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House of the Dragon’s fifth episode is here to make everyone who’s not a Targaryen feel better about their dysfunctional relationship with their mother. In fact, if you’re not fantasizing about her or skipping over her for a job promotion or getting ignored by her on your deathbed, can you even claim to have mommy issues? Daemon Targaryen would say no.

Speaking of the wayward king (consort), just put an axe in his hand and call him Bob the Builder because he spends yet another hour constructing the walls of a castle intent on putting him in a straightjacket. His inability to do anything productive for Team Black means that his queen and her heir are forced to draft a help wanted sign for potential dragon riders/burn victims. In King’s landing, another bleach-blonde bimbo sits the Iron Throne — or, at least, gazes at it menacingly with his one eye — while a king literally rots in his bed and a dowager queen learns the true definition of sexism in the workplace.

Here’s where every character ranks on the leaderboard after HoTD’s latest episode.

Aemond Targaryen

This might be a little insensitive to say seeing as Aegon’s charred body is fresh off the grill and still giving off smoke, but fratricide really agrees with Aemond Targaryen. He’s practically glowing as he stalks the halls of the Red Keep, counting his brother’s last breaths and sitting in seats he was never meant for, barely giving the maesters time to peel the Valyrian steel from Aegon’s melted flesh before pressing his claim to the throne. He gleefully beats his own mother out for the job and readily flirts with tyranny with his first official act by closing the gates and effectively holding all of King’s Landing hostage. He’s graduated from kinslayer to kingslayer in the span of an episode, but he’s also never looked happier so really, who are we to yuck his yum?

Jacaerys Velaryon

Jace watched that viral clip of Kim Kardashian telling people to get off their asses and work, and he took it personally. The prince who’s single-handedly keeping Westeros’ lip filler industry in business has been sidelined from most of the action this season by his overprotective mother and absentee stepdad, but this week, he decides asking for forgiveness is much more productive than begging for permission. And good for him! He makes headway in the Riverlands, negotiating a deal with the Freys that allows Creagan Stark’s bannermen to pass through on their way to intercept Jason Lannister’s army. He also provides helpful council to his mother, sparking the idea that adding more dragons to their cause might be possible if they start widening the search for riders within their extended bloodline. (Coincidentally, this puts us one step closer to a live-action How To Train Your Dragon montage, which is all we’ve been asking for since this show began.) And he does all this while keeping his skin hydrated, his lips moisturized, and his curls wet. Take notes, Aegon.

Baela Targaryen

With Rhaenys gone, it falls to poor Baela to slap some sense into her self-pitying relatives who’d rather spend their time moping at the marina and contemplating treason than seeking out a grief counselor. Her read on Corlys, effectively dragging him for blaming Rhaenyra for Rhaenys’s death — as if she wasn’t a true dragon rider who fought bravely and earned the right to choose how she R.I.P.ed — was one of the more powerful moments in the episode, as was her parting advice that Corlys quit running at the first sign of trouble and just pick one of his bastard boys to be heir already.

Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rhaenyra is learning that the “how to rule a kingdom” degree she spent her life working to earn is basically useless. She’s on the job now sans a learning curve and her lack of experience is showing. (We love a relatable queen.) As out of her depth wrangling a table of dimwitted humpty dumpties as she is, Rhaenyra proves her resilience this episode, refusing to rise to the bait when the dirty laundry of her broken marriage is aired at her war council and receptive to the risky advice of unexpected allies. She listens when people speak, she considers and contemplates before taking action. Up until this point, that’s been viewed as a weakness, but in welcoming input from the kind of people her “fat old lordlings” would likely scoff at, she’s now one step closer to winning this war.

Mysaria

We hope Mysaria sleeps soundly at night knowing she’s orchestrating the demise of House Hightower from the comfort of Dragonstone while Otto dines on pudding cups and his own tears in an Oldtown nursing home.

Alys Rivers

Alys Rivers is so bored, she’s haunting men’s dreams at Harrenhal, brewing psychedelic teas and listening to whispers on the wind as she conjures sex demons and reminds power-hungry would-be kings of the consort attached to their self-given titles. She would’ve loved Lana Del Rey’s “Born To Die” album.

