Best and Worst of 2025

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.

Ohio State photo by Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Best and Worst of 2024

While I've written this before, I dislike best and worst posts that come out in November or early December. What happens if you see something great in late December? Does it qualify for the next year or is it just forgotten? Now that 2024 is complete, here's my annual best and worst list. Please note that the items in this post represent what I watched or saw in 2024 even if they came out before this year. For example, The Sound of Music was released about 60 years ago, but I saw it for the first time over the summer as part of a live outdoor screening/sing-a-long (which was a lot of fun). 

Best TV Show: A Man on the Inside and Primo

There's two things in common with these shows: They are comedies with a lot of heart, and Michael Schur is a producer on both. Primo, which aired on Freevee in 2023, featured a teenage boy in San Antonio raised by his single mom and five uncles. While it's a coming of age story about the teenager, the dynamics between the five uncles (as well as with their sister and nephew) made the show. I'm writing this in past tense since it's unfortunate and disappointing that the show was cancelled after one season. Still, I highly encourage you to check it out.

A Man on the Inside follows Ted Danson, a widower hired to live in a retirement community by a private detective to try to solve a case of a stolen necklace. This one seemed to hit close to home between older residents and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (maybe best known as The Waitress on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and her husband raising three boys. Any scene with the three kids seemed to mirror many parts of my life. While there are certainly funny moments, I think the show is much more of a drama than a comedy.

Right before I published this post, I changed my mind. My favorite TV show that I watched in 2024 was Only Murders In The Building. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are fantastic. The show has so many good lines and scenes and amazing guest stars. The "minor" characters are all awesome too. The only negative is that I haven't watched the last two episodes of season four since my free Hulu subscription ended. I need to see how the last season ended!

Worst TV Show: Yellowstone

I watched the first three seasons last year, so this only represents season 4 and season 5, and really it's just the last 6 episodes which aired in November and December 2024. The show returned after a nearly 2-year break by killing off a major character but not having that character appear on screen thanks to a contract dispute. Even though there wasn't much time to wrap things up, there was still time to show Yellowstone's creator and writer Taylor Sheridan play poker several times and have Rip tell a story about meeting Sheridan's character at a bar fight. Oh, and there's always time for 2-3 minute clips of horses stopping quickly in the dirt for the 713th time. I really hope that there's not a 6th season though I would watch a spin-off featuring Mo and Teeter.

Other TV shows I watched in 2024:

Night Court

The Bear (season 2)

Archer (final episode)

Not Dead Yet

Abbott Elementary

Quantum Leap

Atlanta

Shogun

Modern Family (I had the last few seasons from several years ago saved on my DVR)

Welcome to Wrexham (latest season)

The Big Door Prize

The Amazing Race

Fargo (season 5) 

High Potential

The Other Two (season 3)

Girls5eva

Succession (last half of last season)

Hard Knocks: In Season with the AFC North

Hacks (season 3)

Beast Games

Best Song: APT by Rose and Bruno Mars

While I wrote about my favorite songs of 2024 a few weeks ago, APT by Rose (from the South Korean group BlackPink) and Bruno Mars is my favorite. It's pure pop and really, really catchy. To me, the bridge makes the song. 

Don't you want me like I want you, baby

Don't you need me like I need you now

Sleep tomorrow but tonight go crazy

All you gotta do is just meet me at the

So good. Plus, if you want to be silly, you can replace the chorus with a-pa-chocolate chip. It works. (Credit to The Moose for this change.)

Worst Song: Lonely Road by MGK and Jelly Roll

Look, if you're going to use the tune from John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads, just do a cover. 

Lonely road, take me home

To the place that we went wrong

Where'd you go now?

It's been a ghost town

And I'm still here all alone.

No. No. No. No. No. Now, if you insert West Virginia after where'd you go now, that might redeem the song a little. That might be funny.

Best Movie: The Holdovers

I'll admit that this was the toughest pick for me. Oppenheimer and Barbie both deserved all the acclaim they received. Poor Things and Emelia Perez are both very weird (especially Poor Things), but I appreciate that the films went for a big swing. They are both so much different than anything I've seen. With all of that, The Holdovers is a safe pick. Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa are all excellent. A feel good story and ending too.

