Jayson Tatum has already blessed Payton Pritchard with the honor of an official nickname and we’re only four games into the season. Is 8 Mile the most original nickname for a white boy playing ball? No, not really. But Pritchard does have the dark high fade buzz cut so he actually looks pretty similar to B-Rabbit.
Finkle is Einhorn, Einhorn is Finkle!
Plus if the nickname sticks then it’s definitely a future t-shirt we’ll cook up in the lab. More than anything though it gives me an excuse to post the 8 Mile rap battles every time Pritchard has a big game. Again it’s only been 4 games, but it’s looking like Danny may have hit on something here with the rookie PG out of Oregon (8.3 PPG in 22 MPG) so you may be seeing a lot of 8 Mile rap battle videos this season. 3-1-3!
Confronted by the devil himself, and stay strong You think you can take the King, now meet Kong Strong as the base of a mountain, there’s no counting How many MC’s, have sprung from our fountain
From the group that needs no introduction, this 2005 track “Biochemical Equation” comes off one of Wu Tang’s massive collaborative efforts, Wu Tang Meets The Indie Culture. This song in particular features verses from both RZA and indie legend MF Doom so there’s plenty of clever wordplay here. RZA really is a five tool player as a producer, rapper, and an actor with dozens of acting credits to his name, including a season on the wildly underrated Californication. Just a quick quarantine binge recommendation if you’re looking for a new show.
Now add this track to your iPod shuffle or just follow the #RushHourRap playlist on Spotify!
*Me speaking to my grandchildren in 2060*: You know everybody, there was a time, believe it or not, when it was perfectly acceptable to sit in your living room BY YOURSELF and get hammered, so long as there was a web cam on.
I’m of course already dating/aging myself as I don’t think anyone says “web cam” anymore. The need, for the most part, of an external device that provides you with video capability for a meeting/chat is gone. But my point still stands. From the work place to social lives, 2020 was the year of the virtual meeting.
To start, the introduction of quarantine was a huge test of “how much does your company fucking suck?” If you’re like me and have friends whose job satisfaction ranges from apathetic to “I hope I get t-boned on the ride in,” it was fascinating to watch which companies did what. Most did the right thing and just shut down the offices, which for some was a gigantic 180 from their normal stance on working from home. Some tried to avoid that drastic of an action and went to a reduced office presence with different people in on different days. I had one friend whose company just happened to have a half-filled office lying around an hour away and they sent some folk to work there for awhile. No big deal, just that added gas money and commuting time with no kind of stipend for it. For those of us who got to go full remote however, it was mostly for the first time. Do you put on pants? Do you gel your hair? Can you listen to ESPN in the background? So many questions with so little to guide us. I was in a particularly odd position as I actually started my job the first day of Charlie Baker’s lockdown here in MA. Never met a coworker in person, never got to see the office. To make matters even stranger for folks like me, companies have different policies on whether or not to even turn on the damn webcam. So I ended working with a string of mystery men and women like I’m a Charlie’s fucking Angel or something. Bizarre man.
The social scene was a different monster entirely. What happens when such a well oiled machine completely breaks down? When you want to meet up with your friends you go to their house or a bar, if you just are looking for some companionship for the night, the latter of the two. Those simple mechanisms disappeared, literally overnight on March 22nd. Now what? Our generation is arguably the most social yet and suddenly we were barred from being just that. Then video chatting sprang up to save the day. It was always there, but it received little use outside of long distance relationships hell bent on failing or for that one friend that moved to Boulder because “they liked the energy more.” Now Zoom, Google chat, etc. were the only way to share a beverage and a chat with your pals. It was weird at first. I think everyone can admit that. And then it just kind of became normal. Hell, an entire app, House Party, emerged just to facilitate conversations and games between friends who were locked down. Even if we couldn’t be together, we still gonna have a few brewskis, shit talk each other, maybe gossip a little, and if you’re anything like my friends, have food delivered mid fucking conversation. It added such a bizarre layer of disconnect that has been at once sad and entertaining.