Criston Cole

Criston Cole is experiencing what medical experts might call PTSD, if medical experts existed in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series. But, since they don’t, this moody douche-canoe is managing his mental breakdown in the worst ways possible. He’s miscalculating the smallfolk’s idolatry of dragons, he’s putting a murderous mean girl on the throne, and he’s fumbling the bag with the only woman in King’s Landing desperate enough to look twice at his penis. It’s exactly what this sobbing idiot sandwich deserves.

Alicent Hightower

All of that internalized misogyny that Alicent’s been wielding for her own benefit for the last couple of decades is actualized against her in this episode and she’s got the gall to actually be upset about it. One son’s a shish kabob, the other’s a tyrant, she’s surrounded by power-hungry men who’ve constantly degraded the only other woman who’s attempted to seize the throne, and she’s spent an entire season helping them to deny her rightful claim simply because of her sex. Alicent learned something this week that everyone woman should know — it never pays to be a pick-me girl.

Daemon Targaryen

Daemon has gone a bit mad with power – or the illusion of it. It’s like the writers of HOTD saw a few episodes of Nathan Felder’s The Curse and thought, yeah, that’s what the biggest fuck boi in Westeros was probably doing during his sabbatical. He’s renovating and gentrifying and stirring up hungry, malevolent spirits. He’s secretly ordering war crimes and having weird sex dreams about his dead mother at night. He’s utterly useless, to the point he’s become a real threat to his wife’s campaign. At this point, we’re almost wishing that Aemond would put him out of his misery.

Corlys Velaryon

If Corlys wants to do us a favor and get on his tiny boat to sail straight into a hurricane, no one’s stopping him.

Aegon Targaryen

There’s not much to say about Aegon this episode except that he was trotted into King’s Landing in an oversized cat carrier and he spent the rest of his time getting peeled like a boiled shrimp while crying for his mommy. Karma is a doctor and this is exactly what she ordered.

Netflix has released [a behind-the-scenes video of] Stranger Things season 5!

That sentence is a lot more exciting if you delete the words between the brackets, but there’s still some good stuff in the video timed with the eight-year anniversary of the first episode. Especially since it seems like the new season corrects one of the big issues with season 4.

Season four of Stranger Things took place all over the globe: Hawkins, California, Nevada, and Russia. It was a bold story-telling decision that mostly worked, but there was grumbling from fans about characters being isolated from each other; it wasn’t until the finale that nearly everyone reunited in Indiana. So, as shown in the season 5 first-look video, it’s good to see the show’s original Core Four — Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will — back together.

Eleven’s whereabouts are unknown.

Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike, talked to The Hollywood Reporter about getting the gang back together “Even when I finally watched the show, my favorite part was watching the other guys in Hawkins. I just liked that storyline so much. So, yeah, not being around everyone all the time was definitely a bummer about filming 4, but 5 is the opposite,” he said. “We’re all together all the time.”

Stranger Things viewers seem pretty happy about this.

Season 5 of Stranger Things will (hopefully!) premiere in 2025.

Historically, very few people can really take on The Devil. Taylor Swift successfully did it last fall, while Patrick Wilson gives an honest attempt every few years. But many seem to underestimate the power of the Minions. Not Satan’s minions, but Steve Carell’s.

Longlegs hit theaters last week and thanks to its disturbing ad campaign and the power of Nic Cage, the flick managed to bring in an impressive $22.6 million over the weekend, a record for its distributor Neon. Still, it wasn’t able to overpower Bob, Stuart, and Kevin of Despicable Me 4, who secured the number one spot. But Neon was a good sport, and celebrated being the “#1 movie in America”….after Despicable Me 4.

Honesty is rare these days, so at least they are open about it!

Despicable Me 4 was released on July 3rd and has since racked up $211.1 million. But that was expected, at least based on the Minions overwhelming and somewhat concerning popularity.

Longlegs stars Nic Cage as the titular long-legged serial killer who worships Satan, who turned out to be no match for the Mega Minions. Of his elusive character, Cage was inspired by his mother. “Not that she was Satanic,” Cage said, of his mother, Joy Vogelsang, who died in 2021. He explained to AP, “In my approach to try and get more personal with my film performances, I’ve been trying to find a constructive place to put my memories of my mother.” Meanwhile, the minions were inspired by Fantastic Four. So…there’s a stark difference there.

Longlegs and Despicable Me 4 are now in theaters. Hail Minions!

