From the Wall Street Journal: The Dallas Mavericks covered against the spread 15 times in a row(!) prior to Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
The Mavs were 5 point favorites in Game 2, but lost to the game and ended the streak.
The WSJ piece has an odd title – “The Team Las Vegas Can’t Figure Out”. But then there’s this:
“There’s clearly a major disconnect between perception and reality here,” said Andrew Garrood, executive director of Las Vegas Sports Consultants. “It’s safe to say we won’t see anything like this again for a long time.”
and
Bell said the Mavs have been receiving a boost from the bookmakers this postseason because of their opponents. Their first-round foe, the Portland Trail Blazers, were a media darling and a popular pick to win among analysts and fans. Meanwhile, the Lakers are a marquee team that typically receives a disproportionate number of bets, which swayed the line a bit in Dallas’s favor throughout that series.
Representing the "206" - Jason Terry of the Mavericks.
I think the excerpts above spell it out pretty well — the title of the piece is something of a misnomer: It isn’t Las Vegas that hasn’t figured out the Mavs, it’s all the squares who continue to bet for the “media darlings.” It’s the same reason that I have to be truly convinced before I’m going to place a bet on any of the following teams: Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys, Notre Dame, or whoever is the current “flavor of the month” in the media.
The piece would have been better served with a different, more appropriate title: “The Wrong Way To Bet On Sports”
But that would stink of helping to teach people how to gamble on sports, and there’s no way they could publish it like that.
I get tons of requests for this mac and cheese recipe since it is easy to make and is phenomenally good. I can’t take a great deal of credit though; I took the base recipe from Alton Brown and made a few changes to it. I had the pleasure of talking about the changes that I made with Alton about a year ago and he liked them and suggested a few others, which I have since incorporated. If you want the original recipe, you can find it here. Otherwise you will get my revised recipe, which I dub “Totally Over the Top Mac & Cheese”.
Feel free to thank AB for this recipe if you have the chance to meet him. If you have the chance, take it - the man is a genius and hilarious to boot.
The Software
1/2 lb of elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup onion, minced (about 3/4 of a medium onion)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
6 oz Sharp Cheddar – shredded
6 oz Gruyere – shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
The Recipe
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Shred the cheddar and Gruyere and mix the two together. Separate into 2 parts, one containing 1/4 of the cheese and 1 containing 3/4 of the cheese.
• Mince the onion. Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil in a 4 qt pan.
• Add pasta and cook for about 5 minutes to al dente and drain.
• While the water is coming to a boil, melt the butter in a 3 qt pan over medium heat.
• Whisk in the flour and cook until pale blond (about 3 minutes) stirring about every minute.
• Whisk in onion, paprika and mustard until combined (probably 30 seconds)
• Slowly add the milk and cook, whisking constantly until slightly thickened, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Slowly add 2 ladles full of the milk mixture to the egg, whisking as you add it. This will temper the egg to keep it from cooking and turning into scrambled eggs. I usually do this in a measuring cup. If there are any lumps (i.e. cooked egg), start over with another egg.
• Add the egg into the pot with the remainder of the milk and stir a couple of times to combine.
• Add 3/4 of the cheese to the sauce and stir until the cheese is melted, 1-2 minutes.
• Add the pasta to the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Put pasta and sauce in a 4 qt casserole dish, cover with the remaining cheese and bake in the over for 30 minutes.
• Let stand for 5 minutes and serve with your favorite hot sauce (or not)
IMPORTANT – don’t fully cook the pasta – it will finish cooking in the oven and it will be completely mushy if you cook it fully on the stove. Also, don’t rinse the pasta after you drain it.
Notes
Timing is important on this recipe, so I highly suggest preparing all of your ingredients before you start cooking – it really makes the job much easier when you are not trying to measure something while watching something else. I also highly recommend freezing the cheese for about 10 minutes prior to shredding – it makes it much easier. The shredding can be done in a food processor or using a box grater. Don’t buy the pre-shredded cheese, it really doesn’t taste the same and shredding yourself will take you 2 or 3 minutes extra and it will be worth it. I really like Beecher’s Flagship Cheese in this recipe, but if you aren’t local to Seattle, you probably won’t be able to find it, so just use your favorite cheddar. You can use all Cheddar if you would like, the Gruyere is optional. If you want a nice crusty cheese top, use a dish that is broiler safe and put under the broiler the last 2 minutes of cooking in the oven. If you like the crispy breadcrumb topping, please consult the original recipe. The pasta and sauce can be made in advance and then put in the oven later – just put it in the casserole dish, covered in the fridge and when you are ready to cook it, remove it from the fridge, uncover and let it sit at room temp for 15 minutes while you warm the oven. The leftovers also make really good fried mac and cheese the next day. I have played with several variations of this recipe, so here are the ones that I like the most:
Bacon Mac and Cheese
Cook 3/4 lb of bacon until just before browned. Drain on paper towels and mince. Sprinkle on top of the mac and cheese before putting in the oven.
