I'm really
enjoying The Pitt. It's non-stop action, and I'm amazed how well the actors
just spout off medical terminology. I guess that's why they are really talented
actors. Sure, maybe they don't need to show all of the blood and gore, but I
sense that this is a fairly realistic look at a busy emergency room. Completely
related, I plan on donating blood again soon.
The other day, I went on Facebook using my Sean's Ramblings profile. I follow/like dozens of people, companies, etc. In scrolling through my feed, the first 63 entries were either sponsored posts (meaning ads) or something that "matches my interests." 63! How about showing me posts for something that I follow?!?!
I saw Styx and
Chicago play recently. Definitely worth the $20 Groupon tickets. The only
negative was there were no Terrible Towels or Steelers celebrities for
Renegade.
Did you know
that geese hiss? I've mentioned numerous times that one of my favorite summer
activities is taking walks on our neighborhood golf course after the golfers
finish for the evening. I regularly see deer and foxes and geese on these
walks. Recently, while walking on the cart path, I said "hey guys" to
a group of geese who were eating and walking on the grass next to the path. My
thought was that I wanted to announce myself and not startle them. In response,
one goose lifted its head from the grass, looked directly at me, and hissed. I
walked right by and didn't look back until I was a safe distance away!
Sheffield
Wednesday plays its first match of the season in the first round of the EFL Cup
on Saturday. There's some optimism for the season under new ownership since anything has to be better than last season when the team only won league
matches. Still, I'm not ready for the season to begin or seeing Wednesday play
League One matches against teams like Leyton Orient, Burton Albion, and
Doncaster. Feel like it's going to take a few years for Wednesday to get close
to getting back to the Championship League. And I'm not sure if they'll ever
get to the Premier League.
My dentist
asked me to see a periodontist for receding gums, and I put it off for years. I
finally went, and the periodontist says that I need to have tissue graft
surgery. I'm not going to get into details, but this all seems ridiculous to
me. I feel like receding gums and graft surgery is something for people who are
AARP members. Uh oh.
Finally, the
best way to end any blog post is with Cookie Monster.
Aren't you tired of best and worst of the year articles that come out in November or early December? There is always quality content released in December that gets missed in these lists. Granted, a best and worst of post at the end of February is a little late, but better late than never, right? Well, maybe not too late. A best and worst of 2025 blog post in June 2028 would be ridiculous. Let’s begin.
Best TV Show: The Diplomat
I absolutely love this show. If I told you this was a political thriller heavy on dialogue, you might simply say pass. But it's so good. Keri Russell plays a newly appointed US Ambassador to the United Kingdom who may also be in consideration for Vice President. She's fantastic. The relationship between her and her husband, played by Rufus Sewell, is also great. There's a terrorist attack but uncertainty about who did it. The inner workings of the relationship between the US and UK is intriguing. Oh, and then they add the fabulous Allison Janney in season two. It's so good. They also did a great promotion for Rold Gold pretzels!
Worst Show: Nobody Wants This
I like this show starring Adam Brody as a rabbi and Kristen Bell as a podcaster. I'm just really bothered by one part of season two. It's a little bit of a spoiler, but Adam Brody leaves his job and joins a new congregation as a rabbi basically with no vetting whatsoever except for a brief conversation with the temple's head rabbi played by Seth Rogan. I was on a rabbi search committee for my synagogue. It took months with multiple online interviews followed by bringing the top candidates in for a weekend, and then a separate committee worked with the rabbi on a contract. The rabbis do their own research too about the area and the synagogue. Adam Brody talked with Seth Rogan for about 3 minutes and took the job. Later in that episode or in episodes later in the season, Brody realizes that the job might not be a good fit for him. I like the show, but this storyline is ridiculous.
Best Movie: Palm Springs
This is a difficult category for me. After seeing Anora, I questioned how the film won Best Picture. It's grown on me some since I watched it, but not enough to be my favorite movie of the year. I enjoyed Conclave and liked rewatching the original three Indiana Jones films with my kids (well, one kid since the others just wanted to be on their iPads). Finally saw Casablanca too. But the 2020 film starring Andy Samberg and Crisin Milioti was my favorite movie I watched for the first time in 2025. It's got a Groundhog's Day vibe but with more than one person in the Bill Murray time loop. Samberg and Milioti have great chemistry and are fun to watch.
Not giving anything away, but even though it's not March yet, I think I have my favorite movie that I saw this year ready for my 2026 post. I mean, there's a good reason why this film received 16 Oscar nominations!
Worst Picture: A Complete Unknown
In fairness to A Complete Unknown, I fell asleep various times while watching this on the return flight from Iceland. I was tired, so I'm not going to blame my falling asleep on the movie. Still, it seemed that the big conflict was whether or not Bob Dylan would play an electric guitar at a folk festival. Apparently, that made the festival organizers mad since only acoustic guitars were permitted. That was the big deal? Again, maybe I fell asleep through some other drama.
Best Song: NOT OK by 5 Seconds of Summer
I wrote an entire blog post in December about my favorite songs of 2025. Two months after the post, I think I might put Dracula by Tame Impala or Where Is My Husband by Raye in the top spot. Part of the reason is because I haven't heard NOT OK at all. The song completely vanished.
Still, NOT OK is a fun song. I mean, as much fun as a song titled NOT OK can be. Great beat/drums. Rollicking chorus. Unusual verses. I like it. I know what you're thinking. Sean, isn't 5 Seconds of Summer a boy band that is a step down from One Direction? And aren't you way out of the boy band-fan demographic? Yes and yes. But here's the thing. 5 Seconds of Summer is a boy BAND. Unlike many boy bands, they play their own instruments and seem to write their own songs. They've got talent.
Worst Song: party 4 u by Charli xcx
Just ugh. Slow and repetitive chorus.. We get it. Charli xcx threw a party for "you" and is now going to party on you. Maybe this song would be better if it was Party For You.
