Did I Peak this Weekend?

So I’m not 100% positive… but I think I peaked this weekend. I don’t remember having a weekend stretch that so much happened. I mean things that brought out every emotion imaginable. Happiness, sadness, joy, anger, disappointment, and thrill. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I gasped and I even jumped out of my chair like a school-girl when the bell rang for summer. Below I breakdown a few of the events that had influence on this weekend.

Thursday: Disney, Draft and the St. Louis Blues

This past week I was in Orlando, Florida. Arguably, the best vacation spot on earth depending what you’re looking for. But that’s a debate for another day. When in Orlando, you have to do Disney. I mean for fuck sake it’s known as the “Happiest Place on Earth.” However, Disney World is a monster. They don’t open the gates till 9; so anybody early finds themselves being funneled into a large crowd with no room to move. Basically factory farming for humans. So close you have people sneezing on you, burping on you and even the occasional butt grab. (I don’t mind the last one depending on the person). When the gates open, all hell breaks loose. Parents use strollers as weapons by ramming into your heels so they can get past you. Sneaky painful but honestly, they have the toughest job in the world. Every parent in that park has to make sure they get on those rides as fast as possible because when your kid gets bored, it’s game over. They cry, pout and scream the rest of the day. You pay $300 a ticket to deal with that? I don’t think so. Truthfully makes you reconsider kids having kids for a brief second as you walk by one tantrum after the other. That’s why I respect the parents who bully the rest of us to ensure that doesn’t happen to them. But being efficient and athletically superior to the overweight and overtired step-dads, I glided by each one and walked on every ride I needed to without a headache. Quick tip… Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom is the best ride of all time. Get there fast or your’e waiting 3 hours. But the best part of getting through the rides fast? I had plenty of time to get back for there NFL Draft and the St. Louis Blues game.

The Baltimore Ravens seems to never disappoint in the draft. They draft outstandingly even when the guy they pick you’ve never heard of. However, Ozzie Newsome is gone. So this year I was worried Eric DeCosta (New GM) was going to play it safe and draft an offensive lineman. Which absolutely is a need with Lamar Jackson taking over the offense but it’s just not a sexy pick. Boy was I wrong. Personally, I think Newsome still played a major influence on this year’s draft because it was vintage Ozzie in the first round for Baltimore. The Ravens traded back a few spots, picked up some value while still getting the guy they wanted the whole time. Marquise Brown... HOLLLYYYYWOOOOD! Cousin of superstar Antonio Brown, Marquise Brown is the perfect weapon for Lamar Jackson. With a run-heavy offense, Brown can take the top off any defense and help second year quarterback Lamar Jackson find more opportunities in the passing game. And say what you want about Jackson’s accuracy, but he throws a hell out a deep ball. If Brown wasn’t enough to scare NFL defenses, the Ravens added WR Miles Boykin (Notre Dame) and RB Justice Hill (Oklahoma State). Two guys who can absolutely fly. Both 4.4 guys with plenty of athleticism. Hill is the perfect complement to down-hill back Mark Ingram. My good friend and co-host Ben Turner said this might be the fastest QB, RB and WR trio in history. Obviously a bit of exaggeration but these pieces makes this offense very dangerous. If that wasn’t enough, the Ravens also drafted the leading sack leader in college football history. A great player to fill the shoes of longtime Raven Terrell Suggs.

To wrap up my Thursday, the St.Louis Blues hosted the Dallas Stars in game 1 of the second round.. Of the three, this was the most important. Why? Because of my childhood hero and friend John “Update” McDonald. If you don’t know who that is, what a shame because he’s an all-time guy. Growing up in St.Louis, the Blues are everything to this guy. And you know who has never won a Stanley Cup? The god damn Blues. What a win it was. The game finished at like 1 AM and he was juiced enough to call me and talk about the win. Update has seen so much heartbreak that every game the Blues lose, I feel devastated. So hearing his voice after a big win was special. After a 10-20 start, I thought we were dead. But a part of me was happy because the past few years, the Blues have buried us in the playoffs. So the bad start seemed as if they were gonna give us the year off from heartbreak but not so fast. The Blues got scorching hot are now in the second round of the the playoffs. In fact, they are the favorite to now win the Stanley Cup. A bit of inflation since they have a 2-1 lead of their series, but still enough to get excited about. There isn’t a guy more deserving of celebrating a Stanley Cup win for his team than Update. But there isn’t a less deserving guy of experiencing heartbreak either. Hopefully it’s the former.

(Here's a video of the legend himself. A consistent contender in the Egg Crack Competition every Easter wearing his famous Blue polo.)

Friday: Avengers Endgame

The morning forecast in Orlando was rainy. Just a perfect excuse to see a movie while on vacation. The choice was Avengers Endgame without hesitation. Those involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe understood the magnitude of this movie. Those who aren’t heres what it means to people like me. The first phase of the Infinity saga released in 2008. It was the first Iron Man movie and I was only 12 when it came out. Fast forward 21 movies and 11 years later, and the final film of this installment was released. The build-up to it was a lot of death and characters storylines coming to an end. For somebody who basically grew-up in this world, the movie was much more than just superheroes fighting bad guys. I’m not gonna get into the sob-story of what it meant to me but it was special. Ben can tell you from an outsiders perspective how each time a superhero movie came out, we were at the midnight showing with my family. And truthfully, what a friend Ben is for coming to some of those even though he doesn’t buy into the whole superhero stuff. He’d rather be with the group than sitting at home by himself. What a guy. I remember seeing Thor:The Dark World and Ben was asleep before the previews were over. Downed some candy, put his hood up and called it a night. Legendary shit right there. But back to the movie. It was like a 3-hour roller coaster. Like I said I felt 100 different emotions this weekend and this movie was the main factor in it. I’m not gonna spoil or say anything about the film, but to me, it was there best movie I had ever seen. Not a doubt, not a hesitation. As soon as the movie cut to black, I knew I’d never experience a movie like that again. Just fucking outstanding. Obviously all the history I had with it is why it was so great to me, but if you’re somebody who was involved in the 20+ movies up to this point, nothing beats what you saw during Avengers:Endgame. It was so good, it potentially ruined all movies for me for the rest of my life.

Sunday: Game of Thrones:Battle of Winterfell. (SPOILERS)

So having just one day to digest what had happened in Avengers: Endgame, Sunday was the Battle of Winterfell. As if the death and heartbreak wasn’t enough on Friday, what was expected on Sunday wouldn’t compare. They wrapped up episode 2 as if everybody was going to die. And in the first 30 seconds of battle, it looked like it. But once again I’m not going to break it down because I’m desperately hoping my co-host will bring it up on this weeks filming of No Eligibility. But that school-girl yelp I was talking about earlier… ya that was when Arya Stark jumped from the clouds and gutted the fucking Night King. Was absolutely rock hard when she dropped the knife into her right hand and killed him evaporating every white walker and wight in the army. I had goosebumps just typing that…

Anyways, hell of a weekend. Not sure what I could’ve done to be happier. But usually the higher you get, the farther you fall, so I might be in for the worst weekend of my life coming up. Let’s hope not right… Good news is Ben and I will be back to our bullshit pumping out content and a great podcast this week so stay tuned!