Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: The Valentine's Day Goosebumps Playlist

One of the most wonderful aspects to music about love, romance and intimate relationships is how it can make you want to be in love no matter what your dating or marital status is.  Although my alter ego's favorite music to perform and produce is hip hop, the triumvirate's consensus choice of listening pleasure is R&B because it's one of the best genres at capturing the aforementioned sentiment.  So as a tribute to one of the sweetest, most romantic "holidays" ever conceived, what you all are about to read is what will likely go down as the most difficult "Rave & Favorite Five" I've ever had to consider.  Get your chocolates ready and, depending on your situation, keep your Kleenex handy...

"This Is the Best You Can Do"...Says Who???

Until a recent desire to listen to Freddie Jackson's Just Like the First Time album, I never paid much attention to the lyrics of "Look Around".  I immediately recalled an argument ten years ago with the ex-girlfriend who inspired the New Problem Tuesdays brand.  With writing clearly on the wall, one of her last ditch efforts was this paraphrased declaration: "This is the best you're gonna get!  No one's gonna love you better than me!"  Considering our troublesome behavior, how many weekends I lost to mindless arguments and suffering frequent migraines, I had no desire to go down the same path as Big Dadi and Momma Scribbler during their twelve-year marriage and knew I could do better.  So in this semi-Valentine's Day edition of "Says Who???", I will discuss how these types of assertions can come across as presumptuous...

Views from the Nosebleeds: Super Bowl LI Recap

For the first three quarters of Super Bowl LI, it seemed like the most entertaining aspect was Lady Gaga's halftime performance--and even that received mixed reviews.  On top of the Super Bowl commercials rivaling the bust statuses of Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell sans three or four, it was looking like the high-flying Falcons were well on their way to a third consecutive postseason blowout victory and the first Super Bowl in franchise history.  As a football fan, I was deflated at returning to the 80s and 90s when playoff and Super Bowl beatdowns were par for the course because I enjoy competition.  However, leave it to Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots to help save the day...

It's Okay...You Can Say It...Tom Brady Is the G.O.A.T.

I'm not here to talk about Tom Brady and "Deflategate", especially when my favorite quarterback of all time admitted his offensive line sprayed silicone on their jerseys and my favorite receiver said he used stickum to catch the ball better.  I'm not here for his Make America Great Again hat, his association with President Donald Trump, his "immigrant wife", him knocking up two women at the same time or any of his other White male privilege faux pas, not when the great Michael Jordan cheated on his wife, was a notoriously stingy tipper and orchestrated some of the greatest shade ever known (i.e., the Isiah Thomas snub from the Dream Team).  I am here to discuss football and why we can now set ourselves free of the long-debated quarterback G.O.A.T. debate, which has usually included Dan Marino, Peyton Manning in this generation and the consensus favorite in Joe Montana.  While it could be considered being a prisoner of the moment, even people who want to see a box of those Make America Great Again hats dropped on Brady's head from ten stories high have conceded: TB12 is the G.O.A.T. and here's why I won't argue with anyone about it...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (February 2017)

Picture this: the February edition of "Scribbler's 'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month" nearly featured songs primed for Black History Month, leftover Christmas music, nostalgia and shameless plugs all in one post.  Could've been the most interesting combination of songs ever, right?!?!  Well, unfortunately for Gladiator, Ransom Rellic and my alter ego twin A.J. Throwback, the extension of the holiday spirit only lasted until January 3rd while The Jackson 5 whiffed on two shots to get in on this brain space work.  So while this month's lineup may not be as intriguing without that factor, there's still plenty to love about this band of merry misfits including the first re-entry of this series...

