Switching things up a bit today and rather than picking just one song for #RushHourRap I’m giving you a full album because its that good. Logic released the experimental Supermarket recently, but it isn’t just an album, its a soundtrack to a NOVEL he wrote and dropped from the clouds. My guy Bobby Tarantino is a five tool player it would seem.
Supermarket is yet again another departure from what you would expect from Logic. He’s made lyrically stunning rap albums, trap albums, conscious social issue albums, and now he’s created something that I can only describe as a mid 2000s alt rock album, but in the best way. A lot of crooning, piano and acoustic guitar make this sound like something you could just as easily hear in a swanky lounge as you would on HotNewHipHop.
Although it got crushed by outlets like Rolling Stone, I dig it. I’m partial to the titular track “Supermarket” but this entire album is excellent. Check out a few that I picked out below.
Before this series started I refused to look past the Maple Leafs and play what if matchups with Tampa Bay (who just got swept) because Toronto is no joke. I had Bruins in 7 before the series and I’m sticking to that now. It seems like the Bruins only want to play hard every other game though. In Game 1 they looked lifeless and got run out of the rink by a quicker and younger Maple Leafs team. In Game 2 the Bruins looked like they were shot out of a cannon led by the soon to be 35-year-old enforcer David Backes laying the wood on guys. Hell even David Pastrnak was teeing off on guys.
Then Game 3 came and the Bruins got their dicks stomped once again with fans starting to openly wonder what the hell had happened to the alleged best line in hockey. Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak had barely contributed through 3 games and if that line ain’t carrying the team then the Bruins are dead on arrival. Welp, since the B’s are only playing hard in even number games apparently, they once again looked like the team we saw all year long in Game 4.
The definition of first world problems last night though was having the Bruins and Celtics playing important playoff games at the same exact time. Since picture in picture is a bullshit idea that is more distracting than helpful and since I’m not about to drag another TV out to my living room, I had to live with switching back and forth all night. It worked out relatively well with the hockey intermissions and the NBA halftime providing solid chunks of time to watch the other with undivided attention. So the Bruins are up 5-2 and I go to watch the last five minutes of the Celtics game, which naturally took about 25 minutes. I flip back to the Bruins and its 5-4.
The Tuukka haters were served some humble pie, at least in the first two periods, when Tuukka saved the B’s bacon with some seriously clutch saves on a barrage of shots from Toronto. He finished the night with 38 saves and was one of the reasons the B’s were so dominant in the first 2 periods. He did give up 3 in the third though so there’s that. So was Tuukka dominant or was Tuukka giving the game away? Depends who you ask.
Auston Matthews from the top of the face-off circle snaps one that finds a way to sneak through Tuukka Rask. Soft goal. Maple Leafs tie it up 2-2 at start of the second period
“So with the Bruins on the verge of returning to Boston down three games to one, the point was hammered home once again: Rask needed to steal the Bruins a game before it was too late.
…Am I crazy for thinking that Rask finally did exactly that in a 38-save, 6-4 victory in Game 4 at Scotiabank Arena?” – Ty Anderson of 98.5 after Game 4.
Either way, the B’s pulled it out despite some serious hand wringing in the final minutes. I know it wasn’t a “must win” game, but you absolutely cannot go back home down 3-1 and expect to rip off 3 in a row. A 2-2 split is much more manageable and it would have been a goddamn shame to waste great games from Pasta and Tuukka.
All this came just minutes after the C’s pulled out a close one in the playoffs too. Victory Dip for all!
I knew I spotted a dent in this thing during the Red Sox ring ceremony! I was snapping screenshots left and right while secretly watching and live tweeting the World Series celebration from work so I completely forgot to tweet out the above pic. Like how the hell could this have happened already? Well the story has literally just come out courtesy of the Patriots Twitter feed. Apparently Gronk dented the Lombardi Trophy by BUNTING with it.
Legit can’t make this up. If you wrote a screenplay about the 2018 Patriots and ended it with Rob Gronkowski denting the Lombardi Trophy at Fenway by bunting with it they’d say it sounded too fake.
Yahoo – In 2004, the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers made a trade that would forever change the course of both franchises. Moments after the Chargers selected Eli Manning with the first pick in the NFL draft, the team traded him to the Giants for Philip Rivers…
“[The trade] was the most satisfying moment for me in my career and I really mean that. I would say that if I was ever fortunate to win a Super Bowl, I’m sure it would’ve trumped that, but I don’t know that. I gotta tell you there was a lot of highs and lows in the business, but that moment was the greatest high for me as an executive for an organization.”
