. I’m excited to keep up with her career, as well as those of Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Skyler Smith-Diggins. But acting like Clark is under attack by all of the jealous black women of the NBA is real damn ridiculous, I mean give me a break! This is professional sports, a level of competition and spotlight that many of us will never know. And it speaks a little to the way America treats black women and white women much differently in this country.

Remember the Karen who tried to weaponize her tears and social status over a black man to get her way with a bird watcher? We already know that white women are urgently protected and given every benefit of the doubt in society at large. The critics are not here to attack and take that from white women, but at some point, we’ve got to protect and celebrate black women too.

Let me also just give a side note and say that Facebook is trash now! From all of the fake and misattributed quotes, to AI photos meant to trick boomers and older millennials alike to all of the race baiting. That’s why you don’t catch me on there very often anymore.

That may be a microcosm of society now, overlooking actual facts and making either martyrs and villains out of everyone. Take a deep breath, I have a feeling that Caitlyn Clark is going to be just fine. She’s not a victim. Much like Jordan or Bush would not be bullied out of the league, Clark should be able to rise above the competition and extra attention to showcase her incredible gifts.

Other than 3-word tweeting, what else are you bringing to the discussion in society? Hype has consistently proven to be a huge factor in both optics and competition. What does it uncover about your preconceived view of people? Thanks for sharing, just know that it has no bearing whatsoever on the path others take in intention or competition against the best of the best.

A statement from Clark, via Bleacher Report: While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Clark was asked about her name being “weaponized” in non-sports conversations and narratives, and she said she doesn’t pay attention to any of it. “It’s not something I can control, so I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that. And to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it. Like I’ve said, basketball’s my job,” she said. “Everything on the outside, I can’t control that, so I’m not gonna spend time thinking about that. People can talk about what they want to talk about, create conversations about whatever it is. But I think for myself, I’m just here to play basketball.” I respect that she goes on to say that “everyone deserves the same amount of respect”, and “people should not be using my name to push those (racist and misogynistic) agendas. It’s disappointing, it’s not acceptable”. The video is worth watching.

Then again, some of y’all like pulling the race card on the low. Sports has almost become a big game of hate, ridicule and memes in this generation, but don’t let it get us to the point of reducing people down to weird and reckless enemy stereotypes. Don’t let blind tribal allegiance stop you from seeing the greatness of the moment. We can look back and appreciate both Bird and Magic, without the tired old racist rhetoric.

• A big part of the Combine is that teams get to interview players and see them react and interact in a controlled environment of drills and varied evaluation.
• Some players will inevitably ‘move up and down’ the draft board based purely on good or bad 40-yard dash, vertical jump or bench-press numbers.
• We are sure to see a constant stream of hot takes and rumors from now until the draft. Don’t trust the propaganda!

Every GM and scouting department is pouring over tape of not only eligible college draftees, but also of possible free agent veteran additions, to evaluate how their skills could fit their scheme. They have likely been evaluating all season, but there are still different elements of the puzzle to uncover. Why is it such a crapshoot to evaluate talent and draft well??

How could a player test historically poorly on an intelligence test, and then go on to have a historically successful rookie year at a mentally demanding position? Part of it could have to do with player development… but I think there are more complicated factors involved.

There are always other variable that are difficult to separate from statistics or even the players game tape, such as motivation, adaptability, maturity, scheme familiarity, usage and opportunity, work ethic and consistency, relationships and trust with coaches, some amount of dumb luck, and one of the big ones: how much impact did a good or a bad teammate playing next to them affect their play?

This is part of why a video game like Madden cannot ever fully replicate life. There are so many systems at play that have a hidden impact on decisions and performance.

We always want a way to be able to measure a person when faced with an interview. Even if our logic is flawed, we create a system, and that is not a bad thing at all.

I had a long discussion with friends recently about the idea of intelligence and how you can’t always measure it. They sought to find a way to measure it lol. Whether through means of academic grades, language pronunciation, or adaptability, it’s easy to think we can quickly and accurately assess intelligence.

Judy Kearins did a study comparing the intelligence of white, euro-Australian children vs. aboriginal children. At first, she found that the white children outperformed the aboriginal children in language and traditional IQ testing.

