Category: Worldwide

Brooklyn-based apocalyptic rap trio Flatbush Zombies returns with “Afterlife,” a menacing new single produced by an unexpected collaborator: James Blake, who the band met in 2018 after finding out he was a fan. Erick the Architect connected with Blake on Twitter, then the four met up after a Flatbush Zombies show in Los Angeles and began collaborating. Despite his own music’s moodiness, or perhaps because of it, Blake captures exactly the sort of “impending doom” vibe the groups works best with, while the song’s accompanying visual adds another dimension to their nihilistic energy.

Directed by Arnaud Bresson, the video uses stereotypical rap video adornments like strippers, guns, and hedonistic abandon, but shot with an eerie X-ray effect that truly makes the group like zombies. Bresson explained the trick in the press release for the video, saying, “Today, there is no technology that x-ray films a living being without endangering it, so we worked hand in hand with a post-production company to develop a technical device that would allow us to achieve a similar effect. We used multi-camera tracking, recorded the positions and movements of our characters to extract and apply to our 3D compositions. It took four months of work to find the perfect style.”

It was time well-spent, as the video creates the perfect complement to the Zombies’ ominous raps. Catch up with their 2020 EP Now, More Than Ever.

Watch Flatbush Zombies’ “Afterlife” video above.

On this week’s episode of An Oral History of ‘The Office’ podcast, Brian Baumgartner got into a discussion of cringe comedy in relation to The Office, a brand of comedy that was rare in America at the time of The Office’s debut, outside of a few moments here and there on Seinfeld. The UK The Office, however, perfected the cringe, and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant became “accidental pioneers” of that brand of comedy. “It was not an intention to make people squirm,” Stephen Merchant says in the podcast. “It was just that it was so much funnier when someone who was trying to be funny said a joke and then you just heard silence, and then you just sat in the silence.”

The cringe is not as pronounced in the American The Office, but it’s still there, making some sequences on the sitcom difficult to watch. Carell’s Michael Scott couldn’t be as cringeworthy as David Brent in the UK The Office because Michael had to somehow maintain a relationship with his employees. Still, there were some deeply uncomfortable moments, such as when Michael replaced his girlfriend’s ex-husband with himself in a family photo, or when he referred to Jan’s breasts as “the twins” in court while under oath. “They hang off m’lady’s chest. They make milk.”

However, there was one episode of The Office so cringeworthy that a lot of viewers still cannot bring themselves to watch it a second time. It’s called “Scott’s Tots.” The most painful moment comes around the six-minute mark in this clip, and to be honest, I can’t bring myself to watch it again now.

“Many fans have told me,” Baumgartner says in the podcast, “that this episode, for them, is the most difficult to watch. There is even a subreddit dedicated to this very topic, /rCannotWatchScottsTots.

Asked if he is proud of himself for writing the cringiest episode ever of The Office, the episode’s writer Lee Eisenberg admits that he very much is. “Nothing makes me happier. The comic premise is so strong, and it’s like, what can you do to turn the screw and make it worse and worse. It was incredible.”

The legacy of that episode is solid. It’s been years since it first aired, and people are still talking about how uncomfortable it is to watch to this day.

Source: An Oral History of ‘The Office’

Marcus Smart has become the NBA’s pre-eminent vigilante, a player you love when he’s on your side but absolutely hate when he’s up against your favorite team. Smart also has a history with NBA referees, often getting fined for flopping or thrown out of games due to his all-out style of play. After a few chippy moments in Boston’s narrow loss to the Heat on Wednesday, teammate Jaylen Brown lobbied the referees to not “pick on” Smart.

Ever the supportive teammate, Brown took it upon himself during a pause in play while Goran Dragic shot a free throw to kindly ask the refs to leave Smart alone.

“We need him,” Brown made a point of noting.

Former Celtic Kendrick Perkins, who felt he was victimized by referees during his playing career as well, said on The Jump on Wednesday that referees do go into games with a bad taste if a player has a history of acting up on the court. Maybe Brown’s plea was reasonable, after all.

Maybe Brown’s plea was reasonable, after all. And even if it wasn’t, or if he was just joking, what this really is is just more evidence that Brown is one of the top guys you’d want on your side on an NBA court.