Views from the Nosebleeds Special Edition: Super Bowl LI Prediction

Everyone will salivate over the seventh Super Bowl appearance in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era ad nauseam.  Heck, folks are also already crowning Brady the best quarterback of all time over Joe Montana--although I'll wait until he wins to have that conversation.  However, here's a fun fact few people will mention: the NFC South is the only division where all four teams have been to a Super Bowl in the past 20 years and two of those teams have reigned victorious.  While the Patriots have dominated their division over the past 15 years, the Falcons have clawed their way through one of the toughest divisions in football to break an 18-year hiatus, looking to win the first championship in their 50-year history.  So of course, you've come here because you're expecting a prediction, right?!?!  Patience, my friends...analysis first, prediction last...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Super Bowl Edition

Although I'll give the nod to the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season being the most wonderful time of the year, Super Bowl Week has to be in the conversation for the most entertaining second fiddle.  I mean, what other major North American sporting event draws as much fanfare and drama as the Super Bowl before the 6:18-ish Sunday kickoff?  Maybe NBA All-Star Weekend in its heyday, but it still ain't the Super Bowl.  While it's rare for me to ever tell my readers to overlook any of my posts, please treat my earlier post about Super Bowl duds like a quarterback who threw an interception on his last drive.  Let's get to five Big Game Sunday Studs, i.e., my top five Super Bowls of all time...

1350 Okie Doke Street: The Super Bowl Brick Quintet

When someone or something doesn't live up to the hype, it goes without saying how disappointing it can be--especially when it involves who or what you love at least 85 percent more than anyone or anything else in  the world.  As an avid football who has been alive for 38 of the 50 Super Bowls, I have seen some memorable games which either met or exceeded expectations--which I'll get into in our last post of the day.  However, because the Super Bowl has become one of several American pastimes as well as the premier sporting event, the scuttlebutt and endless discussions leading up to the big game has also meant a few duds have occurred.  So in true "1350 Okie Doke Street" fashion--and because I haven't done one of these since November--one of the best ways to celebrate Super Bowl Week with New Problem Tuesdays is to share five of the most disappointing Super Bowls I've ever seen.  Let's relive some of that trash talk which fell flat, bets which didn't work in your favor, pizza and beer from 2002 you're still trying to work off and those four hours of your life you wish you could get back--or more if you watched every pregame special like the bonafide fanatic you are...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS (Vol. 2, No. 2)

As a participant in nine total spelling bees, "obsessive" is an understatement.  Whether it's at work or on social media, it takes a lot out of me when people butcher words--especially when they have the correct spelling right in front of them and they still spell it wrong.  Heck, right before typing this intro, I was quoting a Kingpen Slim freestyle where he referenced Topanga from Boy Meets World and I verified it via Wikipedia before commenting instead of settling for an incorrect spelling.  Enter the person guilty of the spelling faux pas above.  Either they snuck this street sign past me recently or I have lived in this area for over three years now, passed this intersection hundreds of times and never noticed they added an extra "n" in "Briggs Chaney Road" until several months ago.  Yeah...I was so bothered by the mistake and pressed that I took a picture of it, but that's not the point.  While it's the only sign along a stretch of 5.7 miles spelled erroneously, they still made the mistake of not misspelling it closer to Cloverly where I didn't have to see it everyday.  Hence, I only have four words for you, dear sir or madam: you had one job.  Now on with the other nonsense...

Dirk Scribbler's Guide to Being a 97 Percent Raiders Fan, Part 3

Unless you've been living under a rock or you've been more focused on Agent Orange becoming POTUS, you know Raiders majority owner Mark Davis officially filed relocation papers to move the storied franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas by 2020.  Although they have been my AFC team for most of my life, neither am I from the state of California nor have I ever been there; thus, I shouldn't be affected by this move, right?  Not exactly.  Even when the Raiders moved to Los Angeles for thirteen seasons between 1982 and 1994, they were still in Cali--a state which has its own mystique up and down its picturesque coast.  Moving the team to a place like Vegas might seem like the sexy pick, but as I contend in this third and final part of "Dirk Scribbler's Guide to Being a 97 Percent Raiders Fan", the appeal only stretches but so far--even for a Raiders fan from the D.C. area...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Conference Championships

Sans the second half of Divisional Round Weekend, the 2016-17 NFL Playoffs haven't been competitive.  However, in case you're like me and have been disappointed with many of these weak showings, perhaps the beginning of this edition of "Views from the Nosebleeds" will cheer you up as one guy has been the playoffs' saving grace.  For back-to-back weekends, saxophonist Mike Phillips performed his National "Saxthem" version of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Georgia Dome, which I'm convinced gave the Falcons even more motivation to beat both visiting teams handily.  Not only were both renditions the best instrumental versions of the National Anthem performed at sporting events I've ever heard, but let me tell it, Phillips has turned two of the most memorable versions since the late, great Whitney Houston's stirring performance before Super Bowl XXV.  Granted, nobody compares to The Voice--I got goosebumps listening to it as I was typing this--but he showed up and showed off like few have done since '91.  Alas, since this isn't a music post, I guess we can talk about these beatdowns now...