On the social end, the video chats dried up back when things started opening up again, only to reappear over the past month or so amid a surge in cases. Who knows if this will remain a thing moving forward when folks just straight up don’t want to leave their houses or when you gather with friends and want to call that one friend who moved to Oregon to “be more with nature” (they work at a coffee shop). Who knows. All I know is what once would have been viewed as halfway to being a page out of a virtual version of “Eyes Wide Shut” is now the way friends stay in touch. And that aint a bad thing.
This really has just been a disaster of a season. The Patriots just got dunked on by the Buffalo Bills after going 29-3 against them between 2001-2019 with Tom Brady under center. It was a blowout, it was a changing of the guard, but to say it was embarrassing would imply that the end result was surprising. It was not. In the infamous words of Trent Dilfer, the Patriots aren’t good anymore. It’s the first time the Patriots have been swept in a season by a divisional opponent in 20 years, they are dead last in the NFL in passing TDs with 8 (one of which came from WR Jakobi Meyers), and the team is uncharacteristically undisciplined, which was only exacerbated by that head scratching challenge flag Belichick threw on what was clearly a catch directlyin front of him and his son.
Someone clearly told Bill to throw the red flag though so Ernie must be going blind up in that fucking lighthouse.
There is a lot of grave dancing, which is to be expected after the run the Patriots just went on over the last 20 years. But for people to already be comparing the Patriots to the Jets is hyperbole of the highest order. Lets just let this marinate for a little more than 15 weeks before locking the Pats in the NFL basement with the likes of the Jets. I fully expect Bill is going to Execute Order 66 this offseason and just start taking people out left and right because you can tell this season has stung, which can only be worsened seeing Tom Brady’s march to the playoffs down in Tampa. The Pats will have some of, if not the most, cap room in the league this offseason and a Top 15 draft pick so there are some assets there to work with. Whether that means trading up to snag a top tier QB, trading down and rebuilding with even more picks, or hoping another QB shakes loose in free agency, there are plenty of routes back to respectability. I will settle for respectability and then we can discuss returning to championship contender status at a later date.
The best the Patriots can hope for right now is a 2012 Seahawks scenario where they overpay for a backup QB free agent and then hit on a QB with a pick later in the draft. Best case scenario is the Pats sign Marcus Mariota, then draft a QB in the 3rd Round, and Mariota never takes a snap for the team. Similar to how the Seahawks and Pete Carroll gave career backup Matt Flynn a monster 3-year deal before realizing a few weeks later that they had hit the jackpot with Russell Wilson. But stumbling onto another Hall of Fame QB with a late round draft pick isn’t exactlyy probable so I can’t say I am expecting that.
What about former Washington QB Dwayne Haskins? The fastest a 1st Round QB has been outright cut by a team in the last 20 years. Nope. Moving on.
The Patriots unfortunately do not have a lot of elite talent and just about all of their best players are on the wrong side of 30. All of their best offensive players under 30 are linemen and runningbacks, which is why the running game is the only thing thats looked impressive at times. Tight ends we’ll get to in a minute, but the receiving corps is nothing I would bet money on. N’Keal Harry is looking like a gigantic bust and Damiere Byrd and Jakobi Meyers are nice 3rd or 4th receivers, but they are not true No. 1 guys. Things aren’t much better on the defensive side of the ball with their best players under 30 including guys like JC Jackson (who got robbed of a Pro Bowl this year), Chase Winovich, Deatrich Wise, and the book is still out but early signs have looked good on Josh Uche and Kyle Dugger. You can debate anyone I may have left out, but there’s not a lot of young elite talent on the roster except for Jackson (who sneaky got torched last night).
Cam Newton is a great dude, a seemingly beloved teammate, and he has been a model Patriot, but unfortunately he just looks cooked. I don’t know if it’s his shoulder or what, but he just cannot deliver the ball. It’s not all his fault though as the weapons around him have been more like Dollar Store Super Soakers. Even when he does deliver a good pass, he has bum receivers dropping balls like Byrd letting a would be TD bounce off his face mask.
