Formidable Opponents

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Our favorite artists, they are just like us. They screw up.  No matter how talented and how big someone may be, no one is exempt from ever making a bad decision.  So, what happens when an established talent takes a classic and completely screws it up?  That's what we are here to discuss this week on Formidable Opponents.  You may not celebrate the fact th...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! We did it, we made it to one year, bypassing our collective predictions by several months.  Last year, we jumped on the pandemic podcast train sending out a beacon to those who longed for the days of spandex and subsequently flannel laden music videos, three camera sitcoms where every problem gets solved in 22 minutes (plus commercials), and movies where stout...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week Formidable Opponents takes it back to where it all began.  A revolutionary era where rock first took its shape.  We are talking about those sonic overtures our ears, minds and souls still benefit from today.  60s rock music was more than popular culture, it was civilization, it was the societal oxygen that inspired movements and shaped our viewpoints...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week, Formidable Opponents is taking you back to a simpler time, a time of peace and joy before the skip intro button was created and knocked humanity down a few pegs.  A time where no matter your background, the one thing that bonded is was the weekly rhythmic intro of our favorite television shows.  A time where you ran into the house fresh from your st...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week Formidable Opponents discusses the most satisfying, absurd, creative and most badass movie death scenes!   Forget about shedding tears on this one, we're looking at those moments of blood shed and chaos; those long forgotten, over the top movie murders that had us sitting at the edge of our seat.  So, don't be "dead tired," and be...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Now that our break is over and we're forcefully responding to each others' texts again, it's good to know that heading into year two, we still have such a fun time and a passion for this. Quick disclaimer: We recorded this at noon on Sunday 1/16.  We usually record Sunday night but Joseph felt if the Dallas Cowboys lost their playoff game, he wo...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! We talked Christmas movies and music, for this, our final episode of our Christmas trilogy and final episode of the year, Formidable Opponents will be discussing those SNL Holiday skits that gave us the biggest laughs. We not only revisit some classic comedy skits, we also revisit a couple of our earliest episodes, episodes 5 and 6 where we argued which were t...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Christmas Music sets the mood, gets us in the holiday spirit,  and of course, nothing brings people together quite like complaining.  Christmas music isn't all bad but you have to admit, it can get a bit annoying, especially when you have 59 renditions of "Santa Baby" (all bad) and two of "Daddy, Don't Get Drunk This Christmas" (d...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! It's Christmas time and who better than to dissect the Holiday movie classics than three guys who grew up spending their Christmases in an insanely warm climate.  What we lacked in cold weather, we made up for in refusing to go outside and hunkering down in front of our televisions to watch all the holiday classics.   Going outside and catching that brisk...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week on Formidable Opponents, we debate which bands/artist should have had bigger careers by taking into account the following criteria.   1) Does your stomach churn when you're in the car with someone, turn up the volume to a song from an artist you love only to hear the person you're in the car with say, "Who in the hell is this?"   ...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Sad movie deaths give us the painful opportunity to remember the characters we loved.  They are meaningful, thought provoking and often times confusing.  They expose us to an experience that hurts us to go through, and even worse -- rewatch to relive.  Through these loses, we process grief to sometimes never fully understand why we grew so attached to these in...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week on a very special episode of Formidable Opponents, Joseph is found unconscious in an abandoned refrigerator during a deadly game of hide and seek, Bob is under the influence of a sinister cult and Randall is busted trying sell a bootlegged recording of a Doobie Brothers concert (by the Doobies themselves!). Actually, this is a very different,  "...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week we are joined by a special guest and friend to the show,  coffee roaster extraordinaire and fellow pop culture enthusiast Jomichael Vasquez (@theamericanbeaner on Instagram) as we debate what is the Best Guilty Pleasure Song.  We all have our favorites; our secret shames that we enjoy in the friendly confines of our car, alone, at a reasonable volume...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! This week on Formidable Opponents, we're talking Best Nostalgic Halloween Movie.  We're going back to the simpler times; you know, plastic rubber band masks replete with trash bag texture costumes,  orange, harmonica-shaped Wowee Whistles and of course, having to  check your Dubble Bubble for drugs and needles (only to find out that truthfully the wo...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! On this week's episode of Formidable Opponents, we're talking horror movies.  The classics that we were first introduced to as impressionable youngsters that perhaps can explain many of our fears, anxieties and compulsions, all influenced by the movies we're talking about on this episode and absolutely nothing to do with the generations and deci...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! On this week's episode, Formidable Opponents takes on the rock era of excess.  The 80s, a decade where image was as important as the music.  Thanks to cable television, we were able to put names (and make-up) to faces.  Despite being deemed less critical than the decade before it and less socially impactful than the decade after, 80s rock music still prov...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! There's nothing like a great sports movie!  The thrill of victory and the agony of a horrible performance.  This week Formidable Opponents discusses and debates what makes for a great fictional athlete.  Personality, perseverance, fortitude and humanity (of course, a little bit of the absurd helps).  Join us as we recognize these spirited performances and...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! On this week's episode of Formidable Opponents, we argue who is the biggest and most despicable turncoat in the history of all cinema.  Our answers and arguments are sure to surprise you, make you think and give you a good laugh.  This week we invite you to get up from that bed, make sure to set your alarm code and whatever you do, please make some room f...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! On this week's episode of Formidable Opponents, we continue our series recognizing those artists who influenced and shaped our lives.  We'll tell you that not too many come bigger than this band.  Nirvana was a voice of a generation.  With their distorted guitar riffs, pulsating beats and punk aesthetic, Nirvana ushered in what was to become the popu...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! In this week's episode of "Formidable Opponents," we celebrate back to school and what better way to do that than recapping what we think are the best "Saved by The Bell" Episodes!  Despite the cartoonish and outlandish nature of the program (both the one you're about to listen to and the show we're recapping), "Saved by...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Today we take a step back a decade (Wait, 3 decades??? Really?!) to the 90s.  A simpler time where a pastiche of hits from any and all genres blitzed the air waves and the cacophony of eclectic beats cleansed our musical palates (So long as that damn CD didn't skip).  We are focusing on 90s One Hit Wonders and even though many of these songs have been rel...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Never in the history of cinema has one man had to endure so much from so many.   Rocky Balboa is perhaps the most polarizing fictional athlete to ever have his story unfold in a series of movies (Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn notwithstanding) and with that story came a cavalcade of antagonists, all gunning for a man who was much too kind and traumatized t...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! On this episode we pay homage to a band that has meant a lot to us and who has influenced generations of musicians.  Last week it was announced Dusty Hill of ZZ Top passed away, his talents and artistry will live on and inspire musicians of all backgrounds.  ZZ Top will also continue to bring together fans of rock, blues, and beyond.  ZZ Top is a band with an...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! From the deranged minds that brought you "Best Sitcom Dad" comes a horror scarier than "Worst 80s music video."  Join Randall, Bob and Joseph as we ponder the question, "We know who these slasher movie villains are killing but what's killing these slasher movie villains?"  Lock your backdoor, check behind that shower curtain...

Send us a message and get a shoutout! Tune in to this week's episode as we once again change things up and argue what is the WORST 90s music video!   Bust out your baggy denim jeans, your oversized flannel, grab yourself a Mcflurry and enjoy this week's extra special, extra hilarious episode, as are joined by our friends Stephie and Lindy from "Turn of the Millennials."  We hig...