Roasted Red Pepper and Sun Dried Tomato Mac and Cheese
Add 3 oz of minced sun dried tomatoes and 3 oz of roasted red pepper to the pasta and sauce before it goes into the casserole dish. Stir well to combine and finish in the oven.
Italian Mac and Cheese
Replace the Gruyere and Cheddar with equal parts (5 oz) Italian Fontal and Taleggio. Also add 1 oz of grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano to the mix. Replace the elbow macaroni with 8 oz of penne. Follow the base recipe otherwise. You won’t use any of the cheese for a topping. Add some freshly chopped Italian parsley after cooking. Note – Taleggio and Fontina are soft cheeses, so you don’t need to shred them. Freeze them for 10 minutes and cut into 1/4-inch cubes for melting. Make sure you remove the rind also – it is edible, but not needed in this recipe. Fontal and Taleggio should be available in just about any gourmet market or cheese monger.
South of the Border Mac and Cheese
Replace the Gruyere and Cheddar with equal parts Monterrey Jack and Pepper Jack. Add some minced jalapeño before the pasta is put in the casserole. Follow base recipe otherwise.
I have always wanted to try an herb and goat cheese variation of this recipe, but haven’t gotten around to it.
The chef at Seattle based 360 Local cutting what is obviously a well marbled piece of tofu.
In one of the more ironic pieces that I have read in The Stranger in a while, apparently a well known Vegan magazine was caught red handed doctoring stock photos of meat dishes and passing them off as vegan. You can read the whistleblower’s comments here. Now, I am probably a bigger carnivore than most people, but even I have a problem with this. If you are going to show me a picture of food, it better be what someone made with the recipe. I was also disturbed to find out there is a website that has stock photos of food.
What is even more disturbing was VegNews’s response to being outed:
The entire VegNews family is deeply saddened with the dialogue that has transpired over the last 12 hours. As an ethical vegan magazine, owned-and operated by vegans since its inception, VegNews is a labor of love, totally motivated by our dedication to ending animal suffering.
…
Yes, from time to time, after exhausting all options, we have resorted to using stock photography that may or may not be vegan. In an ideal world we would use custom-shot photography for every spread, but it is simply not financially feasible for VegNews at this time. In those rare times that we use an image that isn’t vegan, our entire (vegan) staff weighs in on whether or not it’s appropriate.
So, the way I read this – We are dedicated to militant veganism and think that all people who eat meat are worse than Hitler, but we are happy to use pictures of the same dead animals whose suffering we swear we are trying to end if it means that we can sell more magazines, even if it means deceiving our readers
Two California high schools combined for a record 95 runs Tuesday when Cuyama Valley scored 13 times in the seventh inning to earn a dramatic 48-47 victory against Coast Union in a fast-pitch softball game.
The game lasted 3 1/2 hours.
That’s about the same amount of time as a typical Red Sox – Yankees game!
Some napkin math: The softball game lasted seven innings. That means there were 42 outs in the game. 95 runs were scored. There were probably about two runners left on base each half inning — 28 runners were (hypothetically) stranded in total. That’s a total of 42 + 95 +28 = 165 hitters coming to the plate during the course of the game.
Now for the Red Sox/ Yankees game: 54 Outs. Each team would have something like 8 hits and 4 walks. Between the two teams that’s 24 baserunners. 54 outs + 24 baserunners = 78 hitters.
What’s all that come out to?
The Red Sox Yankees game averages 2 minutes, 42 seconds between hitters.
The 95 run softball game averaged a hitter every 1 minute and 16 seconds.
Could you imagine going to a game and seeing 165 plate appearances lasting one minute each?
Over the weekend, the Mariners played the White Sox. There is really nothing all that special about 2 teams that are floundering pretty badly at the plate going against each other and you would expect some pretty low scoring games, which you got.
There was, however, an interesting side bar to this series – it involved two of the career leaders in TTO% (remember that – if not check here and here) – Adam Dunn and Jack Cust. Below is a chart showing their 2011 campaigns through the end of the day Sunday (I also added in Mark Reynolds for a reason to be explained shortly).
