Two Unrelated Thoughts On The Lakers

by A.J. Coltrane

Kobe scored 48 the last Tuesday. The ESPN highlight package for the game opened with Kobe with the ball at the left of the free-throw line, then taking a big dribble and a big pivot step. He then took five more steps, doing a series of small shuffles away from his defender until he had enough space to get up a shot. I know it was seven steps because as I was watching the highlight I said to myself: “That’s a lot of steps!” , then I slowed it down and counted. During Kobe’s dance his defender was frozen in place — if his defender had moved forward to close the gap Kobe would have simply jumped into him and drawn a shooting foul.

I *was* going to post a link to the highlight package, but ESPN removed it from circulation — as far as I can tell they only showed it the one time, then replaced it with a different series of highlights. It’s a conspiracy! I’m guessing some phone calls were involved.

Here’s good read about Kobe Bryant on Grantland.

2nd Thought: Before the Mavericks (at) Lakers game last night the production crew scanned the crowd, showing all the “celebrities”. The celebrities included the usuals like Nicholson, Adam Sandler, and Chris Tucker. They also showed Dyan Cannon. I’m wondering if including Dyan Cannon in the celebrity montage is just a courtesy at this point — when was the last time she was actually famous? And has anyone under the age of 40 ever heard of her?

I tried a Google search for a picture of Cannon. The first autofill was “Diane Cannon Plastic Surgery”.

: A Methuselah rookie card!

Yep.

Bonus trivia: Did you know Cannon was married to Cary Grant? If Grant were still alive, tomorrow he’d be 108 years old.

Happy Birthday Cary Grant – you handsome man!

The Pass Happy NFL

By Blaidd Drwg

An interesting stat was mentioned in the Giants-Falcons playoff game – Eli Manning’s 4,900 yard season was the 6th highest single season total in NFL history. That is impressive, until I realized that Eli Manning’s 4,900 yard season was the 4th highest total in the NFL THIS SEASON. Heck, the NFL went so pass happy this year that Manning only had the 3rd highest total in the NFC this season. Three of the five 5,000 yard seasons in NFL history occurred this year and 2 QB’s (Brees and Brady) both Broke Dan Marino’s NFL mark for a season.

Granted, a lot of this had to do with the length of the NFL season (the 16 game schedule is only 35 years old) and changes to the rules that make it easier on the QB’s and WR’s, as well as a shift to the short passes of West Coast offense, which is all about high percentage short passes, but it got out of control this season.

Strangely, with all of the passing that happened this year, the NFL single game record still stands – set by Hall of Famer Norm Van Brocklin with 554 yards way back in 1954. Matthew Stafford was the only QB this season to throw for at least 500 yards in a game this season and he still ended up 34 yards short of the record.

Former BC Eagles in the NFL

By Blaidd Drwg

There are currently 15 former Boston College Eagles in the NFL. They are:

Ron Brace – Patriots
BJ Raji – Packers
Gosder Cherilus – Lions
Jo-Lonn Dunbar – Saints
Matt Ryan – Falcons
Will Blackmon – Giants
Ricky Brown – Raiders
Mathias Kiwanuka – Giants
Jereny Trueblood – Buccaneers
Tim Bulman – Texans
Chris Snee – Giants
Antonio Garay – Chargers
Dan Koppen – Patriots
Mark Colombo – Dolphins
Matt Hasselbeck – Titans

Of course, there is also the BC connection with Tom Coughlin at the helm of the Giants. Not bad for a school that has not exactly been known as a football powerhouse over the years. Since my beloved Steelers are out of the playoffs, I usually end up rooting for the team that is left with the most BC players, which is, the Giants. Their playoff run is an interesting one this year, considering that they could potentially face a team in every round of the playoffs that has at least 1 former BC player on it:

Wild Card Round – they beat the Matt Ryan lead Atlanta Falcons
Divisional Round – they play the Green Bay Packers who have BJ Raji on their Defensive Line
Conference Championship – They could potentially play the New Orleans Saints with Jo-Lonn Dunbar roaming the secondary
Super Bowl – They might end up playing the New England Patriots with Dan Koppen on the offensive line.

It probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but as a BC alumnus, I think it is cool.

Food Pr0n vs The Regular Kind

by A.J. Coltrane

Maybe I’m just late to the party, but it feels to me like there are more and more websites featuring decadent food photography.

Assuming that’s actually true — I think it’s at least in part because during work hours, it’s safe to fantasize about diving into this:

But this is another story:

Continue reading “Food Pr0n vs The Regular Kind” →

Creamy Mushroom Soup – An Even Easier Recipe

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Here is the even easier version of the Mushroom Soup recipe posted yesterday. It is relative since this saves you about 5 minutes total on the cooking of the soup and exchanges the roux and the volute with an extra potato for thickening. These recipes make about 1 quart of soup and freeze really well.

The Software
1 1/2 lbs mushrooms – you can use any kind you want
3 small or 2 medium Yukon Gold potato
1/2 oz dried Porcini (or any other kind of dried) mushrooms
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/4 cup marsala or port wine
1/8 cup cognac
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and Pepper

The Prep
Rinse the mushrooms well to remove dirt – you don’t need to worry about soaking them with water – they aren’t going to be seared. Half any that are larger than a 1 inch diameter. Scrub the potatoes and cut into quarters for a small potato or eights for a medium one.

The Soup
Add the mushrooms, potatoes, stock, thyme, marsala and cognac to the pot (don’t add the water just yet).If there is not enough liquid in the pot to cover all the dry ingredients, add a bit more stock or water to cover. Just a reminder, mushrooms do float, so it may look like they are not covered. If you are not sure, submerge them and see if there is any liquid on top of them. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.

The Finish
Puree the soup in three parts in a blender (BE CAREFUL, it is HOT). Taste and add salt and pepper. If you want a thinner soup, add additional stock or water. The soup is great on its own or add in some rice or pasta, maybe a few leaves of fresh thyme or a dab of sour cream or a dash of sherry vinegar and consume.

Creamy Mushroom Soup – An Easy Recipe

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A note to readers: It is really easy to make soup and unless you plan poorly, you should never have to buy pre-made soup.

Mrs. Iron Chef has a traditional hash brown recipe that calls for a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup. The store bought ones are not very mushroom-y and are loaded with sodium and generally they taste like crap, so I decided to make my own. It involves maybe 5 minutes of prep time, an hour of cooking and 5 minutes to blend it smooth, not to mention a few dollars worth of ingredients and a much better taste. The best part – you can make this a completely vegan recipe with very little modification.

I am including 2 recipes for the price of one – the first one is the one that I made which is a little more complicated but a richer soup which I will post today and the second one is slightly less tasty, but even easier and I will post that tomorrow.

The Software
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 lbs mushrooms – you can use any kind you want
2 small or 1 medium Yukon Gold potato
1/2 oz dried Porcini (or any other kind of dried) mushrooms
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/4 cup marsala or port wine
1/8 cup cognac
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and Pepper

The Roux
In a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour and whisk until combined. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring about every minute to a blonde color (you can keep cooking this as long as you want – the darker the roux, the more flavor, but that is for another show).

The Volute
Add 1 cup of stock in 1/2 cup increments to the roux, whisking as you add it. Once the 1 cup of stock is incorporated, add the remaining stock and whisk until the roux has been absorbed in the stock (i.e. you don’t see any pieces floating around).

The Soup
Add the mushrooms, potatoes, remaining stock, water, thyme, marsala and cognac to the volute. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. If there is not enough liquid in the pot to cover all the dry ingredients, add a bit more stock or water to cover. Just a reminder, mushrooms do float, so it may look like they are not covered. If you are not sure, submerge them and see if there is any liquid on top of them.

Recommended Game: Catan Card Game, Or, The Rivals For Catan

by A.J. Coltrane

[Edit after I’d written the rest of this post: The Catan Card Game was discontinued in 2010 and replaced by The Rivals For Catan. From everything I’ve read the new game is easier to learn and is most likely the better game. The new game is also faster, clocking in at 45-60 minutes rather than 90 minutes.]

