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I've been debating how I want to approach this year's "Best of Music" blog since Apple Music and Spotify posted people's year end data nearly a month ago. I'm not fan of "year end" data being released on December 1st when there's an entire month left in the year.
Maybe it's because I was born in mid-December, but I don't think it's fair to write off 1/12 of the year in reference when talking about the best songs from said year. I'm still a '91 baby even if I was only around for two weeks of it.
With my background in the education field I look at years in a school year sense, but with music I respect the Gregorian Calendar. I called "It's Not Living If It's Not With You" by 1975 my song of 2018 when it didn't come out in the U.S. until December because at the time it was my favorite song of 2018. To avoid recency bias like that and previous years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 ) in January I made a playlist called "2020 New Tunes" to dump songs I liked from this year into to sift through in December for my blog. I thought it'd make this year end blog much easier; little did I know there were a few things in store to make the prospect of reminiscing about 2020 sound as appealing as Sunday Wets.
Since the data showed me that most of the music I listened to in 2020 was in fact not from 2020.
I figured I'd procrastinate even more (since I have a few days) with my Best of 2020 playlist/blog...
And give you the songs that the data says were my favorites in 2020. The playlist is linked to that tweet. If you don't have Apple Music too bad, so sad.
Here's the backstory of how some of these songs made that list.
Winds Change by Orville Peck
"It's Too Late To Turn Back Now" by Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
"Hey Nineteen" by Steely Dan
"Starman" by David Bowie
"Hold On" by Wilson Phillips
"Three Small Words" by Josie and the Pussycats
"Wannabe" by The Spice Girls
Lastly in the ub**, everybody might've been masked up, but it was still the Summer of Sailing.
Of all the crazy shit that has happened this year, the fact that nobody in my car said a word about subjecting them to Christopher Cross' Sailing up four straight times might takes the cake.
P.S. Sorry this blog and what feels like everything the last few months have sucked. Like I said the other day I'm in the blogging yips right now and a bit of a life funk. I'm really mad at myself for "wasting" this time off from school to not blog more, but as Marshawn Lynch would say my mentals are not in the best spot. Thank God 2020 is almost over so all my problems will instantly go away!
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Hockey is not exactly my bag, but when news like this drops, you stop working on your "best of 2020 music" blog that you've been putting off writing for two weeks to blog it.
Chara posted this video to his IG to thank the city and people who've helped and supported him over these last 14 years.
I'm no Scottie Bowman, but I just don't understand this from the B's perspective. Did the Bruins not get their PPP loan? I get it Chara is 43 years old, but I feel like willingly letting a franchise icon walk out the door for less than a million bucks is a hashtag bad organization move.
This dude was the heart and soul of the Boston Bruins for 14 years, helped them end a 39 year Stanley Cup drought and played in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals with a goT damn broken jaw and this is the thanks he gets? A news dump on New Years Eve-Eve?
I'm not saying Chara is still an elite talent, but this team already lost Torey Krug in free agency. What are they supposed to do now? (this is where reading a real hockey blogger would be ideal) Then again, what else would you expect from an organization that fired its Stanley Cup winning coach during the Patriots Super Bowl Parade? One major reason I no longer loosely follow the Bruins like I did prior to 2015 when they traded Dougie Hamilton (two years after giving up on Tyler Seguin) is the Jacobs Family. This is a scumbag move to treat such an important part of this franchise's history like Olive Garden take out. I'm sure John Henry loves it and has already called to congratulate the Jacobs on saving 800K.
P.S. 2020 didn't hear no bell!
Double P.S.
I'll gladly be mad at management if you want me to, but IMO these decisions all come down to ownership, they have the final say. Again, not a hockey guy so I don't want to look ignorant, but I'll pass a buck with the best of them. 
With one week left in the 2020 NFL Regular Season, only seven of the now 14 playoff tickets have been punched. There's still two divisions yet to be decided (AFC South and NFC East) and no AFC Wild Card team has clinched. Tampa Bay is the only guaranteed NFC Wild Card with the Cardinals, Rams and Bears fighting for the final two spots. There's a possibly of an 11-5 Colts being on the outside looking in, with the 6-10 New York Giants hosting a playoff game. With only one bye in each conference this year, some teams already announced they'll use Week 17 to rest players going into the playoffs.
