The Play by Play – Year in Review and Predictions for 2023

The Play by Play 4 – Year in Review and Predictions for 2023

Hosts: Jack McFarlane & Nick Schlemmer

This week on The Play by Play podcast, Jack McFarlane and Nick Schlemmer share the 2022 year in review from top music, sports, movies, games, and news. Nick shares who he is the #1 fan of, and the Jack discusses the movie you don’t want to see. Ready for some 2023 predictions? We have some good ones – listen in!

Thank you for joining the show today!  Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Transcript follows:

Jack McFarlane 0:15
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the HR Happy Hour Network. This is The Play by Play podcast hosted by myself, Jack McFarlane and my co-host, Nick Schlemmer.

Nick Schlemmer 0:24
How’s it going, guys?

Jack McFarlane 0:25
We’re so glad you guys can join us once again, today, we have our first episode of the new year. And we are very excited because we have some fun lined up. So, today we are doing a year in review for 2022. And then at the end, we’re going to make some quick predictions about the year to come. We just want to say that we hope everyone had a great holiday season, had a great time with their friends and family and had safe and stressless travel. And especial sorry, and maybe a warm hug to anyone who had to fly Southwest. Maybe you guys would get your baggage one day. Who knows? But I say we just get right into it start this year off, right with a year in review.

Nick Schlemmer 1:00
Yeah, so moving into the 2022 kind of review here we’re going to talk about some top songs, Top Movies, any kind of sports championships that happened this year, and also some Top Google searches that were very interesting in my mind. So just starting off here, I say let’s hop into songs. Jack, what do you want to talk about with the tap song of 2022?

Jack McFarlane 1:21
Yeah, so just a little beforehand. These are streaming numbers based off of Spotify alone, but I am assuming that they’re pretty even throughout Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, all of it. So I want to actually start off by asking you what was your maybe favorite song of 2022? What did you listen to the most?

Nick Schlemmer 1:40
Man! That’s a tough one. Favorite song of 2022? I don’t know you stumped me on that. I would say it’s not 2022 but it’s called Hold that Heat by Travis Scott.

Jack McFarlane 1:52
Okay. Yeah. I listened to it quite a bit.

Nick Schlemmer 1:55
Yeah. The gym song quite a bit. But I would think that for just kind of some early predictions here for 2002 I think anything Bad Bunny and BTS is probably going to be on this leaderboard that you’re about to talk about. That’s what I think though.

Jack McFarlane 2:11
Yeah, I mean, the Bad Bunny, that you hit the nail on the head with him. He was the number one most streamed artist out of the top five songs globally. He has four and five for most streamed. He had the most streamed album, it was the year of Bad Bunny. And for those who don’t know, Bad Bunny is a Spanish rapper. Yeah, he had a big year. The number one song though, was by Harry Styles, and it was called As it Was, and I’m sure if you’ve listened to the radio for even 10 minutes. You probably have heard this song this year. It was everywhere.

Nick Schlemmer 2:43
As you say it’s on the radio. You’re gonna hear it on Tik Tok and Instagram. It’s probably one of the most used songs on Tik Tok.

Jack McFarlane 2:51
Oh, yeah.

Nick Schlemmer 2:52
One of the most viral artists was Taylor Swift, the Weekend, Bad Bunny, as you mentioned before, BTS and then Lana Del Rey haven’t heard of her much.

Jack McFarlane 3:04
Yeah, so she is not as popular in America. And I’ve definitely heard of her. But I mean, Nick, we’re not Lana Del Ray fans. I’m just gonna put that out there. Sorry if you are we don’t know much about her. But for the Taylor Swift she had that album at the end of the year. I think that kind of went pretty viral.

Nick Schlemmer 3:20
It kind of boosted her up into this list for sure.

Jack McFarlane 3:23
Yeah. The viral is slightly different than just most streamed artists. It was kinda like, I think like, who got the most like, one period of time just out of nowhere?

Nick Schlemmer 3:33
And how about you Jack? What was your favorite song of 22? How about most listened to song of 2022?

Jack McFarlane 3:39
Okay, so mine’s pretty close but my most listened to was Welcome to the Show. I heard it at a baseball game ,someone’s walk up song. Wow what a great walk up song, it was that song is amazing. I love some country I my most listened to category was definitely country and then Kanye West was my artists I mean what was like your your was your like rap most listened to is rapper.