Worst Movie: Maestro

I give credit to Bradley Cooper for acting and directing this movie about Leonard Bernstein. I just found that I didn't really care about Bernstein's personal life. 

Other Movies I Watched in 2024 not mentioned above:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1971 version)

Dumb Money

Mississippi Burning

Lincoln

Ex Machina

A Star Is Born

The Sound of Music
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Top Gun: Maverick

Knives Out: Glass Onion

If

Wicked (part 1)

Best Book: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Vera Wong runs a tea shop with barely any customers and finds a dead body in her shop one morning. From there, she decides to solve the case. It's a really fun read. 

Other Books I Read in 2024:

Rickey by Howard Bryant

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

60 Songs That Explain The 90s by Rob Harvilla

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto 

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn (only a few chapters in)

Best Pittsburgh Sports Moment:

The real answer should be anything related to Paul Skenes, but this picture (as shown below) after Pitt's men's basketball team defeated Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in January is still awesome. Pitt really should have made the tournament, but a few pre-conference losses sealed their fate. 

Worst Pittsburgh Sports Moment:

Everything else! The Penguins didn't make the playoffs. The Steelers lost in the first round of the playoffs in snowy Buffalo and seem headed to that again next week. The Pirates are the Pirates, Pitt's football team lost 6 straight, and Pitt's women's volleyball team had an incredible year but lost in the final four. Duquesne's men's basketball team winning an NCAA tournament game was fun though.  

Best Sports Moment I Saw Live: Maryland Women's Basketball

Yes, this is definitely recent bias, but the pass starting around the 3:40 mark of this video was awesome.

Most Meaningful Blog Posts:

The high and low of 2024 came just a few weeks apart. The Moose celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in early April, and then, my mom passed away at the end of the month. I'm grateful that she was able to watch the ceremony online and congratulate him on an amazing job. 

Worst Blog Post: A Hawk Tua Post

This was a dumb idea about hawks that lived on my street and the Miami Dolphins quarterback.

Best Concert: Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

I saw these concerts about a week apart, and that's quite the twin bill. What I appreciate about both is that they have deep catalogs and play such a wide variety of their songs. I was awestruck by the Bruce concert, and as I was leaving Nats Park, I started going through his hits that they didn't play. I wasn't upset. Bruce and company could play a 7-hour concert and still not play everything!

Best And Worst Of 2023

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 

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Just Like You by Nick Hornby

The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Why We Love Baseball by Joe Posnanski

Best Live Concert: Pink

She's amazing.

Worst Live Concert: Bruce Springsteen

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.

Best Blog Post: Goodbye Ziggy

In May, we had to say goodbye to our cat Ziggy. I still miss him.

Worst Blog Post: Is Tim Tebow's Wife a Pirates Fan?

Since she wore a hat with a "P," I immediately thought it was a Pittsburgh Pirates hat. It was probably a Puma hat.

While this may or may not be my last post of 2023, have a Happy New Year!

Sean's Best and Worst Of 2022

Welcome to my annual best and worst of 2022 in pop culture and more. 

Best TV Shows: Severance and The Afterparty

There is a lot of good television being made. While I'll get to my favorites momentarily, I want to give honorable mentions to Abbott Elementary, Barry, Station 11, Squid Game (which I watched in 2022) and Alaska Daily. I don't think the last one gets the credit it deserves since it's on ABC rather than on cable or a streaming service. Throw in a few swear words and maybe some brief nudity, and I think this show would be on many critics' top shows list, particularly with Hilary Swank as the lead. And yes, I understand that the show is highlighting the importance of strong local journalism, but what's wrong with that? I didn't see any Better Call Saul this season since I made a mistake with the DVR, and it erased the first few episodes. I feel like there's a good chance the show will make my best of 2023. 

I generally don't consider myself a sci-fi guy, and I'm not even sure if Severance counts as a sci-fi show. What would happen if you could completely separate your work life and your home life? Severance truly separates the two where characters medically cannot remember work when they are out of the office or remember anything outside work when they are in the office. Adam Scott is the main character and leads an incredible cast including Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Tramell Tillman, and Christopher Walken. The show is quite suspenseful, and I can't wait to see a second season.