With one game remaining, besides it being these gentlemen's vocation, there's still statistical milestones and records left to play for as well. Recently, I wrote about five of them that still had life going into the final 18.75% of the season. Let's see where they stand going into Week 17.
Passing Yards Going Into Week 17: 4,740
Between Kansas City already clinching the AFC's #1 seed (for the second time in three years) and Andy Reid implying that he's going to rest some starters, I highly doubt we'll see Patrick Mahomes for more than a half of football Week 17. I'd guess at some point later this we'll learn that Chad Henne is starting against the Chargers.
Even with two straight subpar passing days by his standards (254 and 287 yards respectively) Patrick "I stay endorsing subpar brands" Mahomes has 5,000 yards within reach. He's currently just 260 yards away from 5K with 4,740 yards through Week 16. The Chiefs have won 10 games in a row and despite looking "off" the last few weeks, they're widely considered the best team in the NFL. Then again, so were the Ravens last year... If Peyton Manning's Colts, 2011 Green Bay Packers or 1996 Denver Broncos have shown us anything, it's that rust can be more damaging than the benefits of rest going into the playoffs with a bye. This one is all about whether or not Mahomes starts. I totally get wanting to risk injury in a "meaningless" game and that health going into the playoffs trumps all, but I'd be a little worried about the rust factor given how much the Chiefs have slept walk through their last few games; even with one of the game's most electric athletes. They were a 39 yard field goal away from overtime against the fucking Falcons. The Chiefs are super lucky to have gotten out of that one alive. If Mahomes plays a half I still think there's like a 35% chance he puts up 260 +, but gun to my head Mahomes gets the added rest. Ring #2 > 2nd 5,000 yard season. 
Rushing Yards Going Into Week 17: 1,777
In the two weeks since this blog, Derrick Henry has rushed for a more than respectable 245 yards to bring his season total up to 1,777. Basic math would tell us Derrick is "only" 223 yards away from reaching the 2,000 yard mark with a game to go. Even with the Titans playing in a win and you're in game against the Texans and their poor run defense, 223 is a tall order for any back; even the best in the NFL.
Considering that Tracorito has only rushed for over 223 yards once in his career (238 against the Jaguars in 2018 when he broke a 99 yard run) I'd say there's like an >80% chance we don't see 2,000 yard from #22. If you are rooting for 2K for Tracorito I do have some good news for you; the Texans have allowed over 223 rushing yards in three games this season, including 263 to the Titans in their Week 5 matchup. 
Passing Touchdowns Going Into Week 17: 44
After only throwing one touchdown pass against the Panthers in Week 15, it seemed like Aaron's chances at 50 touchdown passes were as dead as his relationship with his family. #lowhangingfruit
Then against the Titans in a game where I bet with my heart instead of my head, A-a-ron threw four more TDs to up his total 44 on the season. The Packers still have not officially clinched the NFC's #1 seed and face their oldest and most hated rival, the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Week 17 so there will be no resting like 2011 (the last time the Packers were the 1 seed). While the division isn't on the line like their infamous 2013 matchup; both teams still have seeding at stake. With a win the Packers clinch home field throughout the playoffs for the first time since 2011. A Bears win would clinch them the NFC's 7 seed; the Bears can still sneak into the playoffs with a loss if the Rams (w/o Jared Goff) beat the Cardinals. I was literally about to type you never know what you're going to get in Packers-Bears, but that just simply isn't true....Aaron Rodgers is 20-5 (including the playoffs) against the Bears. Like Derrick Henry, this would require Aaron to go TF off, but like like Derrick Henry, I think Aaron is more than capable of doing so. Rodger's has two career regular season games with 6 touchdown passes and his most recent one came against....the Chicago Bears....in 2014. 
Touchdown Receptions Going Into Week 17: 7
Bruce Arians has already said that the Bucs are going to "play to win" in Week 17 against the Falcons, but that could mean literally anything. After pulling Brady for the entire second half against the Lions, nothing would shock me from Mr. "No Risk it, No Biscuit" Bruce Arians.
