Bar Bee Q

Flipping the channels I found a show on PBS called Barbeque U.   A couple of months ago I bought a big new fancy schmancy BBQ  (a great deal - $148 for a 4 burner stainless beauty) and have been on the look out for tips, so I tuned in.   The lead professor is not who I wanted telling me about BBQ, way too uppity.   Heck, his back yard BBQ was twice the size of our kitchen.   I want a redneck with a hillbilly accent named Bubba telling me how to BBQ.

 Those are the guys who know all the tricks I can use.  I don't want somebody who drinks a glass of carbernet (yep, he was swirling it around while he cooked) with their ribs.   He could have saved face if his drink had been Ripple or Boones Farm, or better yet a PBR, but telling me about his hand selected wine was too much.   Where is the channel changer......

 And by the way, Happy 4th everybody!

 

Get your barbeque on!

 

  A couple of hours after I posted the original blog  above, I was flipping the channels again - and what did I find?   Barbeque U, again.   This time they were grilling - are you ready for this - tofu!!!  Are you serious?  It better have mooed, oinked, or clucked to go on my grill.

Ups & Downs

First a down;

 
Oh, Cliffy....    I was told it was bad to be hit by the stupid stick, but methinks you might have been hit by the whole stinkin' tree.   Wow....no wonder the coaches have held back praise, they don't know what Nacho is going to do next or if he'll be able to stay on the field.  He seems to run the gamit from All-American punt returner to All-American idiot.   We can only hope for maturity to set in real soon! 

And an up;

Can you believe the way my Tigers are playing??   Half a game out of first at this writing.  Justin Verlander with a 9 - 3 record, 2.54 ERA, do I smell an All-Star start?

Sorry, went old school (1968, to be exact).   Keep up the roar!

Another down;

Whoa, Vancouver simmer down now!    If your goalie had kept his mouth shut, you may have stood a chance.  But let's limit the rioting (sure, this suggestion coming from a guy who loves a city famous for Devil's Night riots....)



Back up again (and a biggie);

Nicklas Lidstrom picked up the Norris Trophy for the top defenseman in the NHL - for the 7th time.  Not bad for a 41 year old who has played 19 seasons. Best news, he just signed on to skate for another year!

A Problem To Address

We have gone on about so many of the ills in sports recently that I have one that has long been shoved aside because of its horrific nature. 

It is cannibalism!  

From Mike Tyson's ear bite

 

to

Alex Burroughs finger chomp

   We have a problem.   Is it because we pay these elite athletes so little that they can't afford a decent meal?   Are the owners starving the players?   Are promoters keeping fighters locked away to make them fight like hungry dogs?   I dunno, but maybe we can take up a collection for these guys to pick up a burger and fries or something.  

Wow.....

What Are We Doing??

Recently I was reading the newspaper and saw an article on the local high school's spring football,  SPRING FOOTBALL????   Are you kidding me?   That is a college thing, not a high school thing!   Why do we insist on stealing youth from our young people?   Let kids be kids for a while.  Let them enjoy down time and do the things they won't get to do when they move into the responsibility of the adult world.  If this state's athletic governing body had any guts, they would set up a calendar with definite starting and ending times for each athletic season.  A calendar with dates that don't have seasons that overlap or allow for multiple seasons of one sport.   Sure, it has been a while (OK, quite a while) since I was a high school athlete, but I can't remember one season spilling over into the next - and there was at least a week between seasons.  Coaches encouraged you to play more than one sport.   Not now, coaches want you to specialize in their sport.   The pressure on coaches at the high school level is far too great.   Too many "supporters" (you know the ones who applaud you when you win and ask for your hide when you lose) have built up a pressure cooker for our high school coaches.   After all, every parent has a kid headed for a big time scholarship, right?   Better check the stats Dad, only 6% of high school footballers will earn a scholarship to an NCAA institution and only 1.7% of those will end up in the NFL.   Geez, get off their backs and just let the kids play, yeah the word is play, you know fun and all?  Stop making it a drudgery and stop trying to relive your glory years (or lack thereof).