On June 14, Don Toliver released Hardstone Psycho, his fourth studio album that topped Billboard‘s Top Rap Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Toliver’s Hardstone Psycho tracklist featured Teezo Touchdown, and now, the two Texas artists will take North America by storm this fall.

On Monday morning, July 15, Toliver announced his Psycho Tour, billed as his “biggest North American headline tour to date,” with Teezo Touchdown and Monaleo (another Texas artist).

According to a press release, pre-sales begin on Tuesday, July 16, at 10 a.m. local time — such as the Citi Entertainment Pre-sale — and will run until the general on-sale starts on Friday, July 19, at 10 a.m. local time. Find all ticketing information here.

Don Toliver’s 2024 Dates: Psycho Tour

10/10 — Portland, OR @ Veterans Memorial Coliseum
10/12 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
10/13 — Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
10/15 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
10/18 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
10/19 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
10/20 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
10/23 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
10/24 — Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
10/26 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
10/27 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
10/29 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
10/31 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
11/02 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
11/03 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
11/06 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Liacouras Center
11/08 — Fairfax, VA @ EagleBank Arena
11/10 — Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
11/11 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
11/13 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
11/14 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
11/15 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
11/17 — Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Arena
11/19 — St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena
11/21 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena

Don Toliver’s Psycho Tour Poster

EA Sports seems to have a pretty clear understanding that you, and me, and your friends, and everyone else who gets their hands on EA Sports College Football 25 is going to want to play Dynasty Mode. The defining game mode during EA’s previous foray into the sport, EA knew that knocking Dynasty Mode out of the park for the initial version of the game was going to be of the utmost importance — if this sucked, and it’s clear that the goal was to get you to pour money into Ultimate Team, this game would come under a bevy of scrutiny from all over the place.

Uproxx Sports obtained an advanced copy of EA Sports College Football 25, and unsurprisingly, firing up Dynasty Mode was No. 1 on the list of priorities. I was able to start sinking my teeth into a career that started as an offensive coordinator at Akron, and while a full review will come later in the week, here are some early observations of a game mode that I am going to play for months and months on end.

1. Recruiting, in all forms, is remarkably in-depth

As the saying goes, recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, and Dynasty Mode really does understand that. The catch: You don’t just recruit high schoolers. There’s an element of keeping your own players out of the transfer portal. If you played NCAA Football, you remember that there are the various criteria that you sell recruits on — Proximity to Home, Academic Prestige, all that stuff. These still apply to recruits, but they also apply to guys on your roster, and your ability to keep them from entering the transfer portal. Some of your players want to play more, others want to play for a more prestigious coach, and you get weekly updates on the risk that these kids could transfer. And of course, recruiting itself is a gigantic endeavor, as you only get a set number of hours per week to sell recruits on your university. Will you use that time to continue to chip away on the quarterback you’ve ID’d as a gem, or will you use it to start pursuing a backup option at defensive tackle, because you did not make a top-5 for your top target and you’re now locked out? If they ever made an NFL Head Coach version of this game, you could spend hours upon hours on recruiting — both your players and other players.

2. The Coach Skills tree is awesome

It’s such a fun addition to the game. Instead of just getting random attribute points, you get to build out what archetype you want your coach to be: Motivator, Tactician, and Recruiter are the three that you can pick when you start Dynasty Mode, while Architect, Strategist, and Talent Developer also appear on the tree. The latter three are, in part, dependent on the first three — for example, to unlock the Architect archetype, you need to build out the Tactician and Motivator skills and win four rivalry games. We’ll have more on this as the week goes on, but I absolutely love that you can basically turn your coach into whatever you want him to be. A guy who is good at everything but not excellent at any one thing? An insane recruiter who runs into issues on gameday? An Xs and Os genius who struggles when he gets out on the road? There’s a little bit of everything in here. Frankly, I’m sure there is a way to game this that I am just too big of a doofus to understand, but it’s still fun.

3. Coordinator role =/= coordinator responsibilities

I found it interesting that I was able to play offense and defense despite starting my career as an offensive coordinator at Akron. If you’re like me, and your plan is to grind at the lower levels until you get up to a head coaching job at a big school, do understand that you take on everything. You’re putting together the whole recruiting class, you’re calling plays on both sides of the ball. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Well, your mileage may vary, but I generally wished you had coordinator responsibilities for a coordinator position, just to give it more of a lifelike feel — I, as an offensive coordinator, should suck at calling a defense, and it should be considerably more difficult to bring in a linebacker than a wide receiver. Again, this is a total personal preference thing.