Nick Schlemmer 4:03
So my my number one artists and most songs was Post Malone. But yeah, country was usually then rap for me for my Spotify this year.

Jack McFarlane 4:13
Oh, yeah. So yeah, I think that kind of just gives like a good mix of kind of what music looked like this year. It was a lot of like a lot of pop music. I feel like the charts with the Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, he had obviously the number one song his was pretty big in pop. I think it was like a year of pop music in 2022. So I don’t know what do you say we jump over to some movies? Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the movies of 2022.

Nick Schlemmer 4:39
Yeah, so I’ve got a list here of the top movies from this year and also kind of the money that they earned from the movies. Obviously, top number one, no brainer Top Gun. They made $718 billion for that movie. Number two was the brand new Avatar. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, but it’s great. $457 billion. And then coming in at three was the new Black Panther. I haven’t seen this one yet. I’ve heard it’s really good. But they made really good. Yeah, I mean 9 billion, I’d say those three. Everything else is just kind of placeholders. I think those three.

Jack McFarlane 5:19
And I think it’s interesting that Avatar and Black Panther are even two and three because they just came out there. Yeah, they’re not even a month old yet. And they’re already out of the whole year. The second or third most earning movie. But definitely Top Gun. That was my favorite movie from the year, Tom Cruise and Miles Teller they were, it was fantastic. That movie. I mean, it was amazing.

Nick Schlemmer 5:41
That was a very good, very good movie for sure. And then kind of moving on down and towards the like, bottom of the top 10 list. We have the Rise of Gru.

Jack McFarlane 5:52
The New Batman, you know, don’t get me started.

Nick Schlemmer 5:55
Thor was in there. And also Black Adam, those were kind of the bottom of the top 10 list for Top Movies and then the money that they made.

Jack McFarlane 6:04
Yeah, so I got a rant on Minions, the Rise of Gru. I am not a fan of the Minions unpopular opinion. Really? I have not seeing that hates me. It pains me to pay. I mean, I Okay, so I had a good time going to the movie, but not because of the movie. You know, I just enjoyed where I went with. Batman on the other hand, that was early in the year. That man, what a movie right up there a Top Gun for sure. Amazing movie. But Minions. No, please don’t watch it.

Jack McFarlane 6:09
And then also, I think we could talk talk about our next topic here. All of the different sports teams and all the championships that happened throughout the day. If you want to talk a little bit about that list. Maybe some of your favorite ones that you watched this year.

Jack McFarlane 6:51
I think 2022 was a crazy year in sports, primarily because like it was, you know, it almost felt like the first real year at COVID. Like, I mean, we had the Olympics that were supposed to be in 2021 that got moved to 2022. So there was a lot that went on. I’d say some of my most favorite to watch was number one was the World Cup watching the World Cup. Exciting. I’m a huge soccer fan. I love everything about it. And then number two, I think I’d have to go with probably the NFL. That was a really fun game. The Rams and Bangles. I mean, the highest scoring close game is always so fun to watch. So those are probably like my two favorites. But yeah, the Rams did win the Super Bowl. And Argentina ended up winning the world cup. I don’t know if you watch the final but that game went into penalties off. It was incredible to extra time. Goals.

Nick Schlemmer 7:42
I was gonna mention for anybody who doesn’t really watch soccer that often I think they watch the World Cup at some point, I think. I think 100% at least one time to the World Cup even though they don’t like soccer have never played it or anything. I think everybody watched it at least once.

Jack McFarlane 7:59
It’s just like, it’s more than it’s more than soccer. It really feels like the Olympics in a way like you’re just playing for your country. Very prideful. It is a great time.

Nick Schlemmer 8:08
Yeah, and I would say probably my top two I’m just gonna keep it with baseball and basketball. Yeah, Houston Astros won the World Series this year. And then for the NBA go Dubs. The Warriors got the dub this year in the Finals was common. That was common. Some other notable ones though. The FedEx Cup Rory McIlroy won that NCAA football, the Georgia Bulldogs, men’s basketball, Kansas Jayhawks women’s basketball, the South Carolina Gamecocks they’ve been on a roll – shout out to Steve. Yep. Shout out to Steve Boese. I think his Gamecocks are winning it almost every year.

Jack McFarlane 8:47
Yeah, they’re right up there.

