Month: July 2022

Toughest Beat of the Week #1

The NFL story of the week belongs to Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals and the now infamous homework clause.

Murray officially signed his new five-year $230 million extension on Monday. Later that same day Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network tweeted a screenshot of an “Independent Study” contract addendum which stipulates Murray must complete 4 hours of study per game week, excluding bye weeks, during the contract term.

Ok…

First of all this seems unprecedented for an NFL player’s contract. Per one ProFootballTalk source, it is and does not violate the CBA. With careers like Michael Vick’s in the rearview mirror it’s surprising a contract term of this kind hasn’t happened or gone public before. 

The fact this addendum even exists seems extremely problematic for everyone involved, especially the NFL itself. Is this the first of more homework clauses to come? I hear the drum beat of curmudgeons detesting the dissemination of NBA’s influence.

Extensive film study has been synonymous with not just elite modern quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, but also defensive legend Ray Lewis. I recall Lewis pontificating how the challenging of facing Manning wasn’t primarily on the field but off it. Lewis spent hours upon hours at home watching film and demanded others join him because Peyton was “clickin” the film remote.

Murray on the other hand does not believe he requires intensive studying outside the Cardinals facility. 

“I think I was blessed with the cognitive skills to just go out there and just see it before it happens. I’m not one of those guys that’s going to sit there and kill myself watching film. I don’t sit there for 24 hours and break down this team and that team and watch every game because, in my head, I see so much.”

Kyler Murray to The New York Times

In his playoff debut this past season, the wunderkind posted a blistering 19-34 for 137 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions, before boldly pulling himself from the game.

Colt McCoy not knowing his damn place encouraged Murray to finished the game but that was it for boy wonder.

I can’t, respectfully, only grill Murray for his horrid performance. Head coach Biff… I mean Kliff Kingsberry coaches like DJ Press Play. The Rams physically abused the offensive line and scheme inside and out.

There were seemingly no adjustments in the first half of the game before going into halftime down 21 to zero. Murray look distressed and eventually unhinged when he threw a pick-six in desperation to complete a 6 yard pass.

Not even a healthy DeAndre Hopkins would not have tipped the outcome of the game.

Throw the ball Kyler… Throw the fucking ball!!!

The Rams pressured Murray constantly, covered their receivers, and contained Murray from making plays with his legs.

Was Murray injured? Possibly, but everyone is battling injuries in at this point of the season. Either way the Rams offered very limited opportunities for Murray and his legs to bail out the offense.

The coach is there to support the players and put them in the situations to succeed and win ball games. Kingsberry has never demonstrated consistently this coaching competency.

On the other hand Murray already conceded he can “just see it before it happens” though…

So who should the court of public opinion blame?

Bad coachin’, bad general management (can’t just rely on one receiver), and feeble quarterbacking led to a playoff fiasco. Complete organizational failure.

This homework clause amounts to gross incompetence. You know… I planned to publish this piece on Tuesday. Thankfully life got in the way.

The beat got even tougher!

Thursday evening reports surface the Cardinals removed the independent study addendum amid public scrutiny.

When I drive make a wrong turn I commit to the mistake and get back on course safely, but not these guys.

Both the Cardinals and Murray already agreed to the homework clause. Sure the headlines were embarrassing but don’t forget why you even had it in the first place.

Kyler Murray needs to spend more time preparing during the season, and the fact the Cardinals felt they had to put into his contract screams to the fundamental issue.

Since drafting Murray the Cardinals have coddled and enabled the player.

No one should be surprised at Murray’s behavior and attitude since becoming an NFL prospect whether it’s his awkward pre-draft interview with Dan Patrick, unfollowing and purging all Cardinals related content from his Instagram, or having his agent issue a ransom letter with two years remaining on his contract.

You don’t have to be Adam Schefter to grasp from afar Murray behaves like a stereotypical 24 year older zoomer. Poor “whatever” body language. Facial indifference. Boomers aren’t the only ones guessing he plays COD to relax.

No one is asking Kyler Murray to show archetypal quarterback traits we’ve seen in Patrick Mahomes or even Lamar Jackson. But he does have to show his teammates and the organization he hates losing. That he covets winning.

Holding the team hostage with two years left on your contract after a pathetic playoff performance and a serious lack of commitment to preparation shows Kyler Murray cares more about what comes with being an NFL quarterback than actually being one.

The Cardinals have appeased Kyler with the keys to the team.

When Alone was Charming

What’s your favorite aspect of the 1990’s? Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports and The Volume posed this question to author Chuck Klosterman.

The two were discussing Klosterman’s latest book The Nineties and its ideas about media coverage of Michael Jordan’s stint in Minor League Baseball, Sosa and McGwire’s home run race, and eventually OJ Simpson.

The murder trial, nearly thirty years ago, took the American news media to the apex of the most sensationalist and titillating reporting. A full departure from the days of Walter Cronkite and Ben Bradlee.

Even more frightening, the trial coverage predated the emergence of social media.

In the nineties there were far less avenues to share your opinion and ideas with the world. You had to be ravenous for the spotlight and attention of television or writing.

Social media offers anyone the opportunity to share their face, voice, and words on their local taco shop, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, or SCOTUS overturning Roe V. Wade.

Most everyone, including yours truly, regularly takes up the mantle to yarl from the mountain top. Do we all participate simply because the means conveniently exist? Or has groupthink and herd unanimity homogenized?