Gronk didn't score any touchdowns in Week 15, but had two catches for two TDs against the Lions last week to bring his total to 7 for the season. Gronk has three career regular season games with 3 touchdown receptions, but the most recent one came in Week 1 of the 2015 season. Unless Brady is actively trying to get Gronk to double digit TDs I just don't see Gronk finding the end zone thrice. As much as I'd love to see the Bucs go full send for #87, if there's anybody who should be resting Week 17, it's Gronk. 
Forced Fumbles Going Into Week 17: 8
Marlon Humprey has yet to force a fumble since this blog was posted, but with how unpredictable fumbles are, I sure as shit am not writing this young man off when he's already forced 8 fumbles this season.
Like the Titans, Dolphins and Browns; the Ravens are also in a "win and you're in" scenario for the 2020(-21) playoffs. One would assume the Ravens are going to play "balls to the wall" to ensure victory against an underachieving divisional foe who recently beat the Steelers and Texans. One of Humprey's 8 FF came against the 4-10-1 Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5. In a weird way I feel like this is the least and most possible of all the potential stats referenced in this blog. This dude already has two games with multiple forced fumbles this season and again...it's the Bengals. Like Kevin Garnett and later Andy Samberg once said "Anything is Possible."
Are there any milestones within reach that I missed? Do you think any of these will actually happen? Sound off in the comments below!
I'll be the first to admit the odds were not in his favor (signed in July, no preseason, awful supporting cast, caught the Rona, fugly new uniforms, questionable play-calling, etc.) but it's safe to say the Cam Newton experiment has not worked out for the New England Patriots.
In 14 starts, Cam is 6-8 and has failed to reach 100 yards passing four times; this is in the high-flying, all the rules favor the offense, 18 QB have over 3,000 yards NFL. During the Tebowmania craze of 2011 when many sports analysts and nobodies on twitter were incorrectly calling Tim Tebow the worst QB of all time, he only failed to reach 100 yards passing twice. Cam's only thrown five touchdowns this season; the same number as recently released, Dwayne Haskins and he did so in half the games. Even Joe Flacco has thrown six!
Last night the Pats lost to the Bills 38-9 on Monday Night Football to officially clinch their first losing season since 2000. Despite praising J.J. Watt for his work ethic in a blog posted hours before kickoff, I do not get paid to watch games (yet) and had to turn away early.
Before I called it quits on MNF to watch Music and Lyrics on HBO Max for the 3rd time in two weeks, I too saw the graphic that got twitter buzzing last night.
There's a million angles here. You could make a hacky wake and bake joke. You could point out the unlikelihood of Cam going from alarm going off to leaving the house in 10 minutes flat. How can he plan his outfits in that short of time? You could bring attention to fact that waiting 3 hours and 40 minutes to drink your first coffee of the day is as inefficient as his passing numbers. All would play and all are valid.
I'm not going to stress myself out trying to punch my keyboard in a combination that will generate the most laughs and just point out the most obvious issue of all time: Cam Newton is getting less than five hours of sleep a night. I'm not the late William C. Dement, who according to wikipedia is the father of sleep medicine, but maybe that's why Cam's been such a disappointment this season? He's exhausted! No wonder why he was so cranky in the postgame presser.
Who can blame him getting less than 35 hours of a sleep a week?
For years the idea of the guy who was the first to show up and the last to leave have been praised as a high level of dedication. There has been this false narrative that the only way to be a winning coach or player is to essentially live at the facility. The less you knew about your wife and kids the better in the eyes of NFL. Maybe this works for some guys, but not everybody. Do you really need to study film 17 hours a day? Work smarter, not harder ever heard of it? I don't care how much coffee or adderall someone is taking; how effective can you really be on 4 hours of sleep every night? It's same thing with not allowing water breaks in the heat of training camp and not wearing gloves/long sleeves in the snow. Tom Landry didn't let his receivers wear gloves for the Ice Bowl because it would be "soft". It was so cold that Bob Hayes had his hands in his pants on all run plays. Nothing says soft like being able to feel your hands that are essential for doing your job. 