Believing that the test ignored what the aboriginal children were good at, she sought to create another test (one of visual-spatial awareness). The aboriginal children then tested higher than the white children in this manner. It’s interesting that the way we view the world, and even the task at hand, could be biased by our environments, self-determinate needs and even cultures.

The original IQ test was created by two psychologists in 1905 France who were aiming to help struggling kids in school. The skills that they chose to test were ones that they reasoned could be poured together to create a solution to signify a person’s intelligence quotient.

If you read up on Sternberg and Grigorenko, they find that in some African cultures different measures of intelligence may even be considered inversely correlated (a genius in one field could be a fool in another). Jimmy Kimmel even gives a hilarious description of the Dunning-Kruger Effect in relation to Aaron Rodgers in the first seven and a half minutes of his show. It boils down to just because you’re good in one area, does not mean that applies to all areas in life.

We may all have tasks that suit our skillsets well.

Cultural bias is a common criticism of IQ-testing, as is the fact that it gets less and less reliable the further an individual is from their childhood. Feel free to look up terms like Alfred Binet, the Army alpha and beta test, and EQ testing for interesting research and conclusions about testing and controversy.

The U.S. even has an instance in history of forced sterilization of people who scored poorly on IQ tests (1924 Massachusetts). It’s shocking that we have based so much on this test. It’s really wild, actually.

If you think about it, there are so many factors that go into how you perform on a test. Your lack of literacy could hinder your ability to display your mathematical skills on word problems. That is a simple example, and this can get very complicated, especially when it comes to NFL competency.

Tests can have a hard time qualifying abstract skills like creativity, social intelligence, motivation, discipline, as well as valor in the face of danger and difficulty. Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV is a young man from the I.E. who went through the competition and recruitment process without his father.

I mean, they were out there making savage memes about my boy being mentally challenged and calling him out of his name!! C.J. then went out and tore up the league, earning comparisons to the league’s best QB’s ever, not just other rookies. Puka Nacua had an incredible season as well, recording the most receiving yards all-time by a rookie (1,486), and would’ve won Offensive Player of the Year in any other year.

A quote from Daniel Jeremiah during the 2023 NFL playoffs: “I have not seen anybody process the field as clearly and as confidently as C.J. Stroud did in their first year in the league”. After he beat the ‘all Ohio State QB’s are busts’ charges, he broke the frame of how we should view intelligence testing. Prospects in the upcoming draft are being advised by Athletes First sports agency to skip the S2 cognition test.

The S2 seeks to measure cognition and wants to separate that from the broader idea of intelligence. You do want to know whether or not your quarterback can process many levels of information very quickly… but how do we get it right?

Since this is a complex topic, I want to open it up for discussion. Please drop a note in the comments if you have thoughts, ideas or alternatives to the cognition test. While I definitely don’t have all the answers, I’m a big proponent of letting game tape be king. Better yet, watch it with him!

Stroud went super saiyan in the clutch against the Colts to get into the playoffs (134.1 QB rating in week 18 elimination game) and against the Browns (157.2 QB rating in the Wild Card round). He finished the year with the 4th-highest QB rating (101.7). Not just among rookies, among all quarterbacks!

He led the league with a 23-5 TD/INT ratio (the youngest to ever accomplish this) and was the first rookie ever to lead the league in INT percentage (1.0). Stroud racked up the third most passing yards by a rookie ever (only Andrew Luck and Justin Herbert had more) and his league-leading yards per game average (274) was 2nd most by any rookie ever.

Stroud entered the playoffs against the Browns and averaged the highest EPA per drop back (whatever that means, Next Gen Stats) of any rookie in the playoffs in the NGS era. Now the youngest QB in history to win a playoff game as well as throwing for the 3rd most yards gained against the league’s #1 pass defense (this while only attempting 5 passes in the 2nd half).

From NFL .com: “Stroud joined Tom Brady (2007) and Joe Montana (1989) as the only QB’s to lead the NFL in passing yards per game and pass TD-INT ratio (minimum 10 games)”. The other two men won MVP that year.

Finally, C.J. Stroud is the first rookie quarterback in the Super Bowl era to take a team from worst to first in a division and win a playoff game. Think he passed the test? One quote I love from him: “If I were to compare myself to other people I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at”.

