The SoBros Mailbag 315: Draft Talk Days of Future Past

Let’s face it – every day we are routinely bombarded with questions. When you’re an emerging media company in Nashville, people just want to know what your opinions are on everything. It’s only natural. And, since our duty is to serve the people, well, we have no choice but to be present. That’s the SoBro Way. Also, aren’t mailbags just a barrel of laughs anyway? Welcome to the newest weekly recurring feature up in this bitch: The SoBros Mailbag. As always, hit us with those mailbag questions @SoBrosNetwork on Twitter, email ’em to me anonymously at thesobrosnetwork@gmail.com. And, holy shit, I need to update this terrible intro paragraph that I’ve been using literally ever since I started writing this column…

Question:

Answer:

Yes, and they ask for pictures too.

Question:

Answer:

I think it’s still pretty easily Malik Washington for me, though I would have to think about flipping my guy Travis Glover to right tackle to see if he could’ve made this line better.

Question:

Answer:

Absolutely not. MA! THE MEATLOAF! I can’t help myself. I have to scream it every time his name is brought up.

Question:

Answer:

I don’t know, bud. I think Ojukwu will actually have to be active on game day in order to run wild on anyone.

Question:

Answer:

When did you start getting the Campbell’s Soup payday, Eddie?!?!

Question:

Answer:

I’m here for it, Ed! I love a good Thanksgiving pizza. I’m not sure if they’re doing it again this year, but Tailgate Brewery had a killer Thanksgiving pizza a year or two ago. Turkey, on its own, is overrated. Thanksgiving is all about the sides for me. Pile ’em up on a pizza and it’s all the same to me.

Question:

Answer:

Man….I wish that tweet didn’t make perfect sense, but it does.

Question:

Answer:

I’m probably going to be on this ‘Emery Jones Jr. or Jonah Savaiianea in the second’ train for quite some while. I don’t think this is a great tackle class, so if the Titans want to shore up the unit with another young guy they can add to this group for the next few seasons, they’ll probably have to invest an early pick in him. My dream free agent would obviously be Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (or Zack Baun).

Keep the questions coming – catch y’all next week!

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Yankee Candle Reviews: Cardamom Nut Muffin

Hello, and welcome in to the latest edition of Yankee Candle Reviews here on SoBros Network. I will be your host – the Fragrance Aficionado of SoBros Network, also the EIC, Stoney Keeley. My passion for Yankee Candle began in 2006, when I strolled into the location in Providence Marketplace in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. I picked up a jar of Autumn Woods, and found it captured the essence of the season perfectly. I’ve been hooked in this…well, you could even call it ‘romantic…’ relationship with Yankee Candle ever since. Today, we’re heading to the kitchen for a sniff of Cardamom Nut Muffin.

I’m not the biggest fan of sweets and foods smells, but at this time of the year when so many memories are tied to grandma’s kitchen, it only makes sense to fire some up. For me, Cardamom Nut Muffin is a solid choice. Not only does it properly convey the warmth of the holidays, but it adds a little of that quintessential spice to make it stand out among the group of other candles based off of baked goods. I can’t say this is one I’ll be burning regularly because the fragrance profile just isn’t my cup of tea, but if I ever get the hankering for something like it, this candle will probably get the call.

Recommended Burning: You’ve traveled far and wide through multiple days and multiple nights to make it home for the Thanksgiving holiday. You arrive home late at night after everyone’s gone to bed. Thankfully, they left a key under the mat for you. You walk past the kitchen, where the smell of granny’s muffins hit you like a ton of bricks. It’s irresistible. You find them still resting in the oven. You can’t help yourself. You take your shirt off. As you’re stuffing muffins down your gullet, the mood strikes you in the perfect way. You grab a handful of muffin and smear it across your bare chest. You immediately realize what you’ve done and you regret it. It’s possible you’ve ruined Thanksgiving. You get in your car and leave, throwing your phone out the window and planning to never see your family again out of embarrassment.