As Smith explains, the deal netted the Chargers with enough draft picks to select Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding. Both guys played big roles in the team’s success from 2004 to 2009. More importantly, though, Smith was happy he took some of the power away from Manning and his agent, Tom Condon.
“When I heard emphatically from Tom Condon and Archie Manning ‘don’t take us,’ that hit me — call me a traditionalist — it hit me the wrong way,” Smith said. “I decided I was not going to play this game with them and I flipped it, in my view, to an unknown where they didn’t know what I’m going to do or how this is going to unfold — they really didn’t.”
I hated the Chargers growing up. Hated them. Shawne Merriman was an arrogant dickhead who could dish it but couldn’t take it when the Pats did his Lights Out dance in San Diego after an upset. LaDanian Tomlinson was the greatest runningback I’ve ever seen, but all he did was complain about how “classy” the Patriots were. All while sitting on the sidelines in his Darth Vader outfit while Philip Rivers played on a torn ACL. So aside from the Peyton Manning Colts and the Rex Ryan Jets the mid 2000s Chargers were my most hated football team.
BUT, I now LOVE AJ Smith. The architect of one of the most hated teams of my youth is an A+ grudge holder and I have to respect the spite. Oh whats that Eli, you don’t want me to draft you No. 1 overall in the NFL? In fact you won’t even play for my team if I do draft you? Well fuck you because now I’m doing it.
AJ Smith wasn’t going to let some rich kid and the Manning Mafia tell him how to do his job. I bet he would have ate the draft pick and let Manning sit the year out if he didn’t get the trade offer he wanted. Just spite that whole family because you ain’t John Elway, kid.
Now obviously this trade was the rare trade that worked out swimmingly for both sides. The Chargers got Philip Rivers and a boatload of picks that turned into franchise cornerstones and the Giants got Eli and 2 Super Bowls (kill me) out of it. Big Z made the point that the Giants might actually have won more Super Bowls with Rivers under center because aside from two month long hot streaks by Eli Manning, Rivers is clearly the better player. Rivers has a better career Completion %, more TDs, 60+ less INTs, and a better QB Rating.
I’d still rather have two SB rings, but I respect the shit out of AJ Smith for deriving so much pleasure out of something so small. An early candidate for The 300s 2019 Hater of the Year.
“Here’s the fucked up part. I never got my ball back. The NFL said it was deflated. Then Bill Belichick and Bill Nye the Science Guy had a pissing contest over PSI levels…Roger Goodell probably has my fucking football on his damn mantle.”
Update: D’Qwell Jackson has responded and is now a friend of The 300s.
Bravo, D’Qwell, bravo. Heres a guy that became an unwilling footnote in the whole Deflategate saga. The NFL initially tried to make him the fall guy, but D’Qwell immediately denied having any part in snitching about allegedly deflated footballs. This video only confirms that in my mind as he comes off as a sneaky funny guy who just wants his fucking football back. As he has done to so many others, Roger Goodell swooped down and took something that wasn’t his. D’Qwell just wants a keepsake from a huge play he made in a huge game that his team otherwise got their doors blown off in. Let the man have that, Roger.
On @WildeAndTausch, #Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says he has heard from over 100 current and former players and coaches since Bleacher Report’s story last week. Calls it a “smear attack” featuring “mostly irrelevant, bitter players” with agendas. “Outright lies” stated as facts. Wow
Jesus, Aaron! Maybe just turn the other cheek? While he’s probably not wrong, he has absolutely zero to gain by sniping the “mostly irrelevant, bitter players.” It’s a lose lose situation because he just comes off looking like a dickhead. This all stems from the recent Bleacher Report article that absolutely smoked Rodgers and Mike McCarthy and the fault that each deserves for the Packers coming up short over the years.
It must be infuriating as a player because you really can’t win, but look no further than one Tom Brady for a playbook on how to handle “smear attacks” and media hit pieces. The most incendiary things he’s said in the past 5 years came from *leaked* emails such as him shitting on Peyton Manning’s longevity as well as his hatred of ill prepared pool cover companies.