Over the past several months, many incredibly brave women have come forward and recounted their experiences as victims of sexual misconduct in the music industry. Just a few weeks ago, indie label Burger Records shut down operations completely after management and artists on their roster were outed by several women. Now, Beyonce and Jay-Z’s “Drunk In Love” Grammy Award-winning producer Detail has been taken into police custody on 15 charges of sexual assault.

Detail, who has also worked Ray J’s “Sexy Can I” and Akon’s “I’m So Paid,” was arrested Wednesday by the LA County Sheriff’s Department and is being investigated for incidents of sexual misconduct that spanned from 2010 to 2018. Along with being arrested on over a dozen sexual assault charges, the producer was booked for five additional felony assault charges.

According to the LA Times, Detail’s bail has been set — and it’s a high price. In order to be released, Detail must come up with $6.29 million to make bail. Per the LA Times‘ report, this isn’t the first time Detail has had sexual assault charges against him. In 2019, an unnamed model alleged in a lawsuit that Detail had raped, assaulted, and emotionally abused her. The case was taken to court and the model was awarded $15 million.

There are theories out there that Kanye West’s presidential run is actually an attempt to get voters who would have voted for Joe Biden to vote for him instead, thus taking votes away from Biden and improving Donald Trump’s chances at re-election. Whether or not that’s true, John Legend doesn’t think Kanye’s candidacy will actually have much of an impact on Biden at all.

Yesterday, Legend shared a tweet from Vice News senior political reporter Cameron Joseph, in which Joseph links to an article about the rumors of Kanye’s GOP ties and writes, “A little update — The GOP lawyer who helped @kanyewest get on the ballot in Wisconsin is actively working for @realDonaldTrump’s campaign. She’s the lawyer of record in their lawsuit to try to get a @prioritiesUSA anti-Trump ad pulled.”

Legend added, “Just in case anyone needs some clarity around what’s happening here.” He then replied to his own tweet, “Anyway…. Anyone reckless and/or misinformed enough to fall for the okey doke probably wasn’t voting for Biden (or voting at all).”

He recently addressed Kanye less directly in a series of tweets in which he explained why he believes not all artists need to be political. Towards the end of his statements, he discussed a “futile 3rd party bid,” saying, “Part of an artist’s job is to imagine a different future. I appreciate the desire to break free from the strictures of the 2-party system in America, for instance. But you can’t divorce that conversation from the real world implications of rooting for a futile 3rd party bid. And the real world implications of electing (or reelecting) someone who doesn’t know how to run the government are particularly urgent and impactful in the middle of a pandemic that’s been so much more deadly due to an incompetent President. This is not merely an intellectual exercise. It’s life and death.”

Thanks in no small part to one Baby Yoda, The Mandalorian became a viral and pop culture sensation within hours of debuting on Disney+ when it launched in November 2019. Since that time, three more streaming services have entered the market, but not a single one of them have delivered a series that comes anywhere close to the audience demand for The Mandalorian. It’s a bloodbath.

In a new study, Parrot Analytics measured the demand for series from Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and Peacock against the demand for traditional TV shows in the U.S. And what it found is that The Mandalorian absolutely smoked everything from its freshman class of new streaming services and even the networks. Via Hollywood Reporter:

The company found that The Mandalorian was far and away the most anticipated of all streaming shows. The Jon Favreau drama, which is set in the world of Star Wars, was made available on Disney+’s Nov. 12 launch day. Demand for the show was more than 55 times higher than the average TV series during that same week.

“The Mandalorian is in a class of its own,” says Alejandro Rojas, director of applied analytics at Parrot.

Of course, the strength of The Mandalorian might also have a lot to do with the success of Disney+. The second highest show in demand was the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is another new entry from Disney’s streaming service. However, Clone Wars still lagged considerably behind The Mandalorian. Coming in third was HBO Max’s Looney Tunes reboot.

As if The Mandalorian wasn’t looking like enough of a breakout success, the live-action Star Wars series picked up an impressive 15 Emmy nominations thanks to its revolutionary filmmaking technology, its soon-to-be iconic score, and the wise casting decision of bringing on Giancarlo Esposito. Gus Fring with a lightsaber? How do you lose?

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Kyle’s latest video from his new album See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! is a tongue-in-cheek throwback to the days of MTV Cribs, as Kyle “borrows” Tyga’s mansion for a video shoot to show off a flashy lifestyle he doesn’t quite have. The “Money Now” video sports all the accouterments of a glossy rap visual — luxury automobiles, half-naked models, ridiculously expensive living quarters — but the gag is that Kyle had to sneak in to make use of it, making a playful jab at the way hip-hop often relies on a “fake it ’til you make it” mentality, even after artists have technically “made it.”

