Birmingham | Oppenheimer | British Open | NFC West | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
I had plans to do another song by Zach Bryan, Twenty So, but last night I pulled the trigger on Opp. Decided to take a Friday night off from the pints for a relaxing evening of Oppenheimer. Phenomenal cinema. Pretty dark and full disclosure there is a good chance this movie shapes my Week to Week Notes persona for the foreseeable future or until we’re on to the next thing trending on threads. Great movie and hopefully it’s a bit of a wake-up call. I jotted some Notes about it, but no spoilers.
According to Zach Bryan, the backstory to this song is, “So my grandpa used to bring us into this spot called "Moe’s, in a little town called Canton, Oklahoma. It’s where my whole family’s from and he used to bring us in there and we’d be sitting there eating bologna sandwiches and he would talk to all his buddies and they’d be telling tall tales about people they’d known and places they’d been and things. I remember this came out of one of his buddy’s mouth one time, and it’s been on my mind ever since.” (Source: YouTube)
So yeah this song is pretty dark, sort of like Oppenheimer who is played by none other than Cillian Murphy. Tommy Shelby is from Birmingham, England. Twenty So just didn’t fit this go around so I’m stretching a bit for the thematic music concept.
Quick Music Intro this go around…
Oppenheimer
In case you can’t read my scribble:
-1st time at a mall in years. They still smell like malls, confirmed.
-Oppenheimer is the first movie I’ve ever seen alone in theaters. Not going to lie, thought it would be weird, but it was actually low-key, high-key kind of nice.
-What wasn’t nice was the $18 for the large popcorn and Coca-Cola but this was a 3-hour ordeal so I had to plan accordingly.
-Killers of the Flower Moon trailer looks good.
-The rest of the movie trailers were subpar. After 20 minutes of trailers, the 6:45 movie showtime didn’t actually get started until 7:05. I had already eaten all the popcorn and most of the drink.
-For some reason, I liked the quote, “Be yourself, only better” in the film so I wanted it Noted.
-There is a Truman - Oppenheimer scene that I need to do more research on.
-Intense. Well-done. All-star cast but everybody was on their game and no dull moment. I’ll admit because it was about history I walked into AMC with the idea that no matter what the movie was like I was going to write about how it was great but this one truly lived up to the hype.
-As soon as the movie credits started to roll, a girl behind me said “I don’t smoke but I need a cigarette.” This was the type of film they should’ve handed everybody a pack of Marlboro Reds as they entered.
-My favorite part of Oppenheimer was that it was very objective. They didn’t go over the top with the theatrics about how the U.S. was evil for making the first nuclear bomb but at the same time, it isn’t like a cheerful USA, USA, USA patriotic film either. It just felt like real life. J. Robert Oppenheimer was of course brilliant, but the way Cillian Murray portrayed how something of this magnitude would weigh on somebody was brilliant as well. Again, it just felt very real-life-like.
-Lastly, it was hilarious walking out of the theater with fellow Oppenheimer viewers in a speechless and catatonic state compared to Barbie viewers all walking out wearing Pink with smiles.
‘23 British Open
Hoylake, England | Royal Liverpool GC | $16,500,000 (Purse) | GOLF/NBC
Brian Harman
Brian Harman was excellent on Friday, shooting 6 under to take a commanding 5-stroke lead. Harman grew up in Savannah, Georgia and although he has had a quietly successful career with 4 PGA wins, the lefty has never closed out a major. He finished yesterday with a superb eagle you see in the semi-blurred GIF above.
Tommy Fleetwood
Tommy Fleetwood lost some of his momentum from Day 1 thanks to Harman’s excellent play, but Fleetwood had some strokes of excellence as well. He birdied a putt from 58 & a half feet away and will be paired up with Harman on moving day.
Jordan Spieth
"If I can post an under-par round each of the next 2 days it might be enough, we'll just have to look at what Brian (Harman) will do cuz he's in control now." Could this be Spieth just playing a bit of gamesmanship throwing all of the pressure onto Harman?
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is once again in the mix. McIlroy was 10 of 12 in scrambling, which is when a golfer saves par on a hole when they don’t make it onto the green in regulation (for at the very least a chance at a putt for birdie).
Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington was the last of the Irish lads left standing in the British Open. Unfortunately, Shane Lowry and Seamus Power did not make the cut for the weekend. Padraig Harrington was very complimentary of Brian Harman stating, “I mean this in the best possible way, (Brian) he has the best chip on his shoulder. A great player but who is ignored just because he doesn’t fit the mold or look the part and I think that chip on his shoulder really drives him. I think he’s a very determined person, gritty person who wants to really prove himself because like I said he doesn't get the credit. That’s just the way it is.”
All of these stats will be meaningless in the morning because Round 3 is already underway, but that wraps up Round 2…
Week to Week Notes will start providing some division-by-division previews of the ‘23 NFL Season. We held out to July 22nd which I’m proud of but I think it’s time to start writing a bit about football again. Out of the Week to Week Notes football fan insiders that I polled, 75% of them chose the 49ers as their 1st place team and 25% picked the Seahawks.