Best Book: Devolution by Max Brooks
You may remember Max Brooks as the author of World War Z, a fantastic zombie book and an average movie. In Devolution, we get sasquatches. The premise is a small, eco-friendly neighborhood is built in remote Washington. When the Mount Rainier volcano erupts, the neighborhood is completely cut off from everyone. Until a group of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) arrive. So suspenseful. So good. Loved it.
Showing my work here. These are the other books I read in 2025:
People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn
The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (part of Different Seasons) by Stephen King
Back After This by Linda Holmes
Eternal Life by Dara Horn
The Payback by Kashana Cauley
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary was also great, and I'm looking forward to the movie, even though I'm going to be disappointed by comparing the book to the movie. Andy Weir gets super technical in many parts of the book. It's beyond my comprehension. I mean, NASA scientists and those with doctorates in science probably understand much of what Weir writes, but there's no way regular people can follow it. Still a fantastic book.
By the way, my goal is to read 10+ books in 2026. I'm currently on a book a month pace.
Best Sports Moment: Ohio State National Football Champions
2025 was not a great sports year for the teams I follow. The Pirates and Penguins failed to reach the playoffs, and the Steelers were mediocre, barely reaching the playoffs in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons and losing in the first round in January 2025 and January 2026. The one positive was Ohio State winning the football national championship. Even though I was happy, Ohio State is not near the top of my personal fan-point rankings. Still, watching Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate, TreVeyon Henderson, Quishon Judkins, Caleb Dows, J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, and the rest of the team was fun.
Worst Sports Moment: Sheffield Wednesday
What a mess. While I've mentioned this several times either on the blog or other social media pages, Pittsburgh Pirates fans complaining about owner Bob Nutting have it great compared to Sheffield Wednesday. Owner Dejphon Chansiri has literally gutted the team. He was unable to pay player salaries in June 2025, so the team was barred from completing any transfers or loans involving the team this season. Short on funds, the team sold or did not re-sign almost all of the team's key players. In October, the team was assessed a 12-point penalty. As I'm writing this in late-February 2026, Sheffield Wednesday's record this season is 1-8-25. That's 1 win and 8 draws in 34 games. They are -7 in the table (36 points behind the next to worst team in the Championship Division) and will be relegated to League One next season. What an embarrassment!
Best Blog Post: The New Kennedy Center
In February of last year, President Trump named himself the chair of The Kennedy Center. In a humorous tone, I wrote about how he was going to significantly change the performing arts venue in a negative way. I didn't go far enough in the post though. He's actually killing The Kennedy Center. And no, I'm not going to call it another name.
Worst Blog Post: Who Are The Cardinals?
I wrote a post sharing candidates for the new pope after the passing of Pope Francis. I knew it was dumb when I wrote it, but I amused myself.
* My kids are
home after being away at camp for three weeks. Each year, it's amazing what
they bring home and don't bring home. So far, I've found several socks that
don't belong to any of them and a random pillow case that belongs to someone else.
Meanwhile, how did all three of them lose their camping / folding chairs?
* I averaged over
10,000 steps a day in July. It certainly helps to have two vacations in
the same month! First time I've averaged that many steps in a day for an entire
month since June 2022.
* I recently saw
a commercial for Nemluvio, a prescription medicine to treat eczema. While I
appreciate the usage of Black Box's Everybody, Everybody in the ad, replacing
Everybody, Everybody with Nemluvio, Nemluvio doesn't work. It's the same amount
of syllables, but it's just off.
As a
comparison, o-o-o Ozempic works perfectly.
* It's difficult
being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. As of Sunday evening, the team is 51-68. At the
trade deadline, the Pirates did not trade three veterans with expiring
contracts, and instead, traded other players for individuals who likely won't
make the majors for several years. Understandable if the Pirates were in a
"rebuild," but the team has been awful since 2018. (In 2018, the team
finished with a winning record. Not in the playoffs but not awful.) While
it's possible that the Pirates will finally spend money and sign free agents
for 2026, based on the team's history with the owner unwilling to spend money
on players, this seems unlikely.
With all of
that written, the Pirates are an exemplary team compared to Sheffield Wednesday. The team has not paid players and staff on time in months, let
about a dozen players leave the team (or sold the players for well-below
market value), and the manager is gone. Oh, the North Stand is currently
closed, deemed unsafe. The entire team is a mess. The best case scenario seems
to be that the owner sells the team and maybe the team doesn't break a record
for fewest points in a season and somehow avoids relegation. To dream
the impossible dream!
Voting is underway through August 22nd for Pittsburgh City Paper's Best of PGH. I
love the fact that there's still a Best Blog category. There are so few blogs
remaining, and this is a fantastic way to highlight blogs and bloggers. This
year's finalists are:
Ana Eats Pgh
Horrorpgh
OneBURGH
Straight Facts
Podcast
What Sleeps
Beneath
Ana Eats Pgh
seems like a website and what she posts are reels, mostly on Facebook. Ana has
good stuff and maybe you can make a case that it's a video blog. Probably a
stretch though.
No idea what
Horrorpgh is. I found a substack that hasn't been updated since 2023. There's a
YouTube page with 8 videos, and some postings on Instagram.
Straight Facts
Podcast is a podcast. It's right in the name. It seems like they have videos of
their podcast on YouTube. Not a blog.
It's time for my annual best and worst of the year in pop culture, entertainment, and more. As you'll see, there are not many "worst of" below. I have limited time, so I'm not watching or reading things I'm not interested in. Here we go:
Best TV Show: Shrinking
I loved this Apple+ show. Jason Segal plays a therapist struggling with the loss of his wife. While I like the storylines of Segal with his patients and his relationship with daughter, what really makes the show are his colleagues, Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford. They are fantastic. It's fun watching Harrison Ford be funny. This scene was the best thing I saw all year.
