Friday Football Foodie – Happy Endings

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house, despite all the comforts of home. Maybe you want to have a crowd around you. Maybe you don’t get the NFL Network or the Sunday Ticket. Maybe you unwisely painted your house over the Thanksgiving break, and between the fumes and the giant pile of stuff that you have to move back into place and OMG STARTERBOYFRIEND YOU SUGGESTED THIS MESS NOW GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I BEAT YOU WITH THE PAINT ROLLER AND NO I DO NOT THINK THAT GREEN FOR THE LIVING ROOM IS TOO MINTY AND NO YOU CANNOT HIRE DAY LABORERS AT HOME DEPOT, I DON’T CARE HOW FUNNY THAT EPISODE OF SOUTH PARK WAS.

Ahem. Yes, we went Happy Endings twice last weekend to escape and watch sports.

Sunday afternoon we better prepared to do a Foodie review, and invited Signal2Noise to join us in food and football, the greatest combination in the world.

So what happens when a former chain location goes frat house? Mostly better than you expect, with a few drawbacks.

Cowboys 37 Packers 27

Sympathies to Texas Gal for the injuries to her boy man Favre, but I think she’ll be okay now that her Cowboys have clinched a playoff with tonight’s win. Tony Romo went 19-30 for 309 yards in a game that saw more long bombs than the South Pacific, racking up four touchdowns and setting a club record 33 TDs on the season.

Now for the pretty pictures.

I swear Favre is flexing his older man ass as not to be outdone by the young gun.

Hit and Run: A funny thing happened on the way to the Coliseum

The Dodgers announced this week that they will be playing an exhibition game against Red Sox next Spring at the Coliseum as part of their “move to Los Angeles” 50 year anniversary celebration. (No word on matching protests in Brooklyn.) The Coliseum was legendary for its shallow left field – 250 feet from home plate – and the giant screen that marked where they outfield ended.

Interestingly enough, the USC Trojans are doing some saber-rattling over leaving the Coliseum in favor of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena after disagreeing with the City over building improvements and lease terms. (Ed. Note – Why some sad sacks think that building can still be improved enough to be a modern NFL facility is beyond me.) This of course leading up the big game this week against UCLA at – you guess it – the Rose Bowl. With a win, USC can clinch a spot in… wait for it… the Rose Bowl.

We need some Booty to show us where to go.

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 12

ROMO! I don’t even know what to say to you now that you’ve been linked to Jessica Simpson. Carrie Underwood, great. Britney Spears, nothing happened. Other random starlet, fine. Jessica Simpson is about fifteen types of crazy before you start hanging with her wacko stage father, who apparently you spent Thanksgiving with.

AND you still have belly fat. I WANT TO LIKE YOU BUT GODDAMIT YOU MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT.

“Someone needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself.”

Did any player strike more fear into his own team than Eric Gagne? And while it was fun to watch Red Sox Nation hold its collective breath every time he warmed up in the bullpen, he wasn’t brought to Boston for his innate ability to add a little excitement in once-previous-close-games. Gagne is the gourmet Whole Foods free-range bird you pay dearly for, but ends up tasting like a low-class Butterball.

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 11 – Hyperbole Edition

The beauty in watching pro-football is not in the speed of the receivers, not in the strength of the running backs, and not in size of the linemen. You might catch a glimpse of it in the leap of cornerback about to make an interception or when a tackle might move faster than a big guy should, but true beauty lies elsewhere on the field. Beauty appears in the moments that giants rise above the apparent chaos and see exactly what is happening across the turf.

Pink Locker Room

First thing’s first:  my apologies to Mizzou and Oklahoma State fans out there.  Last week I forgot that just because the Big Ten is done doesn’t mean other conferences are and (obviously, now) the Big 12 Championship Game still hasn’t been determined.  Ooops!  Congrats to Kansas on remaining undefeated and a big “yikes!” to Oregon and Oklahoma.  Now let’s see how the Ladies’ teams fared….