The Afterparty is also on Apple+ but besides having an amazing cast, that's where the similarities end. A famous Justin Bieber-type character (played by Dave Franco) returns for his high school reunion and gets killed at the after party. It's a murder mystery with Tiffany Haddish as the detective as she interviews potential suspects including Sam Richardson, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Ben Schwartz, and Zoe Chao. This show is very funny, and I love watching any of Ben Schwartz's songs. (Please note that there is one bad word in this song.)

Best Movie: CODA

I almost forgot that I saw this movie in 2022 since I probably watched it during the first week or two of January. Even though CODA won Best Picture at the Oscars, no one talks about it since the ceremony was overshadowed by Will Smith. It's a fun, coming-of-age movie about a high school senior who is a child of deaf parents. (That's what CODA stands for.)

Worst movie: Home Team

I guess this is supposed to be a redemption story of New Orleans Saints football coach Sean Payton who served a one-year suspension for Bountygate where players got paid for injuring their opponents. I had no idea Payton needed a redemption story. During his suspension, he moves to a Texas town and helps coach his son’s football team and tries to build a relationship with the kid. Sean Payton is played by Kevin James who is not funny at all in this role. Rob Schneider plays the new husband of Payton’s ex-wife and is also not funny in this film. Actually, not funny would be a compliment. Payton eventually takes over the team and only cares about winning. Oh, there's also a scene where all of the kids on Payton's team vomit and that helps them win the game. Even that part is in the trailer. While I guess there's a life lesson in this movie somewhere, the story ends with Payton going back to coaching the NFL, apparently leaving his kid behind, but now he remembers names of people in the Saints organization. 

Best Song: I Ain't Worried by OneRepublic

I'm breaking my previous rule that the best song needed to be featured in a blog post earlier in the year. I had a really difficult time choosing a best song of 2022. Not a lot really jumped out for me. I think the message of "Victoria's Secret" by Jax about body image is important, and I recently started listening to and enjoying "Burning" by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. OneRepublic just manages to crank out catchy hit after catchy hit, and "I Ain't Worried' is their latest. When I write my best and worst of 2024, I probably won't remember this song, but I ain't worried 'bout it right now.

Worst Song: Hold Me Closer by Elton John and Britney Spears

What happens when you take the classic, beloved song Tiny Dancer and make it much worse? This! Elton John and Britney Spears didn't even feel the need to make a cameo in the video for this cash grab.

Best Podcast: SmartLess

I'm definitely late on this podcast. Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes make fun of each other and interview celebrities. I laugh out loud at least once every episode. I also want to give an honorable mention to Futbol with Grant Wahl. I went to his podcast before and after every US qualifying and World Cup match and whenever something big happened in the soccer world. He's gone way too soon.

Best Book: The Worst Teddy Ever by Marcelo Verdad

I’ve really struggled reading since the Covid pandemic started. I used to read everyday during my commute, but now I drive instead of relying on the bus and Metro. While the amount of time I spend listening to podcasts is way up, the amount of time spent reading is way down. 

I traveled to Austin, Texas in November, and although I didn’t see any bats, I did stumble into the Texas Book Festival. There were dozens of authors speaking and tents filled with exhibitors over multiple streets all in front of the Texas capitol building. I loved walking through it! At one point, I passed by a tent and heard an author having a playful discussion with kids. The tent next to this was filled with children’s books for sale including one by this author. I bought "The Worst Teddy Ever" and brought it home for my kids. It's about a teddy bear who is too tired to play, but there's a good reason for this. The book is definitely more geared for my kindergartner, but I enjoy it too. 

Best Blog Posts: The End of Celebrate Fairfax and RIP Chris

I'm still a little upset that the Celebrate Fairfax and Fall for Fairfax festivals appear to be over. Such a loss to the Northern Virginia community. I also wrote about my friend Chris who passed away earlier this year.

Worst Blog Post: TMI Thursday Karma

I wrote a post about buying a new plunger.

Best Sports Bet: Kansas winning the NCAA Tournament

I picked this before the tournament. They won. Go me!

Worst Sports Bet: The Pirates winning over 62.5 games. 

They had to improve in 2022 and not lose 100 games, right? Wrong. They went 62-100. There were many bad losses, but the worst might be the Pirates leading 8-4 in the bottom of the 9th at Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees winning 9-8 thanks to home runs by Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

Please feel free to leave your best and worst of 2022 in the comments section below. Hope that you had a good 2022, and here's to a better 2023!