Honorable mention: Jury Duty
This was such a unique show. Everyone, meaning the lawyers, judge, jury members, etc. are actors...except for one jury member named Ronald who believes that this is a real case. Ronald is such a likable guy, and I don't think this show would work with a different lead. James Marsden playing a version of himself is also fun.
For no apparent reason, I tracked every TV show I watched this year, and I feel like sharing this.
Better Call Saul (last season)
Party Down (original)
The Chair
Night Court
American Auto
Not Dead Yet
Quantum Leap
Abbott Elementary
Yellowjackets (season 1)
Ted Lasso (season 3)
Sprung
Welcome to Wrexham
Lucky Hank
The Big Door Prize
Mrs. Maisel (season 4)
The Afterparty (season 2)
Shrinking
Jury Duty
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The Wonder Years
Miracle Workers
Barry (last season)
Succession (part of last season)
Yellowstone
Lego Masters
The Bear (season 1)
Best Songs: HONEY (ARE YOU COMING?) by Maneskin and bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo
All caps and no capital letters at all? Can we please work on this! While I'm way out of her target audience, I am an Olivia Rodrigo fan, particularly with her up-tempo songs. bad idea right? gives me a vibe of "Naked Eye" by Luscious Jackson. Oh, the song is definitely not suitable for work.
Meanwhile, I think Maneskin has the best guitar riff of the year with HONEY.
Worst Song: Popular by The Weeknd, Playboi Cardi, and Madonna
Looking at my archives, I picked two songs by The Weeknd as the best of the year over the last few years. This is certainly not an anti The Weeknd post. While Popular isn't bad, I don't find it good either. It's repetitive and don't feel that Madonna adds anything to it.
Best Movie: Parasite
Parasite won the best picture Oscar a few years ago, so I'm a little late to this. The storyline is essentially a poor family scamming a rich family. I mean, there's definitely the message of class and the spoils of the rich. Definitely did not expect the ending.
Most Interesting Movie: The Menu
I can't put this as the worst movie since it's just so different from anything I've seen. I watched The Menu on an airplane and remember leaving the plane thinking "What the heck was that?" I really want to see this again.
And now, these are all of the movies I watched in 2023:
The Menu
Elvis
Rise (A movie about Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family)
Anchorman 2
Logan Lucky
Leo
Elemental
Homeward Bound: An Incredible Journey
Parasite
Family Switch
Migration
My New Year's Resolution for 2024 is to watch more movies. Almost all of these are movies for kids/families. There's no Barbie or Oppenheimer. I mean, how can I get a media credential for The Oscars with this list?
Best Sports Moment: Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday completed the biggest comeback in English Football League playoff history back in May. Down 4-0 after the first leg, the team battled back to tie the overall score at 4-4 in the 90+7th minute. Peterborough, their opponent, got a goal in extra time, but Wednesday tied it again before advancing in penalty kicks. By far the best sports moment of 2023. (More about this game is available from my May post.)
Worst Sports Moment: Pittsburgh Sports
Although Pitt's men's basketball team returned to the NCAA tournament and the women's volleyball team is now a consistent power, the professional teams struggled. The Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, the Steelers are an average NFL team, and the Pirates, though better in 2023 compared to 2022, still had a record under .500. While I don't have a specific moment for the worst sports moment, the Pirates were 20-8 after we attended the 16-1 victory over the Nationals, and several weeks later, the team's record was 35-42. Lots of losses. Actually, there is a worst moment. The Penguins, battling for a playoff spot in the next-to-last game of the season, lost at home to the worst team in the NHL.
Best Book: 12-way tie!
Okay, this definitely isn't true. I just wanted to share that I read 12 books this year, by far the most since the pandemic started. I was part of a book club in 2023, and book clubs are stressful! It's like high school all over again trying to finish a book in time for the discussion or test. At least we have snacks for book club! Here's what I read this year:
The Umpire Is Out by Dale Scott
How to be Perfect by Michael Schur
Raise a Fist, Take a Knee: Race and the Illusion of Progress in Modern Sports by John Feinstein
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
Before you freak out, this is the worst concert I attended because I didn't attend. Bruce postponed his concert from August to September and then to 2024. Hopefully he'll appear in my best live concert in my 2024 post.
I don't write about Sheffield Wednesday very often. While I watch highlight videos, follow Twitter for updates during games, and listen to the Owls Americast podcast, I haven't watched a live Wednesday game in about a year. That changed over the last week as I watched two Wednesday-Peterborough United playoff matches.
A quick summary of English football for those who don't follow. You know what, I'll let the first episode of Welcome to Wrexham explain. (Warning: One bad word in the video.)
Sheffield Wednesday has been around since 1867 with a long history of playing in England's top league. They were actually a founding member of the Premier League in 1992 but got relegated after the 1999-2000 season. That's when I was first introduced to the team though I probably didn't start following them closely until about a decade ago. Wednesday haven't been to the Premier League since 2000 and were relegated from the Championship division to League One (the third division) following the 2020-2021 season. The way English Football works is that the top two teams during the season earn an automatic promotion. Then, the teams finishing 3rd through 6th compete in the playoffs with the winner also going up. Wednesday finished 3rd this season meaning that they played a two-game series against 6th place Peterborough United. Peterborough won the first game last Friday 4-0 in an awful game. So to advance to the final at Wembley Stadium for a chance to move up to Championship League, all Sheffield Wednesday had to do was come back from a four-goal deficit. No team had ever been down more than two goals after the first leg and advanced, but to quote Jim Carrey, so you're telling me there's a chance.
And then this happened:
Incredible. I don't think I've been this excited about a game and celebrated so much after a goal (in this case Liam Palmer's goal at the end of regulation) since the US-Algeria 2010 World Cup match.