Tom Brady also had the gall to politely tell WEEI to go fist themselves after someone called his daughter a pissant on the air. That was after ESPN dropped article after article on the crumbling Patriots dynasty including Seth Wickersham writing 20,000 word pieces on how bad the infighting and the drama had gotten within the Patriots organization. All they’ve done since was go out and win 2 out of 3 Super Bowls.
So my advice to Aaron Rodgers? Be more like Tom Brady.
Joey B previewed The Masters last week and boy was this year’s event a doozy. That was a full four days of entertainment. From watching in between meetings at work on Thursday and Friday to sitting my ass on the couch all day Saturday and then waking up early on Sunday to watch the last 5 or so hours. It was an instant classic.
The Masters was awesome last year too with Patrick Reed swooping in and snatching the green jacket like an 80’s movie villain. Just an emotionless robot looking rich kid with ice in his veins. Reed finished at a just ridiculous -15 to win the event. I watched last year at my house and then at the bar before heading in for a Celtics playoff game and it was thrilling. So I figured 2019 would have a tough time topping what was such a great event last year.
Really all you’re hoping for is that Tiger is in contention come Sunday. I know a lot of people say that, but it’s true. Whether thats a reflection on the absolute void of exciting and entertaining personalities in golf is a valid question. Either way though, Tiger is must see TV when he’s within reach of victory. Going into Sunday he was just 2 strokes back and there was about 6 or 7 guys all within 3 strokes so it was going to be a battle. Add in the fact that they pushed everyone’s tee time up on Sunday because of an incoming storm and it was Tiger time before I even had my morning coffee. It was too early the perfect time to crack that first Sunday morning Bud Latte too.
Tiger looked like a man on a mission, but a couple of gimme putts he missed had me thinking he just wasn’t going to have enough in the tank.
The legend of Tiger has faded a bit in recent years, or so I thought. Less and less do we see guys just wilting under the mere presence of Tiger on their six. Well lucky for us the guy Tiger was chasing, Francesco Molinari, is exactly who he was paired up with on Sunday morning. So every time Francesco tee’d off, Tiger was staring a fucking hole in the guy’s back. And Molinari could *feel* that.
With a two stroke lead he started to melt when he put his first shot in the water on No. 12. Even Tiger’s caddy, Joe LaCava, was shocked:
LaCava said that Tiger was all business after Molinari, inexplicably, put his tee ball in Rae’s Creek. For LaCava, it wasn’t something he saw coming. Molinari, who’s so steady it’s borderline infuriating, wasn’t a player you’d peg as a candidate to drop a ball in the water on the back nine of a major.
“[Molinari]’s one of those guys, he’s not going to go away,” said Lacava. “I was a little surprised he hit it in there. I was thinking this is a perfect 8 iron for him, it’s probably a smash 9 iron for us. I actually thought he was going to hit not to two feet, but 15 feet left. I was very surprised. Things definitely changed.”
The cameras cut to Tiger and you can see his eyes come to life.
Francesco shanks one into the stands at #TheMasters
It’s like when Eminem gives the mic to Papa Doc in the final rap battle and he slowly realizes that Papa Doc just doesn’t have anything left.
After that it was a wrap. Tiger slowly but surely chipped away at Molinari’s lead before just having to two putt on 18 to win The Masters. No problem.
It was an incredible scene to watch and say what you will about his past transgressions, but I love a good comeback story. People thought his career was over, his back was in shambles and here he was putting for his fifth green jacket.
It means so much more to him these days too. I first saw it at the PGA Championship last year where he narrowly lost to Brooks Koepka and he walked off and hugged his kids and looked like he was about to cry, but in a good way. Like he was beaming with pride because all though he didn’t win, he was healthy, he played his balls off, and his kids saw it.
He was a fucking legend back in the day, a complete force of nature, but his kids were too young to see that. Tiger even said it in one of his interviews Sunday, for the longest time he was just “the YouTube golfer” to his kids. So for him to be dominant and winning majors in front of his kids who are now old enough to understand and appreciate what they’re seeing is a huge change for Tiger. And now the chase of Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors is back on.
It wasn’t all gumdrops and rainbows though as the price of admission for me seeing Tiger return to his former glory was a shit ton of my own money. I had Brooks Koepka at +2,500 and Xander Schauffele as my longshot at +4,000 to win The Masters. Both of them finished ONE stroke behind Tiger. That hurt. Xander was a guy I bet on solely because of how confident my barber was in telling me to do so just a few weeks ago. So I thought well I’ll feel like a real schmuck if I ignore this divine intervention and Xander goes on to win. Welp, my guy was gunning for it late and missed a couple of putts, but would have at least gotten into a playoff or even won it outright if not for Tiger. Tiger picked a great day to pull a vintage performance out of his ass.