Sean's Best and Worst of 2021

Since 2021 is almost over, it's time for my annual best of and worst of the year in pop culture and more. Enjoy!

Best Movie: Sound of Metal

Way back in January, I watched Sound of Metal about a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing. Riz Ahmed was amazing in the film. You really feel his anger and vulnerability. The sound (or lack thereof at times) was also incredible. 

Honorable Mention: Godfather and Godfather II. It took until 2021 for me to finally watch these movies, and I have no idea why it took so long. I didn't recognize Robert Duvall or Diane Keaton at all. Promising Young Woman was also a fascinating movie that really stuck with me. 

Best TV Show: Bluey

I watched a lot of TV in 2021, and even with that, there are still so many shows that I want to see. While I should probably pick Succession, Ted Lasso, or Mare of Easttown for the best show of 2021, I'm going off the board here and picking Bluey.* This is an Australian cartoon that I first learned about in 2021 and is really sweet. The dad dog reminds me of a smarter and more caring Homer Simpson. Best of all, the episodes are only about 10 minutes long, so you can watch one quickly before getting the kids ready for bed!

Honorable mention: The Other Two. I really enjoyed the first season on Comedy Central about the older siblings of a famous teenage singer. The second season on HBO Max was just as good as the older siblings manage varying degrees of success and recognition. It's consistently funny with an amazing cast (Molly Shannon is perfect as the mom and now daytime TV host) and all of the guest stars fit in remarkably well. 

Worst TV Show: Robot Trains

My kids watched part of the first two episodes recently. In the first episode, one robot train tried to kill another robot train. Either later in the first episode or the next one, a train has amnesia. It was awful.

Honorable mention: La Brea

I watched all ten episodes of NBC's attempt to recreate Lost, and I really don't know why. The premise seems cool. A giant sinkhole opens in Los Angeles and everyone who fell into it gets transported back millions of years. From there, it just gets ridiculous. The "dad" who is in present-day LA has visions so he can see what's going on in the past. Some people manage to go back and forth between the past and present. Oh, and then there's a Back to the Future story line where the kids will disappear if something doesn't happen. Even with all of this, I still plan on watching the show when it comes back.

Best Song: good 4 u by Olivia Rodrigo

Once again, my rule is that the best song must be featured in a blog post from earlier in the year. This year's best song was easy for me. I love good 4 u (even if the title should be Good For You) and I'm still not sick of it.

Worst Song: Hurricane by Cheat Codes featuring Grey and Tyson Ritter

We drove thousands of miles this summer, so I listened to a lot of pop music. Hurricane isn't a bad song, and I like hearing Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects again. The problem is the chorus:

Three cheers to the ones that don't grow up

24 forever till we self destruct

Lifestyles of the broke and dangerous

Maybe they'll name a hurricane after us.

The World Meteorological Organization is responsible for naming hurricanes. All of the names are singular. There's no such thing as a hurricane named Tom and Jerry or Thelma and Louise. Therefore, they aren't naming a hurricane Cheat Codes, Gray, and Tyson. NO ONE IS NAMING A HURRICANE AFTER YOU!

Worst Sports Moment: Many

2021 was an awful sports year. We started in January with the Steelers losing in the playoffs to the, I can't believe I'm typing this, Cleveland Browns. Wow, that actually happened. In May, Sheffield Wednesday tied Derby 3-3 in the final match of the season. A draw doesn't seem bad, but the result caused Wednesday to get relegated to League One, the third division of English soccer. In hindsight, it's been kind of nice seeing Wednesday win matches and do well in League One over the last few months, but at the time, seeing that Wednesday would have to play teams like MK Dons, Crewe Alexandra, and Accrington Stanley seemed devastating. A few weeks later, the Penguins got knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders. Pens goalie Tristan Jarry just had a terrible series basically giving game 5 away. Then, the Pirates went 61-101. Overall, not a great sports year for teams I support.