WOW, soapbox stuff, huh.   I need to calm down.   Finally, I leave you with a line from John Cougar Mellencamp's reminiscing song Cherry Bomb;

"That's when a sport was a sport......"

We need to move back to those days.

The Other Shoe Finally Drops

     Most of us figured give it time and more would come out of the Ohio State situation - and boy did it!   In a big way we found out that the upright exterior of Jim Tressel was a facade.   He got swept up in all the crap that is wrong with college athletics - win at all costs.  In trying to protect his program and his players he got caught in too many lies - and the NCAA put the hammer down.   Don't feel too badly for Tressel, his paychecks had averaged around $3 million per year over his 10 seasons.

Hopefully he put a little away, perhaps he can invest in a new local business, 

Pryor's Used Cars

 

And now, what about Scam Newton, any news yet NCAA?

A Sweep?

You would think that the team entering PK Park with swagger and confidence should have been the Beavers, not so.   Oregon owned OSU all through the series, looking more like the Ducks had a conference crown on the line.   Duck pitchers had beleaguered Beaver batters baffled (nice alliteration, eh?).  OSU hitting was anemic, scoring 2 runs total in the series - which is nothing less than embarrassing.    Expectations were for the Beavs to play with intensity and focus, but alas, they looked like a deer in the headlights.

It said it all when the cameras showed coach Pat Casey with a bewildered look on his face, standing on the steps of the dugout during game 3.  Now they limp home with their tails between their legs (must be hard to walk that way) and get ready to host an NCAA Regional.   In post game interviews, OSU players said this was nothing to worry about, I'll bet Coach Casey begs to differ. 



Congrats to the Ducks on their season ending push, just not quite enough to get them into the post season.  But (insert optimism here) wait'll  next year.......

Fallen Heroes

Its been a while since my last blog and I apologize to any readers who had developed the bad habit of reading my ramblings.   Sometimes you just need a nudge to write.   It might be a triumph or a tragedy that pushes the urge to type.  This time it's the tragedies that we have felt over the past few months, people we have lost who directly or indirectly have had impacts on some or all of us.

First, Sparky Anderson

Skipper of my beloved Tigers, but more importantly the reason I took a high school head coaching job.   I had been contacted by the Athletic Director at the high school in my district and was asked to interview for the vacant baseball coaching job.   I initially declined, feeling my abilities lacking to do the job properly. On a trip with my Dad to Seattle to see the Tiges take on the Mariners, I read an interview the Seattle Times did with Sparky.  He stated that there were baseball guys out there that had greater technical knowledge than he, but he felt that the most important aspects of being the head guy was organization and people management.   After reading the article, I was contacted again by the A.D. and said yes to the interview, and subsequently got the job.   In my first year we won the district tournament, qualified for state, and gave me the opportunity to coach the league's MVP (which consisted of writing his name on the line up card every game).   Thanks Sparky.

Second, Dave Niehaus

This Mariner Hall of Fame broadcaster kept baseball fun, which all sports should be.   My Dad was a huge baseball fan, having taken me to see several games at old Tiger Stadium in Detroit.  His love for baseball was a common ground that kept us going until his death.   Listening to baseball broadcasts on an old kitchen radio was something he greatly enjoyed.   When the Pilots were in Seattle, we could barely get reception out in the sticks of eastern Oregon, but Dad would have his ear up close to the speaker to hear every play.  The enjoyment he got from listening to the games was something he passed on to me.   One of the best announcers ever to call a game, Dave Niehaus had wonderful catch phrases. Who can forget Niehaus' signature "My Oh My"

or his shout after a bases clearing tater, "Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time!"  He was a throw back to the old announcers who actually watched the game during broadcasts and could balance his anecdotes with the play on the field (are you getting the hint Joe G.?). We'll miss you, Dave.

And third, Officer Chris Kilcullen

I never met Officer Kilcullen, but from all reports he was a great guy.   He gave his life while doing his job, that of keeping us all safe.  An unnecessary tragedy that impacts all of us.   His untimely death reminds all of us how important it is to appreciate the people around you and to let them know of your appreciation.  Thank you Officer Kilcullen for all that you did in protecting us from each other. 

Rest In Peace.