4. It’s hard to be good at a small school

Which is a good thing! I don’t want it to be easy to play a P5 team as a smaller G5 school. As I mentioned, I started my Dynasty Mode as an offensive coordinator at Akron, and my first game against a P5 school was a total disaster — I went to Columbus to play Ohio State and got my ass kicked, 41-23. My quarterback could not stop turning the ball over. My defense kept getting carved up. All the Stadium Pulse stuff led to issues — false starts, guys not knowing the play, etc. — that you expect in this environment. I will say, as a recruiter, you can punch above your weight if a kid’s dealbreaker is something you can offer, like Proximity To Home or Playing Time, although it does seem like that might get patched sooner rather than later.

5. The FCS teams are in the game!

Not actual FCS teams, but FCS East, FCS Southeast, FCS Northwest, FCS Midwest, and FCS West. I missed them dearly.

The Utah Jazz are one of the last teams expected to make a significant move this NBA offseason. While the top free agents have signed and a few major trades have been worked out, most of the league seems to have done most of their major roster work already.

Utah, however, is one of two teams (Detroit) that still has considerable cap space and they also have the biggest name on the trade market in Lauri Markkanen, who is extension eligible on August 6. A number of teams have been linked to interest in Markkanen, but the team that’s consistently been mentioned as the top suitor is Golden State. The Warriors need more offensive firepower from their frontcourt and Markkanen seems like a tremendous fit for a team that still wants to compete with Stephen Curry.

However, they are running into the problem teams have long dealt with when trying to deal with Danny Ainge, which is he starts the asking price as high as possible and is not quick to move off his demands. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Warriors have offered a package centered on Moses Moody and picks, but the Jazz want more…a lot more.

The Golden State Warriors have been the most engaged team for Markkanen in recent weeks, as league sources tell The Athletic they have discussed a proposal around Moses Moody, multiple first-round picks, multiple pick swaps and multiple second-round picks. The Jazz, however, have asked for the bulk of young talent and capital the Warriors possess, including Moody, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, along with picks, which has been a non-starter thus far for Golden State, league sources said.

It’s not surprising to learn the Jazz are asking the world for Markkanen. Ainge and the Jazz front office were able to extract maximum returns from the Wolves and Cavs the last time they were trading stars, and they certainly seem to believe the Warriors are the team that’s more desperate to make this move. We will have to see if either side is willing to budge off their ask in the coming weeks and can find a middle ground to get Markkanen to the Bay. If not, a max extension is a formality tor Markkanen, and if he waits to sign it a couple days, he won’t be eligible to be traded until next summer because of when the trade deadline arrives this season.

(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent All American episode will be found below.)

It all comes down to this. The sixth season of All American concludes this week with a fifteenth and final episode that brings us back to Olivia and Spencer’s wedding. Though questions remain about a possible seventh season of All American, one that will not feature Daniel Ezra who plays Spencer, the best we can do for now enjoy this season finale. Here’s what you need to know about it:

When Will All American Season 6, Episode 15 Come Out?

The fifteenth episode of All American season six, titled “I Do (Part II),” will arrive on July 15. The Michael Schultz-directed and Nkechi Okoro Carroll and Obiageli Odimegwu-written episode will be available on Monday, 7/15 on the CW TV channel at 8pm EST/PST. The episode will later be available to stream on the CW app and website at 3 am ET/12 am PT. A synopsis for “I Do (Part II)” can be found below:

When an unexpected phone call leaves Liv spiraling on her wedding day, the Vortex band together to create magic. Elsewhere, Spencer goes MIA as he rallies help for a surprise of his own, while Laura brings in her own reinforcement. Finally, Coop receives some major news about her future

You can also watch the trailer for All American season six, episode fifteen below:

New episodes of ‘All American’ are available on CW TV on Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT and on the CW app and website at 3 am ET/12 am PT.

Drake has kept a relatively low profile since Kendrick Lamar dropped “Not Like Us,” his most ubiquitous Drake diss track that continues to inflict pain two months later. Over the weekend, however, Drake stoked the fires by posting an Instagram photo showing him lounging on the couch while wearing a black T-shirt reading, “RAP IS A JOKE.”