Check out the Yankee Candle archives here on SoBros Network for my extensive backlog of Yankee Candle reviews! Also, be sure to check out my comprehensive list of the top 100 Yankee Candle fragrances of all time. I worked on that thing for forever, so any read is appreciated, thank you. That is all.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Heisman Watch: Running Backs Show Up in Week 13

In college football’s penultimate week of action, it’s one familiar face leading the Heisman Watch ahead of a trio of impressive rushing performances. Only one more week to go before season’s end.

Heisman Watch: Week 13, 2024

5. QB Carson Beck, Georgia – I know it was UMass, but this is more of a tip of the cap to Beck for really turning around a season that looked like it was going to come off the rails after the Alabama game. He was 20/31 for 297 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday.

4. RB Ashton Jeanty, Boise State – He’s incredible. He passed the 2,000-yard mark for the season on Saturday with 169 yards and a touchdown against Wyoming. Yet again, he took one yard for 60+ – this time, it was a 61-yarder. He is unquestionably the most prolific running back in college football, and could very well be the most valuable player to his team as well.

3. RB Cam Skattebo, Arizona State – Skattebo remains one of the more underrated backs in college football. He just may be one of the more underrated backs in the NFL Draft come next spring to boot. In the big win over BYU, Skattebo took 28 carries for 147 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona State is making a late season push for a Big 12 title – wild!

2. RB Devin Neal, Kansas – Speaking of underrated backs in the NFL Draft, Neal was downright dominant against Colorado on Saturday – a whopping 37 carries turned into 207 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. He also had four catches for 80 yards and a receiving touchdown. That’s right…41 total touches for 287 yards and four scores. Like I said, dominant.

1. WR/CB Travis Hunter, Colorado – I don’t usually put guys from losing teams in the Heisman Watch. Maybe that’s one of the boomer things I do, I don’t know. But, I can’t deny how truly impressive what Hunter is doing this season is…even in a loss that might’ve derailed their quest for a Big 12 Championship. If I’m looking at the season overall, he’s got my Heisman vote. But, the production wasn’t there early on and that’s how he’s gotten behind in the points standings. Maybe that’s a flaw in my own method that I should iron out in the offseason. Regardless, he tops yet another week with an 8-catch 125-yard 2-touchdown game as a receiver with seven tackles and a pass deflected as a cornerback.

Heisman Watch 2024 Standings

  1. Cam Ward – 25 (total points)
  2. Travis Hunter, Ashton Jeanty – 24
  3. Dillon Gabriel, Jalen Milroe – 15
  4. Jaxson Dart – 12
  5. Kaleb Johnson – 9
  6. Shedeur Sanders – 8
  7. Quinn Ewers, Tetairoa McMillan – 6
  8. Carson Beck, Abdul Carter, Bryson Dailey, Devin Neal, Garrett Nussmeier, Dylan Sampson – 4
  9. Will Howard, Jam Miller, Cam Skattebo – 3
  10. Luke Altmyer, Rocco Becht, Luther Burden III, Omarion Hampton, Miller Moss, Diego Pavia, Ryan Williams – 2
  11. Tahj Brooks, Ethan Hampton, Avery Johnson, Arch Manning, Marcel Reed, Kurtis Rourke – 1

If you haven’t already, be sure to go subscribe to the College Football Roundup Podcast, on which Steven McCash and myself break down all the action from the college football world and look ahead to the week to come. 

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Recapping Our Time at the 2024 Indie Memphis Film Festival

Memphis gets a bad rap. Perhaps that’s deservedly so in some aspects if you ask our good friend and resident native, Steven McCash. As we walked down a relatively empty Beale Street on a Thursday night in November, McCash was quick to add,  “…but if you look around, you’ll see signs of life all around you.

I feel we’re talking about an underrated city here, and it’s primarily because of its reputation. Growing up in Nashville, we never spent much time in the Bluff City. In fact, I can remember being younger and seeing the disdain my fellow Nashvillians had for the city as a whole. I don’t know how this Memphis-Nashville “rivalry” started, how it carried on for so long, or how it was perceived from the Memphis side of the equation, but it was a real thing. I have fond memories of going to car shows in Memphis when I was a kid, visiting Graceland, and of course, the Memphis Zoo. When I was older, we ventured down for a Memphis Grizzlies game, seeing OJ Mayo hit a three-pointer to send the game into overtime, where the Grizzlies eventually upset LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. And, good gracious, I have lost a few dollars down in Tunica.