I should probably mention that I almost predicted the result. I published this tweet several hours before the game.
When Peterborough scored in extra time, I figured, yeah, this is just like Wednesday. Get our hopes up and lose in the worst way possible. Fortunately, the team came through and won an amazing game.
Now, Wednesday will play at Wembley Stadium at 10:00 AM Eastern time on Memorial Day. I'll be watching!
Here's a little more about the game from the BBC and ESPN. Sheffield Wednesday also posted an extended video of highlights of the match. I may watch this all weekend long!
The 2022 men's World Cup begins on Sunday, November 20th. That's today if you're reading this shortly after this post has been posted. I wrote a full preview of the 2018 World Cup four years ago, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to put together such interesting facts as the lightest and heaviest players and identifying players named after food this year. I highly recommend checking out that post though. It might be one of the best things I've ever done on this blog. The Thorgan and Eden Hazard joke alone is worth it! Anyway, this year, I decided to ask some friends for their predictions and thoughts on the games.
Matt - Pittsburgh Riverhounds' Director of Communications
Josh - Founder of Josh's World and always up to participate in any of my collaborative blog posts.
Sean- That's me. Hi! I write this Sean's Ramblings blog and recently applied (again) for media credentials for the Oscars.
Mike- One of regulars on one of my favorite podcasts, Owls Americast. It's a podcast for Sheffield Wednesday fans.
Nick - My brother. He decided to add his own questions and predictions at the end.
Justin- Another Owls Americast regular who you can regularly find at an ice rink.
Matt Gatjka - A jack of all trades. He calls hockey and soccer games and is a certified golf fitness specialist.
1. Who will win the World Cup?
Matt - It seems like the South American powers are the trendy pick, but I'm going to go out on a limb with a repeat for France. I know they bombed out the last time they were defending champs in '02, but with the attacking firepower they have, they're never going to be out of a game.
Josh - U-S-A! U-S-A!!!! Wait, is this men or women?
The Moose - I think France will win the World Cup
John - Belgium. Yes, I know I tweeted earlier this week that Belgium would underachieve again this year. I'm still picking Belgium.
Sean - Argentina. It will be a storybook ending to Messi's international career.
Mike - Argentina...Despite being ready for the all North American final that the world wants to see, it'll probably be a European giant who already has multiple stars on their crest. But let's be romantic: Argentina beats Brazil in the most watched final in history.
Nick - Brazil
Justin - No clue - most open tournament since 2006. Gun to my head I'll say the Germans surprise. (Sean's note: Do the Germans ever surprise?)
Matt G. - The Netherlands hasn't lost a match since (literally) last year, and I live in the Dutch bubble of West Michigan now, so I'll go with it. Oranje! Also, they'll throw in a heartbreaking defeat of the USA in the Round of 16 just to rub it in.
2. In the 2018 World Cup, 6 of the 8 quarter finalists were European teams. How many teams from Europe will reach this year's quarterfinals?
Josh - I am confused, why are there teams from England, Wales, and Scotland? If they just combined as UK, would they dominate? Oh, sorry to answer the question...5.
The Moose - 5 teams
John - I have five, plus two South American and one African. For the record, none of the five are Croatia. I am now banned from eating stuffed cabbage for the next 4 years.
Sean - 5. I really want to go with 3 or 4, but I don't see that happening.
Mike - Five. See above. I suppose that's France, Germany, and Italy. add Spain and England, and either the Netherlands or Belgium. This is where someone will go look at the groups and the brackets and tell me why that combination is impossible.
Nick - 5 - Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, England and Denmark
Justin - 5
Matt G. - I'll go with four Europeans teams in the quarters this time around. Two from South America, one from Asia, one from Africa. (Sean's note: This is the first prediction that isn't 5. Hooray!)
3. How far will the United States advance during this tournament?
Matt - Sadly, I'm not as bullish as some on the U.S. team. They're inexperienced at this level and a bit tactically naïve, so I think they get bounced from the group stage but learn some good lessons for the Aaronson/Adams/Pulisic generation to take into 2026 on home soil.
Josh - All the way! I actually have no clue how this works. It is not like a March Madness-style single elimination tournament, right? They do weird pool play. I do not know, they will advance just far enough that people will get sort of excited, and then lose to Benin.
The Moose - I think the United States will make it to the quarterfinals.
John - They'll finish second in their group and lose in the first knockout round.
Sean - I think they get out of the group stage, but lose in the round of 16.
Mike - Finish 3rd in group. The all North American final that the world wants to see is Canada and Mexico.
Nick - Hoping they make it out of the group stage. Truthfully I think they will be knocked out by goal differential and Wales will advance.
Justin - Round of 16.
Matt G. - I spoiled this a couple of questions ago, but the USA will advance for the first time since 2010 -- actually just two World Cup appearances ago, but it sounded dramatic -- by drawing both Wales and England, then beating Iran. I'm actually semi-excited about this group, if only because we're young and you can always dream on young teams. Also, the expectations aren't high at all. I don't remember being this carefree about a USA team at the men's World Cup for as long as I've been watching. Feels like a recipe for a little bit of success. But they'll lose in the Round of 16.
4. Who will be the World Cup's top goal scorer?
Matt - Leo Messi and Cody Gakpo — both are drawn into groups where they can pump in some goals and advance, so I'm predicting a swan song and a coming-out party to be joint top scorers.
Josh - I would say Kylian Mbappe is probably the best bet to win the coveted Golden Boot. I totally cheated and looked up best odds, and took the guy with a cool name.
The Moose - Neymar
John - This one is tough, I think... I'm going to take an aging Lionel Messi.
Sean - In 2018, Harry Kane won the Golden Boot with 6 goals, but I'm pretty sure that 4 of those came from the penalty spot. That seems like cheating. Since I have Argentina winning it all, I'm picking Messi since he's going to be the one taking penalty kicks.