Klosterman’s book and his answer to my and Cowherd’s questions concludes the nineties was the last decade before prominent social pressure to be involved with society.

It was understood to have your thoughts and keep them to yourself.

Chuck Klosterman

If you wanted to engage in public discourse obviously you could, but you didn’t have to. There was no expectation. To be completely alone and isolated with your own thoughts was fine.

It would have been odd to even ask a celebrity like Tom Hanks about the Anita Hill allegations in 1991 yet today Hanks would likely offer cogent thoughts about the public hearing.

An anonymous person, not just celebrities, likely have canned responses and reflexes prepared to avert public scrutiny and shaming. Everyone carefully minds their public avatar. Their brand.

Yes, again, yours truly as well. Just follow just check my instagram story. I pay to keep this blog alive despite reawakening my scribbling.

However, I find myself more content with my thoughts on my own terms rather than persuade, in essence control, the public narrative.

I wish I could just delete my Instagram but I have an abundance of excuse trap cards ready to counter any move. No cop-out I make physically prevents me from deleting the account. I delete the app from my phone periodically, but I just check my account on my laptop or redownload the app again.

Call it social engineering or my desire to share my views. I’m an addict but a self-aware addict establishing my own terms.

Always an opinionated boy, I grew up during the infancy of social media. 2006 was a far more innocent time puddling around on Gaia Online than reading Twitter comments today.

Gaia was a charming first place for me to discover digital connection. Sharing your thoughts back then online was still new, inspiring, and truly liberating, but those days are long gone.

Social pressure to be active in society exists, specifically on the internet. At the same time there’s a brudan of anxiety, humiliation, and sometimes even harm for participating.

CAUTION: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK (but you kinda have to)

The nineties was the last time one could be alone with their thoughts and not even imagine there were any consequences for it.

Photo by Pauline Loroy

Happier a Year Later

The Rewatchables podcast has a great theory about the Oscars. Let’s evaluate and reward movies five years after their release. Why? To avoid a scenario where The Artist wins best picture over The Help or Moneyball or The King’s Speech wins over The Social Network or Inception.

When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation about The Artist or The King’s Speech? Exactly.

Let time percolate scenes, performances, lyrics, and guitar tones in your gut and mind. Remember how you felt in the moment, and how you experience the movie or album now. As much as I love movies, especially rewatchable movies, music means more to me than any form of entertainment. Mindfulness matters more than ever as my opinions and taste in music evolve and even change.

Look back a year later, maybe two, at least when thinking about how you truly feel about an album. Especially when you didn’t love an album at first blush.

Perfect example of this exercise is Volumes’ Happier? Recently got the chorus rhythm and guitar tone from “See You Again” stuck in my head. The sliding elastic breakdown midway through is do die for like rare ribeye.

Naturally I started playing through a few more tracks and eventually revisiting the entire album front to back. Towards the end of “Man On Fire” I realized Volumes had done some of their finer work stringing six solid tracks together, but I certainly did not think this initially. 

Some context is imperative to understand Happier? prior to its release. Volumes went through their most turbulent line-up change yet firing vocalist Gus Farias and bringing back Michael Barr. Shortly thereafter guitarist Diego Farias left the band and tragically died in February of 2020.

Farias’ departure and death significantly affected the fans, the band, and its future. His role in the band as guitarist and producer built Volumes’ musical foundation with low-tuned djent guitar driving song direction. Farias and his heavy tones and playing engineered how listeners perceive Volumes.

With Farias gone fans like myself assumed Volumes were incapable of recreating the same propulsive djent riffs found on “Feels Good” and “Vahle”. I found myself more and more dismissive of Happier? with each single released. With “Bend” in particular I wrote to my friends on our Discord about my dissatisfaction.

“They’re going more pop metal. Diego Farias’ death also meant they can’t do the guitar stuff they used to do anymore. They haven’t been able to replace that at all. Sucks.” 

Perhaps “Bend” doesn’t go as hard as “Across the Bed” but it’s accumulated nearly 2.5 million streams in less than a year versus 3.1 million accrued over six years. It resonated with a fans. So much so they recently released a Bend(ed) single with live and stripped down versions. 

Rather than perfunctory replication of Farias’ genius Volumes opted for a natural adjustment. They leveraged what they already had in two outstanding frontmen and bass player Raad Soudani emerging as the driving musical force in Volumes. Happier? utilized more clean vocal choruses and slowed guitar riffs down (naturally) without compromising the weight of their sound.

Take the album titled track above as an example. Yes there’s still lots of scrappy screaming yet they never overwhelm the senses. Instruments compliment the vocals with openness and a steady pace with no concessions in heaviness. The chorus injects all the sugary catchiness of a top 40 pop rock song, but without giving up what fans perceive a Volumes song should do.

“Get Enough” and “Lets Me Down” attack the same objective with minute variance, but mostly to the same effect. “FBX” and “Malevolent” serve fans who’ve been with Volumes since Via and maybe even The Concept of Dreaming. “Man On Fire” offers the best of both past iterations and the current form of Volumes. Aggressive from the onset and stays aggro throughout. The last breakdown hurls another box of grenades onto an already raging inferno.

If I can put my producer hat on simply cut down the record to the tracks I mentioned, eight total, in this blog and you’ll have 30 minutes of A+ poppy djent.

Considering all the turmoil and loss of Diego Farias this version of Volumes seized an opportunity to reshape their perception and produce compelling heavy music. They just need to continue doing this in the studio and hopefully on the road so I can catch them in their element.