"You Can Only Have ONE Best Friend"...Says Who???

In the "Chapter 6: The Monster" episode of Netflix's Stranger Things, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) talk about jealousy within friendship after Mike and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) get into an altercation over Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown):

Dustin: "He's your best friend, right?"Mike: "Yeah...I mean, I don't know."Dustin: "It's fine, I get it.  I didn't get here until the fourth grade, he had the advantage of living next door, but none of that matters.  What matters is that he's your best friend and then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement and all you ever wanna do is pay attention to her--"Mike: "That's not true!"Dustin: "Yes it is...and you know it, he knows it, but no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of zero.  Now everything's weird."Mike: "He's not my best friend."Dustin (laughs): "Yeah right."Mike: "I mean, he is, but so are you and so is Will."Dustin: "You can't have more than one best friend."Mike: "Says who?"Dustin: "Says logic."Mike: "Well, I call bull on your logic 'cause you're my best friend, too."Dustin (smiling): "Okay."

The interesting thing about this dialogue is none of these characters are older than twelve years old, but this dialogue is representative of the often immature logic people take when it comes to someone being considered a "best friend" and how many we're supposedly allowed to have.  While the memes found in this Google search are hilarious and entertaining, this is merely indicative of the comedic ideology where jokes have a significant level of seriousness to them.  So in another myth busting edition of "Says Who???", I attempt to debunk the assumption you can only have one best friend...

Dirk Scribbler's Guide to Being a 97 Percent Raiders Fan, Part 2

As explained in Part 1, part of what drives my love for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders is my subconscious infatuation with California.  However, my conscious decision to make the Raiders my AFC team ran even deeper than Tecmo Super Bowl, fierce team colors or the love for anything Compton native Kendrick Lamar laid out in "The Recipe".  From a social and political standpoint, neither Oakland nor Los Angeles have not been kind to people of color, especially in regards to police brutality.  The Black Panther Party, who were formed in Oakland in 1966, served as enforcers of justice specifically for Black and Brown people around the country against systemic racism despite perceived and actual controversy.  Although I've never seen any of them in Raiders paraphernalia, they wore all black as a sign of solidarity and empowerment.  So in Part 2 of "Dirk Scribbler's Guide to Being a 97 Percent Raiders Fan", I dig deeper than football to speak about how the Raiders became the inadvertent symbol of a new era which included yours truly...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Divisional Round

As much as I love the NFL, there is nothing worse than investing so much time and energy into watching as many games as possible over 17 weeks only to have a letdown in the playoffs--and that's beyond the Raiders getting handled by the Texans last week.  (Yup...still salty.)  With the Wild Card Weekend games being decided by an average of 19 points, last week was highly disappointing and hopes were high for better showings in the Divisional Round.  However, the first half of the weekend wasn't shaping up to be much better and it appeared the same thing might happen in the second half.  Nevertheless, by 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, avid football fans had been treated to two competitive contests this weekend, including what could be the best game of the playoffs depending on who ends up in Houston...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 2, No. 1)

