Black Cookout Must Haves

The weather's nice, days are longer, the reasons for being outside are endless, and Memorial Day is this weekend. Which means it's the unofficial start of summer, which translates to its time for cookouts, like every weekend someone should be having a cookout.

Since we love cookouts, the food, the atmosphere, the weather. Here's some must have items every Black cookout should have.

Good Playlist

If you have a live DJ at your cookout, then you know how to throw a party.  Get ready to jam until the wee hours of the morning. If you dont have a DJ, make sure your playlist is equipped with all the songs that give summer feels. No summer playlist is complete unless  Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff "Summertime" and Frankie Beverly and Maze "Before I let you go" is on there. Throw Beyoncé's updated version on there to get a line dance going. If you're in Baltimore, you have to play some B-More Club Music somewhere in the mix.

Card Games

Once the sun starts setting and everyone is suffering from the itis, somebody is bound to pull out a deck of cards and ask "Ya'll tryna play spades?". Thus the door opens for some hilarious banter throughout the rest of the night until someone gets mad enough and quits playing.

If no one has some spades cards around, UNO is the next best option and that also will get some chatter and banter going. Especially if the participants have a little liquor in them. On the West Coast Domino is a popular alternative to Spades, and get's the job done of entertaining the spectators.  

Liquor

One thing for sure about Black People if the mood is festive, or hell maybe not so festive liquor is gon be around.

 Beer...coolers...bourbon...whiskey....tequila you need something to wash down the plate packed to the heap. Someone probably gon bring a bottle of white henny they bought overseas for everyone to drink in two minutes. Shots, mixed drinks, trash bags (or hopefully recycle bins) filled with bottles. Let's not forget the plastic red cups splattered around. 

Sometime's you have to kick back in the summer heat and enjoy the moment, some good liquor helps make that happen.

Good Side Dishes 

Everyone knows when you come to the cookout you can't wait to dig into the ribs, the hot dogs, and the hamburgers. Throw some chicken in there fried, bbq'd or grilled and the main course of a plate is complete, but good side dishes make the cookout. You have to have the side dishes everyone mouth been watering over or the cookout may just be considered an epic fail.

I'm talking when the pans are lined up and you open the cover you see, potato salad, seafood salad, some mac and cheese, baked beans, a regular salad, and some devil eggs. If any of these are missing but the rest are there, the cookout about to be right. If none of them are there go ahead and sneak out before people even noticed you stopped by. 

Good Company

The food is the usually the main attraction to any cookout, but no cookout is complete without good company. Family and Friends you've known for years or only for a short time to get together decompress, talk mad shit, laugh and just enjoy one another's company. It's the best part of any cookout and honestly makes a cookout more than any of the food.

Bonus Must Have

Extra Paper Plates & Alumnium Foil

This must need's no real explaination, just know when the cookout winding down and folks getting ready to go. Some plates to go gon be made, so make sure there's extra paper plates and foil to go around. Don't worry we're resourceful, if there's not enough alumnium foil we'll just use another plate to cover our plate to go. 

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Teams That Could Have Their Own Winning Time

 Season 1 of HBO's newest show "Winning Time" just finished it's first season. The series follows the behind the scenes goings on, politics, and business moves that were made to craft the "showtime" era L.A. Lakers of the 1980's. It has already been renewed for a 2nd season which should dig deeper into the team and the 80's lifestyle.

In my opinion HBO has a potential hit of a franchise on their hand with Winning Time. Think about it! People love sports, big personalities, business, and drama which every professional sports league has. So it got me thinking about which other pro teams would be good subjects for additional Winning Time seasons.

'96 New York Yankees

Love them or hate them, The Yankees are probably theee most popular team in professional sports. After years of mediocrity, they returned to dominance in 1996 winning their first Division title since 1981, and first World Series since 1978.

George Steinbrenner is one owner who probably matched Jerry Buss's flair, maybe even exceeding it. He was very competitive and an sore loser. Some even say he ruled in fear, irrational at times and surly. Some of his smartest moves as a owner however, came into play in '96 and would be an interesting subject.

Joe Torre being hired before the season and the New York Media shitting on him because of his previous manager record. A young rookie by the name of Derek Jeter being called up and starting his path to being a franchise player. Along with other highly talented young cornerstones like Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte. Shrewd moves like bringing  vets in such as Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry both who had addictions that derailed their careers. Tino Martinez, David Cone and Luis Sojo before and throughout the season.

Of course their postseason run, including the famous Jeffery Mahier incident (As a Orioles fan, still a little salty about that). Torre's brother being hospitalized during their playoff run and them winning the World Series sparking a dynasty heading into the new millennium.

