A top-tier cover from Post Malone.
The Texas native released a stellar rendition of Brad Paisley's "I'm Gonna Miss Her" today, which of course he famously covered before during Matthew McConaughey’s “We’re Texas” virtual benefit concert in 2021 with Dwight Yoakam’s band.
It was one of the best covers I've ever heard, and went super viral and kind of got the whole conversation of Posty going country in some form or fashion going for the first time. He also did a kickass cover of Sturgill Simpson's "You Can Have The Crown," and I've wanted Post to "go country," so to speak, ever since.
And today, he released the aforementioned studio cover of the Paisley tune as an Amazon exclusive, saying in a post on Instagram that the song has "meant so much to me" for a long time and that he was honored to cover it:
"This song has meant so much to me for a long time and I’m honored to be able to cover it. Love you Brad Paisley :)"
While Amazon Music isn't my own personal streamer of choice, I will definitely use it just to listen to this on repeat... and if I had to guess, I would venture to say that it will eventually be put on all streaming platforms like many of the Amazon exclusives are.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PXtm8NGKj/
You can listen to a preview of it below, and of course if you have an Amazon account, you can listen to the full thing over there as well:
And if you somehow haven't seen it yet, do yourself a massive favor and check out that 2021 live performance right now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ula1NjaHUA
Shoutout to Penn State head coach James Franklin for being a class act.
Being a coach never stops, at least not for James Franklin. Though he's had countless classes of players come and go, he's always consider himself the coach of anyone who has went through Penn State. That means that he'll do whatever it takes to be there for his guys, even if it means driving all around the state of Maryland in one night.
Franklin knew that his two former players, Olumuyiwa Fashanu and Chop Robinson, had a good chance of going in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The only issue was that despite the plethora of mock drafts out there, there was no telling when the two former Penn State players could get picked.
But because of projections, James Franklin started out in Waldorf, Maryland, where Fashuna and his friends and family were gathered. Sure enough, the New York Jets switched picks (with the Minnesota Vikings) from 10 to 11 and drafted offensive tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu.
Franklin was there to celebrate:
https://twitter.com/PennStateFball/status/1783651530710614156
But not for long, because coach Franklin knew that he needed to then get to Gaithersburg, Maryland, which is his other former player Chop Robinson's hometown. With the towns being an hour apart, the Penn State head coach had to book it to get to the second draft party.
And based on this video, Franklin and a media person following him made it literally in the nick of time. With the 21st pick, the Miami Dolphins selected edge rusher Chop Robinson, and miraculously, coach Franklin made it there with only seconds to spare:
https://twitter.com/PennStateFball/status/1783705267340820860
That's pretty cool right there.
It was a crazy night for James Franklin, though I'm sure he would do the exact same thing if he had to do it all over again. Not only because he got to celebrate such an important moment with his former players, but also because he apparently ran into Jelly Roll at one point.
https://twitter.com/PennStateFball/status/1783717077120856208
You never know what's going to happen on draft night...
I can't believe I'm saying this but...is this a Roger Goodell win?
It's not often that I give the NFL commissioner credit for...well, anything. (I'm also a Saints fan, so I still hold a grudge over the whole Bountygate thing a few years ago). But most of his decisions are objectively pretty bad, not to mention the uneven discipline that's often applied throughout the league.
But this is an idea I think we can all get behind.
Of course every year during the playoffs we hear the same cries about the Super Bowl being held on a Sunday and having to turn around and go to work the next morning. And the suggestions for how to accomplish this are usually either moving the Super Bowl to Saturday from its traditional Sunday spot, or making the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday so nobody has to take off work (or more likely show up hungover and get nothing done).
Now, neither of those are going to happen. But Goodell has another idea for getting folks the day off after the Super Bowl: Move it to a weekend when everybody already has Monday off anyway.
The Super Bowl is traditionally played on the second Sunday in February. But luckily for the NFL, there's already a built-in three day weekend on the calendar just a week later, with Presidents' Day falling on the third Monday in February.
Presidents' Day is a federal holiday, as well as a state holiday (though many states use different names) in most states, so it seems like a natural choice for the Super Bowl if the goal is to give a large portion of the audience the day off after pounding too many beers during the game.
And Goodell says he'd like to see the NFL and the Super Bowl eventually get there.