The irony of the first edition of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" for 2017 is I'm not leading off with anything about the New Year at all.  Instead, as I often seem to do best, I choose to wax nostalgic.  I'm watching TV one day--surprise, surprise--and see the "Coach Steve" Dr. Pepper commercial featuring the Ol' Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier.  In the midst of essentially tuning him out, my ears instantly perk up to "Stuck with You" by Huey Lewis and the News.  As if I'm Marty McFly hopping in the DeLorean with Doc Brown and hitting 88 MPH, I'm immediately transported to one of the happiest times in my life.  (In my Sophia Petrillo voice) Picture it...Northwest D.C...1985...we're riding in Big Dadi Scribbler's "money" green Cadillac down North Capitol Street on a sunny day and "The Power of Love" is blaring through the speakers as I watch all the cars go by.  Particularly, I see this red 1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z pull up beside us--for fellow Hunter fans, it looked like the one Det. Sgt. Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) whipped around--and instantly wish I was old enough to drive it so I could blast Huey Lewis like he's going out of style soon.  So whenever I hear any of his music, especially if I'm watching Back to the Future, I smile one of my big smiles.  Since I know somebody is giving me the Biff Tannen treatment and calling me "Dork Scribbler" by now, let's simply get on with the rest of this madness before I lose additional credibility...

Dirk Scribbler's Guide to Being a 97 Percent Raiders Fan, Part 1

In 2014, a BrainFall quiz titled "Which U.S. City Should You Live In" required answering questions about new restaurant openings, cost of living and favorite topics of discussion, and in my "You Should Live in Los Angeles" result, the summary read:

Perhaps best known for Hollywood, Los Angeles is the perfect place for aspiring artists.  There is no denying it's a playground for the stars, but even before you make your millions in the entertainment industry, you'll still be able to afford a bad-a** burrito.

Nearly three weeks later, I took a PlayBuzz quiz titled "Which American Accent Do You Actually Have" and having to pronounce words like "lawyer" or the trifecta of "Mary, merry and marry", I apparently have a Western accent.  Considering how folks never think I'm from D.C.--I've gotten New York and Philly the most--this explanation made sense of it all:

The west was the last area in the United States to be settled during the westward expansion of English-speaking people and it's full of linguistic patterns from other regions.  Your accent is general that no one knows exactly where you're from.  Your accent is perfect for public speaking, news broadcasting, acting, advertisements, etc.!

As I ponder the music, TV shows, fashion and even the weather toward which I've always gravitated, California has always seemed like the most perfect place on Earth and is the No. 1 state to visit on my bucket list.  Thus, despite being born and raised in Ward 8 D.C. and a fan of Washington's NFL team for the majority of my life, it only makes sense my AFC team (because most NFL fans have a favorite team from the opposite conference) since the mid to late 80s would be the Oakland/Los Angeles/back to Oakland Raiders...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Wild Card Weekend

Although the NFL is the only one out of the four major North American sports through which you don't have to suffer through at least 82 games a season, die-hard fanatics like myself still look forward to this time of year.  While teams like the Browns, the Jaguars, the Rams, the 49ers and the Bears were long eliminated from the mix, the hard work of twelve teams  has the potential to pay off as they duke it out for a month in the ultimate "let's separate the men from the boys" tournament.  Unlike the NBA, the NHL or MLB, the beauty of the NFL Playoffs is you only get one shot to win or lose.  However, one of the biggest downsides to NFL Wild Card Weekend is the chance for at least one or two blowouts because unless we're talking the 2005 Steelers or the 2010 Packers, the higher-seeded teams usually handle their business.  Unfortunately, none of the games were competitive for longer than two-and-a-half quarters, but I'm still going to discuss them anyway...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (January 2017)

Imagine a song like Klymaxx's "I Miss You", Lillo Thomas' "Wanna Make Love (All Night Long)" or TWENTY ØNE PILØTS' "Heathens" being on your mind for five to ten minutes straight.  None of those songs might be your favorites, but it wouldn't be the end of the world either way because they didn't stay on your mind for long.  Now imagine the equivalent of hearing the same song stuck in your brain space for nearly nine hours straight.  If you tend to be on the depressed side of the game or you're not wrapped too tight, then you might look a little more at that nearby bottle of Bacardi 151 to drown your sorrows and/or even a revolver to put yourself out of your misery.  While the No. 1 song in this month's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown didn't quite put me in that mindset, I believe you all have a better idea of what I deal with from month to month.  With seven brand new culprits and three repeat offenders ranging from residual Christmas music to a few shameless plugs, let's kick off 2017 with some insanity and I don't mean Shaun T...