Holly:  Tennessee 25, Vanderbilt 24.  Sing along if you know the words:  You’re killing me, Vols.  I was roundly taunted for fearing this game; and spent most of it feeling ill that my dread was completely justified. Saturday was Senior Day.  Erik Ainge‘s last run through the T into Neyland.  I’ve loved and cheered him since he was a freshman, and he deserved better than what he got this year…but a win is a win, particularly in a conference that could end up with eleven bowl-eligible teams, and he’s soldiered on through a mad carousel of receivers and a host of injuries (enjoy the closeup of his mangled throwing hand!).  You left nothing on the field, Erik, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Two more games for certain…and Ainge deserves three.  He gave his all for Tennessee.  Let’s get him to Atlanta, boys.  Oh, and as for yesterday?  To borrow from my good buddy TCG borrowing from me:  Happy trails, assholes.  You’re still Vandy.

Friday Football Foodie – Smörgåsbord – UPDATED WITH GAME PLAY

Quick update I’m throwing at the top, since I was too hungover to really talk football this morning.  You have to play “The Last Hope“, a great little game done by the guys over at Doubt About It.   (Found via Christmas Ape’s DC Steeler Nation.)  Power ups are Lombardi trophies, Art Rooney, and hottie Tomlin. I will probably spend the rest of the day on this.    Now back to the main post. 

When I was in the high school choir, the greatest thing you could look forward too was the trip to Disneyworld for choral competition. (I believe they use the word “adjudication” instead of “competition”, but that’s besides the point.)

Anyway, one of the highlights of this trip was a visit to the Swedish Smörgåsbord restaurant, not because of the Medieval Times feel of the place but because there is nothing funnier to a bunch of 15 year-olds that saying “Swedish Smörgåsbord… Bork bork bork” at least 10,000 times on the flight down. (Which is reaches its point of hilarity when one of the Karas asks a very black man if he is he “Swedish chef” at one of the carving stations, not even thinking for a second that might possibly be one of the most offensive questions ever uttered in Orlando.)

So what is my point? It has been a really busy week here at TSW HQ what with birthdays, going out to various events every night with two more parties yet to go this weekend (I’m starting to seriously get the Vince Vaughn / Jon Cusack bloat going on this week with all the drinking and such) and I really didn’t get it together to do a decent FFF. As a matter of fact, I am putting this together at 9:30 in the morning hoping to get it done by 10 so I am not too late for work.

What does this mean for you fine reader? It means I am going to just throw up a smattering of pictures of things that have been going on here with a receipe or two mixed in and calling it a Smörgåsbord.

Hit and Run: November 14, 2007

Xavier Nady, Pittsburgh Pirates 

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 10

More crunches and less Nestle for you, Mr. Romo.

Pink Locker Room

These last few weekends of football should prove to be pretty interesting.  I cannot wait to see what shakes out of the LSU-Oregon-Oklahoma-Kansas-West Virginia group.  I am particularly excited, barring something weird happening at either Iowa State or Texas Tech, to see the Big 12 Championship game between Kansas and Oklahoma.  Let’s check in with our favorites Ladies’ teams….

Holly:  Tennessee 34, Arkansas 13.  This is only the second complete game the Vols have played this season (aided and abetted by an inexplicably abysmal game on both sides of the ball for the Razorbacks), but it couldn’t have come at a better time. Arkansas superstar and would-be Heisman frontrunner Darren McFadden was held to 117 yards.  Sounds like a lot until you remember he hung 321 on South Carolina last week. Our defense is back (for only the second time this season) to their smashmouth selves, and if we win out (far from certain with Kentucky and a spoiler-happy Vanderbilt team on the horizon), we’ll be punching tickets to the SEC Championship game.

Hit and Run, November 7, 2007: Things You Probably Did Not Know

Australian surfer Mick Fanning won the Hang Loose Catarina Pro event in Brazil yesterday beating out defending two-year title holder Kelly Slater and fellow Aussie Taj Burrows to clinch the 2007 World Championship. You cannot see him from here on the shore, but trust me when I say he’s everything a blonde, blue-eyes Australian surfer should look like.

OK, don’t trust me.