During the 2024 NFL Draft, the Commish stopped by ESPN to speak with Pat McAfee and talked about the future of the NFL schedule - and how he'd eventually like to do away with some of the meaningless preseason games:
"I'm not a fan of the preseason...But the reality is I think I'd rather replace a preseason game with a regular season any day. That's just picking quality. So if we got to 18 [regular season games] and 2 [preseason games], that's not an unreasonable thing.The other thing it does...that ends up on Presidents' Day weekend, which is a three day weekend, which makes the Sunday night and then you have Monday off."
Now we're talking.
Of course it doesn't really matter to me either way. I don't exactly have a traditional 9-5 job, and I work from home anyway. But I'm sure this is something that most NFL fans could get behind.
Credit where it's due: Goodell's on the right track with this one.
Every man for himself!
That guideline is rarely ever appropriate, and it certainly isn't the rule to follow when it comes to protecting your own child. One father is probably still getting an ear full from his wife after he prioritized his own safety over his child's when an animal launched an attack in his front yard.
The security camera footage first starts out very pleasantly, showing a father and his child share a fun moment on the front porch stairs. As the dad walks up to his kid, he reaches out his arms to signal for his child to jump into a hug. The kid obliges, and for a couple of seconds, this guy might as well be father of the year.
But then he wasn't.
When the father gets to the bottom of the stairs with his child in his arms, a raccoon jumps out of nowhere (from underneath the stairs) and latches on to the man's leg. Naturally, he begins to freak out, and in his momentary lapse of judgement, the dad accidentally throws his child up into the air and off into the yard.
The kid lands with a thud and immediately starts crying as the dad fights away the raccoon. Once the little trash panda was no longer a threat, the father runs over to his sobbing and screaming kiddo to provide consolation. It's a flurry of chaos, and it's capped off with the mother running out of the house to see what happened. The man just yells:
"Raccoon!"
https://twitter.com/theangriestbuni/status/1783638206350520526
If the dad could have a do-over, he'd certainly change up his strategy. All of the good stuff the father had done just seconds before was wiped away as his kid flew threw the sky like a shooting star. I'd pay good money for the audio of the conversation afterwards (probably on the way to get a rabies shot) between the man and his wife, which probably went something like:
"What do you mean you threw our kid across the yard for their own safety?"
Social media got a kick out of the footage, and thank goodness there was a security camera up to capture it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have all of these funny jokes and memes in response to the hilarious video:
Raccoon to his Raccoon friends:
“Hold my beer, watch this…”
If you ain't Zynnin', you ain't winnin'.
I’m sure you’re familiar with Zyn by now, but the nicotine pouches have become a popular tobacco-free alternative to smoking, vaping, or chewing tobacco. They’re by far the largest nicotine pouch on the market right now, and have become a pop culture phenomenon thanks in part to high-profile endorsements from people like Tucker Carlson.
https://twitter.com/Joshua__DM/status/1720430854831301010
Of course the government likes to ruin everything good in our lives, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for the government to crack down on Zyn.
“A pouch packed with problems. High levels of nicotine. So today I’m delivering a warning to parents, because these nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids, teenagers and even lower, and then use the social media to hook ’em.”
But it turns out the nicotine pouches have also turned out to be popular not just among young kids and teenagers, but also among NASCAR drivers.
Xfinity Series driver and NASCAR on NBC reporter Parker Kligerman recently revealed during an episode of his The Money Lap podcast that more and more NASCAR drivers are popping a lipper in during the race to try to help increase their focus.
"This is a trend happening...There are numerous NASCAR drivers that are racing with Zyns in their mouth. There's thought processes. I do know there is a scientific backing to the fact that nicotine can be a focus helper. It's sort of a stimulant just like caffeine, it's no different. And it can help you focus and that sort of thing.It's become so prevalent that last year I tried it in the simulator...I didn't think I felt anything...It's something that's a trend right now that no one's talking about."
https://twitter.com/themoneylap/status/1783637538369847301
Of course today's drivers are hardly the first to use nicotine in the car. Dick Trickle famously used to light up a cigarette inside the car during caution laps, and even had a lighter installed in his car so he could easily spark up a heater when he had the opportunity.
And after his win at Talladega this weekend, winner Tyler Reddick had a humorous moment during his post race press conference when one of his crew members tried to pass him a Zyn to pop in:
I mean, with these Cup Series drivers fighting for every advantage they can get, what's the harm in throwing in an upper decky and seeing if it works? Seemed to do just fine for Reddick...
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1782386711890112929
