College Football Playoff | Local Hoops | Local Ice Pond | All the Tired Horses | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
With the College Football Playoffs being played on New Year’s Day of ‘24, we’ll start there, move to some local New York winter sports, and then finish with Lisa O’Neill’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s All the Tired Horses. If you haven’t finished Peaky Blinders, maybe stop reading after the sports, because there are spoilers…
#4 Alabama will take on #1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. These two storied programs have combined to win 29 National Championships (‘Bama 18 and Michigan 11). Despite being powerhouses, they have only played each other 5 times in their history. The last time Nick Saban took on Jim Harbaugh, the Crimson Tide won 35-16 in ‘20. The winner of this game will advance to the National Championship.
Entering the season, Alabama was ranked #1 in the country. Their loss to Texas in Week 2 led to the benching of QB Jalen Milroe for the following week against South Florida. Nick Saban would re-enter Milroe back into the starting lineup in Week 4 against Ole Miss and the team would not lose another game the rest of the regular season. Their Week 2 loss to Texas along with their close call against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, made people question just how good this Crimson Tide team was until they knocked off Georgia’s 29-game winning streak in the SEC Championship. QB Milroe is a dual-threat QB who is very effective as a runner around the goal line (12 rushing TDs) and can throw a nice deep ball to WR Jermaine Burton, who’s 22.2 yards per catch is the best in the country amongst WRs with at least 35 receptions. Defensively, Alabama has 2 stud pass rushers as well as 2 stud defensive backs. Edge rushers Dallas Turner (9 sacks) and Chris Braswell (8 sacks) will be sacking QBs in the NFL next season. CB Terrion Arnold leads the team in interceptions (5) and pass deflections (11), while S Caleb Downs is a freshman phenom who leads the team in tackles and is a dynamic returner with the ball in his hands. While it may not have been the prettiest ride for this Nick Saban team, ‘Bama is back with this being the 8th time they are in the College Football Playoff and Saban has won 7 National Championships for the program.
The Michigan Wolverines are a perfect 13-0 as they enter the College Football Playoff Final Four for the 4th year in a row. The Wolverines have not won a National Championship or have gone undefeated in a season since 1997 when this guy named Tom Brady was the backup QB. In the student section in 1997, was a guy named David Portnoy who had just started up a sports website called thegamblingman.com. A quarter of a century later, Tom Brady won 7 Super Bowls and Portnoy is now betting $1 million on Michigan to beat Alabama. I hate talking about Boston Sports, but I know some of you probably found that an interesting intro. This ‘23 Michigan team has an elite defense, the only team in all of College Football to allow less than 10 points per game (9.5). They allow the 6th least amount of rushing yards (87.1) and the 2nd least amount of passing yards (152.6) per game. CB Mike Sainristil leads the team in interceptions with 5 and has great ball skills as he entered college as a WR. On offense, Michigan averaged 36.7 points per game but was middle of the pack in terms of passing and rushing yards. QB JJ McCarthy has made all the right plays as a passer and even showed he was willing to go 50+ yards downfield as a blocker on RB Blake Corum’s TD in the Big Ten Championship. The star of Michigan’s offense is Corum, who rushed for 24 TDs this season, a Michigan program record, and now Corum has his sights on Michigan’s all-time leading TDs for a career as his 55 tie him with Anthony “A-Train” Thomas. Michigan has made the College Football Playoff 4 years in a row, I’m picking them to lose for a 4th consecutive time in the Final Four.
Prediction: 21-20 Roll Tide (+1.5 Alabama & Under 45)
The Texas Longhorns are ranked #3 in the country and they went 12-1 this season while Washington is ranked #2 and went a perfect 13-0. Texas is finally back as this is the 1st time they have made the College Football Playoff. This will be Washington’s 2nd appearance in the CFP, the first time since ‘16. Texas has won 4 National Championships to Washington’s 2. These two storied football programs have only played each other 5 times, but their last meeting just so happened to take place last year as Washington beat Texas 27-20.