Nick Schlemmer 8:49
In the NHL has to be Colorado Avalanche.

Jack McFarlane 8:53
Gosh, division rival That’s painful. Some of these are painful to say, I gotta be honest, the Astros off. Don’t want to say that. Avalanche don’t want to say that word 2023.

Nick Schlemmer 9:03
We kind of move away from all that stuff.

Jack McFarlane 9:06
That’s right. It’s in the past. It’s in the past. St. Louis is gonna run the table.

Nick Schlemmer 9:11
Right? I kind of want to also want to mention the the Olympics. So the USA has ended up we ended up with 25 total medals, bronze, silver and gold combined. Eight being gold medals. So we’re fourth overall in that category. Norway had the the most gold medals with 16 and the most total medals with 37 which kind of surprised me because you don’t hear about Norway too often.

Jack McFarlane 9:38
That’s exactly what I thought too. I mean, I understand it is the Winter Olympics, but I just didn’t think that Norway and I even watched the Olympics. I just don’t remember Norway having that many medals it it really did catch me off guard. But the more I thought about it, I’m like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. Winter Olympics. They’re probably pretty good at it.

Nick Schlemmer 9:54
What was your favorite Olympics to watch? Well, was the favorite?

Jack McFarlane 10:02
Yeah, that’s funny enough, I was just gonna ask you the same so I’ll go first and you can go for Winter Olympics. It is tough. I’m definitely a summer Olympic guy. I like more the sports there but for Winter Olympics hockey for sure. Hockey is so fun to watch. And then what is I don’t know the name of it, the giant ski jump, you know, where they’re just like flying in the air. Yeah, those like down that huge hill. That one is awesome. That is such a good event. I always thought that was gonna be my favorite one as well. Because the one time I turned in, I tune into the Olympics. It was just the straight downhill skiing with the jumps and all that it’s probably just called downhill skiing. But I’d say that was my favorite because they were reaching speeds faster than cars on the highway. Yeah, it’s going down a mountain, which was just crazy. So crazy. It is so crazy. I mean, was there. Was there any, like, huge sports moment? Not necessarily from a championship game, but a sports moment that maybe stood out to you in this past year that just pops right in your mind?

Nick Schlemmer 11:03
I think Aaron Judge is gonna pop right into my mind straight away. Insane year that we talked about this in our past episodes before, but he just had a unnatural, never seen before kind of year in the box and on the field as well.

Jack McFarlane 11:18
Yeah, I mean, he was really good defensively. I think people don’t remember that, when they think would be just 62 home runs? Yeah, it was crazy. That was definitely I mean, that’s not even just like, a moment from point blank to that’ll be a moment of a decade like that.

Nick Schlemmer 11:36
Yeah, throughout the rest of baseball history that way. 22 season for him will, will come up and Google searches or anything? Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And that can kind of lead us into the next topic. Top search trends on Google and throughout the internet.

Jack McFarlane 11:55
Yeah. So we we have a little fun here. Looking up Google obviously releases their US trends, global trends, for most search things. And if you had to guess, like, what was the number one most searched thing? You know, what pops into my mind is, oh, maybe how do you do blank? Or what does this mean? But I should have known it was blowing up earlier in the year. But the number one most searched thing was Wordle word. Did you ever play Wordle? Were you?

Nick Schlemmer 12:23
I have never played Wordle. So you might have to explain to the audience what that is, if they don’t know.

Jack McFarlane 12:27
Yeah. So for anyone that’s joining Nick and not knowing what Wordle really is. It’s a daily game, and you would just look it up. I did play it. I did have some fun with it. But I believe it’s a fun, it’s five letters, and you just get a five letter word. And then it’ll, it’ll tell you if you have the correct letter, but it’s in the wrong spot. If you have the correct letter in the right spot, or if it’s not in the word at all. So it’s like a puzzle game. It’s a word puzzle game that started out on its own. And then I mean, it was bought instantly by the New York Times. So I mean, wow. Wordle blew up, just out of nowhere. Like it was definitely the year of Wordle for sure.

Nick Schlemmer 13:08
Yeah. And then some also notable things were just some of the top actors that were searched this year. Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Chris Rock. I think those first two I mentioned we can all guess why they’re in the towel.