Kyle also sports a new look in the video, with dyed hair featuring a red flame emoji set against a platinum blonde base — another nod to the sort of thing rappers can get away with that would be against uniform policy at most “normal” jobs. It’s Kyle’s way of remaining humble, as he’s tried to do throughout the promo of See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! — from using his high school graduation photo as the album’s cover, to revisiting the scenes of his come-up in the videos for “Bouncin” and “What It Is.”

See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! is out now via Independent and Atlantic Records. Get it here.

Watch Kyle’s “Money Now” video featuring Tyga above.

Kyle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

2 Chainz’ “Dedication,” the intro to he and Lli Wayne’s Collegrove album, starts with a clip of Wayne jokingly telling him to sign to Young Money. “Tity Boi, you need to tell Cris, gon’ let you go,” Wayne urges. The clip, which is likely from 2009, is a portal to a bygone era.

“Cris” is Ludacris, the rap superstar who signed 2 Chainz, fka as Tity Boi, to Disturbin’ Tha Peace (DTP) as one half of Playaz Circle. But Tity wanted off the label by the late aughts. He left DTP in 2010, and instead of actually joining Young Money, he signed directly to Def Jam (DTP’s parent company). Tity said he didn’t want to sign to Young Money and seem like he was “clique hopping.” He took a bet on himself, and hit the jackpot, representing the best rebrand in rap history.

He changed his name to the more family-friendly 2 Chainz in 2011, then went on a tear with classic mixtapes, verses, and punchlines. By the time ColleGrove was released in 2016, 2 Chainz was an established artist in his own right, capable of matching Wayne on the mic and nearing him in terms of cultural stature.

“Dedication” was a tribute to Wayne, but Chainz is deserving of his own salute these days. He started his solo career at 33, and crafted a discography that can compete with many of the Southern rap legends who preceded him. His career path is a testament to perseverance, self-reliance, and the wits to read the room.

The fact that he even made it into the rap game is astonishing. Last year he reflected that “all I ever known is drugs or drug dealing,” during an Uninterupted conversation with Matt Barnes. His father was incarcerated, which forced him to drug dealing as early as 14 to pay his family’s bills. He also recalls his first drug arrest, at 15, coinciding with his mother’s own incarceration. He told The Urban Daily that cops raided his home, thought the drugs belonged to his mother, and took her in. They then came to arrest him at school, starting a cycle where “every other year I would go to jail,” as he said.

He was still talented enough to make it to South Alabama State University on a basketball scholarship, before transferring and graduating from Virginia State University. Around the same time, he had formed Playaz Circle with high school friend Earl Conyers. His friend named himself Dolla Boi, and he was Tity Boi, in part because he was such a mama’s boy. They caught the attention of then-burgeoning star Ludacris after their 2002 United We Stand, United We Fall project started buzzing in the region.

They dropped their debut Supply & Demand album in 2007, which featured the “Duffle Bag Boy” classic with Lil Wayne. The song began a professional relationship that had the two join Lil Wayne on his 2008 I Am Music tour when Wayne was music after going platinum in Carter III’s first week of sales.

In 2009, 2 Chainz, tried his hand at solo success in order to take advantage of an Atlanta power vacuum, as he told Urban Daily:

Around ’09 and ’10, I don’t know if anybody remembers but Gucci was incarcerated, T.I. was incarcerated, Jeezy was working on an album, Ludacris was busy, so the Atlanta market was wide open. That’s where me and Future kinda came into play, just bringing the music from the streets. There was a void and I filled it.

He dropped four mixtapes in twelve months between August of ‘09 and ‘10. The meager numbers of Playaz Circle’s 2009 Flight 360: The Takeoff album may have further fueled his solo desires, and he left DTP after paying Ludacris $100K per remaining album to leave his contract. In 2011, he officially changed his name to 2 Chainz, a nickname he first uttered on “Dear Mr. LA Reid” from Supply & Demand, and had been adlibbing before his verses. He has downplayed the name change, saying that it wasn’t overly strategic, but sometimes brilliance is simple.