PA
HR
BB
SO
TTO%
Jack Cust
127
0
25
37
48.8%
Adam Dunn
117
3
19
36
49.6%
Mark Reynolds
127
3
16
34
41.7%
Dunn has a slight lead over Cust right now. Here is how they both did over the weekend:
G
PA
HR
BB
SO
TTO%
Dunn
3
14
0
2
3
35.7%
Cust
3
12
0
0
4
33.3%
I will admit – it was somewhat disappointing to see 26 PA between the 2 of them and no HRs. Dunn hit a bomb to the warning track on Saturday and Cust hit one off the CF fence on Sunday, but that was as close as either came. The interesting thing about Dunn is both his walks and none of his strikeouts came against Felix Hernandez.
Why do I mention Mark Reynolds above – well, the M’s move on to play the Orioles now, so we get to see the battle of Cust vs. Reynolds in the TTO arena.
As I sit here this morning thinking about the Mariners game Friday night, I am struck by the lineup they fielded. You have Ichiro and Figgins at the top, Bradley, Olivio, Smoak and Cust in the middle and Wilson, Saunders and Ryan and the back end, Not exactly Murderer’s Row, but it was good enough to get them the win last night after Brendan Ryan, who was batting under .190 going into the at bat, punched a single up the middle to score the winning run.
Jack Cust - The Sluggardly Slugger who leads the Mariners in walks.
Talking to Annie at the game made me realize this lineup is pushing the extremes at both ends of the OBP spectrum. Generally the league average OBP is somewhere around .325. You are above average in the .365 to .375 range and, if you are over .400, you are an OBP machine. Conversely, anything under .300 means you probably shouldn’t be a regular in the lineup.
Here is how the lineup last night looked with their OBP listed as of 5/7:
Player
OPB
OBP+
Ichiro
.356
109
Figgins
.270
83
Bradley
.318
97
Olivo
.236
72
Smoak
.413
127
Cust
.361
111
Wilson
.278
85
Saunders
.242
74
Ryan
.270
83
The OBP number is basically how good a players OBP is relative to league average with 100 being league average. This lineup is basically split between the guys who get on base at an above average clip and the guys who are really bad at it. There isn’t much room for middle ground in this lineup, which has a lot to do with why the Mariners are still only in a 3-way tie for 10th in the AL in scoring with Baltimore and Chicago. The interesting thing is that the Mariners are actually second in walks in the AL, only 3 behind the Red Sox. How are they doing it? “Walk this way” and I will show you:
Player
Walks
BA
OBP Spread
Jack Cust
23
.200
161
Justin Smoak
16
.315
98
Milton Bradley
13
.215
103
Ichiro
11
.304
52
Ryan Langerhans
11
.173
143
Brendan Ryan
8
.191
79
Chone Figgins
8
.222
48
Michael Saunders
7
.184
58
Luis Rodriguez
7
.220
127
Miguel Olivo
6
.200
36
Jack Wilson
4
.243
35
Adam Kennedy
4
.275
36
Chris Giminez
4
.263
128
The OBP spread is OBP – BA, it is a quick and dirty way to see how much of a players OBP comes from walks. A value of 100 is considered a very patient hitter, 60 would be about league average and a value of 40 would be a free swinger. I caution you that these numbers are skewed by sample size, but it does illustrate how you can be at the bottom of the league in scoring while being near the top in walks – THIS TEAM DOES NOT HIT. Putting guys on base is great, but it doesn’t help you if you don’t drive them in, which is the Mariners problem. If Eric Wedge handed me the keys to the castle for one day, this is the lineup you would see:
Figgins – 3B
Bradley – LF
Ichiro – RF
Smoak – 1B
Langerhans – CF
Cust – DH
Kennedy – 2B
Giminez – C
Ryan – SS
There isn’t much to work with and I hate Langerhans, but honestly, he is the best option for this lineup right now. If the bats eventually come around and the guys who are walking now continue to do so, this team will have a legitimate shot at a .500 record. If they continue to hit like a bunch of bush leaguers, I will stand by my original win prediction.
The NBA has a “relocation committee” headed by he-who-must-not-be-named-in-Seattle. In honor of the NBA, in its infinite wisdom, “allowing” the Sacramento Kings to stay in Sacramento for one more season before a decision is made on allowing them to move to Anaheim, I present you with how to move an NBA franchise in 13 easy steps:
Own a team in a smaller market like Seattle, Vancouver, Charlotte or Sacramento.