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 9

Hi. My name is TheStarterWife and I write the Ladies Quarterback Fantasy Football update each week. This is probably one of the least popular columns we run – even among the Ladies – but still here I am plugging along. And since no one really reads this update, no one is going to notice what happens next…

Pink Locker Room

Another week of college football sees undefeated Boston College fall to Florida State, which I laughed pretty hard about. AZ State fell to Oregon, leaving Ohio State, Kansas and Hawaii as the only unbeaten teams left. Personally, I’d like to see the National Title game as some combination from Oregon, Oklahoma and LSU, but if Kansas and Ohio State stay undefeated…we could end up with the most horrible National Title game EV-ER. Manboobs McCupcakes versus Cheaty McSweatervest. A real barn-burner whenever those two teams get together. But let’s find out how the Ladies’ teams did…

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 8

True, he did not play this week as the Cowboys were on a bye week. And yes, he spent the weekend hanging out at fashionable Ketchup in LA (Who wouldn’t want a Kobe beef mini-hot dog with Kobe beef chili? I hate chili but cannot resist that dish.) and then get lap dances from Britney Spears at Le Deux while Ryan Seacrest takes notes in the corner.

But what makes him the hottie of the week? Try a $67 million six-year deal with about $30 million in guarantees.

Hey Tony… need a lap dance?

Congratulations World Series Champs Boston Red Sox

We’re sure to get the full “I Was There For My Team Winning the World Series” story from GordonShumway and Texas Gal once they come back to Earth. In the meantime, congratulations to the Hotties of the Boston Red Sox on winning the 2007 World Series.

More Papelbon, Ellsbury, Beckett, and Lowell after the jump.

Friday Football Foodie – Breakfast Strata and Blueberry Beer Reviews

We all know how debilitating a bye week can be. My Steelers were flat in the first half of last week’s game against the Broncos after the bye. (I prefer not to thinking about the fact that of all the teams that had bye in that Week 6 – Bills, Broncos, Lions, Colts, Steelers, and 49ers – Pittsburgh and San Francisco were the only ones who lost in Week 7.) In the World Series, we’re seeing what a nine-day layoff can do to a team on a winning streak.

What am I saying other than I have no idea what to use for an intro this week? I’m saying that I made this strata about three weeks ago and when I opened up the pictures, it took me a little bit to remember what I had done. The good thing about football and stratas is that if you remember the basics, ball in the end zone, blocking, bread and egg custard, the rest is up to you.

This week: Breakfast Strata and Reviews of Blueberry Beers – Kennebunkport Blueberry Wheat Ale, SeaDog Bluepaw Wheat Ale, and Marin Brewing Company Blueberry.

You will need…

Lego Matt Holliday

Huh. I never noticed this until today.

I wonder what Batgirl would think.

NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Auctions – UPDATE

Yesterday I posted about the NFL’s lack of follow-through in their Breast Cancer Awareness auctions. The big sites like Deadspin, SportsByBrooks, Dan Shanoff, Larry Brown Sports, and MJD’s The Debriefing over at the Fanhouse picked up on the story and helped spread the word that maybe the League should do more than just throw pink on coaches and fulfill their promise to do some fund raising.

Not that we have anything to do with it, but overnight NFL Auctions has placed a few more items up for bid. (Buried on page three, but they are there.)

Take the time to check out and hopefully bid on towels, hats, and mini-helmets from Mike Holgrem, Marcus Trufant, Deion Branch, Julian Peterson, Lofa Tatupu, Patrick Kearney, and Matt Hasselbeck.

Would have been nice to have this all up when the pink ribbon campaign was up, but late is better than never. We’ll keep updating you as more items – hopefully – go up.

1 in 8 Ladies Will Develop Breast Cancer in Her Lifetime – UPDATE

The NFL heavily promoted their Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, but what did it add up to other than coaches and officials wearing pink ribbons?

One of their highly touted initiatives was the use of the special pink towels by the players in games on October 7. From the press release, “Pink Gatorade Towels: Players will use special-edition pink Gatorade towels on the sidelines during the games. Players will autograph these towels and other pink merchandise, which will be put up for bid on NFL Auction, with proceeds going to breast cancer organizations.”

And this was the picture on NFL Auctions all month -

But where were the items? All month I waited to see what went up. You know what was auctioned off? Two towels. Two. A Peyton Manning signed towel and a Vince Young signed towel.

Two. Towels.