Yeah, Vince Lombardi had a legendary work ethic and was incredibly before his time with his acceptance of black and gay players. Those are traits that should be admired and certainly lead to his success, but he also refused certain medical treatment in the years leading up to his death from cancer that may have saved his life or at least prolonged it because he didn't want a scope shoved up his lightly lubricated ass. My point is this; trying to be a tough guy in football or any walk of life with "look how early I get up before work" isn't cool and should not be praised. Do people brag that they only charge their cell-phone up to 35% or put eight gallons in their tank too?
P.S.
I saw Bill throw his phone too before watching Music and Lyrics.
Yesterday #TooManyLegs dropped to 6-9 on the season in a pitiful 3-5 showing. It's what I get for not doing write-ups for each pick, but excuse me for being in the midst of a terrible case of the blogging yips (details to come in later post...maybe).
One of the five legs that failed us was Texans -1.5 against the Cincinnati Bengals. I assumed the Texans (DeShaun Watson) would be able to beat the Brandon Allen lead Bengals, who were coming off the high of defeating their hated rival Steelers on MNF the week before.
Instead, I should've taken a deep breath and used my brain to see the obvious; an awful 4-10 team should (probably) not be a 7.5 point favorite against an awful 3-11-1 team. Teasing them down to -1.5 did not give me or the handful of people riding #TooManyLegs the desired wiggle room needed for a successful teaser! In an actually sort of fun, back and forth game between 10 loss clubs, the Texans fought back after trailing all game to briefly hold a 31-27 lead before ultimately falling to the Bengals, 37-31. Following the loss, a reporter asked J.J. how he and the Texans would bounce back for Week 17. J.J. responded with this:
Do I look down my nose and think I'm better than people who enjoy Imagine Dragons and Big Bang Theory like J.J. Watt? Of course I do. Have I made fun of J.J. in the past for being cornier than a porta-potty at a 4th of July cook out? You bet your sweet, sweaty ass I have. I referenced his lame Red Ryder BB Gun line in a blog just last month! Does part of me think a tiiiny bit of this is a show for the cameras? I'd be lying if I said no, but at the end of the day what J.J. said is right and exactly what you want to hear out of professional athletes. It doesn't matter how good or bad your team is; if you're still getting paid, you need to do everything you can to perform at your absolute best. I do believe this is genuine, I just also believe that J.J. isn't going to go out of his way to stop this from going viral.
Before this awful year started, I put waaaaayy too much of my self worth into being a Boston sports fan. I cared too much. If you asked me to describe myself, my fandom would've been one of the first things I said about who I was as a man; just ask anybody who saw me on tinder from 2013-early 2020. 2020 has been a wake up call about what really matters in life and despite becoming a little woke about such, I can't turn my back entirely on what I spent decades of my life investing time, emotions, and money into. Because what J.J. said is right; no matter how bad the team may be, people still care. I still care about sports. Fuck man, it's what I have based my entire life around in a way. I just don't have that spark anymore; not like I did last year, or five years ago, but I still care about sports. I spent years of my life trying to sell people on baseball. I felt like a Red Sox spokesperson at times telling my friends about how great this game is, but the heartbreak of trading Mookie Betts hurt me more than any on the field loss could because of what it represents. It broke decades of love. I've accepted that plenty of people have moved on from trading Mookie and will go back to Fenway to spend hundreds of dollars on obstructed view seats, cafeteria food and watered down beer the second it opens to root for the laundry, but I cannot. I cannot help line the pockets of people who decided it's time to tighten their belt when generational talent is supposed to get what they're worth. How am I supposed to invest my time, energy and money into a team that is run by people who care more about profits than play on the field? It's same when rooting for a team who doesn't try their absolute best when they're playing. I cannot get behind a team who would rather trade generational talent than open up the checkbook WHILE HAVING A HISTORY OF FRIVOLOUS SPENDING. 
Just fucking care, that's all J.J. is saying. If the Red Sox actually cared about the fans and not profits, I'd still be a Red Sox fan. Before you bitch about "well they've won four World Series this century" read a blog.
J.J. actually cares about the fans who are responsible for professional sports being a multi-billion dollar industry. He's saying even if you aren't performing well as a team, the least you can do is try your best every time you step out on the field. You at least owe us (the fans) that. If you aren't willing to do that, then yeah, you don't deserve to be a pro. I get it, sports are a business and teams/owners have no loyalty to the players who help create/maintain their unimaginable wealth or even the city of fans who support them. 
