Friday, March 31, 2006

Why I read Metafilter.

So apparently GM has started a contest. The person who makes the best commercial for the Chevy Tahoe wins. Unleash the power of the internet on the SUV, and you get...

this

this

and this.

These are not destined for a long life on the GM website, so check them out now.

Cheese

I needed some Gorgonzola for a sauce I'm going to serve some gnocchi under tonight. This dish is one of K's favorite things that I cook, and having lounged my way through Spring Break, I thought I would make it for her.

This entry isn't about K, though. It's about cheese.

I remembered today that there is a cheese shop in my neighborhood, and I thought it would be cool to go there, and then walk down the street to the grocery store and pick up some other things.

This isn't about the grocery store, though. It's about cheese.

So the Cheeseboard Collective is, in fact, a co-op that runs a shop with an amazing selection of cheeses. I told them I wanted some Gorgonzola, and they produced three varieties for me to sample, which were each unique. Also, they have a cookbook that features a blurb on the back by Mollie Katzen, who wrote the Moosewood cookbooks, and apparently lives in my neighborhood. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool, and will go there whenever a recipe calls for a cheese outside of the cheddar-mozarella range, or maybe if I'm passing by and want to try something cool. They had an English cheese that was rubbed with beer hops. I think I need to try that one soon.

If you're keeping score, I have now blogged about sports, whiskey, current events, and cheese.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

We'll be out there having fun...

So we're wrapping up the wettest March in Bay Area history. To date, it has rained on 24 of 30 days this month. It's enough to make me drink more coffee, don a flannel shirt, and form a band that plays songs consisting of chords I can play with 2 fingers.

I've been reading about the situation with the Duke Lacrosse team, and I am extremely anxious about it. Duke and Durham have a plantational relationship in a lot of ways, and I am hopeful that this will be a catalyst for dialogue, and hopefully, change. At the same time, the prospect of a group of rich white kids hiring high-octane lawyers to defend themselves in a rape trial is gut-wrenching. Every public rape trial is a powerful event, as it forms the frame of reference for rape survivors who are deciding whether or not to come forward. The Kobe Bryant trial was a nightmare for anyone who is interested in seeing rapists brought to justice, with the accuser's name being leaked and her character smeared across the national media, as what should have been a private trial became very, very public. Though all evidence is to the contrary, I hope that the media will not do the same disservice to rape survivors everywhere this time around.

For the second year in a row, Opening Day is not the lead story in the baseball press. I'm hopeful that the new investigation will provide some sort of resolution. Me, I'm a cliche kind of guy. When I see the players run out onto the impossibly green grass in some baseball cathedral and begin playing my favorite game, I'll be just fine.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Not just a sports blog.

In my profile, there are in fact interests listed which are not sports-related. I don't think I'll post much about theology, as I have more opportunities than I need to write about it elsewhere. I'll get around to writing about music, though it has been correctly said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I have not posted thus far about whiskey, though, and I think Spring Break makes an opportune time to start. Note: I am not currently drinking whiskey, as it is 12:00 PM, and I have a siginificant amount of reading to do. Anyway, I want to periodically post about a whiskey, or occasionally a rum that I like a lot.

Right now, I am really enjoying a bottle of Old Grand-Dad 114 bourbon, which has been one of my favorites for a couple of years. The Old Grand-Dad brand is produced by Jim Beam, but with a more rye-based mashbill than their other products. A mashbill, by the way, is the blend of grains used to make the whiskey. Bourbon, by law, must be 51% corn, but the rest is variable. Basil Hayden's, part of the Beam small-batch line, is from the same mashbill, watered down to 80 proof, and sold for about 30 bucks. It's a very good bourbon, but I paid 23 bucks for my OGD 114, which, as the name indicates, is 114 proof. I cut it with a little water, but I enjoy the warmth of the higher proof. It also dictates that I drink the bourbon slower, and in smaller quantities. You can do the math- this bourbon is a fantastic value. The heavy use of rye gives it a very spicy flavor, at the opposite end of the taste spectrum from a wheat based bourbon like Maker's Mark, but it is still a very smooth sipping whiskey. I don't have a large collection of whiskeys (I have three bottles in the cabinet right now), but the value and quality of this one will keep it in regular rotation. Also, as you can see, it looks really cool.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Man enough to admit when I'm wrong

I'd like to issue an apology to the SEC. You came ready to play, and you'll make up half of the Final Four, joined by no teams from the ACC or Big East. Also, neither SEC team that will be playing next weekend is Kentucky. Well done. As for the Big East, let's all just realize that they were overrated this year. The ACC underperformed as well, but let's not take anything away from the grand failure to achieve by the Big East this year.