Texas had the best win of the regular season when they beat ‘Bama in Alabama Week 2. The Longhorns’ one slip-up this season was their neutral site loss to Oklahoma in Week 6 when they lost by 4 on a go-ahead Sooners’ score with 15 seconds remaining on the clock. The Texas offense scored 36.2 points per game this season as their 475.9 total yards per game ranked 9th in the nation. In their passing game, QB Quinn Ewers has a balanced mix of stars to throw to. WRs Xavier Worthy (969 yards & 5 TDs) and Adonai Mitchell (813 yards & 10 TDs) are nice options on the outside as TE Ja’Tavion Sanders (607 yards) provides an outlet over the middle. The Longhorns lost their star RB Jonathan Brooks in November, but the RB by committee approach with CJ Baxter (4.6 ypc), Jaydon Blue (6.1 ypc), and Keilan Robinson (11.2 ypc) has worked thus far with each player leading the team in rushing in their 3 games without Brooks. Texas on defense only allows 17.5 points per game as they allow the 4th least rushing yards per game (80.8) in the country.
The Washington Huskies have a prolific passing offense, the best in the nation with 343.8 passing yards per game. Lefty QB Michael Penix Jr. has been the arm behind that attack. Penix’s top targets are WRs Rome Odunze (1,428 yards & 13 TDs) and Ja’Lynn Polk (1,000 yards & 8 TDs). Odunze was 3rd in the country in receiving yards and his 13 scores were tied for 6th. Penix and Odunze will likely be 1st Round draft picks in this upcoming NFL Draft. CB Jabbar Muhammad leads the team in INTs (3) and pass deflections (10). Of the 4 schools in the CFP, Washington has the worst defense by a considerable margin, but this team has been battle-tested in shootouts all season and has won every one of them. I haven’t picked against Washington all season, so no use in going against them now.
Prediction: 35-34 Washington (+4 Washington & Over 63.5)
At this exact moment in time, if the season were to end today, the Knicks and Nets would be playing in the Play-In Tournament vying for the last 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference. Both New York teams are on a 2 game losing skid.
Manhattan
Knicks PF Julius Randle has had his ups and downs during his 5 years in New York. This past December has been one of his best months as a Knick. He averaged 26.7 points per game while shooting 90% from the free throw line and 55% from the floor. Randle also averaged 8.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists as well. After starting the season fairly slow, the Kentucky alum hasn’t had less than 20 points in a game since Thanksgiving. One fairly apparent thing is that Randle has settled for many fewer jump shots and more drives to the paint. In October and November, the lefty big was averaging over 6 attempts from 3 per game, and in December he cut that down to 3.7 per game. He should keep playing Bully Ball.
Brooklyn
The Nets have lost 7 of their last 9 games played, but hey at least they beat the Pistons twice in a row to keep Detroit’s 28-game losing streak alive. The Pistons haven’t won a game since pre-Halloween and the 28-game streak is an NBA record. The most losses in a row ever in American sports was the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals who lost 29 in a row from 1942-1945. Sorry, I just find that a bit interesting, as for the Nets, they are sorta in a weird half-in-half-in-half-out developmental phase where they should be getting young guys minutes. Their ‘23 2nd Round Pick, SF Jalen Wilson, had his first 20+ point game earlier this week against the Bucks. The former Kansas Jayhawk recorded his first double-double of his career with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Wilson, who was selected with the 51st overall pick last year, is the type of role player for Brooklyn they hope to hit on. The rookie had the best game of his NBA career and then didn’t get a minute of playing time in their loss to the Wizards last night, which to me doesn’t make much sense.
The Rangers are currently tied for the most points in the NHL. The Islanders have played the most games in Overtime (9) in the NHL, which is a good experience and builds character. The Devils currently would just sneak into the playoffs as the 2nd Wild Card team if the season ended today. Each of the teams in the Tri-State has won 6 of their last 10 games, well done for the boys on the ice.
Manhattan
The Ranger’s C Mika Zibanejad has been on a sneaky bender of late, producing at least 1 point on the stat sheet in every game since December 10th. In his last 9 games, Zibanejad has scored 8 goals while also assisting on 8 as well. His 35 points this season are 2nd on the team only to Breadman, but this should be no surprise to Ranger fans as Zibanejad has been the #2 points getter for the Boys in Blue every year since ‘17-’18, with the only exception being ‘18-’19 when he led the team. The other big reason the Rangers have been quite successful this season is their goalie play has been superb. Veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick (2.27 goals allowed per game) has statistically outplayed lead man Igor Shesterkin (2.77 goals allowed per game) so far this season.
Out East
The Islanders won last night thanks in large part to C Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s 2 goals and 2 assists. It was JGP’s 2nd 4-point performance as a member of the Islanders. Pageau had 3 goals and an assist against the Devils in April of ‘22 and also had a 4 goal game against the Rangers in the ‘17 Eastern Conference 2nd Round as a member of the Ottawa Senators. As a member of Long Island’s 3rd line, JGP’s points sometimes tend to come few and far between so I had to acknowledge the 12-year NHLer’s good game.