Sure, J.J. can be a hardo at times, but I'd rather have a team full of hardos who give too much of a shit than guys like James Harden (who as of December 28th, 2020, share a city with J.J.), who have been given everything from an organization and actively try to sabotage things to get their way out when don't want to be there anymore.
You don't think J.J. Watt would love to be in Pittsburgh with his brothers right now trying to win a Super Bowl instead of trying to tackle Samaje Perine? He could've mailed it in and I don't think anybody would've blamed him, but he has a responsibility to his team, teammates, coaches, and most importantly the fans because without them professional leagues like the NFL would not be worth billions that they are today. So I raise a metaphorical Guinness to you J.J. for using the media to call out your teammates, trash ass organization and any other pro athletes who don't give a shit about anything other than themselves. If the people who (in a way) pay your salary still care, then you owe it to them to care too. I feel bad that J.J.'s prime was wasted with such an irrelevant franchise, but as I say that, it's not irrelevant. There's millions of people out there who care about the Houston Texans and I appreciate J.J. for actually caring about them.
2020 has been.....less than ideal, but I hope everybody had a Wonderful Christmastime. If you were riding #TooManyLegs Week 15 at least you had some extra money for presents/rent!
I'm not saying that the 6-8, +50 unit #TooManyLegs Teaser of the Week has done more to help those in need during a Pandemic than the United States government, but if you want to I'm not going to stop you; that's your right as an American. Last week, I replied to a tweet about teasers and picked up a substantial amount of followers (5) in the process.
Triple digits here I come! #HireDozo
To all those who have finally caught wind of #TooManyLegs, thank you.
Previous Weeks:
Week 2 and 3 Week 4 Week 5; (booo Bengals) Week 6 Week 7; (Week 7 victory recap) Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13; (Victory recap) Week 14 Week 15; (victory recap)
Unfortunately, this late in the season there aren't too many legs left to pick from. I want to say we only have two full Sunday slates left, but it doesn't really feel that way with four games already played in Week 16. I'll be fully transparent and say that I don't like the board today. I don't. We've got match ups uglier than the faces of Prohibition.
I'm not here to make excuses, I'm here to tease fuck out of some games, something ya boi has done with great success this season. Here's some more full transparency from your favorite future barstool blogger; I've been shitting my brains out all my morning thanks to some of the official pizza of the NFL, so no writes-ups this week. Sorry for the late posting! Let's see which teams do or don't have the firepower to get into the 20s!
Best of luck and as always, please wager responsibly.
Song of the Day used to be a DOL staple to signify the start of the blogging day, but has been phased out the last few years. Without digging into the archives, I honestly have no idea when they sort of just stopped being a daily thing, but as a music man, I miss them, so I just decided right here, right now like Jesus Jones that DOL Song of the Day will make its full-time return to DOL in 2021.
As for riiight now, I'm supposed to be distance teaching and definitely not going out to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Soooo there may not be any fresh blogs following this Song of the Day, but ya boi really wanted to share so low-fi Christmas cheer. I'm happy to announce DOL Song of the Day is BACK with what I would have to technically classify as a cross-genre cover. If you enjoy this there's plenty more Christmas Mac where that came from. Merry Christmas! Song: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Artist: Mac DeMarco
Double P.S.
Here's an extra couple servings of Christmas Mac.
For second time in three weeks and the sixth time this season, the DOL Too Many Legs Teaser of the Week is cashin' out!
While we did improve to 6-8 on the year and give the people some extra Christmas cash, before we go any further, I need to apologize for providing faulty information prior to kickoff.
I pride myself on statistical accuracy (clearly grammar doesn't keep me up at night) and made the mistake of assuming Matthew Stafford was out after hearing it somewhere in my rushed research process. I honestly don't even know where I heard it, I just know I did and ran with it; without fact-checking. I am truly sorry. Even though the Titans still won by 22 points; you deserve better from your favorite Barstool hopeful.
It's an inexcusable mistake, but I'm gonna peel back the curtain in my process of creating #TooManyLegs every Sunday.