Or rookie (3rd Round pick) TE Devin Asiasi dropping a key first down and adding to his grand total of Zero receptions on the season. Fellow 3rd Round TE Dalton Keene has a measly Two receptions on the year too so Tight End, a historically important position for young/new/mobile QBs, has been BARREN in New England.
Newton can still takeoff for an electric TD run though, which he did Monday night for his 12th of the year. However even that came after what realistically should have been another sack as Newton’s pocket presence and awareness has seemed non-existent this season. But even with the 2nd Most Rushing TDs by a QB in a season (trailing only himself in 2011 with 14), passing for just 5 touchdowns over 14 games simply isn’t going to cut it. I wish it had worked out better, I was really excited to see Cam as a Patriot, but it just hasn’t materialized. It’s not for a lack of effort or attitude, which has been admirable, but even the ever positive Newton sounded dejected after last night’s effort (5/10 for 34 yards, 47.6 QBR).
On Monday he looked exhausted and sounded frustrated. He has been away from his children for months, and not even an admirable work ethic and a team-first attitude has produced much.
“It’s extremely frustrating knowing what you’re capable of but it’s just not showing when it counts the most,” Newton said. “… I’ve sacrificed so much this year and it hurts when you have the outing that you had tonight …
“I’m more or less venting,” he acknowledged.
Jarrett Stidham: Alright down 20+ points, time for me to get in there and start slinging it!
To be fair, Jarrett Stidham, who it looked like might not even see the field, was also terrible, completing 4 of 11 passes for 44 yards with a QBR of 3.7. Again, this team is devoid of elite talent at Wide Receiver (Julian Edelman is still out with a knee injury) and Tight End so it’s hard to evaluate anybody under center, but lets just say Stidham does not appear to be like a young Aaron Rodgers with his path to playing time merely blocked by a former MVP veteran QB.
To make matters even worse, the commentators were borderline depressing too. They will usually try to carry a game broadcast during a blowout, but they were talking about Newton and the Patriots like a “too old to be in the ring” heavyweight boxer that they were legitimately concerned for. And this was with 10 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter. Quite a lot of time to fill as the broadcasters pondered the precarious future of the Patriots.
So we’ll see what the Patriots do and whether they attack the offseason like they did after 2006 when they spent big in free agency and made splashy trades for studs like Randy Moss and Wes Welker, but even then that team had elite building blocks already in place.
All we know is this: Bill has the cap space, an unusually high draft pick, and all the motivation in the world to turn this thing around. Now let’s just hope this is a rebuild and not a tear down.
Another day of #RushHourRap bringing you fresh tracks that you may or may not have heard before, but this is one you need to add to your rotation. Produced by Saud, featuring Shiloh Meets World and King Los, “Woman” is a slick, up tempo bass heavy track that just feels like a speeding down the highway kind of jam. So check it out or you can follow The 300s #RushHourRap playlist on Spotify below and we’ll curate it for you.
Never before has an actual, sort of physical thing become a metaphor for itself and the panic surrounding it.
As sports league were trying their damnedest to return from the hiatus Covid caused, the idea and then implementation of “the bubble” came to fruition. Using the NBA as an example, all players, coaches, staff, and anyone else allowed in were to stay in a designed area (I believe just the hotel and arena) and were only permitted to have contact with their team and whoever they saw on the court that night. That’s it. For as long as the rest of the season lasted, they could not see or interact with another soul.
Now, you see, there’s a problem with that. Because NBA players are used to traveling from one city and arriving at another already having lined up what is probably a laundry list of booty calls. From strip club daliances to hotel room rendezvous, the men in the NBA put in some serious work over the course of a season. I mean, there is a reason Wilt Chamberlain was believed to reach his 20,000th conquest before all was said and done. And that was before the DM. Lord have mercy.
So now you take that group of successful young men, who have so much money and fame, and who to their credit have a lot of stress they need to burn off, and you try and lock them in….”the bubble”. How was that ever going to work?
Nothing short of a litany of players were caught sneaking women into the bubble. A couple more were caught sneaking out of the bubble and going to strip clubs. Here we were, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, the NBA barely able to find a way to finish the season, and these guys were going to be damned if they weren’t going to get their Ds wet anyway. It’s inspiring really.