1. San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers enter the ‘23 NFL season coming off a bittersweet NFC Championship Game loss where San Francisco was forced to play their 4th string QB against the Eagles. Their QB Brock Purdy, the ‘22 NFL Draft’s Mr. Irrelvant (last pick), tore his UCL and had surgery this past March. He still recovering from the injury but is set to make a return at some point in the ‘23 season and it may even be Week 1. Head Coach, Kyle Shanahan, was quoted this week that the QB room is “not set in stone, I love the options.” This means that Trey Lance, the former #3 overall pick that Shanahan traded up for in ‘21, and Sam Darnold, the former #3 overall pick of the Jets in ‘18, will be duking it out for QB1 snaps at training camp. @YouTheReader I come to you once again stating I am all in on Sam Darnold’s revenge tour and Schefty already said Darnold has the edge.
Regardless of who starts at QB in Week 1, I have the Niners coming in 1st because they are loaded with stars. There is no reason to think Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle won’t help out whoever is getting them the ball, plus Shanahan is a whiz at keeping things simple. Defensively, Nick Bosa is coming off an 18.5-sack season, they signed Javon Hargrave (11 sacks in ‘22) to play on the inside next to Bosa, and Fred Warner is still patrolling their linebacker corp.
2. Los Angeles Rams
The Rams in ‘22 were the worst defending Super Bowl Champions of all time. Their 12 losses after winning the Super Bowl LVI was one for the record books and what made it even worse was they didn’t own their first-round pick. This past March they traded away their star outspoken CB Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins. Due to the fact that the Rams were in cap hell because they really went all in their Super Bowl season, the Rams really weren’t able to sign any huge additions to the team. So why the hell would I have the Rams in 2nd Place in the NFC West?
Well, for starters, it would be very boring if I just went with how the division finished last season, but more importantly, I think people will sleep on the fact that Matthew Stafford was playing injured last year. The Rams still have the best defensive player in the NFL with Aaron Donald. Cooper Kupp is still a certifiable ball hog who needs to be fed. I also kind of like the fact that on offense a bunch of young guys got experience last year such as Van Jefferson, Ben Skowronek, and Tutu Atwell. Listen, I’m not saying you draft those guys in fantasy football, but in theory, those young guys getting reps with Sean McVay seeing what they can & cannot do in real games should be beneficial. We’re only one year removed from NFL players ranking Matthew Stafford as the 27th Best Player so of course this is reliant on his health, but I don’t think it’d be smart to write off McVay’s Rams completely off just yet.
3. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks were one of the NFL’s fun teams a year ago. Entering ‘22, there were no expectations for Seattle once Russell Wilson demanded to be traded. Pete Carroll had his choice between Drew Lock & Geno Smith for QB1 but most people were assuming the team would just fold and start over with a high draft pick. Then Geno Smith won the job and started putting up MVP-level performances. Defensively, their rookie CB last year, Tariq Woolen, had a phenomenal season with 6 INTs and the Seahawks made the playoffs. This offseason, they brought back Bobby Wagner and I really like their draft class headlined by Devon Witherspoon & Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
So why are they regressing to a 3rd place prediction? 1) Jamal Adams is coming back at some point and that guy has never won anything in the NFL. 2) Are we sure Geno Smith can repeat? While he’s matured from his days in the Tri-State, are we really trusting him to perennially take the Seahawks to the postseason? 3) This is just my dumb sports fan gut, I just think they might be due for a letdown. I like the direction the team is going and they have added real talent, but it’s one thing to go into a season with no expectations and surprise the league, it’s another to have a bit of a target on their back. We’ll see!
4. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals last year got Kliff Kingsbury fired. I’ll be honest, I’m going to miss writing about Kliff Kingsbury straight up because it was nice to whenever I couldn’t find an obscure stat just make some dumbass Ryan Gosling joke. So yeah it stinks that Ken from Barbie is no longer on the Arizona sidelines because he provided easy Back Pocket content. Now a got to work with this Jonathan Gannon guy who seems like an absolute bore. Are we sure the Cardinals didn’t skip over the Create-A-Coach Default settings when they started a New Franchise Mode in Madden?
Look, Kyler Murray tore his ACL in a meaningless December loss last season. Murray should be back in the starting lineup at some point this year but the job in Week 1 is between 14-year veteran Colt McCoy or rookie Clayton Tune. The Cardinals focused on patching up their offensive line this offseason, signing two former New York linemen Kelvin Beachum and Will Hernandez. I’m not sure either of them will help too much, but I do like that they drafted Paris Johnson Jr. so they have that going for them. Arizona has also decided to drop the idea of playing Isaiah Simmons at linebacker. The 8th overall pick of the ‘20 NFL Draft will now play exclusively in their secondary either at nickel or safety.