The_Rivals_For_Catan_box — The version of the game that you can actually find in the store.

Title: Catan – Card Game

Game Type: Resource allocation – Euro “building” game.

Number of Players: 2

Complexity of Rules: Medium

Time to Play: 90 minutes

The Concept: Each turn the players roll a die and collect a random resource such as brick, ore, gold, or wood. Another die is rolled which represents a random “event”, such as a Brigand Attack or Year of Plenty.

The resources are used to purchase structures including new roads, villages, and cities — as well as expansions and improvements like trading fleets, sawmills, churches, garrisons, and knights. Some of the structures and expansions contribute one or two Victory Points to help the player win the game. Other purchases help by making the principality more productive, or by protecting it from attacks.

The first player to twelve Victory Points wins.

Why I Like It: The Card Game allows a lot more control over my destiny than the Board Game. The Card Game allows me to make moves and play cards that have a *much* larger impact upon my opponent.

I think the Catan Card Game is “tighter” than the original board game. The game moves at a faster pace — there seems to be less futzing around, at least in part because there’s very little trading in the Card Game, and trading is basically what the Board Game is all about. (And of course, by the time you get five people yapping at each other, rather than two.. the Board Game features a lot more downtime between turns.)

The Catan Card Game offers a lot of different ways to try to win, but there isn’t necessarily a “right” answer. The random Event each turn can compromise any “optimized” strategy; it ultimately leads to every game taking a different path to the finish.

Boardgamegeek page for The Rivals for Catan here. The discontinued Catan Card Game page is here.

Support your local game store.

The Stupidity of the NFL Playoff System

By Drwg Blaidd

The NFL really needs to change the way that the playoffs are seeded. We have had 2 consecutive seasons where a team that was .500 or worse got to host a team that was at least 4 wins better than them in the opening round of the playoffs.

I think that the NFL needs to go to an NBA style playoff system – you give the division winners with the 2 best records the 1 & 2 seeds (and the bye) and then you rank the remaining teams based on records. It pisses me off that my team, who was tied with the second best record in the conference, has to play on the road the entire playoffs (unless the unlikely scenario of Steelers – Bengals occurs for the AFC championship game – which is moot), just because they happened to be in the same division as a team they tied with, who also held the tie breaker over them. The Steelers probably would have ended up 14-2 if they played in the West and the point would be moot. If you want to keep the division structure, fine. It happens too often that a team won’t make the playoffs as a wild card while a team with a worse record wins their division and gets in.

The list just over the last 5 seasons:

2011 – The Broncos (8-8) make it while the Titans (9-7) do not.
2010 – The 7-9 Sea Chicks make it over the 10-6 Giants and the 10-6 Bucs.
2008 – The 8-8 Chargers make it over the 11-5 Patriots and the 9-7 Jets.

That 2008 Pats team is the only 11 win team that did not make the playoffs that I could find in the 2 wild card era.

My other problem with the playoff seeding is that in the NFL, since it is a single game, home field means a ton more (it is something like a 65-35 advantage in the playoffs) than the other sports where the multi-game series reduces it to something like 55-45 advantage.

The one thing that I am holding out hope for is the Broncos really aren’t that good and they really haven’t been great at home this year. That being said, the Steelers have a banged up O-line, banged up QB, lost their starting RB, have some injuries on defense and are without their starting safety, who can’t play because the altitude might literally kill him.

While we are at it, could someone please let the MLS know that their playoff system really doesn’t work either…

Note: this was written BEFORE the weekend playoff games were played.

Blind IPA Tasting 2 – The Wrath of Cali

By Iron Chef Leftovers

DSCN0251 — Nine little IPAs, all in a row, waiting for someone to drink them...

One IPA blind tasting was not enough for the Iron Chef, so we had to do another one. Same rules as the first, once again with 5 tasters, but a slightly different cast of characters – Port Townsend Hop Diggity replaced Harpoon IPA, Skagit River Sculler’s IPA replaced Avery Maharaja, Ninkasi Tricerahops replaced Laughing Dog Alpha Dog and Port Brewing Wipeout IPA replaced Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. The beers were ranked 1-9 with 1 being the best. This time around, no one except me knew what the beers were. The results:

Beer (Previous Finish)	Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3	Judge 4	Judge 5	Total Score

Firestone Walker DIPA (6T)	1	3	9	1	2	16
Pliny the Elder (1)	7	4	1	2	4	18
Port Brewing Wipeout IPA (NA)	2	6	2	5	5	20
Anacortes IPA (4)	8	1	5	6	1	21
Diamond Knot Industrial IPA (3)	3	2	8	3	8	24
Ninkasi Tricerahops (NA)	5	5	7	4	6	27
Port Townsend Hop Diggity (NA)	2	8	6	9	3	28
Boundary Bay IPA (1)	4	7	4	7	9	31
Skagit River Sculler’s IPA (NA)	6	9	3	8	7	33

DSCN0257 — Your top 4 beers of the competition...

In the interest of disclosure, I am Judge 5; all others will remain nameless to avoid the wrath of disgruntled beer drinkers everywhere.

Let me stress – finishing at the bottom of the rankings is in no way an indication of a bad beer. If anything, the general comments this time around was that the beers were very difficult to rank as there were a number of them that were liked equally. That definitely shows up in the voting totals with less than 10 points separating 5th from 1st and just 17 points separating first from last (it was 25 points the last time around). The similarity of the beers was by design and had an inadvertent consequence of making it harder on the judging – all of the beers ranged on the higher end of the IBU scale, with Diamond Knot coming in at the low of 72 and 5 of the beers topping 100 IBU.

Some interesting results in this one – Pliny remained near the top again, but Firestone seemed to be the clear favorite this time around after a disappointing showing last time (and almost not being part of the competition this time around). Port Brewing made it a clean sweep at the top for the California beers by finishing 3rd. Anacortes again finished 4th, despite it getting 2 “best in show” votes and previous winner, Boundary Bay fell hard to 8th.

Once again there was great conversation surrounding what everyone liked and did not like and much food and beer was consumed in the festivities.

DSCN0258 — Numbers 5-9; all still winners in my book!

Based on the feedback, I think that the scoring will be handled differently for The Great Blind IPA Challenge, Episode 3: Revenge of the Simcoe (It is a play on Star Wars Ep.3 in case you are wondering and Simcoe is a variety of hops).

Clubhouse Confidential – What?

by A.J. Coltrane

I tuned into the last 20 minutes of Clubhouse Confidential today. (Not a show I was familiar with.) I was waiting for the Cotton Bowl to start, paged around the usual sports channels, and saw this episode description: “Statistics-based discussions of Major League Baseball news and rumors, with expert guests.”

Now, that’s right up my alley. What did I get?

Bob_Horner — Bob Horner, a guy who could hit the cover off of the ball, and a teammate of Dale Murphy. I remember him hitting three home runs in a game, but I don't remember the porn mustache.

1st segment: Seven minutes of the 3 panelists arguing about whether players suspected and/or proven of having done steroids should be eligible for the Hall Of Fame.

2nd segment: A six-minute talk with the president of the baseball Hall Of Fame, Jeff Idelson, answering questions about the Hall’s stance on including players linked to steroids, and other related topics.

3rd segment: A short look at the panelists’ HoF ballots, including Jon Heyman’s contrarian picks of Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy. Bernie Williams and Lee Smith get brief mentions. Still no real stats to speak of in this segment, just one infographic tacked under a Mattingly picture to reference Mattingly’s 5-year OPS+ peak.

Huh? That’s not exactly Fangraphs, USSM, or Lookout Landing. The steroid thing has already been rehashed about 10,000,000 times. The show description implied some sabermetric-oriented stuff, and the show was basically Pardon The Interruption.

That was dreck. Maybe I got them on a bad day(?)