People sprinted to Drake’s comments section and X (formerly Twitter) to make assumptions, including many comments arguing that Drake’s shirt is his attempt to downplay his beef with Lamar after most everybody agreed he lost miserably when they exchanged diss tracks this spring.

But what is the true meaning behind Drake’s shirt?

Drake’s ‘Rap Is A Joke’ Shirt: What’s The Meaning Behind It?

Complex astutely pointed out that Drake’s “RAP IS A JOKE” shirt is a reference to Frank Stacks and L-Money’s Rap Is A Joke battle rap and parody duo out of the Bay Area. According to what appears to be the official Rap Is A Joke Instagram account — emphasis on “appears” — Tech N9ne recently rocked the same black graphic tee. Drake posting a photo wearing the shirt could very well hold absolutely zero significant relative to Kendrick Lamar, but does Drake ever do anything without subtext?

The shirt is listed for $20 and available for purchase here.

Legend has it that Kurt Cobain knew Nirvana “made it” once “Weird Al” Yankovic parodied “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with “Smells Like Nirvana.” I wonder if Olivia Rodrigo feels the same way about Olive-a Rodrigo?

The “Vampire” singer was turned into her food counterpart in an episode of Sausage Food: Foodtopia, Prime Video’s streaming series follow-up to 2016’s Sausage Party.

In episode three “Third Course,” the foods, including Frank (Seth Rogen) and Brenda Bunson (Kristen Wiig), are putting on a Burning Man-style festival where they plan to burn a man to death. There’s also planned performances from artists like Megan Thee Scallion, Pruno Mars, Celine Dijon, Machine Gun Jelly, Boy Porridge, and Pita Ora — most of whom unfortunately die horribly in a crow attack. But the show must go on, and it does with Talking Breads (what, was The Grateful Bread too obvious?) and Olive-ia Rodrigo.

She performs a parody of “Traitor,” presumably titled “Tater,” where “It took you two weeks to go off and date her / Guess you didn’t cheat but you’re still a traitor” becomes “I heard from two leeks you went off to date her / You’re not a meat, you’re just a tater.” As Edward Norton’s Sammy Bagel Jr. comments, “I would not want to be the tater that wronged that olive.”

You can watch the scene below.

Sausage Party: Foodtopia, which also features the voices of Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Will Forte, Natasha Rothwell, Sam Richardson, and Yassir Lester, is streaming now on Prime Video.

It’s hard to not have the memories come back while you wait. The progress bar that shows up while EA Sports College Football 25 starts downloading on your console might as well be a countdown for you to think of all the times that this game was an important part of your life during its initial run. There’s your one friend who added the Maine Black Bears into NCAA 08 and built them into a contender, or your freshman year college roommate who loved using Jacory Harris and the Miami Hurricanes, or the game you rage-quit against a friend’s older brother when you were 13, or whatever else was part of your experience when this was known as EA Sports NCAA Football.

I think that’s what I find so incredible about all the hype around CFB 25, which hits consoles on Tuesday for those who pre-ordered the game. It’s unclear what the priorities will be as EA Sports makes changes over the years — as my colleague Robby Kalland reported months ago, when they presented the game to reporters, they stressed that “Dynasty is what we’re about.” Who knows if EA shifts focus in the future to other areas like Ultimate Team to drive microtransactions that fans of games hate, but for right now, after a college football game hit consoles for the first time in 11 years, EA Sports College Football 25 is a game about the past. It’s for folks like me that had this as part of our formative experiences as college football fans, the ones who have been debating whether to get an Xbox or a PS5 because they have not gotten a new console for years, but knew now was the time to get one.

“Finally, it is here,” Chris Fowler bellows in the trailer that plays at the beginning of the game. It’s the one that was released back in May, and this is just a line of dialogue as part of an introductory video. But the first time you fire the game up, it feels different, like EA Sports is welcoming you back to a world they were forced to exit years ago due to courts and the NCAA’s general refusal to recognize its entire operation is built on the backs of free labor. You’re seeing an old friend, one who moved away but you always hoped you’d see again.