Trying to get guys to figure out how to answer a question about shapes correctly is different than how somebody processes information when the bullets are flying and there are things like spatial awareness, muscle memory, trust in a specific receiver or exotic coverages at play. The history of bias in testing, eugenics and previous beliefs in racial superiority (that even the NFL has had to fight) combine to show us that IQ tests can lack reliability and validity in measuring ability.

I’m not saying we abolish testing… that’s not even feasible or sensible when these executives are making multi-billion-dollar decisions. We can, however, acknowledge that measuring intelligence/cognition/mental capacity is implicitly biased, and difficult to rely on. Maybe the true meritocracy of the National Football League can help teach some truths about society at large.

Just look at this moment of pure jubilation and emotional vindication after the Texans eliminated the Browns in the first round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs. How can you not cheer for this young man, especially in light of the ‘diagnosis’ that he got at the NFL combine last year.

Mr. Stroud clearly displayed that he has other abilities that were not considered in the test that made him effective at the most important position in sports. It is highly commendable that he did not let a test tell him who he was or what his legacy would be! Attempts at measuring a person’s particular set of skills, thankfully has nothing to do with the level of potential that each of us possess.

I fully recommend travelling to and attending an NFL draft in a new city to anyone that enjoys football and the drama, comradery and fandom that comes with it. Or if you just enjoy the adventure of exploring a new city that you would otherwise maybe not visit. If you love both, go to one! It is quite the experience.

Some of the random happenings that my friend Tim and I encountered:

• In our ever-present side quest to find the city’s best BBQ, we found ourselves taking many a post-meal walk to regain our mobility and breathing functions. We once turned a corner searching for a corner mart and found ourselves in a very obvious and proud Latino neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas — across the state line. A random store clerk popped out of nowhere while we stocked up on water, just so he could talk that trash to us while we were clad in our Seahawk colors. Guess we’re in Kansas now, Toto!

• Towards the middle of the first round, we decided to leave the throng of the actual draft area to watch the rest at a local watering hole. As we saddled up at a local margarita restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri more and more people started filling the place to the brim with noise and color. See below for one of the characters I met (I will finish the story below)…

• …At this point I’m people watching but also draft watching. All of a sudden, a man with a tiny yellow shopping cart full of ice bags bursts in. He yells some inaudible female name. The bartender swings into the picture, wearing a shirt clearly intended to show off her unreasonable proportions. The small-cart-pushing hombre starts tossing bags into the air, and she is catching the bags with one hand with no hesitation, even between the nervous heads of people sitting at the bar. As soon as he threw the last bag, almost on cue, a train outside blared its horn HELLA loud. It was an unbelievably zany moment in time that I could barely keep up with and process while trying to compare my mock draft to the real results.

• The reactions to my buddy Tim as we walked around were gold. He’s a crazy tall Nigerian man with a friendly smile, and a face that never conceals his emotions. I once pointed us to the wrong entrance of the draft, and I had both of us walking, huffing and puffing in silence. When we finally stop at the top of a god-forsaken hill, a girl looked at him and said, “ohhh you look tiiiired” he and I just busted up laughing. A change of pace after a slightly tense search for how to get into the actual draft. Another time someone called out to him repeatedly with clenched hands, yelling and calling him Geno over and over… but tell me why Tim took offense to this one the confidence of this man to take offense to being compared to an NFL quarterback!

• Tim stole a guy’s bird ride after the guy almost took Tim’s bird scooter before he could reserve it. I will not be elaborating, but let’s just say I took the other guy’s side. Maybe I feel a little bad… not bad enough to not laugh about it.

• Speaking of scooting, we unwittingly met Paris Johnson Jr. and his family while buzzed-birding (TM) downtown. I did make a proclamation to him and his family as we passed: “We’re division rivals, but I’ll say congratulations only tonight”! They laughed and when they realized we were Seahawks fans they reminded us that our squad drafted his former college teammate: Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Excited to see that boy do his thing.

