Football starts up again and the Ebbtide Crew put another podcast out for plenty of debatable topics. Let’s dig in! Five NFL teams had new starting Quarterbacks for their team and four of them lost their first game of the season. The shocker is that the least paid QB out of the newbies won their game, that being Cam Newton. Coach Belichick almost seems giddy when he talks about Cam. He has been a fan of the mobile quarterback and attempted to transition to having one of his own, but when you have the of the greatest QBs of all time continuing to play at a high level and winning you Super Bowls, I guess you have to go with the flow.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens picked up right where they left off. For 2 straight games against the Chiefs, the Texans allowed 28+ unanswered points to be scored on them. The Ravens appeared to be even more dominating on defense than last year, even with the subtraction of Earl Thomas from their secondary. The Tennessee Titans played a great game, but you wouldn’t know it on the account of their kicker, Stephen Gostkowski missing 3 field goals and an extra point. Being that this is Batman’s team, I can only imagine the horror of watching this monstrosity of a kicking game as the last game on Monday Night Football.
Perhaps the greatest game of them all was the Saints ruining the coming out party for Tom Brady. Brady made his debut for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while the first drive looked promising. The majority of the following drives were filled with miscues and small glimpses of what kind of potential this team can has. However, let’s not overlook this Saints victory. Drew Brees was the usual field general while our defense proved to be problematic for the Bucs. Having Janoris “Jackrabbit” Jenkins starting at corner is a significant upgrade over Eli Apple. He will not be sorely missed, but his mother, Annie, is a treasure.
As a Saints fan, it came up on the podcast that we can be an annoying bunch. I get it, we are petty first of all and we are a passionate fan base. What you can’t say about us is that we’re unrealistic. We will be the first to tell you that our own team stinks. After years of being the ‘Aints, there is part of you asa fan that thinks our competitive and winning ways can end at any moment. This feeling of hope while watching a game can leave you exhausted when its over. Besides, being from New Orleans, the Tideking (Raiders fan) and Batman (Titans fan) should know by now that their annoyance does not come from Saints fans, it comes from being friends with Saints fans. Our competitive urgency has been top tier under the Payton-Brees Administration. While the Raiders and Titans continue to establish and re-establish themselves, one can only compliment on the steps and strides these 2 teams continue to make. With that said, Raiders can eat shit when the Saints get in that ass this coming Monday Night.
*****
Don’t look now, but too much [Miami] Heat in the East has caused a lot of pressure on some teams. They took out the Bucks with ease, and they are now poise to disappoint the higher seeded Boston Celtics as well leading the series 2-0. Pat Riley has managed to surround Jimmy Butler with a team of lunch pail characters that have the sole purpose of doing their job. With only one loss so far in the playoffs, no other team has figured out a way to consistently get the better of them.
The Denver Nuggets are proving to be the Dobermans of the playoffs. This type of guard dog will let you come into their house, let you believe you are stealing valuable items, and when you attempt to leave, that is when all hell breaks loose. For 2 playoff series in a row, the Utah Jazz and the LA Clippers were convinced that they were stealing their series going up 3-1. Oh no, the Nuggets wouldn’t let them leave and ultimately they prevailed.
With the Clippers joining the Bucks in unpredictable early exits, these teams have difficult decisions to make. Do the Bucks have significant pieces around Giannis Antetokounmpo to make another run at number one seed and a championship? Will they trade him in the offseason and start over. The Clippers are just another question mark. Can Doc Rivers convince Kawhi Leonard to abandon his only play when healthy mentality? The team, as a whole, only played together 16 times during the regular season. That is not enough time to develop any type of cohesion for them to be successful for the long haul. Twin was so disappointed by Giannis’ lackluster performance, he said that if he saw him on sight, he would call him a straight up bitch. I think the rest of the Crew would get a kick out of seeing a 7-foot Nigerian from Greece promptly whup his ass.
*****
September 13, 2020 marked the 24th anniversary of acclaimed rapper and actor Tupac Shakur’s tragic death. On the podcast, we all had our different viewpoints of what he meant to Hip Hop and what the future might have had in store for him. Tupac grew up with a Black Panther militant ideology. When he first hit the scene, I remember him being so conscious about the black community and where we stand in America. Later, he became more self-reflective and what his life had become. Ultimately for me, when he signed with Death Row, I felt he embodied their persona which contradicted who he was up until that point. I saw him as being full of shit and the spoils of success had finally taken his full attention.
For so many more people, he was a revolutionary. You have so many in the music industry that want to break into acting, but most can’t bring the energy and passion to a role that they do with their music. With Tupac’s acclaimed high school theatre background, and a natural passion that he wore on his sleeve, he was a double threat that Hollywood and the music industry never saw coming. What could have been had he survived his wounds? Would this event change his life going forward? Could this have been the catalyst to set his focus in the right direction? Sadly, we’re left with another what could’ve been?
Towards the end of podcast, we had 2 surprise female guests pop up to call out the Ebbtide Crew on our double standards of Red Flags. Rashida Goodell and Saucy Alfredo took issue with the Red Flag of women having a tattoo on the titty meat. They completely flipped it on us! What about a man who has a tattoo of another woman’s name on his body? Tideking and Raheem Goodell were rendered silent. The other Red Flag was a man who urges his woman to get his name put on her. I never considered what goes through a man’s mind to want that for his woman. Marking your territory is one thing, but a tattoo is some other shit.
Finally, I want to start ending the blog with a reminder to register to vote. Let’s keep fighting for social justice, and arrest the cops the shot Breonna Taylor. It has been 6 months since she was killed and still the police officers who murdered her have not been brought to justice. Don’t forget to respond to the blog and our forum. We welcome the feedback, as well as the heat.
Tony Love