Build that team into a successful contender with a strong and loyal fan base (or buy a franchise already in that state in one of the smaller markets).
Start complaining about how your 20 year old arena, which had been good enough up to that point an provides your team with a great home court advantage, is no longer good enough because you don’t have 100 luxury boxes despite selling out all of your games and that you don’t get all of the revenue from the stadium that was built with money other than your own.
To prove your point, stop investing in quality player, causing the team to stop winning and people to stop coming to the games. In addition – keep the GM that has run your team into the cellar of the league and fire your coach (who can’t win with the player you are drafting) 3 or 4 times in the process (thanks to Lloyd for pointing out the omission)
As the attendance drops, start publically saying that you can’t compete since the outdated arena isn’t drawing fans and that the cure for that is a shiny new arena, built with public money of course, which the team gets all of the revenues from.
Lobby the state legislature, which is trying to cut budget deficits, to raise taxes on the local population to fund the stadium. Pepper them with promises of increased tax revenues, new jobs and more money pumped into the local economy, even though there is no evidence that any of those things come from a new stadium.
Wait for the legislature to vote. If they pass it, hold a big ceremony to celebrate your victory (although I would refrain from lighting the ceremonial cigars with $100 bills in public). Donate a few of the nosebleed seats (you know, the ones that are about 2 miles up behind the beams that you probably couldn’t sell anyway) to local underprivileged kids a year to show how you are “giving back to the community”. If you are successful in getting the stadium, go back to step one in 10 years, otherwise:
If they fail to pass the funding, let the team sink further, drawing less people and continue to point out the need for a new stadium and how the old stadium is completely ruining the franchise. Go back to the legislature with that.
If they still won’t give you a stadium, start finding other smaller markets without an NBA franchise and let them know you would be happy to move your team to that city and make them a major league city if they give you a shiny new stadium with 100 luxury boxes and all of the revenue build by public money. Good candidates for this are San Diego, Las Vegas, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Kansas City. This is plan B.
Use the aforementioned deal to try to hold your current state’s legislature hostage – meanwhile stocking up on young talent that will make you competitive in 2 -3 years.
If your current state’s legislature still won’t budge, start packing up the moving vans and take up city B on their offer, saying how much you regret having to move the team and how you feel bad for the people of your original city, but it is a business.
Move into city B’s shiny new building with your suddenly competitive team and talk about how happy you are to be there.
ESPN has published a list of the 200 best-paying teams. The top 10:
Rank
Team
Average Annual Salary Per Player
1
Barcelona
$7,910,737.00
2
Real Madrid
$7,356,632.00
3
New York Yankees
$6,756,301.00
4
Los Angeles Lakers
$6,540,690.00
5
Orlando Magic
$6,367,114.00
6
Chelsea
$6,020,741.00
7
Inter Milan
$5,999,643.00
8
Boston Red Sox
$5,991,203.00
9
Denver Nuggets
$5,990,174.00
10
Manchester City
$5,863,585.00
The M’s are #71 at $2.88m per player, the Seahawks are #80 at $2.80m per player — The top NFL team is the Redskins at #70, $2.91m per player.
In fact:
Soccer
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Rank
5
2
3
0
Top 10
10
6
9
0
Top 25
16
11
23
0
Top 50
Most of the NBA is clustered between $4.5 and $3.8 million per player per team, which happens to fall in the #26-#50 range.
Here’s an odd one: The top paying NHL team, the Detroit Red Wings, pay better than the best paying NFL team, the Washington Redskins. I hadn’t expected the NHL to pay that well. That’s also a byproduct of the NFL’s 20 game schedule and a 53-man rosters.
I’ve used All About The Benjamins elsewhere, so here’s Weird Al’s “All About The Pentiums.”
If you have a couple hundred dollars and a few hours this Thursday, you can head to the Sushi Chef Dream Team Event at the Bell Harbor Center. All of the proceeds go to the Japanese Earthquake victims. It is an impressive lineup, highlighted by the return of the almost completely retired Zen sushi master Shiro Kashiba, long of Shiro’s Sushi fame. The man rarely, if ever cuts sushi in his namesake restaurant anymore and this is probably one of your last chances to have sushi prepared by possibly the greatest sushi chef in Seattle history. This makes the price of admission worth it.
You really want this guy cutting your sushi. Trust me.
Nancy Leson asked today, “Who would be your sushi dream team?” For me, it would be Shiro, Hiroki Hajime from Mashiko’s in West Seattle and Ryu Nakano from Kisaku in Wallingford.
FlatbreadGarden 