Put Your Seat Back In the Upright Position

We just returned from a trip to south Florida to visit my parents. I learned on this trip that it is easier taking three kids on a plane than driving 13 hours each way (though JetBlue did not serve Cracker Barrel). On the flight home, an older gentleman in the seat in front of me decided to recline his seat even though I had a 10-month old Luigi on my lap. I was not happy by this since there's already limited room on airplanes and this made it even less comfortable.

At several moments in the flight, I put the tray table down (and up) and Luigi cried or touched the back of his seat. Apparently, even though I couldn't see him, the guy gave dirty looks back each time this happened. Look, I understand that you (meaning the guy) paid for the flight and have the right to recline your seat. I also understand that you're old, lived a full life, and feel that you earned the right to do what you want. However, don't expect a 10-month old to sit quietly the entire flight, especially when you take away 35% of the space he has.

As a side note, as you can see by the rather poor picture, I watched part of Crazy, Stupid, Love on the flight, a much better film with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling together than La La Land. I'm not sure if this is an underrated movie or just a rated film. Regardless, it's a good movie, even if it's just for the fight scene between Gosling, Steve Carell, Kevin Bacon, and John Carroll Lynch. You may not know the name, but you know JCL.

Anyway, if that guy (not John Carroll Lynch) is in front of me on my next flight with my family, and he reclines his seat again, I'll make sure to have Pedro Tulo sit behind him, and I know my 4 year old will kick his seat a few times!

Throwback Thursday

My brother recently found this picture from when I was 7 and he was 4.

Adorable! What's funny is that these are the current ages of my oldest two boys, The Moose and Pedro Tulo. Hmmm...maybe I should take a picture of them in this exact same pose. (Well, except that their haircuts look better than our haircuts!)

Oh, in case you're wondering, I tend to keep shirts for a long, long time. I can confirm that I no longer have the shirt in this 35+ year-old photo, though I do have a short-sleeve red polo shirt that fits an adult male. Since it appears that I'm still wearing similar clothes to those when I was 7, I guess I should try to find a Dr. Pepper T-shirt and 1979 City of Champions T-shirt.

Le'Veon Bell and 50 Cent

This post combines the Celebrities In Pittsburgh Gear series with the Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes (PAWRA!) series. Rapper/entrepreneur 50 Cent met Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Le'Veon Bell over the weekend.

You can also see 50 wearing a Pirates hat here, possibly inspired by or inspiring the team's 6-game winning streak, with Adam "Pacman" Jones, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Busy weekend for Mr. Cent! I'm sure that you're thinking, Sean, 50 Cent is responsible for In Da Club, one of the biggest hits of the 21st Century, but he is not a world-renowned athlete. I disagree. This video of 50 throwing out the first pitch at a Mets game in 2014 went viral all over the world.

As I wrote: World Renowned!


Photos from 50 Cent's Instagram.

Friday Video: Africa

Toto's 1982 hit Africa is a fantastic song. For some reason, the song had seen a resurgence over the past few years. It seems like some of this may be related to its placement in Stranger Things. Some of it may also be ironic, though I don't understand why. Regardless, Africa is one of the biggest songs of 2018. This tries to explain it:



While I'm terrible at creating titles myself, someone must be able to write a headline that doesn't start with "Local Girl," "Local Man," etc.

Anyway, it appears that Weezer first played Africa live on Jimmy Kimmel Live in June with assistance from Toto's Steve Porcaro.



Rivers Cuomo looks a little unsure playing this song and seems to be reading the lyrics from the computer screen. He looks more comfortable now as Weezer is playing Africa on its tour.





And yes, this song will stay in your head all day (and that's a good thing)!

Zlatan and JuJu

Welcome to a new feature here at Sean's Ramblings called Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes. It's a working title. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post showing Sidney Crosby pictured with Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon. Today, I'm excited to share Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster with one of the most famous soccer players in the world, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, currently playing for the LA Galaxy.

Zlatan also just lost a bet with some guy named David Beckham.

Stay tuned for my next edition of Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes (I need a better title!) which will likely feature LeBron James pictured with Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams.

Photo from JuJu's Twitter page.

Rascal Flatts Singer In Hilton Head

I spent the past week on vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and while I may write a post about the trip (or multiple posts since I'm sure you want to hear about two 13-hour drives with three kids and how four year old Pedro Tulo fell asleep at Cracker Barrel), I wanted to highlight one part. Gregg Russell is a Hilton Head legend who has performed for over 40 years. Not to take anything away from Russell's musical ability, but he basically leads a Kids Say the Darndest Things concert. He's had the same lines and jokes for years, and he is a master at working the crowd. People come to see him year after year and across generations and are never disappointed. Here's a sample:



You get the idea. Oh, he used that same Justin Bieber joke when we saw him two years ago. Anyway, as part of his July 4th show, he welcomed three kids to the stage to sing a song. Then, he introduced at least one of the kid's father, who just happened to be the lead singer of Rascal Flatts, Jay DeMarcus. I heard that DeMarcus had a guest appearance in Hilton Head just days before I saw Russell two years ago, so I wasn't stunned to see him return. It was still cool seeing a singer who regularly plays arenas engaging with a much smaller crowd.

Some videos of DeMarcus are below. There is not video of the fireworks after Russell's show ended with Pedro Tulo's commentary (That was red; Those are beautiful).

When you are in Harbor Town @hiltonheadsc watching local legend #GregRussell and @JayDeMarcus of @rascalflatts grabs a guitar! #NoBigDeal pic.twitter.com/RULHDmoK86

— Sean (@sezshwon) July 5, 2018

Found In My Basement: Sammy Sosa's 63rd Home Run

In September 1998, the sports world centered around Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and the single-season home run record. I lived in San Diego at the time and attended the Cubs-Padres game where Sosa hit #63.

The interesting part of the home run is that Sosa's grand slam basically won the game for the Cubs, the Padres were in the playoff race, and yet, the crowd went crazy. The scoreboard even flashed to celebrate the home run. (The Padres players were not happy about the scoreboard operator essentially rooting against the home team.) Of course, McGwire ended up winning the home run crown, Sosa won the MVP award, and the players never took any, um, unusual substances. The Padres won the National League title, but lost in the World Series. Stupid Yankees.

Blog post/credit to the San Diego Union Tribune.

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