Mike - Logic...the player who kicks PKs for the team that relies on PKs to win and will make a deep run. So it's Alex Morgan. (Or Harry Kane - but everyone picks Harry Kane.) Karim Benzema because France will make a run and he was unstoppable in the UCL and Sean just told me he's injured. Just put me down for Neymar.
Nick - Vinicius Jr.
Justin - Messi
Matt G. - If the Dutch are to win their first World Cup, someone like exciting winger Cody Gakpo will likely lead the attack. I'll say he gets the Golden Boot with six goals in seven matches. (He already scored in the opening match vs. Senegal, so this is totally cheating.)
5. The World Cup in Qatar is taking place in November and December because it would be too hot for matches played there during the traditional June and July timeframe. Qatar is still a warm place. What will be the highest temperature recorded during a World Cup match?
Matt - I'm going to say 91. It'll be warm, but not stiflingly so for most of the tournament.
Josh - Qatar is still a warm place. What will be the highest temperature recorded during a World Cup match? 95.3
The Moose - I think the high will be 91
John - 91 (I have a better chance of getting this right than maybe any of the others!)
Sean - 88 just so that I can say Muuuuuuuuuuuth!
Mike - 80 degrees...but what's the question? Temperature on the field during a match? Temperature for that city during a match? Trick question...it doesn't matter. It's not the heat, it's the humidity. In 2019, World Athletics held their Championship in Doha in October. I remember it being bad, but not awful inside the stadium (which will also host WC matches). They did run marathons on the roads. Twenty-six miles starting just before midnight. 86 degrees and 70% humidity for the women. 18 men and 28 women didn't finish their respective races...but that was midnight in October. So if I math that out to December: 80 degrees
Nick - Going with at least one match that hits 104.
Justin - 88 degrees Fahrenheit
Matt G. - Looks like temps are going to be lingering in the 80s at midday for the next couple of weeks, so I'll say 87 degrees will be the hottest. Which reminds me I was just playing golf in shorts less than two weeks ago, only to dig out nearly two feet of snow last weekend. Good time to hunker down in front of the tube!
6. Better joke subject: Referring to the country Wales as whales or singing "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls for any mention of Iran?
Matt - Not Ghana go there. (Sean's note: This is the winner!)
Josh - And I ran, I ran so far away...
The Moose - Stop it, Dad!
John - Look at those two fat English ladies over there.
- Wales.
- Look at those two English whales over there.
Sean - Definitely whales. I mean, how will the US get by the Wales defense? They're huge!
Mike - Whales because my temperature answer was too long. And the heat talk made me want to think about the ocean and not Iran.
Nick - Whales
Justin - Neither
Matt G. - My son is pretty obsessed right now with playing iPad games where he tries to spell out country names after being given the flag. That is so say, I've gotten really good at spelling every country in the United Nations at this point. That is to say, Iran is one of those I can easily talk him through. Also, I think of that Lonely Island song about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that samples Flock of Seagulls whenever I hear 'Iran.' The Whales thing is lame. Is that a thing?
7. Will the USA, Mexico, and Canada combine for 20 or more tournament goals in the tournament?
Matt - No. I'll guess 15 between them.
Josh - Yes
The Moose - I think no.
John - I'm taking the under on this one.
Sean - No. Mexico has really struggled lately, and while I'd like to see Canada go far, they aren't winning a lot of 4-3 matches.
Mike - Nine match minimum. Twelve matches in the best case. Nope. 15.
Nick - No
Justin - No
Matt G. - I'll say the USA gets six, Mexico gets five and Canada gets three. So if my math is correct, no.
8. Arguably the most important question. On Saturday morning Eastern time November 26th, Sheffield Wednesday will face Mansfield Town in the second round of the FA Cup. Who will win and will the World Cup delay the start of the France-Denmark match until this one ends?
Matt - 3-1 Owls, and I might have gone back to sleep before then because Australia/Tunisia is at 5 a.m.
Josh - I have no clue what any of this means. Like there are words and I know they mean things, but none of it means anything to my non-soccer brain. In fact, every time you would write about Sheffield Wednesday, I was confused. I thought it was like Taco Tuesday, Thirsty Thursday, or Sunday Funday. I was too embarrassed to ask about Sheffield Wednesday.
The Moose - This is a dumb question.
John - Sheffield Wednesday is playing on a Saturday? This is enough to confuse Ted Lasso. Sheffield Wednesday wins 2-1 and FIFA will absolutely delay the start so that France and Denmark's players can watch Sheffield Wednesday win it in stoppage time.
Sean - Wednesday will win (Go Owls!), but the World Cup will never delay the start of the match...unless a few Wednesdayites storm the field in Qatar causing a delay,
Mike - Wednesday win 3-1. The second part is a moot point because here is no TV or stream and with Twitter going down, we’ll only know who won by reading a paper newspaper the following morning which is how the good Lord wanted it.
Justin - Wednesday will win and FIFA will erroneously start the (very exciting) Denmark/France match instead of respecting the Massive FA Cup game.
Matt G. - Sheffield Wednesday might be the most English-sounding club name in soccer. Wow. How would they not win this very important match?
Nick - No
Nick then continued with all of this:
Other predictions/ questions
Who will sport the best haircut?
Biggest upset: Ecuador defeats Netherlands 2-1, France is knocked out before the QF.
Which country will sport the best and worst Jersey? (US for the worst)
Biggest controversy: France will protest Qatar policies on migrant workers, LBGTQ issues and womens rights. Isn’t that what France is known for ? Revolutions?
Other controversies: Switzerland vs Serbia will end with at least 4 red cards, 2 red cards which will come via VAR.
Qatar will advance out of the group phase. No home team has not advanced out.