A lot has changed in the world of college football since July 9, 2013, the day that EA Sports released NCAA Football 14. You can argue that fans are more rabid than ever, and not necessarily in a good way. College football is no longer just an institution at a university, it is a moneymaking machine, with billions of dollars pumped into it year over year by television contracts, or increasing ticket prices, or a messed up NIL system that is supposed to paper over that free labor thing and put the onus on the fans to make sure athletes are compensated, or corporate sponsors who put together dynamic activations at bowl games in exchange for their brand’s logo to appear somewhere in the building.

This isn’t anything more than a pet theory of mine, but I’ve wondered if the lack of a college football game took an outlet away from fans to blow off some steam as the sport becomes more of a pressure cooker. I, obviously, have no way of knowing this, but I’ve believed the over-the-top reaction to every little bit of information about the game, the freakout over any and all details no matter how small (Matt Brown, if you are reading this, god bless you), the fact that this always seemed like much more than just a video game release had something to do with the fact that it felt like a cornerstone of college football culture was taken away more than a decade ago. For years, college football has become less and less fun — the feeling it’s NFL lite exists, and winning 8-9 games can get a coach on the hot seat if his school has aspirations of doing more. I’m not saying that goes away completely if we have a video game to play or anything like that, but the lack of one is yet another a little reminder about how things always seem like they’re getting worse and worse.

College football is meant to be fun. It’s a sport built around the idea of a unique communal experience, that you can sit in class with the guy who caught three touchdowns a few days ago on your left, while a student who doesn’t have a voice from cheering for him is on your right. It’s about parents bringing kids to their alma mater to watch a game, and getting their kids excited about one day sitting in the student section, which is the coolest thing they’ve ever seen. It’s about the game that you, to this day, still cannot believe happened — for me, there’s a little reminder of that on the home screen for CFB 25, as there’s a ticket that reminds you of Penn State’s 24-21 win over Ohio State in 2016 that remains one of the best days of my life.

Getting a college football video game back is a fun thing, one worth celebrating specifically because of how much it means to so many people. It fits perfectly within the ethos of the sport, that you should experience pride and joy and all these sorts of things. It gives you a way to kick your rival’s teeth in (the first game I played was a 147-0 beatdown of Pitt), or turn a MAC team into a contender in Dynasty Mode, or lift the Heisman Trophy in Road to Glory. This was lost for a decade. It’s back. That rocks. It all rocks. I’m typing this and smiling, because it just makes me happy. If you’re a fan of the game, it probably makes you happy, too.

The fact that a real, tangible college football game is on my console still doesn’t seem real to me. I was entering my senior year of college when the last game came out, and my only cares in the world were finishing up an internship and consuming as much Miller Lite as possible. I’m now a 32-year-old who does adult things, like have a preferred tax filing software and undergo a colonoscopy and try to limit how much Miller Lite I drink because I’m not 21 anymore. A lot — a LOT — has changed over the last 11 years, in my story and surely in yours. One constant over the last 11 years was a void due to my favorite video game franchise disappearing, and while Madden could scratch the itch to a degree, it just never felt quite the same as the sense of anticipation I felt every year around May as I was growing up, because I knew a new college football game was right around the corner.

That void is filled now. Those memories that rush back just keep coming at you as you play the game, not just from the times when you played NCAA, but from the games you watched in real life. You get caught up in all the bells and whistles that make this game so radically different from the ones released a decade-plus ago — they say the names of the players in this one! — but at the heart of it is the same thing: You’re getting to experience the world of college football in a low-stakes way that encourages you to have as much fun as possible. Unless you’re doing an online Dynasty with your friends, which might as well be an all-out war.

I understand anecdotes are not everything, but anecdotally, the number of people I know in various friend groups that have never interacted with one another who have the exact same reaction about this game coming out really is something. One, who will remain nameless, flat out helped me move this past weekend because he knew that I had an advanced copy of the game, and all he wanted in exchange for lugging my stuff from one place to another for seven hours was to throw one pass with Ohio State. Others breathlessly waited for any and all updates on my personal experience playing the game — you are surely in a similar boat, and make sure you keep your eyes on Uproxx Sports all week, as we’re going to have more stuff coming out about the game.

My answer every time is simple: The game is great. The presentation is spectacular. It feels different enough from Madden that you can take solace in it not being a copy-and-paste with different uniforms in it. And most importantly, I’m playing a college football video game. I, truly, cannot believe it.