If you weren’t able to hide under your desk like me and watch the Red Sox World Series ring ceremony from Opening Day, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to see from yet another championship celebration.
Prior to today’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, the #RedSox reinstated 2B Dustin Pedroia from the 10-day injured list. To make room for Pedroia on the active 25-man roster, the club optioned INF Tzu-Wei Lin to Triple-A Pawtucket. pic.twitter.com/7URx08e1Px
LETS GOOO! It’s a balmy 39 degrees in Boston, Dustin Pedroia is back and it’s Opening Day at Fenway. For anyone that holds a grudge against Dustin Pedroia for the whole Manny Machado incident you gotta grow up. Was it a bad look? 1000% But the guy has done too much for this team and this city to get tossed out with yesterday’s garbage because of one shitty incident. Pedroia should want Machado dead because the guy ruined his career, but if he doesn’t want to get into it and would rather recuse himself from the whole situation then fine. Let Chris Sale throw missiles behind the guy’s ass for the next 5+ seasons. If it were me I’d take a bat to Machado’s head, but hey I’m a big time grudge guy I guess.
Lets not play revisionist history on Pedroia’s contract either. When he signed this extension it was universally applauded as a great deal for the Sox. In 2013 an MVP signing a $100M extension through the 2021 season was a bargain at the time. Sure his body has fallen apart, but when the guy is healthy he can still rake.
So I hope the Sox have learned his limits because you know Pedroia sure as shit hasn’t. The guy is most likely a platoon/DH player at this point in his career. And thats fine. Do what management is supposed to do; manage him. If you can get 120 games out of Pedroia and he hits close to .300 thats a big time success. What I don’t need to see is Pedroia playing nine innings at second base for the next 25 games in a row only to blow something out in May.
Yahoo – The New England Patriots have a new tight end from Germany. The Patriots have added Jakob Johnson to their organization as part of the NFL’s International Pathway Program. According to Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal, “if Johnson doesn’t make the Patriots 53-man roster, he’ll be granted an extra 11th spot on the team’s practice squad, but not eligible to be promoted.”
Johnson played tight end for the Stuttgart Scorpions in Germany last season. He tallied 43 receptions for 474 yards and four touchdowns, in addition to 12 tackles for the Scorpions in 2018. He’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds.
Johnson played college football at the University of Tennessee from 2014 to 2017. He showed some impressive versatility with the Volunteers, playing tight end, defensive line and offensive line. We know Patriots head coach Bill Belichick values players who can fill multiple roles/positions.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch, indeed.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch: Das deutsche Nachwuchstalent @JohnsonJakob hat einen Platz im Practice Squad der @patsdeutsch ergattert! 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
In what I will from here on out refer to as a Post Gronk world, the Patriots are suddenly thin as a triscuit at tight end. Maybe they saw the success the Celtics have had importing Daniel Theis AKA The Daniel Wall from the Deutschland. The Patriots have had some success dipping into Germany before though, most notably when they signed Sebastian Vollmer completely out of nowhere and the guy went on to become a stud. Unrelated, but should be noted, Seabass is now dabbling as sports commentator and is also chiseled from marble.
Earlier this month, @SebVollmer & @themarkuskuhn called the first regular season game broadcasted live to Germany from an NFL stadium.
So a closer look at Jakob Johnson, who is the prime hybrid prototype that Belichick loves so much, having played TE, DL, and OL at Tennessee. He is definitely not Gronk though. In fact he’s more like an extra lineman because he only caught 3 passes for 23 yards in 17 games over parts of 4 seasons at Tennessee. He also recorded 14 tackles in that same time. So not a lot of catches, but he did make the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times!
Last season he went over to Germany to play for his hometown Stuttgart Scorpions where he Balled. Out. Johnson had 43 receptions for 474 yards and four touchdowns so its not like the kid can’t catch, it seems like they just didn’t utilize him much as a receiver in college. Hey, Belichick turned a college wrestler into a 3x Super Bowl champ offensive lineman in Stephen Neal so I have faith Bill can make something of this kid too.
The 300s 