Best Sports Moment: Little League Baseball

Not counting a coach-pitch league three years ago, The Moose played baseball for the first time this fall. The coaches were fantastic in teaching the game and making sure that the kids played multiple positions. The Moose pitched and played every position in the infield and outfield. In the playoffs, his team trailed 4-0 after the top of the first inning and 6-0 in the middle of the 4th. Then, The Moose stepped up to the plate and did this:

He started the rally leading to the team scoring 4 runs in the half inning. The team battled back all the way to 6-5 and had two runners on base before the opposing team got the final out. It was such an exciting game, and we were all proud of The Moose's team. After the game, instead of feeling sorry for themselves for the loss, the coaches gave each of the players a baseball, and they all signed autographs for each other. It was fantastic.

Best New Podcast: Bit Season

One of my first ever blog posts in January 2005 was my disappointment of waking up and finding out that The Sports Junkies were no longer on the radio thanks to a station format change. While they generally go by The Junkies, 17 years later, I still listen to their morning radio show when I can. The show's producers created a podcast called Bit Season several months ago with a behind-the-scenes look at the show as well as things about their lives. It's a fun listen.

Best Book: How Lucky by Will Leitch

I've pretty much stopped reading during the pandemic. For years, I read on my bus and Metro rides to and from work. I worked from home for well over a year, and when I started working from the office again, I drove. While I've found it difficult to focus on reading at home, I managed to make it through a handful of books in 2021. My favorite has been How Lucky by Will Leitch. It's a fictional story about a wheelchair-bound protagonist with a neuromuscular disorder, his life in Athens, Georgia, and a missing college student. I'll let this review explain more, but it's an enjoyable read.

Best Live Concert: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer

Ah, August. A simpler time. This was well before omicron and even delta.  Warm weather meant more time outside. Sure, I still wore a mask indoors and limited time in crowds, but I made an exception for this concert where I purchased tickets in 2019. Of course, COVID-19 was still around as evidenced by the fact that one of the members of Fall Out Boy (or their crew) contracted the virus causing the band not to perform, but it was fun doing something that seemed completely normal. 

Best Blog Post: NHL Outdoor Game Ideas

The NHL hosted an outdoor game on the banks of Lake Tahoe. The pictures and views were absolutely stunning. I had fun coming up with ideas for future outdoor games.  

Honorable mention: My immediate reaction to the January 6th attack on The Capitol Building. It's amazing how many people (particularly many House Republicans) are trying to minimize this attack and are actively against any investigation. 

Worst Blog Post: Honey Nut Cheerios with Blueberries

I successfully wrote 30 blog posts in just over 30 days. One of them was sharing my excitement about adding blueberries to my morning cereal. While this continues to be a tasty edition, this was probably not blog worthy.

Please feel free to share some of your best and worst of 2021 in the comments section. 

* After I finished drafting this post, I listened to The Watch podcast where Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald were joined by Sam Esmail in discussing the best TV shows of 2021. Greenwald mentioned that Bluey would have been his number one show except that there were no new episodes in 2021. I guess my out of the box pick wasn't out of the box! 

Sean's Best and Worst of 2020

I should preface this post by mentioning that this is primarily about pop culture items. I mean 2020 has been a pretty lousy year overall, so this is more of a fun look at the last 12 months.

Best Television Show: Better Call Saul

I watched a good amount of TV this year. I finally got caught up on This Is Us, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Watchman. The Good Place concluded in 2020, and I enjoyed The Queen's Gambit and Fargo as well as The Last Dance documentary. (Schitt's Creek and The Boys are still on my list of shows that I want to see.) Even with all of these great shows that I just mentioned, Better Call Saul tops my list. The writing and the acting are just so good. I mean, two of the storylines from the show's fifth season were about a guy not wanting to sell his land/home and another about a construction project by a German engineer and his team. While I know that I'm understating this, on paper, this doesn't seem very exciting. It really is captivating and thrilling though.

Best Movie: Knives Out

I didn't see many "grown up" movies, but I enjoyed two 2020 movies geared for kids in Onward and Soul. Even though the film came out late in 2019, my favorite movie of the year was Knives Out. What a fun and funny film. It's a murder mystery with a family of dislikable characters but it really is fun watching Daniel Craig try to figure things out as the lead detective. 

Worst Movie: Tully

This is another movie from a few years ago that I just saw in 2020. It's not a bad movie, and there are certainly parts that I liked, but it falls into the worst movie category only because I didn't see very many films in 2020. Like Charlize Theron and her family in the film, we also have three kids so part of this film really hits close to home. What bothered me the most is how useless the father (played by Ron Livingston) is, especially when there's a major reveal that I won't spoil here. 