That said, I can't stand the thought of Billy Donavan winning a title. Anyone else, I'm cool with. Particularly George Mason and LSU.

K and I bought tickets to see Jim Gaffigan in SF in a couple of weeks. That's going to be excellent. We spent today enjoying the beautiful weather here in Berkeley, walking around the Marina and checking out the Lawrence Hall of Science, which offers this view.

I'm on spring break now, which means sleeping a little more, and still reading for school. I'll temper the academic reading with some preparatory baseball reading and some cooking. It's a nice chance to catch my breath.

Friday, March 24, 2006

The media on the media.

I think that this column is pretty funny, and I find it therapeutic. I also think that it is completely asinine, since it appeared on ESPN.com. If ESPN wants to actually improve the content of sports reporting (they don't, but bear with me), then the logical solution is exactly the same as for any media outlet in real news that decries the overly cliched, tired storylines we all see every single day. Stop broadcasting it 24 hours a day. ESPNews is probably the most significant driving force behind the phenomenon Hruby describes, since they have to talk about sports every minute of every day.

Sportscenter is enough of a stretch, especially during NFL season when the days with games are outnumbered 5-2 by the days on which professional football is not played. A mandatory hour of programming, on a national level, about the days events in sports is just going to run out of interesting material most days. Throw in the league-specific shows (Baseball Tonight, etc), and you have a situation in which a schmo like Chris Berman enjoys gainful employment because he can rattle off cliches for an hour and portray what in the corporate world would be called a decent work ethic as a symbol of an athlete's iconic status . Sports, like every other media genre, simply cannot provide enough content to fill the available airtime. Let's turn to Digger Phelps for analysis...

Stu Sez...

I'd like to point out that last night on Sportscenter, Stu Scott said, "Aw, Przybilla's here, Baby Bubba."

Thursday, March 23, 2006

LSU

That's the best thing an SEC team has done in a long, long time.

J.J. cried.

My apologies to Kate for the fact that J.J. crying makes me happy. I'm not proud of it.

Thanks to Eric for making me aware of the game. I can't actually watch Duke games without yelling at the TV.



I now covet this book. I should also check Amazon to see if they have any books about the Pacific Coast League, as reading Joe DiMaggio's biography last summer really piqued my interest in it.






This art installation at, of all places, the Sacramento airport, is also something I'd like to check out, though I can't imagine actually going to Sacto to see a skyway in their airport. Now that I think about it, they do have the highest-drawing AAA team in the country up there, so it could be feasible.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Time for another Sports Guy citation:

Troy (Gainesville, FL): Since you apparently have immunity to talk about announcers today, any thoughts on the MNF booth?

Bill Simmons: (1:41 PM ET ) I'm delighted about Kornheiser, he's one of my all-time favorites and I think he was meant to be in that Cosell role. Seriously. he's going to be great. Also really like Mike Tirico as a play by play guy. He's excellent. Um ... that's really all I can think of ... um ...

I don't want to talk about Joe Theismann either. Not sure I spelled that name right. Not gonna look it up. He's a punk.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

So Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

That's all, really. Just that Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

Also, Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

Like the old days...

Oh, man, what a busy week. Two papers due on Thursday, a meeting with my advisor today (about thesis topics), and a whole lot of reading. Of course, it follows a fine weekend, spent showing Mike the sights and sounds of the Bay Area, consuming much fine beer (Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale has entered my beer pantheon, joining Left Hand Sawtooth Ale, Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA, and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout), and attending a David Gray concert (Thanks Mike for the ticket), where I fell trying to get to the aisle, and busted my hip. The bruise is a free souvenir.

Of course, UNC lost. The saddest thing about it is seeing David Noel go. The record book will never show it, but all of us know that he's one of the finest Heels ever.

Next week is Spring Break. I'll spend it catching up on some reading I've missed, reacquainting myself with my guitar, and cooking fine food for my wife.

Well, off to class, and then home to write a paper. I'd like to ratchet the stress level down so I can return to being a decent person again.

D, my professor and friend, points out that Theo Epstein is Michael Corleone, especially after getting Arroyo to sign a lesser contract to stay in Boston, and subsequently trading him for Wily Mo Pena. That's cold.

Opening Day is in 12 days.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

David Ortiz update

The home run I mentioned on Monday can be viewed here.
It's under Monday, March 13th, titled "David Ortiz hits a long homer."
Badass.

A thousand words....