Of course I'd love to spend my entire week researching these picks to provide write-ups for each game that are witty, insightful and most importantly lead to winners, but time is of the essence. Due to the uncertainty of the schedule and player availability due to COVID, I hold off until Sunday morning to do the lion share of my research. Sometimes the writing suffers because of my proactive-procrastination. With a "real job" that takes up a lot of my time and energy, I don't want to waste time looking into a game only for it to get cancelled or for a star player to be knocked out thanks to COVID. I constantly go back and forth between wanting provide witty, insightful write ups and just giving picks. Obviously when I have all my eggs in the Barstool basket, I want the writing quality to be much better than it has been, but in the gambling game people don't care about a shitty pun, they care about winners; at least at this level. That's why I mixed in no write ups for a few weeks, but have realized forcing myself to do a little research tends to lead to better picks. Who would've ever guessed? Do you want a little haha or do you want winners? Ideally I'd like to give both, but this season due to time restrictions this is the way it is. When you only have twoish hours to research and get the blog out (because waking up before 10 AM would only make matters worse) this is the result you get. Admittedly, part of me likes it this way because it's more authentic to who I am. I'm a wait until the last minute guy and I don't want to suffer paralysis by analysis. Sometimes "I just have a feeling" or "these teams should find a way to get into the 20s" should be all the explanation a person needs. I'm sure nobody really gives a shit about that or my war against my brain, but I just had to get it out and this (my blog that I've ran for five years) is the place to do so.
As for the legs this week, we had Colts -1, Titans -3, Bucs -0.5, Bears/Vikings OVER 41, Seahawks -0.5, in the 1 pm slots; Cardinals/Eagles OVER 43.5 and Jets/Rams UNDER 50.5 in the late afternoon window and Browns -0.5 to close it out during Sunday Night Football.
After the Colts held an early 14-0 lead, I thought I could focus elsewhere, only for the Texans to make it a game. I almost didn't take this game because I was worried about the DeShaun Watson factor, but luckily his teammates let him down, again. Houston had a chance to tie or take the lead late in the 4th quarter and it nearly looked like they would until Darius Leonard had other ideas.
Of all the 1 PM games, the Bucs gave me the most trouble and were the main spot of my focus. Down 17-0 at half, like everybody else on twitter, I too was thinking about the Falcons track record of blowing games but didn't make any hacky jokes for free retweets. While the Falcons history did help me believe we were never dead with this bet, another Bucs 17-0 comeback that I was on the right side in Week 4 gave me peace of mind that Brady could it off. After all, the Chargers and the Falcons are the same team. Luckily the Falcons did what they do best and blew a game that saw their win probability surpass the 95% level in the 2nd half.
Right as the Bucs were coming back, so was the Football Team against Seattle. The Seahawks were up 20-3 going into the 4th quarter...
Only for their trash-ass "I still think you're good because you're the Seahawks" defense to nearly blow the game late against Dwayne "don't call me Carol" Haskins. It was 20-15 Seahawks when the Football team had the ball on Seattle's 23 yard line with over a minute to play before two straight sacks and an incompletion ended the game. I feel bad for those who had Seahawks -6.5 after failing to cover up 17, but this is why we tease!
Talk about hitting a nail right on the head in Minnesota. It was nice to have a game I didn't have to pay attention to while worrying about the two aforementioned contests.
Points were not a problem in Arizona. Told you we'd see a Big 12 shootout.
How can you not love Larry Fitzgerald?
God Bless the J! E! T! S! Jets! Jets! Jets! It wasn't easy, but I survived their first win of the season and under 50.5. The real under ended up hitting, but in the midst of four straight scoring drives in the 3rd quarter I had to hedge.
With all seven legs accounted for and Browns -0.5 (essentially a pick 'em) all that remained between a +1000 payout, I made the calculated decision to hedge with Giants ML to guarantee myself a nice Sunday either way. Had I known this was their secret to keeping up with the Browns offense I would've just let it ride. Browns went on to win 20-6 in a game that felt like 40-6 due to the Giants anemic offense.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is how the Too Many Legs Teaser of the Week got to 6-8 on the season. This week is super weird with four games before Sunday, so I might end up posting a teaser a little earlier this week; although with Christmas and my history of procrastination, I'll probably just see you Sunday. Stay tuned either way! #HireDozo
P.S.