Best Song: Blinding Lights by The Weeknd

My rule is that the best song must be featured in a blog post at some point during the year. While I really like Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus (who once had the worst song of the year) and strongly considered it, Blinding Lights by The Weeknd is a banger. It's the jam. It's the cat's meow. Am I using these words correctly? We'll just go with this. It's a really good and catchy song. By the way, congrats to The Weeknd for getting best song of the year twice now even though Starboy doesn't seem quite as good as it was four years ago.

Worst Song: ily by Surf Mesa featuring Emilee

You know the chorus to Frankie Valli's 1967 hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You." It's a fantastic song with a memorable chorus. Well, how about playing just the chorus over and over and over again with some type of layering? I can listen and like the first 20-30 seconds of the song, but after that, I'm switching the channel. 

Best Book: The first three books of the Harry Potter series

I do pretty much all of my reading during my commute to work. Since I've been working from home since the pandemic started, I've read exactly zero books for myself. While I read some books in January and February, I can't remember what they were. Because of this, the best books I read in 2020 were the first three Harry Potter books to The Moose (my 9 year old son). It's been a nice bonding experience reading them to him.

I'll add that I just bought two books that I'm really excited to read: The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh and The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these books is on the 2021 best of blog post.

Best Sports Moment of 2020: Manuel Margot Catch

This was a tough call. As a Pittsburgh sports fan, the Penguins exited the hockey playoffs much earlier than expected (more on that below) and the Pirates were lousy. The Steelers started the season 11-0 but lost three consecutive games and looked terrible in the process before rebounding after being down by 17 points on Sunday. So while there were championships with fans and then championships without fans in 2020, this catch by Manuel Margot of the Tampa Bay Rays in game one of the American League Championship Series is the play of the year to me. So cool, and seeing this live, I really thought he might have fallen into an abyss. 

Worst Sports Moment: The Pittsburgh Penguins

While I didn't expect the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup, I did expect them to defeat the 12th-seeded Montreal Canadians in the first round playoff series. The playoffs generally only have 8 teams per conference. Montreal wouldn't have even been close to reaching the playoffs in a typical year. Such a terrible series. 

Best Blog Post: Songs of 2000 & 2020s Predictions

This was an odd year for Sean's Ramblings. As I looked through my posts from this year, I was a lot more "serious" than usual. Lots of "heavy" posts about the pandemic, the state of the country, and my family including a post about my dad passing away. So while I don't know if these were the "best" posts, my posts about the songs of 2000 and predictions for the 20s decade were the most fun and more in line with my "typical" blog posts. Don't mind me as I continue to put words in quotes!

Worst Blog Post: Kangaroos Wanted

I wrote an entire blog post about someone looking for kangaroos for a kids' birthday party.

Best Musical: Hamilton

Have you heard about this show? It's about the guy on the $10 bill and was created by Lin-Manuel Miranda who was in one Brooklyn Nine Nine episode and one How I Met Your Mother episode. I never saw this live and for the most part avoided the music because I first wanted to hear and see it on stage. Well, I still haven't seen the show live, but I watched the film version of the show which was actually three performances of the show from June 2016. It lived up to the hype!

Best Podcast: Ya Jagoff!, Owls Americast, The Tony Kornheiser Show, and The Poscast

I don't listen to podcasts as much as I did when I was commuting to work, but I rarely miss episodes of these podcasts. I like listening to John and Rachael to hear about all the cool things going on in Pittsburgh on Ya Jagoff! Owls Americast is my connection with Sheffield Wednesday. The Tony Kornheiser Show gives me a sense of big sports stories (with some really good guests) along with various rants of Tony's life. And The Poscast is based around baseball but always makes me laugh. All of these podcasts gave me some normalcy in definitely abnormal times.

Best Blog: Josh's World

This might be the third or fourth time Josh's World has won this. I like Josh's take on things. Nothing against Josh, but I also need to expand the number of blogs I read. I tend to read the same sites, and there are fewer and fewer individual blogs each year.  

Please feel free to share some of your own best of and worst of 2020 in the comments section below.

If you're curious, you can see how some of my best of and worst of picks from the past few years hold up, please click here.

