WHATS UP SPECIAL ED?! Welcome to DYM Off-Season 2018! We back like we never left
BLACK LIGHTNING: BEST SHOW EVER
This past Monday was MLK day.
For us the “Holiday Season” starts on Thanksgiving Wednesday and ends on MLK Day. It’s important for everyone to recognize MLK day cause it’s really hard to jump back into 5 day work weeks after New Years. The second weekend in January is an absolutely clutch long weekend. It really helps ease you back in to the work routine. The other great thing about MLK day is that there’s NBA games on all day, but unlike Christmas, there’s usually not a lot of social or familial obligations during the day so we can really settle in and watch the fuck out of these Hoops.
Most of the time, when we watch Cable TV during a weekday we see a lot of ads for which we are NOT the target demographic. Whenever we see ads on TV for like Metamucil, or trade schools, or feminine hygiene products, we wonder whether we're supposed to be watching this show. It seems like we don’t have a ton in common with most of the people who are believed to be watching daytime Cable TV. It’s unsettling. But this is another great thing about MLK day - daytime NBA hoops is SO in our wheelhouse and advertisers know it. They knew we were sitting there, about to take a nap during the third quarter of a terrible Knicks/Nets game, when they busted out this blockbuster advertisement:
Right off the bat we knew this is either the best or the worst show ever. I mean, theyre hitting all the right notes but that suit has a real Arnold-as-Mr-Freeze vibe.
Either way, kudos to The CW’s advertising team, y’all got yourselves a viewer. Long story short, we watched the series premier and, yup, it’s the best.
Last season we got real into the show Power. Black Lightning has some key structural set pieces which are very similar to Power:
Both shows feature a handsome, conspicuously well-dressed black male lead who looks like he used to play power forward at The U.
Both of these protagonists are introduced to the audience as family men and pillars of their respective communities despite being pulled back into a secret past life that they had hoped to have left behind.
Both shows sport nearly all-black casts with only one non-black protagonist (both heroes’ closest confidant is a white man).
Both shows’ Big Bad Guys are played by rappers.
The aesthetics of the shows are similar as well; with lots of urban street exteriors and the occasional night-club interior.
But the contrasts between them are just as stark as the parallels. To put it broadly, Power is a Black Show, but Black Lightning is a Pro-Black Show:
Ghost is duty-bound to protect his family, although his “work” constantly draws him away from them and his choices often selfishly ignore their wishes and best interests. In episode 1 Ghost guiltlessly begins an extramarital affair.
BL’s Jefferson Pierce, on the other hand, actually seems to like spending time with his family. He is the Principal of a school where his younger daughter is a student and older daughter teaches Science. In episode 1 Jefferson attempts to reunite with his ex-wife.
Jefferson hopes to “save lives” as an educator; he quotes both Martin and Malcolm to his kids and encourages their own political speech.
Ghost aspires to be a better Capitalist, but the only message imparted to his kids is the cold heartlessness of the Business World and of The Streets.
And just in case that all went over everybody’s heads, Ghost used to SELL DRUGS and Jefferson used to be a SUPERHERO. Frankly, we're tired of Ghost's bullshit (#TeamTasha) and Black Lightning is the anti-Ghost.
The world is a better place today just because this show is on TV. You might say Black Lightning is not the show we deserve, but it’s the show we need right now.
NFL Championship Weekend Preview
NEW ENGLAND [-9] [o/u 46] vs Jacksonville
We know there’s no way Brady actually broke his hand at practice. That’s classic Patriots misinformation. Here at DYM we traffic heavily in subterfuge, so we definitely know it when we see it. But still tho, we are totally falling for it, we want this to be true so badly.
But the thing is, even with Brady 100% we’d still pick #Sacksonville to at least cover. If you thought the Steelers had a chance to beat New England you have to like Jax +9. Pittsburgh probably had the best offense in the NFL this year and they had one their best offensive games last week and still lost. They had The Game They Would’ve Needed to Have Against NE and it wasn’t enough to beat Jax.
Ben had 469 and 5 TDs, Bell had 155 total and 2 TDs, Brown had 132 and 2 TDs, and they LOST! That’s crazy as fuck. We get that the Jags went into a garbage-time prevent defense in the early 2nd quarter, so most of that yardage was the product of that bend-don’t-break scheme. But this game would not have even been close if not for the two AB TDs - both of which were vintage AB – nobody on the Patriots is making those plays, and no team in the NFL woulda beat the Jags last week.
Belichick will do his “take away your best player” thing (which is fairly obvious since Fournette only plays on 1st and 2nd down and has shit for ankles), but we think 40 year old Brady is too limited as a thrower to challenge the best defense of the last decade.
Prediction:
Jacksonville – 25
New England – 17
Minnesota [-3] [o/u 39] vs PHILADELPHIA
We actually liked this Eagles team a lot during the season. They were our SB favorites before Wentz went down.
But GODDAMN that Vikings Saints game was an all-time classic. Fucking awesome. Much like the Jags, the Vikings played an incredible game last week so we are definitely picking them again because DYM has a very short memory. We are captive prisoners of the moment and now we can’t help but associate “Vikings” with “Miracles” so it seems impossible for them to lose this week and we’re playing a ton of Vikes in the last week of NFL DFS.
Prediction:
Minnesota – 35
Philadelphia – 18
DYM OFFICIAL NBA ALL-STAR BALLOT
NBA All-Star starters will be announced tonight so here’s our last chance ballot:
EAST STARTERS
Kyrie Irving
Victor Oladipo
Giannis Antetokounmpo
LeBron James
Joel Embiid
WEST STARTERS
James Harden
Jimmy Butler
Kevin Durant
Anthony Davis
LaMarcus Aldridge
#NBAVOTE @SDinwiddie_25
STAY WARM, EVERYBODY!
