The SoBros Mailbag 250: Groundhog Day

It's lunch time on a Friday. The SoBros Mailbag is here.

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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, from Zach via text message:

Is Groundhog’s Day a time travel movie?

Answer:

I’m not even confident I’ve actually seen Groundhog’s Day, but I feel like I have because I have some recollections of it. From what I remember, I’m calling it a time travel movie. While the plot may not involve the pursuit of time travel, he’s definitely stuck in a time loop, needing to figure out how to get back to normal…a common theme in…you guessed it….time travel movies.

Question:

Answer:

I can neither confirm nor deny, General.

Question:

Answer:

Well, I HAVE to answer this question hypothetically because I have a paralyzing fear of sharks and the ocean, so if I were ever attacked by a shark, I would die because I’d have a heart attack. But, honestly, I’m more upset about the arm. I like having arms and using them. I would be pretty pissed about the loss of investment in the tattoos, but I’d still like to have both arms.

Question:

Answer:

It may not be the classic chokeslam or Stone Cold Stunner, but I was blown away the first time I saw Brock Lesnar do the F5. To this day, I think it’s the best. Though I will say that Seth Rollins’ curb stomp has been pretty fun.

Question:

Answer:

I love a good lawn game. Big fan of drinking a cold adult beverage in the summertime and tossing around some old bean bags. I love cornhole. I love ladder ball. But, if I’m thinking about that one game that makes my competitive fire come out like none other, it’s badminton. I played in college, where I actually took a course on it. Felt pretty good about my abilities, but never made that run at the Olympics. Maybe it’s not too late for me.

Question, from Kevin on Instagram:

Discuss the rise and fall of frozen yogurt shops.

Answer:

Man, I haven’t thought about a frozen yogurt shop in years, but you’re right. I feel like they were on every corner back in 2010. What did happen? Did people realize that it’s probably not that much healthier when you load it up with sprinkles and gummy bears so they just went back to regular ice cream? Maybe it was a branding issue….’frozen yogurt’ just doesn’t sound as catchy as ‘ice cream.’

Question:

Answer:

Such a good question…so….a couple of things. Let’s get to the first question.

  1. It was incredibly hard for me to have to meet someone else’s quota and someone else’s style guide. It’s part of the reason that I started SoBros Network. I’m not making a full time living doing this, so I might as well enjoy it, right?! Otherwise, what’s the point? I wanted to be me, and I wanted to work on my own terms. With SoBros Network, I have that freedom. If there’s nothing going on with the Titans, I can write about traveling. I can write about the rum buckets at Applebee’s. I can write about anything. Having that freedom is certainly something that helps me in times when things slow down. In a way, alleviating that pressure helps me stay motivated because I don’t feel too tied down to one thing. It keeps me from burning out. And, in the event that things do slow down to a point where I just don’t feel like doing shit, I can not do shit. There are consequences to it – at times, it feels like if we don’t constantly have a steady stream of content going, the internet can forget about you pretty quickly and it’s hard to get that back. But, it’s rare for me not to feel motivated to create. I love doing it. I don’t have a lot of pressure on myself to do it. And, yeah…don’t underestimate my strong distaste for American work culture and the exploitative nature of late stage capitalism and how that can motivate me to want to pursue a better life out from under our greedy corporate overlords.
  2. As for what I do when I have those feelings that what I’m doing isn’t that good….well, in a nutshell, it’s a lot of mental work. It’s a strong love for what I do…it’s a strong confidence in what I do…little bit of trust in myself…and it’s a willingness to be wrong. To me, that sort of mindset is the basis for everything that I do. I’m comfortable in my own skin. From there, it’s just about getting reps…no different from an athlete going through the motions to learn the playbook…what works, what doesn’t, etc.. In a way, it’s like flexing a muscle every time I write something. Whether it’s good or bad, I’ve executed a process, and I’m stronger for it. That’s how I look at it anyway. So, I try to remember that when I get to the end of a new project and think, “fuck, is this even any good?” Trust your gut. Trust that your belief in yourself is right. If it stinks, don’t be afraid to adjust and simply not do that thing again. There have been times that I’ve finished something and legitimately thought about not posting it…that piece will go on to get thousands of page views, and people will reach out to me telling me how much they enjoyed it. I’ve been at it 10 years – I’ve given up trying to predict what people will respond to. When I get in a funk, I remind myself of this perspective and it usually helps.

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

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, 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, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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