Jack McFarlane 13:23
I mean, even I mean in Will Smith is up there too. I think it’s funny that out of the top five, four of them, you know, you know, they’re like paired like Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. I mean, that was from that huge trial. And then Will Smith Chris Rock. That is a moment of a decade. Yeah, walking up on stage at the lab and over the face that didn’t know what to do. That was crazy. So that is definitely why those those four up there for some pretty big reasons.

Nick Schlemmer 13:50
Also, this is kind of your kind of section on this but Queen Elizabeth died. There’s also election results. Those are huge. Things being searched. Powerball numbers hit crazy our ball.

Jack McFarlane 14:04
Yeah, I mean, that that is another I mean, it got up to over a billion like it was a it was phenomenal number for the Powerball. And like, I’ve don’t ever play the lottery, but I mean, even I had to get some tickets and you know, we were hoping for you’re like, Oh, we’re gonna win a billion dollars just be great. And then the whole controversy with the winning numbers like getting delayed out of California and then the next day the winner was from California. I think it’s rigged. I think what happened is I won, and they’re like, No, he can’t win so we’re gonna give it somebody else. Yeah, maybe unpopular opinion with that one. I don’t know. Did you play the lottery at all when it got up that high? Are you just kind of like I’m just gonna watch it. See what happens.

Nick Schlemmer 14:46
I was just watching just everything play out to it. I was watching the news. Sometimes just listening to the numbers just

Jack McFarlane 14:51
Well, if you’re feeling lucky megamillions is getting up there. I noticed. Okay, after I noticed it’s getting up there in Illinois, it’s up to 500 million, something like that. It’s pretty up there that you know, that would, we’d get a pretty good upgrade to the podcast, I must say, maybe the next episode would be from a mansion.

Nick Schlemmer 15:24
That would be something special!

Jack McFarlane 15:26
2023 review, we win the lottery.

Nick Schlemmer 15:30
So 2023 We are here. Happy New Year, everybody. Thank you for two. What are what are you looking forward to this year? What are some of your goals? What do you think?

Jack McFarlane 15:44
I think looking forward to definitely looking forward to the podcast. I mean, having a full year of this, I’m gonna I’m so excited to see where it goes. And you know, all the the people we meet and interview and we, we don’t want to spoil anything, but we do have some fun interviews lined up for you guys in future episodes. But that’s definitely a goal. I’m not a big resolution guy. So I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution, really, but I just want to spend time with friends and family and just enjoy life. You know.

Nick Schlemmer 16:10
I’m exactly the same way I haven’t wrote anything down or anything like that. I’m just kind of go with the flow. Whatever happens, wherever this life takes me that’s, that’s what’s going to happen this year. But I’m looking forward to it. Like you said, for the podcast to have a whole year under our belt. We’ve only done this is our fourth episode. So we’re gonna have so many more episodes to come this year. And I’m looking forward to a good 2023 And I wrote down some of my predictions for this year.

Jack McFarlane 16:37
I’m fascinated here, I definitely wanna hear some of your predictions.

Nick Schlemmer 16:41
So I have two different categories of music category, and then a sports category. So for music, we kind of already talked about it. But non English music is going to top the charts this year, like Bad Bunny and BTS. They essentially already have, but I don’t think the craze is going to slow down anytime soon. And then also I was reading a couple articles about it. AI music. I’m surprised that we haven’t really Yeah, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen like in AI. Wow, it has its own voice and is its own aren’t even producer creates

Jack McFarlane 17:17
like makes it everything that is that is interesting. I haven’t even thought of that.

Nick Schlemmer 17:21
Rapper like or even a country singer, like just the AI like it’s not an actual person. It’s just an AI. I’m surprised we haven’t seen it yet. So I’m thinking maybe 23 would be the year for that.

Jack McFarlane 17:33
I’m also thinking that and maybe not just music because you know they have those apps are kind of I’ve been seeing a pop up where it’s like, oh, AI painting like you give it a word that paints it or there is a program that will type a full essay non plagiarized off of one topic you give it. I think that is an excellent prediction. And I’m, that’s kind of makes me excited AI music that could be really fun to listen to.

Nick Schlemmer 17:56
I feel like yeah, and then I had some sports predictions as well.

Jack McFarlane 18:01
Yeah, let’s hear them, fire away.

Nick Schlemmer 18:03
I’m thinking and I think I was looking at our show notes here. I think we use I think we use the same website or this website. You thought Nick Saban was gonna retire?