• We attended a music festival called Kelce Jam Headlined by Rick Ross, Tech N9ne and MGK. This was a little way outside of downtown and overrun with KC Chiefs fans. We met a drunk dude who was ON ONE and wouldn’t stop talking to us during the concert, with his gf that was f***ing over it lol. We left them to get closer to the stage, then met another faded individual with whom Tim accidentally almost facilitated a fight between him and the security guard. He kept calling the guard soft for doing his job lolllll. Then, out of nowhere, the first drunk talker (you know the type) materialized and found us again to offer us some of his hand rolled joint. Our two rowdy and slightly annoyingly social ravers met and started belligerently yelling ideas at each other. These two dudes were the perfect counterbalance to each other!! we didn’t have to worry anymore as we looked at each other laughing with the same thought as we slowly slipped back into the crowd.

• While standing in line at another place that sold us ridiculously flavorful burnt ends we met family friends of Kentucky QB (and eventual 2nd-round pick), Will Levis. This father-son duo were actually sporting Patriots jerseys and had spent thousands on VIP passes close to the stage to see him get drafted. When he wasn’t taken in the 1st-round, he left Kansas City to go back home instead of sticking around. The family friends were very disappointed in that decision.

• I did make my way to a few jazz lounges while in KC, but sadly, I did not find Will Ferrell in any of them…

• I absolutely dominated this group of frat bros in Super Smash Brothers at this poppin’ downtown bar. Yes, this bar had a Nintendo 64 set up on a projector. I’m happy to report that there are some things that Gen-Z still can’t touch us in, my fellow millennials!! I was Star Fox so call it what you want… I called game. They eventually asked the bartender to switch to Mario Kart.

• My overwhelming takeaway was that EVERYBODY, no matter what background, had a pure excitement to enjoy the time there, interact and share knowledge/laughs/predictions. It felt like a lot of the social walls we are used to in our society evaporated there, being replaced by the jubilation of schoolkids on a field trip. Or of college kids on campus for the first time; ready to meet anyone and try anything new with a smile. It’s one of those events that remind you that sports unites a lot of different kinds of people.

This was my 3rd consecutive year traveling to the NFL draft. I had a blast. The draft in Cleveland showed off the large and loyal Browns fan contingent. I didn’t see as heavy of a favoring of Raiders jerseys when I went to the draft in Vegas. In Kansas City, the flood of red jerseys all around town, along with all the good vibes those fans gave us had me realized that we really might be in the height of Chiefs fandom in America.

We may be witnessing the birth of a legitimate Chiefs dynasty. It was iffy before, but c’mon. Two titles, while appearing in 3 Super Bowls in a 4-year span. They have been to the AFC ‘ship 4 years in a row. Patrick Mahomes has the impregnable accolades. It will be fascinating to see how long their reign lasts when compared to other dynasties (the most recent being in New England).

The Seahawks were on the verge of one with the Re-Pete back-to-back titles; which was nullified by a highly improbable and notorious interception on the 2-yard line that is still painful to think about. KC did what Seattle could not. It now seems that Mahomes is chasing Brady in a similar fashion to the way that LeBron has chased MJ his entire career. Let’s appreciate the unique talent and the dawn of a new power in the NFL.

With 2 MVP’s, 2 NFL Titles and 2 Super Bowl MVP’s, Patrick has a resume that rivals many of the QB greats already. The Chiefs will need to earn it moving forward, as the NFL’s crucible (salary cap, free agency, the draft, staff hirings) seeks to level the playing field each and every offseason. Joe Burrow and The Bengals may be Manning’s Colts as rival to Mahomes’ Patriots impression. That would make Josh Allen’s Bills the Roethlisberger-era Steelers. Count on Smith’s Seahawks to play the part of Eli Manning’s Giants in February 2025

Now we have white people climbing and falling off of walls, breaking down the doors of the US Capitol, stealing in broad daylight and injuring and killing officers like it’s nothing. Hmm… seems like you’re not so worried about blue lives mattering, disrespecting the flag, this country, or our democracy anymore WEIRD!!!

It was an act of terror by Vanilla Isis in this country. And they want to talk about WHY they did it. Even if the claims of election fraud are baseless and certified false by their government, they won’t stop until the issues are addressed. Let me stop and ask if anyone does NOT see the double standard here? Our issues, of being brutally killed without cause (literally reported on and proven in so many cases over the last couple of years and beyond) or justice were deflected by the privileges of this country, but when there are issues (conspiracy theories or not) that they want to talk about, there will be hell to pay, and the same rules DO NOT apply. Those are the facts.