The rap gods immediately rewarded his decision, as he broke out with his 2011 T.R.U. REALigion off the strength of “Riot,” a charismatic mic presence, and witticisms like “9-1-1 I’d like to report my ceiling missing” from “Stunt” with Meek Mill. With an entrenched relationship with Young Money and burgeoning proximity to Kanye and GOOD Music (as well as Ross’ then mighty MMG), 2 Chainz took advantage of his bustling industry Rolodex and hit the fast track to stardom.

One can’t tell the story of 2010s rap without going through his timeline: in 2012 alone there was the star-making “Mercy” verse, “Beez In The Trap” with Nicki Minaj, and Based on a T.R.U. Story which featured “No Lie” with Drake. ColleGrove with Wayne was one of the most underrated lyrical exercises of 2016. Pretty Girls Like Trap Music went platinum in 2016, and 2019’s Rap Or Go To The League was acclaimed.

2 Chainz’ formula of unmistakable mic presence, hilarious punchlines, and infectious ad-libs was always in him — he just needed the right time and circumstances to share them. The Atlanta MC likely would have been just as good a solo MC as Tity Boi, but his polarizing name may have turned off many of the fans who ended up making him massively popular. His name change was ingenious, and to this point, doesn’t have a close competitor as far as rap rebrands go.

The Versuz series is cultural exaltation, and 2 Chainz may have had the most improbable journey to the platform. There was a time when being a 30-year-old rapper with subpar sales was a death sentence, and labels would never deal with. But 2 Chainz’ worked, and set a new precedent for what a rap career path can look like.

Netflix’s first Hoops trailer arrived with cuss-words aplenty as Jake Johnson (New Girl, Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse) voiced an objectively terrible high-school basketball coach. With this followup trailer, the language isn’t any less raunchy, but Netflix has simultaneously announced that they’re edging toward Flavortown, sort of, with this TV series. Guy Fieri is joining the guest cast, which will also include Will Forte, Nick Swardson, Sam Richardson, W. Earl Brown, and Steve Berg.

That news arrives in addition to word of Johnson being joined by New Girl co-stars Max Greenfield, Damon Wayans Jr., and Hannah Simone. They’re only missing Zooey Deschanel for the full house. Perhaps she would have been a distraction from the main event, but that’s no excuse when Fieri is already onboard. There’s no NBA bubble to be found anywhere near here, but fortunately, we can pretend that our real-life situation doesn’t exist while tucking into all manner of raunchy shenanigans in animated form.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are executive producing Hoops, which is also a reteaming of their Spidey-based partnership with Johnson, but this time, they’re all leaping over to less fantastical realms yet still animated ones.

The very NSFW Hoops will stream on August 21.

The last bow that needs to be tied on this crazy European soccer season will resume this weekend. Beginning on Friday, the final few matches in the Champions League round of 16 will finish up. From there, an all-out race in a slightly-modified format will occur with the goal of identifying the best club team in all of Europe, which will culminate in an eight-team field taking to pitches across Portugal.

To get you prepared, we tossed together a quick primer on how Champions League will work this year, the clubs involved, how you can watch, and much more.

Wait there’s more soccer?

Hell yeah there is, and there’s a pretty good chance that we’re in store for the craziest two weeks that we’ve seen in some time thanks to this version of the Champions League.

Why’s that?

So the way Champions League knockout rounds usually work is that, during the season, clubs will play a two-legged tie with the aggregate score determining who moves on. That happened with four of the eight ties in the round of 16 (we’ll get to them momentarily). The other four, however, were slated to occur during the week in March that the entire sporting universe shut down due to COVID-19, and were indefinitely suspended — this, unfortunately (and unknowingly at the time), happened a little too late, and two of the CL tilts during the previous week were tied to coronavirus outbreaks.

Seems bad.

It was. Wear a mask.

So what’s happening now?

Well, UEFA decided to let domestic leagues finish up before having clubs focus on European competition. They’re all wrapped up, and now, UEFA tweaked how the tournament will work. The remaining four round of 16 ties will occur in home stadiums as planned, and the team that moves on from there will be determined by aggregate score. Then, the remaining eight clubs will head to Portugal for a single-elimination knockout tournament for the quarters, semis, and finals. One can argue this won’t necessarily mean that the best team remaining wins, because weird stuff happens in one soccer game, but it is going to be wild.

Oh interesting. What are the matches that need to be all sorted out?