Asia will have a good World Cup with Japan, and S Korea advancing to the finals. (Sean's note: This makes no sense if he picked Brazil to win.)
Senegal will advance the furthest of all African teams. Yes, I know Morocco and Tunisia are in Africa.
That's enough from my brother. I'll add one more prediction that South Korea will make a deep run in this tournament. I've started watching Squid Game, and no one is going to mess with that team!
Enjoy the games and feel free to make your own predictions in the comments section below.
When I previewed Sheffield Wednesday's schedule last June, I had some fun with the teams in League One. This is the third division of English soccer/football, so while die-hard fans may know of teams like Wigan and Sunderland from their time in the Premier League, casual fans outside the UK probably never heard of Gillingham, Accrington Stanley, or other clubs. I mention this because the regular season ends on Saturday. The top two teams gain automatic promotion to the EFL Championship Division while teams 3-6 enter a 4-team playoff with the winner joining the top two. This is the current table/standings:
Sheffield Wednesday is just outside of the playoffs though the team has two matches to play compared to just one for Plymouth Argyle and Wycombe who both sit one point ahead in the standings. That makes Tuesday's match against Fleetwood Town crucial. Here are my keys for Sheffield Wednesday:
1. The Landslide Will Bring Fleetwood Down
Score multiple goals early. I'm looking at you Lee Gregory and Saido Berahino. Fleetwood won't be able to come back from being down 2 or 3 goals in the first half.
2. You Would Never Break The Chain
In this case, the chain is the goal. Wednesday's defense and goalie Bailey Peacock-Farrell can't and won't allow any Fleetwood goals.
3. It's Only Right That You Should Play The Way You Feel
Feel good. Play good!
(How does this reporter not know that Mick Fleetwood is the band's drummer? Do 10 seconds of research!)
4. Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
After hopefully getting a win against Fleetwood, start thinking and preparing for Portsmouth. Two wins in these last two games guarantees a spot in the playoffs.
5. You Can Go Your Own Way
All I think about when I see this line is Pedro Tulo playing soccer last year with other 1st and 2nd graders. Despite trying to teach positioning, they just bunched up together. So, um, Sheffield Wednesday needs to play with good positional awareness.
I've mentioned several times that I'm a fan of Sheffield Wednesday. I went to a game at Hillsborough Stadium when I spent the summer in England in 2000. Although the team had just been relegated from the Premier League to the English Football League Championship, I had a great time at the game. I didn't really follow Wednesday again until about 7-8 years ago, so even though the team went down to League One (the third division of English football/soccer) since my visit to Sheffield, I've only really known them in the championship division. Therefore, I'm sharing the 2021-2022 Sheffield Wednesday schedule with some notes about their opponents in League One. And by sharing notes, I'm really writing about my thoughts on the team names. My apologies in advance to any of the cities, towns, and clubs I write about below because I know nothing about them (as you will see very quickly).
First, here is your 2021-2022 Wednesday schedule:
So I could write about Wednesday having a busy February with 6 matches in three weeks or the team starting and finishing the season with 3 of 5 games on the road, but I want to focus on Wednesday's opponents. Enjoy!
* This was a LearnedLeague question and I got wrong this season:
What is the surname shared by soccer legends named Jack and Bobby, who played for two decades from the 1950s to the 1970s for Leeds United and Manchester United (respectively), and were among the starting eleven on England's World Cup-winning team in 1966? The name is also that of an area of southeast London that has been home to a Premier League club as recently as 2007 (currently in League One).
The answer is Charlton. If not for this question, I would have figured that the team was named after former member of the Cincinnati Reds' Nasty Boys, Norm Charlton.
* Current Sheffield Wednesday Darren Moore manager served as the Doncaster Rovers' manager until March 1st. There might be some familiarity between Moore and Doncaster. Should be fun!
* Fleetwood Town is clearly a town dedicated to all things Fleetwood Mac. I hope to visit this magical place I hope, no, I expect that the team plays Fleetwood Mac songs non-stop before, during, and after games. The team is probably going to look at Darren Moore like Stevie Nicks stares at Lindsey Buckingham beginning around the 3:30 mark of this Silver Springs video.
* It will be nice to see familiar teams Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers who got relegated with Wednesday last season.
* I have no idea what a Morecambe is or how to pronounce it. Give me some credit for learning how to say Wycombe last season.
* Plymouth Argyle is clearly known for their socks.
* Wigan Athletic spelled their team name incorrectly.
* Oxford and Cambridge are likely the best known universities in England and arguably two of the most prestigious in the world. I don't really have anything else to add here except that it would be fun to go to away matches in these cities. Oh, I also visited Cambridge University when I did my summer abroad program. Just wanted to share that.
* I find it fascinating that there is a Wycombe Wanderers AND a Bolton Wanderers. That's a lot of wandering! As for Bolton, you never know what to expect. They could be a soft and cuddly team like Michael Bolton (why are he and Zooey Deschanel doing some type of celebrity dating game?) or evil like Ramsay Bolton of Game of Thrones.
* MK Dons is clearly named after the Jersey City, New Jersey musical group that was big in the early 90s.
* I attended the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2000 and know that Wimbledon is a residential area of London. Still, I picture soccer matches being played on the grounds with passes going from court to court.
* Gillingham is clearly an homage to the X-Files actress who also recently played Margaret Thatcher on The Crown.
* Someone clearly made up the team Accrington Stanley just to see if we're paying attention. That's not a real thing.
There are other teams like Portsmouth, Sunderland, Crewe Alexandra that I didn't mention because I have nothing witty to share. I'm sure that they as well as Burton Albion (probably a nice guy), Lincoln City, Ipswich Town, and Cheltenham Town are all nice, quaint places to visit.