I’ve seen deflection and gaslighting tactics being used quite a bit, in politics, in media and on the posts of that one newly radicalized Trump supporting acquaintance you had from high school that is still on your Facebook. These tactics are used to neutralize any talk of racial inequality and make the argument about something else entirely. “Athletes shouldn’t be talking about politics”, they should “Shut up and dribble”, they “Play a kids game”, “My grandfather didn’t serve in the war for this” (yes, he literally did)… We could probably start a trending Twitter chain with all of these deflection comments that we’ve all had the misfortune to read or hear. They want to get you talking about and defending any other aspect of the conversation BUT the actual matter at hand.

Privilege is defined (with a quick Wikipedia search) as a “special advantage or entitlement, used to one’s own benefit or to the detriment of others”. Now, this doesn’t automatically mean that your life isn’t hard, it just means that your skin color is not one of the things that you have to worry about as making your life harder. LearningforJustice.org had this to say about white privilege specifcally: “White privilege is—perhaps most notably in this era of uncivil discourse—a concept that has fallen victim to its own connotations. The two-word term packs a double whammy that inspires pushback. 1) The word white creates discomfort among those who are not used to being defined or described by their race. And 2) the word privilege, especially for poor and rural white people, sounds like a word that doesn’t belong to them—like a word that suggests they have never struggled”. Privilege is also something that can be used for good… so please… get over it. We need you keyed in here.

Cries for help and justice shouldn’t need to be worded or packaged perfectly for you to have your human compassion kick in. Remember that. Don’t let people highjack your holding and delivering of truth just because its not convenient or easy for them to hear it. I couldn’t believe that Emmanuel Acho would let Colin Cowherd imply that. People are being targeted and brutalized due to their skin color, but GOD FORBID that Colin should feel uncomfortable! The attempted coup at the capitol showed us that when the tables are turned, doing what you feel you have to do is no longer an issue.

The cannabis industry is another perfect example of this. The war on drugs locked up so many black people (destroying lives, communities and families) for something white people are now being praised for getting rich off of. The crime bill made it so that weed could get you 15 to life… ISN’T THAT INSANE?! Weed was criminalized and stigmatized for us. Now everybody is trying to get into the cannabis industry (billboards on Venice Blvd., weed cafes where hipsters can go, weed theaters are being planned, Budweiser invested millions to get a piece of the pie, whole new government departments for it). The rules that were used to punish us are now being changed (because ‘suburban moms’ are now more comfortable with it) so that the kid who has the leverage can benefit.

It’s not about the letter of the law anymore, because that has been used to extort us. We need to look at the systems in place in this country and talk about how they affect our communities. Why is it that we all know this interaction would’ve been MUCH different if it were a black lady? I could’ve chosen any number of videos or cases out of the grab bag…. law enforcement takes much better care of white bodies, and white people have come to expect their rights. Can we all get that from those who are supposed to PROTECT and SERVE?

And so, let’s call it what it is and admit that the rules and mechanisms of this country are set up to protect and serve a specific group of people. This is America. That must change. We have to call out deflection tactics and push past privilege. And i do mean WE. You have to call the entitled kid on the double standard and let them know you’re not playing those little games. I can only hope that Drew Brees comes out to denounce the capitol breach as loudly as he came out against his own teammates kneeling for injustice

Football came back, and that was great. CEH was a playmaker… but the above tweet perfectly encapsulates my biggest takeaway from watching the start of the NFL season between the the Chiefs and the Texans. The hyper-aggressive lack of empathy was disgusting to see, to say the least. Our country is broken to the point where people are booing a moment of unity between different teams and different races. We must keep pushing for change, and the strengthening of our communities.

I feel lucky that we have such an intelligent, talented and empathetic coach in Pete Carroll who supports and advocates for the things that impact his players’ lives. Among so many prepared statements by other heads of organizations, Pete’s words come across incredibly genuine and humble. Can’t wait to see the squad get down on Sunday!