Hey, so I can’t promise to churn out a Day by Day once a week like I do Friday sports posts, but I throw out way too much content @YouTheReaders all at once so I’m trying to fix that. I realize that by the time you click on the link on Friday, you’ve spent a whole week away from the Notes. Whereas from my point of view, I write every night of the week so my tones or themes may not always match up. To me, Week to Week Notes is a living breathing entity. Half the time I don’t even realize how long some of these are, whereas @YouTheReader probably thinks **“How does he expect anybody to read all of this at once?”** A @RandomGirlFromTheBar always wants me to edit, edit, edit down my Friday posts (and she’s right) so two shorter posts a week is a happy medium.
My predicament is that the only way to get better at writing is by practicing, but writing too much is kind of pointless if it’s too much to read in one sitting.
Moving forward Day By Days will have a theme song (don’t laugh just yet) of “Day By Day” by the Old Sea Brigade. I listened to the song last spring a bunch, well before I ever thought to incorporate music with sports writing, and I was getting 12 views per post. The band on Instagram has 11.8k followers and so if I tag them whenever I do this there may be a decent chance that eventually they could repost my link. If they repost my link, that’s potentially 11.8k new readers. @YouTheReader, do you follow?
Sorry for making two paragraphs out of the gist being that Fridays will always be about sports and they’ll be shorter than they’ve been of late, whereas Day by Days will have sports included as well as the extra-curricular.
USA Footy
Iran vs. USA | Tomorrow, Nov 29, 2 PM ET | FOX
A must-win for both teams. The United States will be eliminated with a loss or draw and Iran can still advance with a draw. Just something to keep in mind in the event that this is a late tie game, Iran could very easily try to milk the clock; which is something that Americans who watch soccer every 4 years (like myself) will find infuriating but is part of the game.
Yunus Musah gets the GIF for tomorrow’s match. This World Cup, Musah became the youngest player to ever start a game for USMNT at 19 years, 358 days. He was born in New York City to Ghanaian parents and was eligible to play for the U.S., Ghana, England, and Italy. He’s a box-to-box midfielder who will hopefully one day surpass Cobi Jones’ (164) and Landon Donovan's (157) appearances as a member of the U.S.
Halfass Opposition Research
A thumbs-up is bad, really bad in Iran. It is equivalent to the middle finger. (Source: Travel With Mansoureh)
Swings & Misses (sorta)
@RapHopDailyyy Repost
@You_The_Reader was reposted on a 1.3 Million follower account called @RapHopDailyyy, but there was a price to pay. I went with the #2 option so that @YouTheReader could check it out on @RapHopDailyyy and know I’m not lying. @YouTheReader, don’t worry I did the advanced research on the account prior to the purchase (google searched “RapHopDailyyy scam” and nothing came up), but was still nervous all morning on Saturday when they wouldn’t post until hours after Venmo was sent.
When it was finally posted it was electric but the result was that I received about 15 other promotional bots’ Instagram accounts that followed @You_The_Reader and sounded off in the comment sections. @RapHopDailyyy I’ve been monitoring my Venmo and banking so if you pull a fast one on me, I’ve now got you down on the Notes.
This had the potential to be like a massive L but then again it could lead to some content and I mean $40 bucks for the chance at 1.3 Million bots viewers…
Reddit Exchanges
Last Friday I made a lofty claim that by this time next year I want to be able to do the thematic song concept of “Do Not Disturb” by Drake. One of the lyrics is 7am in Germany, can’t believe that they heard of me (2:27). I have no idea if “barbapapi_” on Reddit is actually from Germany, it clearly could just be someone blowing smoke up my arse, but for me to accomplish what I want out of this I have to assume they really are. I’m not checking that box off just yet, but either way, the fact that a stranger would take the time out of their day to write something like that only helps. Thank you @Barbapapi_.
#BoobyTrapChallenge
@NewReaders: I am pairing two rivals in their respective industries against one another for donations to charities. I understand many will think it is a waste of time and overly ambitious to think the corporations would ever check out the @You_The_Reader account’s stories but if I hound the rivals every day in their DMs you never know. It only takes me a few clicks, maybe 15 mins a day to do this, I don’t mention a monetary figure amount (whatever the corporation deems necessary which I’m sure they would just claim to be a tax write-off), and I want nothing to do with how money is exchanged.
This Week’s #BoobyTrapChallenge is: Sprite vs 7 UP
@YouTheReaders send over your charities of choice. Only 2 of the 6 from last Friday have been mentioned/DM’d by @You_The_Reader. Apple vs. Spotify, Etsy vs. Amazon, NY Daily News vs NY Post, Dicks vs Modells, and Nike vs. Adidas are still up for grabs.
Trends Change, Rumors Fly
The Hint Lord is a Flight Risk
Not that surprising. I’m sure many of you have already had OBJ down as a loose cannon on your bingo card for years.
Very cryptic of you @OBJ. What team does this mean he is hinting at signing with? Surely there is no way he could be hinting that forcing a plane full of us everyday people to land mid-flight because he was “unresponsive and unruly” is funny, right?
Friday, January 6, ‘23’s Thematic Concept
This past weekend while standing in line at @MikesWildMooseSaloon (great drinks and service), I heard Oklahoma Smokeshow being played inside. A friend of mine waiting to get in as well said he’d been listening to the song on repeat since he was introduced to it on Week 11, '22. Honestly, that was awesome to hear. Obviously, I love sports but while writing I need music on in the background. I always thought it would be cool to indirectly show someone something new to them through this whole bit and that made my night.
After being dragged to @GreenRock by someone we’ll keep anonymous, I heard Best Day Ever by Mac Miller for the first time in years. I had it on repeat all Sunday, those two drinking establishments were fun but led to a rough one. Ideally would have had it on deck for the next open song slot on Friday 1/6/23. My take is no matter how you slice it and no matter what side of the aisle you sit on, we should all be United that Jan. 6 was an ugly day in American history. That said, all anybody can do is control what they themselves can control, attempt to look on the bright side of life, and try to have their own best day possible (which is the moral of the song). However, somebody just scrolling on their Instagram story who doesn’t click the link is going to think I’m a jerk saying January 6 is the Best Day Ever.
These are just some of the public perception parts of this bit that I have to think about on a Week to Week basis a month in advance. To some, I’m totally overthinking this and to others, I’m a complete ass for even bringing it up. @YouTheReader **thinking**, “Just pick another song and get off this topic already.” Well, I do owe the @T-SwiftieReaders a song but it would be Mastermind. Would that really come across any better? Maybe I’ll just throw everybody a curveball and use a Holly Humberstone song I’ve had in my back pocket for months and use the other two mentioned later in January. It would for sure introduce a lot of @YouTheReaders to new music.
Sorry, @YouTheReader, for unveiling an example of 1 of the 50 beginning, middle, and end mini-essays that goes on in my head on any given week that has nothing to do with sports.
See ya Friday. I’ll be working on the NFL, CFB Conference Championships, and World Cup.