These are the memories that flood my mind when I think about this city, and they’re the pieces of me that I’ve left along the way in my visits to Memphis. But, I still see the signs of life that McCash is talking about in a city trying to prove it’s more than its reputation. For as much as I love my hometown, Memphis just has a certain character that Nashville just doesn’t.

It had been quite some time since I had visited Memphis, but after seeing the lineup for the 2023 Indie Memphis Film Festival, I raised my eyebrows and thought, “maybe it’s time to head back down and check this thing out.” Our resident film critic, Brandon Vick, agreed. Plus, call us nerdy, but I’ve always found it exciting to cross a new festival off the list. Something about hitting the open road with a box of audio gear and a plan to write an article for a book is just exhilarating to me. 2024 was going to be the year that we crossed ‘Memphis’ off of our film festival bucket list, but after a few days, we were both certain this wouldn’t just be a one-time deal. It’s a festival worth coming back to year after year. 

We booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express on Union Avenue, arriving in town on Thursday afternoon. The staff was welcoming, but more importantly, the beds were among the most comfortable hotel beds I’d ever slept in. Most importantly, that coffee was good and fresh the next morning. We were centrally located to activities downtown so we could mosey around Beale Street after a plate of catfish and a bowl of turnip greens at Blues City Cafe. And, we were close enough to where the bulk of our screenings were taking place at Malco Studio on the Square.

We spent our days writing articles and recording podcasts about the films we were seeing. The Indie Memphis team was welcoming and helpful every step of the way. I have to say I was rather blown away by the ease with which the whole experience went off for Brandon and me. We’ve been to festivals that were a little…let’s just say…hard to figure out. That wasn’t the case with Indie Memphis. Getting our press badges was seamless. Parking was never an issue. The screenings went off without a hitch. Any questions we had were answered promptly. I have to tip my cap to that team.

So much of what I love about Memphis was present in the city’s film festival – it’s a little more comfortably paced than Nashville, it was easy, and the stories told on the screen reflected the grit and grind of the city they were shown in. Now, I find myself thinking this festival, much like its host city as a whole, is incredibly underrated. Indie Memphis is undoubtedly one of those signs of life that McCash was referring to that night we walked the city.

Reviews: Recapping the 2024 Indie Memphis Film Festival

It Was All a Dream – Journalist dream hampton takes us back to the 90s for a frontline look at the hip-hop movement featuring some of the biggest names in the game. In reviewing archival footage of hampton’s work for The Source, we’re taken from coast to coast with raw clips of The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, and many others who took the genre to a whole new level in that era. Hampton does a fantastic job of putting the viewer in those moments to feel what a day in the life was like with these iconic figures while also probing the genre itself with important questions from the ground floor of this revolution. The film touches on the inception of the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, misogyny in rap, and the importance music has in the black community. Equal parts home movies and the spirit of journalism, It Was All a Dream is a testament to how this era of rap impacted so many lives. 3.5/5.

Cubic Zirconia – A film that wants to be a mystery/crime thriller but takes the wind out of its own sails through noticeable technical issues and a lack of chemistry between its actors. The sound, script, and emotionless performances are too much to overlook, routinely taking me out of what would’ve been an otherwise fun, albeit basic, plot. 0.5/5.

Boys Go to Jupiter – An artistic animated celebration of the vibrant colors of a Florida sunset, Boys Go to Jupiter is undoubtedly a celebration of the creative spirit. This awkward coming of age story hits some humorous notes, but its strength lies in its visual components and a soundtrack that will make the soberest among us feel stoned. It’s a trip, and while I personally veered between “this is surreal” and “this is bloated,” there’s a common thread of teenage angst throughout the story that we can all latch onto. 2.5/5.

Dory Previn: On My Way To Where – I was unfamiliar with Dory Previn’s catalog prior to seeing this documentary about the musician and her struggles with schizophrenia. But, the synopsis was so compelling that I was hooked. If only the film itself was as engrossing. What I had hoped would be an exploration of how to navigate an intense mental illness felt more like “the life and times of…” Maybe this is a film for Previn’s diehard fans, but it was little more than a cursory overview of the plights of living and performing with schizophrenia. 2/5.

Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point – If nice Christmas decorations and vibes are all you need to enjoy a Christmas flick, then by all means, have at it with this one. I felt little tension, laughed less, and caught myself wondering if and when anything was going to actually happen. It felt like sitting in on another family’s Christmas Eve. Boring. 2/5.

Bonjour Tristesse –  A beautiful movie at its core, this film teeters between the coolness of elegance and the warmth of raw emotion. A coming of age tale in its own right, this film marinated with themes of processing grief, moving on with your life after a loss, figuring your shit out, and how to cope with change. The witty and thoughtful dialogue is a testament to a powerful script, and the performances are executed upon naturally from a solid cast. The majestic backdrop of southern France certainly makes this an enjoyable film from a purely visual standpoint as well. 4/5. 

Dahomey – This documentary explores the tale of 26 returned West African artifacts that had been held in museums in France for decades after being looted from the Kingdom of Dahomey, a land that now resides in the Republic of Benin. It takes a minute to really get going – the film starts off with plenty of footage of the artifacts being boxed up and shipped out. But, once we get to the real heart of it in an impassioned “town hall” type of discussion among students at a university, the film explores the moral complexity of such matters in thought-provoking fashion. 2.5/5. 

Memoir of a Snail – Get ready to shed tears, folks. I mean, my goodness…what were they trying to pull off here? Did the filmmakers set out with the intention of making grown adults bawl their eyes out? I don’t even know how to write about what I just witnessed. Memoir of a Snail is a harrowing expression of a hard life spent experiencing loss and facing hardship at every turn. If you push through that, you’re rewarded with a triumphant message of the importance of persevering. The animation is a style all its own. 4/5.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Podcast: Drinking With…Matchstick Men

Raise your hand if you realized that Matchstick Men was a Ridley Scott film. I sure didn’t at the time. That’s just one of the things I was surprised to learn about this film after we agreed to cover it on the most recent episode of ‘Drinking With…‘. Namely, I was surprised by how unimpressed I was with how unwell the movie has held up since 2003. At the time, I thought it was the coolest movie ever. Now, I think there are some pretty egregious issues with it. Thankfully, we have a podcast to go over that. Our ‘cocktail of the episode’ this month is called the “Con Martini.” Pour one up and enjoy this conversation hosted by our Utility Man, Steven McCash, featuring our resident film critic Brandon Vick, and me.

To make The Con Martini, you’ll need:

-2oz Japanese Gin
-1/2oz Gran Marnier
-1/2 oz dry vermouth
-1 dash orange bitters
-Orange wheel

Directions:

1. Chill a martini glass
2. Fill shaker with ice and add gin, vermouth, and bitters
3. Stir for 30 seconds
4. Strain into a glass
5. Float Grand Marnier on top
6. Garnish with orange wheel

Subscribe to Drinking With…Steven McCash on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or wherever you take in your podcasts!

Listen to “Ep. 62: Drinking With…Matchstick Men” on Spreaker.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

The SoBros Mailbag 315: Draft Talk Days of Future Past
Yankee Candle Reviews: Cardamom Nut Muffin
Heisman Watch: Running Backs Show Up in Week 13
Recapping Our Time at the 2024 Indie Memphis Film Festival
Podcast: Drinking With…Matchstick Men

Trending Posts

The SoBros Mailbag 315: Draft Talk Days of Future Past
Yankee Candle Reviews: Cardamom Nut Muffin
Heisman Watch: Running Backs Show Up in Week 13
Recapping Our Time at the 2024 Indie Memphis Film Festival
sobrosmailbag

The SoBros Mailbag 315: Draft Talk Days of Future Past

Yankee Candle Reviews (47)

Yankee Candle Reviews: Cardamom Nut Muffin

heismanwatch

Heisman Watch: Running Backs Show Up in Week 13

Screenshot 2024-11-20 at 10.20.06 PM

Recapping Our Time at the 2024 Indie Memphis Film Festival

Screenshot 2024-11-04 at 8.38.13 AM

Podcast: Drinking With…Matchstick Men

heretic

Podcast: ‘Heretic’ Review and the Filmography of Hugh Grant