Huby's Halftime: NFL Draft, NBA Playoffs, and Cheerwine Ale

Photo by Georg Arthur Pflueger on Unsplash

Welcome to Huby’s Halftime. Let’s talk ball and cold beer.

Thank God the NFL draft is this week. I’ve always felt trepidation calling a sport where human bodies (mostly Black) are thrust into high impact collisions as solely entertainment for our consumption but this is just the way capitalism rolls. One of the cogs in the NFL media machine is the NFL draft. The lead up to the draft is a weird cultural obsession with the human body and performance that may be unrivaled in sports. We get old dudes who swear by heteronormativity salivating on the size of another man’s hands and butt.

As a college football fan I find myself with mixed feelings come draft time. Year after year it is sad to see dudes who were absolute dogs in college become virtually irrelevant or just regular dudes in the NFL. Take Buffalo Bills defensive lineman Ed Oliver. Ed was an all time defensive player at Houston. Helping lead them to top 10 status and even upsetting a Lamar Jackson lead Louisville in a game where Ed looked unstoppable. 

This led to Oliver being a 1st round draft pick and now is just another solid player on an NFL team. But in the spirit of Wanda Maximus I want to pretend that the NFL Draft is my world. A place where the five players I list will be NFL locks and that looking at random things such as 40 yd dash speed, their body size, or random metrics created by football nerds no longer matter.

So here are the five players I’m hoping for the best in the upcoming draft:

1. Hendon Hooker(Tennessee)- The Tennessee Volunteers are back and this dude is a very big reason for that. A truly memorable college football season and he hails from the 336. I will always be a fan

2.  Darnell Washington(Georgia)- Watching Darnell Washington play football feels like he is defying the laws of physics.

3. Noah Sewell(Oregon)- I always feel for the dudes who have to follow in a family member's footsteps. Noah’s older brother may be a generational talent on the offensive line so here is to hoping Noah finds his way in the league and maybe has some of the success older brother is having.

4. A.T. Perry(Wake Forest)- Wake Forest has been fun the last few seasons and A.T. has been a big part of that. Let my man get that good Wake education and stack his bread with a long NFL career.

5. Jaylin Hyatt(Tennessee)- Nick Saban is probably in a dark room watching the film on how bad this man cooked his defense last year. May we never forget. 

NBA Playoffs

We are well underway with the NBA Playoffs and they have failed to disappoint. We have gotten great basketball and incredible storylines. The Knicks are fun again, we have villains in Dillion Brooks and Draymond Green, and everyone complains about the officiating. It has all been incredibly enjoyable but one has to ask: how does the NBA keep this same energy in the regular season? I can not think of another sport outside of maybe Major League Baseball that has such a stark difference in its regular season play and the postseason. Let’s get active in the comments. What do you think the NBA can do to make the regular season as intriguing as the playoffs?

Cheerwine Ale

Spring is upon us, which means the weather is starting to get warmer. Two things that are great in the North Carolina heat. An ice cold Cheerwine (especially paired with a meal from Cookout) and in the words of Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, a cold beer.

The folks over at NoDa Brewing out of Charlotte have done something that should have been done awhile ago, put the two together. I’ve had the pleasure of having this beer on two separate occasions and I’m here to report that it is great. The crisp taste of the cherries of Cheerwine paired with the bright flavors of a wheat ale is great.

I was skeptical at first as I thought this would just be another “hard soda” situation but this is different. One sip will have you taking off your shirt and waving it around like a helicopter

Once you taste the uniquely southern wheat ale with the perfect touch of cherry you will be enjoying the sunset on your roof like J. Cole. Cannot wait to pair this beer with some good pulled pork this summer.