Sean's Best and Worst of 2019

Just in time for the start of 2020, here is my best and worst of 2019.

Best Movie I Saw In The Theater/Airplane: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

On Friday, January 11th, I boarded a flight from Washington Dulles airport to Dallas-Fort Worth for my annual-ish hockey road trip. I realized the night before that I had an economy ticket, meaning that I was allowed only one item that fits under the seat. Any other bag would need to be checked for $25 or $30 each way, so I successfully fit everything for my weekend trip into my backpack including a 2011 Kindle in the hopes of downloading the United app for in-flight entertainment. Although the Kindle was too old to download the app, it worked on my phone, so I watched documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" on a very small screen. What a film! First, Mr. Rogers is iconic and an excellent subject matter. Then, the clips, and especially interviews with people who knew Fred Rogers the best, were outstanding. It definitely got a little dusty a few times during the flight. How this film didn't receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary is one of the biggest snubs in Oscars history. Because of this oversight, I fully expect the 2019 film A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (which I also saw) to receive several nominations with Tom Hanks winning for Best Supporting Actor.

Worst Movie I Saw In The Theater: Angry Birds 2

The problem was that I never saw the original Angry Birds, so it was difficult to follow along. Actually, the movie wasn’t that bad, and there’s an amazingly deep voice cast including Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Leslie Jones, Bill Hader, Sterling K. Brown, Awkwafina, Peter Dinklage, Tiffany Haddish, and more. My frustration is that I took 5 year old Pedro Tulo to the movies, and he chose to see Angry Birds 2 over Toy Story 4. I tried to convince him that Toy Story 4 would be a better movie, but it’s really difficult to persuade Pedro Tulo once his mind is made up. We still haven't seen Toy Story 4.

Best Song: Bad Guy by Billie Eilish

As always, my criteria for best song is that I have to feature the song in a blog post at some point during the year. My best song for 2019 is by a teenager who hadn't heard of Van Halen when asked. She's also really talented and recently earned 6 Grammy nominations including those in the biggest categories like Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.



An honorable mention goes to Here We Go by Dave Grohl with Elmo and Big Bird.



I love this song!

Worst Song: Bad Guy remix by Billie Eilish with Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber's verse in the remix version of this song is totally unnecessary and simply not nearly as good as the original.



Best Television Show: Barry

This was the most difficult category for me. I watched both seasons of both "Succession" and "Fleabag" in 2019 which are outstanding shows that deserve all of the recognition and praise they receive. My pick though is another show that I started watching in 2019, Barry. This HBO show features Bill Hader (of Angry Birds 2 fame) as a hit-man who joins an acting class. Hilarity (and murders) ensue! I guess you'd call this a dark comedy or a funny drama if that's a thing. Anyway, I'm always entertained by the show and love the acting by Stephen Root, Henry Winkler, and especially Anthony Carrigan who plays a "nice" Chechen mobster named NoHo Hank. He makes the show.

Worst Television Decision: ABC Cancelling Speechless

I don't have a worst TV show. I pretty much watch the shows I know that I'll like and even then I don't have time to watch what I want. For example, I have over 40 episodes of "This Is Us" and "Modern Family" saved on my DVR that I haven't seen yet. Even the shows that my kids have watched this year like "American Ninja Warrior Junior" and various cooking competition shows have been fine. It may not have been the best parenting decision to let the kids watch The Masked Singer, but we are fascinated by the reveal of who is behind the mask. It's probably not appropriate to have them chant "TAKE IT OFF" though.

That's why I'm creating a worst TV decision category. I don't understand why ABC cancelled "Speechless," a show about a family where the oldest child of three has cerebral palsy. They could have made this a heart-warming drama, and there are definitely some touching moments, but it was a really funny show. USA Today even included Speechless in its top 25 shows of the 2010s. It deserved more than three seasons, especially since it would have been fun to see how the writers dealt with JJ going to college. ABC could have made room to fit the show in its schedule, even if it's only a 12-episode season. Here are a few clips to remember the show.







Best Book: John Temple

This was John Temple’s year even if he didn’t realize it! Temple published "Up in Arms: How the Bundy Family Hijacked Public Lands, Outfoxed the Federal Government, and Ignited America's Patriot Militia Movement" over the summer, and I also read his 2015 book "American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic" this year. Both nonfiction books are thoroughly researched and filled with detailed first-hand interviews. These books are examples of what journalism and story-telling should be.