Jack McFarlane 18:14
Yes because he’s gonna lose it.

Nick Schlemmer 18:17
I wrote that down.

Jack McFarlane 18:18
I didn’t really okay. I’ll just agree with you. I’ve been thinking I’ve been saying that. I think he’s, I think he’s gonna retire every year, though.

Nick Schlemmer 18:25
You take that one. I have two other ones that I want to go.

Jack McFarlane 18:29
Okay. That’s crazy. It was on a website. That’s crazy. Yeah. I’m like, he’s old. And he’s, he’s been doing bad. Like, if he does bad, one more time he’s done.

Nick Schlemmer 18:40
And then he continued. I have some sports predictions for 2023. I think the Yankees are gonna win the World Series this year. I think they’re gonna continue to have streak and then I think the Brooklyn Nets are gonna win the NBA Finals.

Jack McFarlane 18:53
I think those are both solid choices. I’ve got some predictions on my own. I don’t have. I do have two sports, music and a movie. I don’t have any championship predictions yet. Maybe Go Cardinals. So for them. I’ll be my first sports prediction. This will be the last year that Oakland has a baseball team. Really, you look at let you look at last season, their minor league team sold out like or not sold out but outsold the Oakland A’s three days in a row. Their minor league team. Wow. With the management not spending any money, the stadium in decline the fan base upset. I’m telling you, Oakland will not play there after 2023 They’re gonna move. Okay. And then my other sports prediction with the beloved Nick Saban. He’s not been doing great. You know? Well, I mean, let me rephrase that. He’s not been doing great for his standard. And he’s 71 years old. He’s going to retire. I’m telling you right now. I think he’s pretty much over if he does not make the playoffs, or maybe even win a bowl game. I think he’s going to call it Quit was kind of my two.

Nick Schlemmer 20:02
I was thinking that something if he doesn’t go to some kind of bowl game or make a run for the championship seasons be over, because he’s how many how many seasons? Has he been coaching with Alabama?

Jack McFarlane 20:14
I don’t know. I really don’t know the number with Alabama to be honest. But I mean, he’s been there really as long as I can remember. And he’s one too. It’s not like he’s been bad either. So I think it’ll shock people. But I think he will retire me he is 71. So and then I think just to round this out today, I’ve also got a music prediction, I think the most streamed artists even though yes, I think non English music will be on the rise even more. I think the most streamed artist will be Post Malone. Because if you look at it every year, every year, he gets more and more and more. And he is mega popular. And he makes some good music. I think I know. He’s like one of your favorites. I think he’ll be the most stream. I really do.

Nick Schlemmer 20:51
Yeah, I think I’m half of his fan base. Because I was. I was in the top point 4% of Post Malone listeners this year, less than half a percent. I was in that wow category. Who knows how many songs I listen to over the course of the year. But to be in that category? It’s probably a lot.

Jack McFarlane 21:11
Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. So plus blown. I have a feeling he’ll be on the rise even more, even more famous. And then my final prediction is just a movie prediction. I’ve looked through the list of movies that are coming out in 2023. And a couple standout like one to me that stood out was there’s a new hunger game movie coming out. Oh, really. And it’s based on the book that it’s kind of before, like Katniss and all that. So it’s like the 10th annual Hunger Games. So I think that one could be really good. But I think the best movie will be the new Ant Man coming out in February. So pretty soon, actually. Just over a month away, Paul Rudd. Amazing. It’s setting up. The whole new Marvel villain will be in it after you see the chariots. I think it’s going to be an amazing movie.

Nick Schlemmer 21:57
Yeah, I’ve seen the Ant Man movies and they’ve been really good. And I was actually thinking about this too, for this year. I love the new avatar movie. So I was thinking maybe that it’d be a new one but not until 2024. Sadly, yeah.

Jack McFarlane 22:10
Yeah, they do have plans. I heard that if this Avatar went well, which obviously it has gone well that there will be another one so I think you can stay excited for that day.

Nick Schlemmer 22:22
I will be ready for it. Again, guys. Thank you for tuning in today. Here’s to 2023!

Jack McFarlane 22:29
Yeah, let’s make it a great year guys. We appreciate the listen and all the support and hope you guys have a good day.

Nick Schlemmer 22:34
Bye for now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai