Oh Baby Crew, Crew Got What I Need
Glory to Columbus, the heart of it all. We have skyscrapers and farmland, diversity and inclusion, amazing food and satiating brew by the growler. We have the world class Ohio State University, we have the anywhere in Central Ohio in 30 minutes living loop I-270. Blue Jackets and Clippers, Easton and Polaris, might make one forget sometimes that the Columbus(Crew) is the greatest team the world has ever seen!
This Saturday will see the Columbus Crew in their fourth MLS Cup final and what is so drop-dead-glorious about it is that they are playing the most beautiful form of soccer that a team can. For the casual observer this is a final to tune into because the black and gold are playing a 3-4-3 agressively offensive brand of soccer. With a myriad of attacking options, this is something to watch (if you liked Ted Lasso and that was your only soccer exposure in the last few years, this style is for you.)
As a former Nordecke season ticket holder, and employee of the old stadium, let me just tell you that the crowd on Saturday is going to be a treat. You will be able to hear the chants and songs over the announcers, with colors aplenty. Let me put it to you this way: Taylor Swift is jealous of our ticket demand for Lower.com Field this weekend. I haven’t seen price gauging like this on the secondary market since Dave Chapelle opened for the second coming of Christ.
As you peer over the sea of supporters who make their way down Nationwide Blvd to the final on Saturday, do not forget that just a few years ago this could have all gone away. ‘C-R-E-W…Fuck you Precourt, we are the Crew’ ringing out on national television still gives me rage thinking about how this beloved institution was almost moved to Austin for greed. #SavetheCrew is one of the most heartening stories I can ever remember in sports, where a legion of fans,(and the Haslams) kept a money crazed owner and commissioner from moving the league’s first franchise.
Wise men say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with Crew. My journey with the Crew started with a family outing to Historic Crew Stadium back in the summer of 2005. We had seats near the locker room entrance and were close to the corner flag to see the Crew play the Kansas City Wizards (as they were known then.) Take a couple hours out of your Saturday to tune in with someone you love and see if this is something you too might want to be a part of. Be Massive!
Coverage: Apple TV (Free) Saturday 4 PM.
Take a Bite
If you’re not already a subscriber, let me tell you about the best quality for the money proposition in streaming: Apple TV+. For ten bucks a month you get the highest quality shows, and to quote the legendary film, ‘Dazed and Confused’, ‘It’s quality, not quantity, alright man?’ While I could write an entire post just describing the best Ted Lasso episodes, I will try to make this one for the masses, and I hope that you will end reading this with a 7 day trial to the service.
The Morning Show
Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston lead a fire-starting take on not only righteous journalism, but feminism in the modern media landscape and it is fantastic. The thing you have to love about this platform is that an issue like abortion will come up and be seriously addressed in the way that you can’t do on network TV. Both leading ladies kill, and the drama currently runs for three seasons that span the American reality so well the way that HBO’s, ‘The Newsroom’ used to do.
Ted Lasso
If you think this show is about soccer, let me stop you in your tracks before you lose interest. Jason Sudeikis takes over an English Premier League soccer team with no experience in soccer. What happens from there is a masterclass in character development, romance, camaraderie and a feeling that we all are AFC Richmond. The show gets into deeper issues such as mental health and relationships in a way that if you don’t cry in response to several episodes, you may have to turn in your human card.
Lessons in Chemistry
Continuing on Apple’s feminist trailblazing effort, this show is so wholesome, in its solidarity pushing agenda between both races and sexes. Based on a book of the same title, Brie Larson doesn’t dazzle, because she can, she instructs. The story of her relationship with famed chemist Calvin Evans and her struggle to become recognized in a world she masters but is not let into, makes for captivating entertainment.
Five Days at Memorial
This is inarguably the most controversial show I will recommend, so let that grain of salt set in. The miniseries retells the catastrophic and horrific events of a hospital in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. It challenges the viewer to consider the impossible moral decisions that the hospital staff had to make over 8 episodes, and Vera Farmiga reprises her role as a grey area hero similar to how I remember her from her role in, ‘The Departed.’ This does not disappoint.
I’m writing this on an Apple laptop; I consider my own bias, but in terms of the quality of shows you get on Apple TV+ that take chances other services wouldn’t, give it a try. If you haven’t seen Ted Lasso yet you are already doing yourself a disservice, and three seasons of that should satiate the most cynical person on the planet. Take a bite from the tree, unlike that bible nonsense, you will be left in a better place and no snake is involved.
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