Full disclosure. I know John Temple's wife though I haven't talked with her since I was in high school.

I also wanted to share other books that I read this year for no particular reason other than to show off that I read some books!

- Educated: a memoir by Tara Westover
- The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
- Playing Through The Whistle: Steel, Football, and an American Town by S.L. Price (I thought about writing a blog post about this book and compare Aliquippa to my own Western Pennsylvania community. I still might in 2020.)
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg
- Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
- Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
- The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer by Caitlin Murray
- Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski

Best Sports Moment: US Women's World Cup Win

Not a great year for Pittsburgh sports (I'll get to that momentarily), so to me, the best sports moment was the dominance of the women's national team. I included three videos below based on the round. In the quarterfinal, Megan Rapinoe scored twice in a 2-1 win over the host team France.



Alex Morgan's gave the US a 2-1 lead in the semi-final against England. A lot of people made a big deal about the sipping tea celebration. What a dumb discussion that was. This was a monster goal in a huge match. The celebration was fine.



Finally, with a 1-0 lead part-way through the second half of the final against The Netherlands, Rose Lavelle took a pass near midfield and sealed the victory for the US. She's an assassin!



Worst Sports Moments: Penguins vs. Islanders Playoff Series

Pittsburgh sports fans hoped that the Pirates would be decent in 2019, but I think we knew that seemed unrealistic. The Steelers lost Big Ben in week two and pro-bowlers RB James Conner and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster missed significant time. The fact they have been as competitive as they have been is a credit to the defense and head coach. Still, the most disappointing moment of 2019 was the Penguins getting swept in the first round of the NHL playoffs to the New York Islanders. Look, I don't think most fans realistically thought the Pens were going to win the Stanley Cup. Tampa Bay and Boston looked really strong in the Atlantic division. In the Metropolitan, Washington and the Islanders were better than the Penguins all season (and continue to be so far through the 2019-2020 season) and Carolina and Columbus were about equals. Still, with Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Guentzel, Letang, and Murray, you didn't expect the team to lose a series 4-0.

Best Blog: The Steel Trap

I really enjoy Heidi's writings. Her first world problems posts are worth the price of admission alone. (I should probably note that there are no fees to read The Steel Trap.)

Worst Blog: All of the blogs that I used to read but aren't around anymore.

I get it. Writing a personal blog takes a lot of time and life gets in the way. I'm going to write more about this soon in a separate post.

Best Podcast (No Budget Category): The Donut Bag

Joey is the hardest working man in podcasting. He puts out 3-4 podcasts a week on Pittsburgh sports, movies, television shows, random drafts, and more. I don't think this man sleeps!

Best Podcast (With a Budget Category): Hit Parade

I only learned about this Slate podcast regarding music chart history in 2019, and I'm only a few episodes away from going through every episode. This podcast was made for me. Chris Molanphy picks a song or artist in each full-length episode and does a deep dive on the song/group/time period with lots of song clips.

Best Sean's Ramblings Blog Post: Kamala, Katy, Ariana, & Demi

I had the most fun writing about what may have occurred when Senator (and now former Presidential candidate) Kamala Harris met with Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato.

Honorable mention to field trips. Specifically, our family vacation to Pittsburgh and taking Pedro Tulo to a DC United game. In addition, The Moose ran for class office.

Worst Sean's Ramblings Blog Post: ............

In late April, I fell asleep in front of my computer and either my finger got stuck on the keyboard or Ziggy sat on the keyboard. The result was a series of periods. According to Blogger, this has also been my most-read post of 2019, and it's not even close. Maybe I need to have Ziggy blog more often.

Best Play/Musical I Saw: Come From Away

This musical is based on 9/11 and the subsequent days where Gander, Newfoundland in Canada, a town of less than 10,000 people hosted approximately 7,000 people from international flights after the American airspace was closed. There are plenty of lighter moments but with the realization that 9/11 just happened. So so good.

Worse Play/Musical I Saw: None

With three young kids, you think I have time to see lots of plays and musicals?

Thanks for making it all the way through this post. Please feel free to click here to see my best of and worst of the last few years. Happy New Year!