But no other defiance of bubble protocol, in any sport, holds a candle to that of Seattle Seahawks rookie cornerback Kehmah Siverand this past training camp. Or should I say, very much former Seattle Seahawks cornerback. Siverand, an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma State, risked the longshot opportunity that the Seahawks gave him for the almighty P, and lost his chance for it. But it wasn’t just that glaring lack of decision making ability that makes Siverand’s discretion the most notable. It’s the means by which he went about it. You see, rather than simply trying to skirt bubble security, the young lady accompanying Kehmah Siverand tried the old Trojan Horse-cum-guy on another guy’s shoulders approach. She dressed up in full Seahawks warm ups and basically tried to pass herself off as just a teammate of Siverand’s entering the hotel with him. Don’t mind me Mr. Security Officer sir, just about to go to sleep before a long day of training camping tomorrow. The only issue was that this lass was all of 5’2 and I’m guessing not muscular in build, as opposed to a normal NFL player who, no matter their height, are built like brick shit houses. Needless to say security wasn’t fooled and as alluded to earlier, Siverand was cut.
Although the bubbles are just about a thing of the past (the NHL has gone with a sort of macro concept of the bubble where each team is only playing their division) there are still protocols about where players can go and they are still being broken. Especially by James Harden. James Harden just hates rules and following them. So the lesson learned no matter how deadly of a plague we are facing, trying to keep pro athletes from the fairer sex is pointless. And quite frankly they are too large for any of us to protest. Let them live.
Recap: I’ve already found a trend that I don’t like: the 3 props I’ve incorrectly picked were the result of the player’s team playing too well. On Christmas, Jrue Holiday and company had no reason to play the 4th quarter, ending at 12 points in 25 minutes. It happened on Opening Night with Joe Harris and Kawhi Leonard, too. If only I could predict the potential blowout…
First Pick: James Wiseman O12.5 Pts vs CHI(-134)
Fact #1: The Bulls are allowing 23.5 points per game to the Center position early on.
Fact #2: Wiseman broke out the 3-point shot on Christmas, which is only going to give him more shot opportunities.
Fact #3: Wiseman has posted 19 and 18 points, respectively in his first two games against Brooklyn and Milwaukee, which feature better defensive big men than Chicago.
Fact #4: Draymond Green remains out, which just gives Wiseman more looks in Golden State’s offensive sets.
Second Pick: Kyrie Irving O2.5 Made 3Ptersvs CHA(-120)
Fact #1: Irving has posted 3-pt made totals of 4 (vs GSW) and 7 (vs BOS) through two games.
Fact #2: There are no other facts. Brooklyn has the spacing right now to get any shot they want and we should ride the waves until given a reason not to.
Third Pick is a 5-pt Teaser: Nets -5.5/Bucks -7.5 (-104)
Fact #1: Both teams are catching their opponents on the second half of back-to-back sets. The Hornets lost a last-second shot against the Thunder, while the Knicks were beat by the Sixers.
Fact #2: Both of these teams have put up big point totals to start (124.0 per game an 129.5, respectively). Not having the freshest of legs, I don’t see neither the Hornets, nor the Knicks keeping up by the time this game reaches the 4th quarter.
Recap: See, what had happened was no one can predict injuries, let alone Stafford suffering an ankle injury early in the first quarter that would naturally sink his completions prop, while also ensuring that Leonard Fournette would only have to play the first half because the Bucs were on fire. We wish Matthew a speedy recovery.
But it’s a new day! Yes, it is!
The First Pick: Miles Sanders O80.5 rushing yards vs DAL (-112)
Fact #1: The Cowboys have allowed 146.2 rushing yards per game over the last 5 weeks, which is the 2nd-most yards allowed over that span.
Fact #2: The Cowboys have allowed 3 RBs (Dalvin Cook, Antonio Gibson and Gus Edwards) to each eclipse 100 yards on the ground.
Fact #3: Miles did eclipse 81 rush yards against the Saints (115), so we know he can do this with Hurts being more mobile than Wentz.