I haven't written about Sheffield Wednesday much this season. While few people who read Sean's Ramblings care about the team, almost as important for writing purposes is that they have been awful. If Sheffield Wednesday was awful because the team was only playing younger players, that wouldn't be terrible. If they were tanking in the hopes of getting the top draft pick like Sidney Crosby, LeBron James, or Trevor Lawrence, that would be understandable. However, there are no drafts in European soccer, and the team isn't playing many young players. They are just bad.
A little background on the season. The team started with a 12-point deduction because of shady financials. I'm not going to elaborate on this since I don't fully understand the financial fair play regulations, but just know that before the season started, every team in the English Football League Championship had 0 points while Wednesday had negative 12. It looked funny in the standings, and it probably was for fans of the other 23 clubs in the league. Fortunately, the 12-point reduction was later reduced to 6 points.
On the field, defender Dominic Iorfa, the team's player of the year for the 2019-2020 season, played only 10 league games before rupturing his Achilles. Solid midfielder Massimo Luongo has also only played 12 matches because of various injuries. I honestly think that if Iorfa was healthy all season, the team would be safe from relegation, and missing him and Luongo have been big losses. It also doesn't help that the team can't score goals. The team has scored 37 goals in 45 league matches. That's good (well not good) for 20th of the 24 EFL championship clubs and a major reason why they have been awful.
Let's talk about managers for a moment. The team started with Garry Monk until he was fired in November and replaced by Tony Pulis. Pulis lasted all the way until the end of December until he was canned. Neil Thompson served as the caretaker manager until the club hired Darren Moore at the beginning of March. People seem high on Moore, but unfortunately, he has missed several games after developing pneumonia as a result of COVID. Moore will also miss Saturday's match with Jamie Smith taking on the managerial duties. Not very much consistency here.
Oh, did I mention that there have been several times when the players haven't been paid in full? If your employer is unable to pay you in full on time ONCE, maybe you chalk it up to a mistake as long as it's fixed quickly. If this happens several times, I can't imagine that you want to stay there. Yes, plenty of people say that they would love to play sports for free, but if you have to pay a mortgage, buy food, and spend money on childcare, you're not going to play sports for free for very long. I can't imagine that the players feel any type of loyalty to the club if the organization can't even do the most basic function of paying them on time.
So if you made it this far, you understand that the team is a mess. Still with all this, the team is still amazingly alive to remain in the championship division. For those of you not familiar with relegation/promotion, the best teams in this particular league get promoted to the Premier League for the opportunity to get destroyed by Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester City, Chelsea, etc. However, the difference of being in the Premier League and the EFL Championship is millions and millions of dollars. Plus, you get the chance to compete with these teams. The bottom three teams get relegated to EFL League One. Think of the Premier League (or at least the top teams in this league) as a private jet. The Championship is probably the middle seat of a commercial flight. League One is a DC to New York bus. Little to no television coverage and much less money involved. You really don't want to go to League One.
So on Saturday, Sheffield Wednesday plays against Derby County managed by DC United great Wayne Rooney. (He may have played somewhere else too.) If Sheffield Wednesday wins and Rotherham United (yes, this is a real team) loses or draws Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday will finish in 21st and avoid relegation. Despite being awful, Derby and Rotherham have been just as bad if not worse. According to the FiveThirtyEight website, Wednesday has an 83% chance of getting relegated. This seems bad until you realize that this percentage was in the mid-90s a week or two ago.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to wake up for the 7:30 AM Sheffield-Derby match on a Saturday morning. (One or more of my kids is usually up by this time, so it's not as taxing as it would have been in my younger days.) I'm going to buy ESPN+ specifically for the match. I'm going to put on my Sheffield Wednesday T-shirt. And I'm going to cheer for Wednesday to win and stay up.
And if they lose, I guess I can write a blog post this fall to try to figure out what a MK Dons is and who Accrington Stanley might be.
This will be an odd blog post. I'm going to start by discussing Saturday's Sheffield Wednesday-Birmingham City game (including some random thoughts that have nothing to do with the game) and finish with some random ramblings. So if you're not interested in Sheffield Wednesday, scroll down. If you're not interested in my other ramblings, I'll let you know when to stop.
Sheffield Wednesday moved closer towards 0 and getting out of last place on Saturday by earning 3 points in a 1-0 win at Birmingham City. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Wednesday started the season with a 12-point deduction for breaking spending rules. After five matches in the English League Championship, they are now at -4 which continues to look extremely odd.
Just a few days ago, Wednesday signed Aden Flint on a loan from Cardiff City and Jack Marriott on a loan from Derby County. Despite not knowing their way around Wednesday's facilities yet, they both played on Saturday. Flint was pressed into service thanks to several injuries on the team's back line. Marriott also came in late in the second half. Both are experienced players, particularly with Flint's nearly 400 appearances, and they seem excited to join Wednesday. This gives the team even more depth. At the very least, the team should be able to get some good hotel rates thanks to the Jack's connection with Marriott.
Wednesday has now faced two music superstars over the past month. While they didn't fare well against Chris Martin and Bristol City, U2's Adam Clayton tripped Wednesday's Callum Paterson in the box, and Barry Bannon converted the penalty kick for the only goal of the game. Yes, Adam Clayton was stuck in a moment and couldn't get out of it.
There have been so many matches over the last few years where Wednesday had the lead only to concede a late goal. Birmingham City came close, but for once, Wednesday held on. That's nice to type.
I'm sharing this post-match video of Birmingham City defender George Friend, not for anything that he said (though he thought his team deserved a better result), but for him being a professional. When someone with a lawnmower or a leaf blower walks by around the 2:00 minute mark, Friend just talks louder. I'm guessing this isn't the first time this has happened to Friend in the middle of an interview. True professional!
Here are the match highlights:
And now for the non-Sheffield Wednesday portion of this blog post.