Now accepting caption suggestions.

Monday, March 13, 2006

If you want to see someone absolutely jack the hell out of a baseball, the shot David Ortiz just hit in the 5th inning of the D.R. / Cuba game is footage you should seek out. As John Lowenstein used to say during O's games, he hit the mud out of that one.

I just made a sandwich on a bagel with turkey, some fresh basil, and a slice of tomato, but I had some fresh mozarella left over from the other night (so is it still fresh? It was the soft kind. That's what I'm driving at). So I put a slab of it on the sandwich and ran it under the broiler. It was at that moment that it transcended mere sandwichness and became the embodiment of goodness. I should have saved it. People could have gazed at it, understood what it is to be good, and thus enlightened, gone on to live beautiful, peaceful lives. But I ate it.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Nothing says "Why don't you just have another gin and tonic?" like a Ron White special. Nothing.

UNC got beat for the second time by BC today. Tyler Hansbrough has now seen a big man who is better than him (Craig Smith), and I think that it can only make next year better for UNC. This also is the point at which I am required to point out that Roy Williams does not put much stock in a conference tournament, though that is not why we got beat today. We got beat because BC took our boys to school in the paint.

One of my professors and his wife are coming over for dinner tomorrow. Grad school could not be more different from undergrad at this point.

I read the cover story in the latest Harper's and I find it compelling, if not a cause for hope.

Friday, March 10, 2006

So this year, as is the case for most years where Stanford and Arizona are not peaking, West Coast college basketball is just a pale shadow of the game played back East. Nonetheless, you can never underestimate the lengths to which college kids will go just to mess with a scholarship athlete. Thanks to Chris for pointing this one out to me.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Quoth the Sports Guy:
If you missed the UNC-Duke game, not only is UNC for real, but Tyler Hansbrough is the first 2005-06 college player who makes me feel, "All right, there's a guy who's a mortal lock to be an excellent pro." I know he's not coming out this summer … but it needs to be said. The guy never stops hustling. He can create his shot going left and going right. He already has a post-up move. He can use his body in traffic. He has 3-point range. He even seems to play bigger in big games. I love this kid. Twenty more players like him, LaMarcus Aldridge and Adam Morrison and I'd really be excited about the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Anyway, when you're filling out your bracket next week, watch out for the Tar Heels -- maybe they're a little young, but they keep getting better and better, they're athletic as hell, they have a very good coach, they're road-tested, and they have a franchise guy.
This from a writer who doesn't even like college basketball that much. I really enjoy knowing that my team has the best coach in the country.
I'm watching Championship Week from the Left Coast for the first time. Instead of the rightful hegemony of the ACC Tournament that I grew up with, I'm left watching the Big East, Big Ten, and PAC-10 tournaments right now. The first two are at least good conferences this year, and I don't mind them, but I miss the ACC.
As Big Country mentioned in his post today, the ACC tournament is back in Greensboro, where it belongs (the ACC was founded and is headquartered in Greensboro, a city which built a 23,000 seat arena pretty much just for the tournament). I went to high school in Greensboro, where we would sneak our portable radios into school, and listen to games during class, through headphones. What I'm saying is that I don't really care if Georgetown beats Marquette, but I would really like to watch Florida State play Wake Forest. I want to listen to Woody Durham talk for 12 straight hours during the early rounds. I want to listen to the fans from other school join in cheering for any team that plays against Duke or UNC. If you grew up in ACC country, you understand why no other conference can compare this week.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Thanks to Jeff for the picture.
I'm watching USA - Canada in the World Baseball Classic right now. A couple of years ago, my friend Buck and I, along with our wives, went and saw the same matchup in Durham, though the teams were of inferior pedigree. That USA / Canada game was one of the poorest baseball games I've seen in terms of quality of play, though our seats were fantastic. The game on TV right now is not looking a whole lot better- I will soon be studying while watching it.

I drove my car down Lombard Street yesterday, while showing my brother some of the sights in the city. It's one-way, so you can't drive up it- they have straight streets that go up the hill. The most exciting part of it was when a motorcyclist passed me ON LOMBARD STREET. Having negotiated that section of town with my Subaru and its manual transmission, I now feel like a competent driver once again. I noticed all of the stoplights and everything.

They still do not have a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. This bothers me, and apparently it bothers the San Francisco Chronicle as well. There's a notion out here that "what you do to yourself is your business," and while I can understand and generally endorse that, I think that the devastating effectiveness and popularity of jumping off the Golden Gate call for some action.

This is the first of what will be many posts on this blog that have nothing to do with theology.