The round of 16 match everyone will be tuned into is Manchester City against Real Madrid. Two of the 3-5 best sides on earth, City (the Premier League runners-up) beat Madrid (the champions of La Liga), 2-1, in Spain earlier this year. The first leg was tremendous, and Madrid has an uphill battle ahead of it.

That happens on Aug. 7, the same day as Lyon against Juventus. The French side defended its home turf with a 1-0 victory earlier this year, and now, things head to Turin. While Lyon is quite good, the Italian champions are still quite good, and as we’ve seen over and over, Cristiano Ronaldo is really good at finding ways to drag his sides to a win, particularly in the Champions League.

A day later, we have one tie that is basically done and dusted. Bayern Munich went to London and beat Chelsea, 3-0, and even if Christian Pulisic didn’t appear to seriously hurt his hamstring in Saturday’s FA Cup final, this would be a near-impossible task for the Blues to pull off against perhaps the best side in the world. Far more compelling is Napoli against Barcelona. The second leg is in Catalonia, and while the aggregate score is 1-1, and while Barcelona is better on paper, it’s been a weird year for them and they’ve just randomly had matches where they look wretched. They should go through, but a solid (albeit underperforming in their league) Napoli side will challenge them, particularly because they enter this match with a reduced squad. Then again, one of those players is Lionel Messi, who is the great player of all time.

How can I watch?

Well, you know how television companies are overreacting to cord cutting and making it so things are no longer on television? And instead you have to buy an app that is 30-90 seconds behind everything and it buffers all the time and it’s garbage?

Oh no…

CBS All Access! Every match is on the app, with select matches including the final being on the app and CBS Sports Network, which you know and love as the place that has Conference USA football games. Here’s the schedule (all times ET):

Friday, Aug. 7:
Manchester City vs. Real Madrid, 3 p.m. (CBSSN)
Juventus vs. Lyon, 3 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 8:
Barcelona vs. Napoli, 3 p.m. (CBSSN)
Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, 3 p.m.

What about beyond that?

Good news! Here’s that:

Wednesday, Aug. 12:
Atalanta vs. Paris Saint-Germain, 3 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 13:
RB Leipzig vs. Atletico Madrid, 3 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 14:
Napoli/Barcelona vs. Chelsea/Bayern Munich, 3 p.m.

Saturday. Aug. 15:
Real Madrid/Manchester City vs. Lyon/Juventus, 3 p.m.

The semis take place on Aug. 18 and 19, both at 3 p.m., while the final is on Aug. 23. That, too, kicks at 3 p.m.

OK, so who did the teams already through beat?

Paris Saint-Germain knocked out Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta flew past Valencia, Atletico Madrid survived against Liverpool, and RB Leipzig knocked off Tottenham.

Wait Liverpool lost? Aren’t they super good?

They are! The Reds marched to the Premier League title, but they’re a great example of how fickle this tournament can be. They were better over 180 minutes than Atletico Madrid, but Atleti got an early goal in the first leg then clamped down. When things returned to Merseyside, Atleti keeper Jan Oblak was out of his mind — he saved nine of the 11 shots on goal he faced — and the Spanish side came out in extra time.

Under normal circumstances, the randomness of Champions League lends itself to stuff like this. Sometimes, better and more talented teams get tricky matchups, and total statistical outliers occur, and the worse team ends up scoring one more goal over 180 minutes. There are times when you just have to throw your hands up and acknowledge that you lost. That could, potentially, be magnified given how the amount of time for ties to resolve themselves are cut in half.

So does this mean the best team isn’t going to win?

It’s possible. Also impacting this is how the draw broke down. The one half of the Champions League bracket is, of course, packed with good teams, but the other half of the bracket is absolutely stacked.

With all due respect to Leipzig, Atleti, Atalanta, and PSG — all of whom are quite good and, in the case of the Parisians, are among the favorites to win this whole thing — the fact that only one of City, Madrid, Juve, Barca, or Bayern will make the final is totally wild. Anyone who tells you they know who is going to win is lying.

Ok so who’s going to win?

Why are you doing this to me we just went over this.

Well, you’re doing this to yourself, as I am merely a reflection of your internal dialogue as you map out the road that this post is going to take.

Good point.

Answer the question then your editor is getting annoyed.