On Saturday night, we let three year old Luigi move from a crib to a big boy bed. It didn't go well as it took him nearly two hours to go to sleep. I think this deserves a separate blog post.
Broadway actor Aaron Tveit and I have a lot in common. We both did theater in high school, and we both graduated from Ithaca College. I'm sure there are other things too. The main difference between us though is that Tveit is probably going to be a Tony-award winning actor after being the only nominee in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category. The key word here is probably. Despite being the only nominee, he's not guaranteed to win the award. Tveit still needs to earn 60% of the vote. I really hope he wins, and it would be insulting and sad if he doesn't.
Random question. Do you put a dryer sheet in the dryer before you put the clothes in or after you put the clothes in the dryer?
I may be the only person born in Pittsburgh never to have seen the movie Sudden Death. That's going to change soon.
Finally, I'm really amused that someone in the Burning Bush neighborhood posted this on Nextdoor.
I mentioned recently that I started writing for Owls America, a website for Sheffield Wednesday fans in North and South America. I knew going in that my writing style works well here on Sean's Ramblings, but I was a little concerned about how it would fit on Owls America. It seems like the readers of Owls America expect analysis and match previews. I'll admit that this really isn't my specialty. In my opinion, there are plenty of other website that offer preview and game analysis. My posts tend to focus on a few things about the team and mixed with some "fun" facts. Anyway, since the site decided not to run my latest blog post, I figured that I would share it here instead. Please note that I think you can still enjoy this post even if you don't know anything about Sheffield Wednesday.
* With Sunday's 2-0 loss at Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday
has now scored only 2 goals (both against Cardiff City) in 4 games against non
League One teams. It's a little early to be too concerned about the lack of
offensive production, but Wednesday needs to score some goals soon. The latest
rumor is that Wednesday has interest Cardiff City's Callum Paterson.
Although Paterson has scored or assisted 29 goals in his 106 games for Cardiff,
he has yet to play this season. I've been pleased with Josh Windass overall so far,
and I'm still hopeful for production from Elias Kachunga and Jordan Rhodes, but
another experienced forward would be a welcome addition. * Chris Martin assisted on Bristol City's first goal. This man
can do everything. He sings and plays multiple instruments for one of the world's biggest bands (Coldplay), and he even acts. (He's
been on Modern Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm.) In addition to all this, he
was married to Gwyneth Paltrow and has been romantically linked with Dakota
Johnson and Jennifer Lawrence. Now, he's trying to help Bristol City reach the
Premier League. Amazing!
* There were reports this week that Watford and an unnamed
Premier League team are interested in defender Dominic Iorfa. Last season's
team player of the year is the rock of Wednesday's defense and arguably the
team's most important and dependable player. If someone offers
Wednesday $15-$20 million for him, I think it would be hard to say no
particularly with the uncertainty about any ticket revenue. * Barry Bannon's Instagram account is bazzaboi10. I just wanted
to point this out. Bazzaboi10. Next up: Queens Park Rangers at Hillsborough on Saturday,
October 3rd. Some goals (and more importantly 3 points) would be nice!
The biggest news in the sports world (and possibly the entire world) is that Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest active soccer player, apparently wants to leave Barcelona. Already, there are rumors that some of the biggest European clubs like Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain are interested. And sure if Messi wants to leave Barcelona, it makes sense for him to go to one of these clubs where he'll make millions of dollars, have the opportunity to win the Champions League, and continue to get major media coverage. However, after having so much individual and team success at Barcelona, perhaps Messi wants a brand new challenge. And that's why I think he should play for Sheffield Wednesday!
Look, I know what you're thinking. There is as good a chance of me, a guy who barely played on my below average high school soccer team, um, several years ago, playing for Sheffield Wednesday as Messi playing for the Owls. And you're totally right. But why would that stop me from writing a blog post where I can speculate it happening? I mean not many people know this, but LeBron James was so inspired by my blog post that he almost played basketball in Pittsburgh a decade ago.
So why do I think Messi should join Sheffield Wednesday? Well, SWFC definitely needs a proven goal scorer. As for what's in it for Messi, he could be the guy who leads Wednesday back to the Premier League for the first time in 20 years. You might think that this shouldn't be a challenge for one of the best players in the world regardless of the rest of the roster. However, Wednesday is also starting this season at a disadvantage getting a 12-point deduction for some shady financial bookkeeping. Basically, the season will start with 23 teams tied with 0 points and Wednesday in 24th place with -12 points. Messi never faced this type of adversity at Barcelona, and he likely wouldn't have this type of challenge again.
It's all going to come down to money though, right? Well, from the ESPN story linked above "Reports from Argentina claim Messi believes a clause in the contract should oblige Barcelona to let him leave for free." That's fantastic since Wednesday could never afford the likely millions of dollars in transfer fees. But what about the salary? Messi makes approximately $80 million at Barcelona. Wednesday doesn't have that kind of money, and who knows that kind of ticket revenue there may be for the 2020-2021 season thanks for COVID-19. Well, maybe Messi will be happy just earning a few million from Wednesday. Seriously. He makes millions and millions of dollars each year from Adidas, Pepsi, Gatorade, and others. Really, he has plenty of money.
As for his quality of life, I liked Sheffield from the 3 hours I spent there 20 years ago. Plus, the cost of living has to be lower than Barcelona. Maybe things will be a little quieter for him in Sheffield. People will just leave him alone to live his life. Maybe? Besides, it looks like there are plenty of fun things he and his family can do.
Again, I know that this isn't going to happen, but I can dream. (And it gives me some blog content today!)
UPDATE: So, um, never mind. According to Steven Goff in The Washington Post, "The release clause — the amount a suitor would have to pay Barcelona for Messi’s rights because he is under contract until next summer — is $835 million, though such astronomical figures are deterrents more than anything else." Wednesday doesn't have that kind of money.
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
Posts