New Jersey
Usually, when a hockey team is down in the standings I’d prescribe them to get more pucks on net but the Devils don’t seem to have any trouble scoring goals. New Jersey’s problem is they have been giving up too many goals as their 120 goals allowed is 7th worst in the NHL. Maybe it’s time for some of the big uglies to start Kronwalling guys and taking pucks to the chin, eh? Nah, I have no idea. The Devils get most of their offense from C Jack Hughes and LW Jesper Bratt. Last night, the left winger scored a goal and assisted on 3 in NJ’s 6-2 victory over Ottawa. Bratt already has 42 points this year and at 25 years old, is on pace to shatter his career-high 73 points in a season, the exact mark he has hit in the last 2 seasons. The Devils play the Bruins tonight, screw Boston!
All the Tired Horses by Lisa O’Neill is the last song on in the background of the finale of Peaky Blinders. It was originally written by Bob Dylan and used as the intro song to his 1970 Self Portrait album. Dylan at the time had already produced 10 studio albums from 1962 until 1970. In 1969, Dylan made the album Nashville Skyline, which was a huge commercial success but left many of his fans confused because it was country-styled and had simple, life-affirming lyrics. By 1984, Bob Dylan in an interview with Rolling Stone said that at the time of Self Portrait, fans had been hounding him at his home in Greenwich Village in the City as well as his home in Woodstock, New York. “I said, 'Well, f--k it. I wish these people would just forget about me. I wanna do something they can't possibly like, they can't relate to." (Source: SongFacts)
Sidenote: Man, if that’s how Bob Dylan felt back in 1970, imagine being Taylor Swift today.
This song only consists of these 16 words and 4 hmms chanted 14 times in 3 minutes. It drove his fans nuts and most of the reception was that people hated it. Bob Dylan, himself, didn’t even sing this song as the vocals were all done by Hilda Harris, Albertine Robinson, and Maeretha Stewart.
Now look, half a century later, do I know what was going on in Bob Dylan’s head? The man is considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, so of course not, but when you take into account his Rolling Stone interview, writing 10 different albums in less than a decade, and then having some of his longest fans turn on him, I think the guy was exhausted by it all.
I’m sure you can make a whole thing about how the tired horses represent an exhausted society or something to that effect, but I think it’s more of a clever play on words with “riding” and “writing.” The process of writing songs must be downright excruciating. Staring at a blank page and then putting together words that have meaning while simultaneously pairing these sentences with an instrument or beat…I can only imagine the amount of practice, discipline, and stress that must go into it. Dylan is also the horse in this case and can’t get out of the sun, or in other words the spotlight.
The way that this verse is sung over and over again in different tones could represent how he would have to practice singing a verse in a different way to see how it would work with the instruments and beat on in the background.
Lisa O’Neill is an Irish folk singer-songwriter from County Cavan, Ireland. In her rendition of this tune that plays at the climatic finish of Peaky Blinders, she sings it with a bit more intensity to it. She told SongFacts, "I had to do something different with it. I guess I went in the opposite direction, and they slowed it right down. I had to figure out how low I could go with my voice and how high I could go." The tune was recorded in an old horse stable in Dublin, by constant candlelight in honor of O'Neill's friend, the Irish singer/fiddler Mick O'Grady, who was dying at the time. (Source: SongFacts) You can feel the emotion coming from the song and I enjoy the build-up in her version more so than the original.
I’m not going to sit here and tell people you to listen to this 1 verse chant over&over&over&over&over&over&over&over&over&over again, but you should check out Lisa O’Neill’s other songs. She is a very talented songwriter herself with a keen voice and she even performed Fairytale of New York at Shane MacGowan’s funeral.
In Peaky Blinders, this song is used as Tommy Shelby gets on a white horse after his gypsy caravan with all of his past in it gets burned to a crisp. The original opening scene of the show is Tommy Shelby riding a black horse. Throughout history, the symbolism of black horses is something negative awaits you that can turn into a positive, while white horses symbolize purity, power, and transformation. Throughout Peaky Blinders, Tommy Shelby had to go through a shit ton of bad to ultimately be reborn again at the end. The show is feckin’ brilliant!
If you’re wondering why I’m closing out ‘23 with a bunch of Peaky Blinders, I’ll explain more tomorrow. Have a nice weekend!