Outside of Bayern, figuring out who is going to advance out of the remaining round of 16 ties is next to impossible. Sure, City and Lyon are ahead of Madrid and Juve, and Napoli-Barca is a draw (albeit one where Barcelona has an away goal), but everything is on the table in all three of those ties. The most likely scenario is probably something like this: City has built up enough of a cushion to survive Madrid, which will throw everything it can at their opponents’ leaky defense but could be quite vulnerable without their captain, Sergio Ramos, due to a red card suspension. A very good Juve side is able to battle back against Lyon, which has played one competitive match since March due to the pandemic. Messi drags Barcelona to a win in his own building. There is at least a 75 percent chance I go 0-for-3.

Want me to just go through the 12 teams left and say why all of them will win?

Sure whatever.

Alright!

Atalanta: Because the goals don’t dry up. Outside of Manchester City and Bayern Munich, no one in the major European leagues scores as frequently as the Italian side. They may be the best team to watch if you’re a neutral — Duvan Zapata, Luis Muriel, and Josip Ilicic score like madmen, and Papu Gomez sets the table for them as well as anyone in Europe.

Atletico Madrid: They clamp down on everyone. Few teams are better at defending as an 11-man unit, and when they are able to get an early goal, Atleti’s calling card for years has been the unparalleled ability to make games gross. You will not have fun watching if they win, but they might.

Bayern: They’re the most well-rounded team in the world. From back to front, there aren’t many weaknesses for the German champions. They have won every single match they’ve played dating back to December, sans for one draw against a very good RB Leipzig side, and looked unbeatable during Germany’s restart.

Barcelona: They have the best player of all time. This Barcelona team is incredibly flawed, but in what amounts to a bunch of knockout games, having Lionel Messi is the ultimate trump card if everything else works out. Having Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal helps a whole lot, too.

Chelsea: A miracle happens. They’re not coming back and beating Bayern. I’ll eat a flip flop if they do.

Juventus: They have the best big-game player in the world. There is a sense of inevitability when Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pitch, which will be the case in Champions League. Juve limped to the end of the season and struggled to score goals, and they haven’t always looked cohesive, but Ronaldo just has a way of winning big games.

Lyon: Their young legs outrun everyone. Like Chelsea, Lyon needs a lot to go right to get past the teams they’d need to beat. They do boast a ton of young talent — Moussa Dembele, Houssem Aouar, Bruno Guimaraes, etc. — and maybe all of them, along with the relatively young Memphis Depay, can pull off something special.

Manchester City: They finish their chances. City have two modes: Score five goals, or struggle to score one and whip in a bunch of aimless crosses. They are the most talented team on earth, and on their day, no one can beat them. But with a defense that can be leaky and a star-studded attack that can be wasteful, City are their own worst enemies at times.

Napoli: They catch better teams on bad days. Napoli is a solid side, and their center back pairing of Kalidou Koulibaly and Kostas Manolas is quite good on their best day. They’ve had some inconsistent play this year, their ability to create and finish chances isn’t always there, and their path to surviving their half of the bracket is insanely narrow. Apologies to the club from my ancestral homeland.

PSG: Kylian Mbappe gets healthy and they don’t do what they always do. The best young footballer in the world picked up a knock in PSG’s last match, he’s not expected to go against Atalanta, and it is unclear if he’ll be able to play after that. And then, there’s just the general propensity PSG has to crash and burn. They are the best side in their half of the bracket. They can win the whole thing if they play like it.

RB Leipzig: Chaos reigns. Leipzig are an intense, high-energy side that is capable of overwhelming opposing squads, especially when Timo Werner is able to get loose and be put in position to finish chances, which he does quite well. They can make some noise if — and this is a gigantic if — they can avoid shooting themselves in the foot.

Real Madrid: They follow the blueprint. Zinedine Zidane won three Champions Leagues in a row at the helm of Madrid from 2015-18. He, and his players, know what they need to do to win this competition, and it helps that they are brimming with confidence after chasing down Barcelona to win La Liga. They are an incredibly talented side, and if they can rally to beat Manchester City — a gigantic ask, especially without Ramos — they very well might be the favorites to win the whole thing.

So any of like seven or eight teams have a really good chance.

That’s right.

Seems fun!

It is! Champions League is my favorite club competition in the world. The level at which teams play and the intensity that they bring in this competition is second to none, something that should be magnified by this being a single-elimination tournament. I think you’ll enjoy it, and I highly recommend watching as much as you can.