Second Pick: D.K. Metcalf U70.5 receiving yards vs LAR (-112)
Fact #1: Jalen Ramsey is on the other side of the ball.
Fact #2: The last time Ramsey was on the other side of the ball, Metcalf was held to 4 targets and 2 catches for 28 yards.
Fact #3: Metcalf has posted totals of 61 (vs NYJ) and 43 (at WFT) over the past two weeks.
Third Pick: Jalen Hurts O1.5 passing TDs vs DAL (+100)
Fact #1: The only QBs not to pass for at least 2 scores against Dallas this season are Jared Goff (Week 1), Daniel Jones (Week 5), Alex Smith (Week 12) and Brandon Allen (Week 14). Yes, that means Wentz threw 2 scores on Dallas in the first meeting!
Fact #2: Hurts is coming off a 3-pass TD game against Arizona and this game could very much mirror that one for him.
Fourth Pick: Justin Herbert O24.5 completions vs DEN (-112)
Fact #1: In the first matchup, he totaled 29 back in Week 8, albeit with Keenan Allen in the lineup.
Fact #2: Mahomes (25), Bridgewater (30) and Josh Allen (28) have each completed 25+ passes on Denver’s defenses over the last 3 weeks.
Fact #3: Herbert has completed 25+ passes in three of his last 4 games.
Bonus: With many receivers down in this Browns-Jets game, I have to put a sprinkle on fellow Owl Harrison Bryant to score a TD (+300)
Recap: After a disappointing start with the Saturday games, DeAndre Hopkins and Rashard Higgins provided us with a 3-0 Sunday/Monday bounce back.
Today’s Pick:Matthew Stafford O23.5 completions vs TB (-112)
Fact #1: Tampa has allowed the 4th-most completions over the past five weeks (33.5 per game), despite only playing four games in this span.
Fact #2: Since Week 7, Teddy Bridgewater (18 in Week 10) is the only opposing QB that hasn’t reached at least 24 completions vs TB.
Fact #3: Stafford is averaging 25.3 completions over his last four, including 24+ in three of those contests.
Second Pick: Leonard Fournette O65.5 rushing yards vs DET (-118)
Fact #1: The Bucs are again without Ronald Jones.
Fact #2: Over the last three weeks, the Lions have allowed David Montgomery (72), Aaron Jones (69) and Derrick Henry (147) to all eclipse 65 rushing yards.
Fact #3: Fournette turned 14 rushes in 49 yards and two scores last week against a much better run defense in Atlanta, so one can reasonably assume he reaches his total against a struggling run defense.
Recap: Domantas Sabonis reminded us that PFs are going to continue to give the Knicks trouble this year and Rudy Gobert showed the world why he deserved that contract extension.It’s a nice feeling when both player props cash well before the 4th quarter.
First Christmas Pick: Jrue Holiday O16.5 points vs GSW (-120)
Fact #1: Holiday’s Bucks’ debut went well: 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting against a defensive-minded Celtics team.
Fact #2: The Warriors are not a defensive-minded team with this supporting cast around Steph, especially with Draymond being ruled out again today.
Fact #3: Warriors surrendered 26 points to Kyrie Irving in just over 25 minutes of play. Holiday’s only worry in this game is how much he plays in the second half because of the potential rout that could happen early.
Second Christmas Pick: Nets -1 1st quarter vs BOS (-110)
Fact #1: “The preseason doesn’t matter” but the Nets treated it like a real game and blitzed the Celtics out the gate prior to their season opener against Golden State.
Fact #2: The Nets were +15 in the first quarter of their season opener against the Warriors — a quarter in which Steph Curry played all 12 minutes.
Fact #3: In Boston’s season opener against Milwaukee — a solid offense in their own right, but not at Brooklyn’s level — they trailed by three after the first quarter. Boston also ranked 21st in 1st quarter scoring a season ago (26.9)
Fact #4: Kyrie is hopefully going to sage the building (again!) and the Nets are going to back him in a game that we all know he really wants to win.
The 300s 