This just came out during my proof-reading stages...R.I.P. Kevin Greene
Everybody has their own routines to get their head right before going about their business.
Ray Lewis used to throw a temper tantrum and do some light gardening to get in the mood to make 10 tackles and 12 inspirational speeches every Sunday for 17 years. 
Nomar Garciaparra made it his duty to make sure the OCD community felt seen three, four, sometimes even five times a night.
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher and Cillian Murphy stand-in, Tyler Glasnow used to get fired up before starts by looking at pictures of convicted felon, Martin Shkreli.
Apart from the hilarious mental image of a borderline male model grinding his teeth looking at pictures of Martin Shkreli in the clubhouse, this actually makes a lot of sense.
This year has shined a spotlight on the issues facing mankind and society. I believe it all starts with the distribution of wealth. Hell, it's why I'm not a Red Sox fan anymore. The Rays just made the World Series while boasting about paying their players entry-level wages with benefits that don't set in until 90 days.
So at first glance, to me, it sorta made sense that one of the best players on perhaps the most famous penny-pinching team in all of sports holds a liiittle animosity towards phama bros with extremely punchable faces, who exploit people for their own benefit while raking in monster profits. Then I did a little bit of research and it turns out, like most pretty white boys, Mr. Glasnow is a huuuuge fan of the Wu-Tang Clan and rap in general. Dude has a tattoo of ODB on the bottom of his foot (odd placement, but do you). 
For comparision.
Which naturally poses the question: Did Tyler Glasnow get fired up looking at pictures of Martin Shreki because he doesn't like how he jacked up the cost of prescriptions and was sentenced to seven years behind bars in an unrelated incident?
OR Does Glasnow love Wu-Tang Clan so much that just looking at the picture of a man who bought the only copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and threatened to snap it in half adds another MPH or two to his fastball? 
Unfortunately, it looks like Glasnow has moved on from using Shkreli as a motivator.
With the increase of "untraditional" journalism and player interactions, I'm sure that someone will get down to the bottom of Glasnow's distain for Martin Shkreli in a podcast or postgame interview. For now, take solace in knowing that professional athletes with good start good looks aren't that much different from you, me and all other third estate plebs who hate those whomst profit off the pain and misery of others!
December 20th, 2020 had the chance to be a changing of the guard date in NFL history. The New England Patriots 11 year playoff streak officially came to an end when they lost to the Dolphins 22-12 in Miami. At 6-8, Bill Belichick will not tie Tom Landry's record of 20 straight winning seasons.
Their hated division rival, the 0-13 New York Jets had a chance to drop another game in their pursuit of Trevor Lawerence against the 9-4 NFC West leading Los Angeles Rams. As 17 point underdogs, I'm sure there's even men in the Jets locker room who were expecting to lose. The Jets lead 20-3 at one point, but LA was able to get within three at 23-20. It sorta felt like even though Dr. Heat was gone, his ghost may lead the Jets to another late game collapse. Until this happened... 
I haven't seen such a valiant effort to actively hurt a franchise by it's own player like this since Scott Pippen checked himself out in 1994 NBA Playoffs when I was two years old.
Thanks to Marcus Maye's full extension PBU, the Jets will not go 0-16. I'm sure the fanbase is thrilled to know they won't be a part of that distinction.
Going into Sunday Night Football#TwoManyLegs Week 15 is still very much alive thanks in part to the Rams/Jets UNDER 50.5 cashing out. Sure, my diagnostics of why the game will go under couldn't have been more wrong. 
Even though I hedged with live OVER 45.5 during the 3rd quarter when there was three straight scoring drives, I'll take 7-0 with a chance at +1000 units minus some hedging with Browns -0.5. I actually hedged with Giants ML after that rollercoaster, so it's profitable day either way for the boi.
It's just so perfect that 68 year old Frank Gore's first down could end up being the play that costs the Jets for the next 15 years. What a great metaphor for so many of life's major problems.
So, congratulations on the win, Jets! You will not be 0-16. What a sigh of relief!
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