On the surface sounds like a good ol' feel good story but I'm sure there was a lot of shit going down behind the scenes.

'80's Edmonton Oilers

With Wayne Gretzky on any team, they are sure to be perennial winners. The Edmonton Oiler's of the 1980's were thee personification of a dynasty. Winning five Stanley Cup Championship's in the 1980's.

With the greatest hockey player ever on their team, and surrounded by players like Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Jari Karri and Glenn Anderson. The Oilers had all the pieces in place to win championships for a very long time.

The success didn't come without issues, including Mark Messier and Dave Hunter legal troubles. As well as the behind the scenes decisions that led to the bombshell trade of Wayne Gretzky to the L.A. Kings in 1988. For pretty much the entire decade the Edmonton Oilers were on the mountaintop of the NHL, that story should be told. 

'90's Dallas Cowboys

America's Team! You say that and everyone knows your talking about the Dallas Cowboys. In the early and mid-90's there was no more loved and successful team in America. Everyone loved the iconic blue star. Much like the Lakers they also believed in showmanship alongside winning.

They had a colorful cast of characters fit for TV. With an outspoken and controlling team owner in Jerry Jones. That in itself would be a major plot point, his buying of the team in '89 choosing to become the General Manager, and the choices he made good or bad to get the Cowboy's to where they are today.

A shrewd head coach known more for his impeccable hair on the sidelines in Jimmy Johnson. Who led the Cowboy's to two super bowls before leaving because he couldnt get along with Jerry. Followed by Barry Switzer. On the field strong personalities like Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, Larry Allen, Charles Haley and "Prime Time" Deion Sanders.

The Cowboys of the 90's didn't have many off the field troubles during the teams championship 3 titles in 4 years run. After that time period was a different story, but it would be interesting to see how all those personalities were managed, paid well and kept happy to be so successful.

Any of these three teams would be perfect topics to cover. Let's hope HBO sees potential in the franchise and moves forward with these teams or other teams.

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Netflix Needs More "Events"

Netflix recently announced that they have lost a significant amount of subscribers. Their plan to battle it? Crackdown on password sharing. Since then Netflix shares have dropped and online forums and columns have been blowing up with many reasons why Netflix is suffering.

These reasons range from the frequent price increases (very valid point, six in eight years is aggressive and excessive), to frequent cancelations of good shows before they find their footing (a major Netflix problem). To the complete lack of quality content (Seems like they greenlight anything). 

Netflix has done a masterful job of producing quality TV series, but when it comes to original films an awful lot is left to be desired. They fell into a trap of trying to create as much original content as possible as film studios created their own streaming services. The problem was they chose quantity over quality in the situation. Some original films are downright horrible.

Look at their recent Netflix is a Joke Festival and what they promoted the most. Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, Grace & Frankie, and Umbrella Academy. All highly successful TV shows that have built the brand.

Reading the different threads, and recently  watching Fear Street something occurred to me. One of Netflixs biggest problems when releasing original films and some of their landmark series, is that they have no "Big event" feel to them.

When the three part Fear Street series released last summer, there was a "epic" feel to it so to speak. People were excited to watch part 1 over July 4th weekend, the movie was good and drew anticipation for the next two parts released in subsequent weeks.

Most of Netflixs movies releases are sandwiched in between other Netflix releases that same day or weekend. As a way to help bring subscribers back, the company should invest in giving viewers that FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) feeling.

Have follow up program after a big movie almost like a behind the scenes series. For example Project Adam (which was very good and 80ish in it's tone). There should have been a BTS series on the influences of the movie. A brief program on the world of the series and how time travel works in the movie universe. Maybe a bigger ad campaign before it released.

When the latest season of Cobra Kai was released. Have the three orignal films werent enough. There should have been even a 10 minute special on what bought creators back to the Karate Kid world. Or better yet a brief special on how Cobra Kai has given the franchise new life, since debuting in 2018.

The second half of the final season of Ozark just debuted. Where is the big hoopla for it? Fans are excited yes, but Netflix seems to just let it fly under the radar. 

Something like that, hell anything to draw excitement for programs would help them out. Even with the Fandom and lore already built in, think about how excited people get when a new Marvel or Star Wars show debuts on Disney plus. It may cost Netflix more to produce these brief blurbs, but the fan loyalty and support I think would outweigh it.

The opportunity is there for Netflix to turn things around. It's in their hands to come up with original content and think outside the box. That big event feel for Netflix original content could go a long way in bringing subscribers back.

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