Now, I don’t want to accuse the League of window dressing and lip service, but in researching exactly what each team was doing for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (The word “awareness” always infuriates me, who is not “aware” by now?) at least a dozen or so teams mentioned this auction. So what happened? Where are the rest of the items? Isn’t fundraising just as important – if not more so – than making sure all the refs are wearing pink wristbands? I took that screenshot on Monday and yesterday the pink ribbon was taken down. So was it really all a bunch of hype for very little?

UPDATE: Overnight NFL Auctions finally put more items up for bid.  Check out our post here for a full listing.  Thanks to SportsbyBrooks, Deadspin, Dan Shanoff, and MJD at the Fanhouse for helping spread the word yesterday. 

Each team also participated to varying levels with a few glaring omissions. (We know Brady and Belichick are all about the boobies, so the Pats not even doing anything with their cheerleaders or with the ZTA sorority this season is shocking.) Let’s look at the complete rundown.

Stand By Your Man – Week 7

Is there anyone more crushing to Fantasy Football owners than Tom Brady? (That is, unless you drafted Tom Brady?) His 188.10 total points for the season smoke second place Tony Romo (150.46) in the league.

Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge what geniuses we are by not drafting Brady Quinn in our all-hottie league. Not only is he still riding the pine, but the Browns starter Derek Anderson is in third with his 120.84 points. And, QUITE FRANKLY, he’s hotter than Brady in my book. More rugged. More manly. Poised even.

Friday Football Foodie – Cuban Sandwiches, Tonics, and Smokin’ BBQ Cheddar Chips

Up to this point, all of the FFF posts have been items that you make beforehand so your ass can sit in its rightful place on the sofa come kickoff.

Since my team had the BYE last week, I was able to relax a little (DAMMIT WARD GET HEALTHY ALREADY) and make a football snack that required me to spend a little more time in the kitchen. (As I have noted before, I have this small superstition that if you are more concerned about the action off the field at game time, the more likely it is that your team is going to lose. My mojo/karma/good wishes were certainly not required for the Dolphins-Browns and Pats-Cowboys games.)

This week: Cuban Sandwiches, Tonics, and new product review – Smokin’ BBQ Cheddar Chips

You will need -

Week 6 – Shaking up the Stand By Your Man Posts. Again.

TSW - Hey Holly and SA – Did you see this headline yet?
*wonders what the sound of two exploding heads is like*

Holly – HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

In all seriousness: No surprise this year, really, with all the new receivers the Pats acquired and the resurgence of the Colts’ running game. They’re basically running our 2005 offense, the premise of which is: Of the eleven guys on the field, be able to throw to about eight of them. Should be a lot of fun to watch.

And yes, it’s nice for Tom to finally reach Peyton’s level. A lofty aspiration for a Wolverine–I’m happy for him! ;)

SA – OH. NO. YOU. DIDN’T.

What To Do on a Bye Week

This weekend is the Steelers bye week, which means I should be free to do whatever I want today, I don’t have to watch football all day. And really, am I not a cosmopolitan lady who can find a way to fill a Sunday with something a bit more meaningful than the Dolphins-Browns game?

Just think of everything you could be doing with your bye week:

1. Do your Christmas shopping! And not just because the bargains are terrific this time of year. Come December when the NFL playoff hunt is in full swing and the malls are at their craziest, you’ll be able loaf around on the sofa every weekend guilt-free while all those sad sacks are trying to catch scores on Best Buy displays.

Friday Football Foodie – Dave’s Hot Beef Dip, Kahlua and Coffee, and Salt & Pepper Pita Chips

This week’s Friday Football Foodie dish was submitted by Dave’s Football Blog, home to anything foot and ball. Soccer of every color and stripe, rugby, Aussie rules, CFL, and of course, American gridiron. (Dave also runs a chill music podcast over at Dave’s Lounge, which I highly recommend.)

Dave first posted the recipe for the Hot Beef Dip back for Super Bowl XL – predicting a Steelers’ win, naturally – but this recipe is really too good to wait for a special event game, especially as we head into fall and heartier football snacking.

You will need…

For Whom The Babe Roots: NLCS

A phenomenon known as “base-ball” has been making headlines around these parts since the inception of the site. The alleged “National League Championship Series” is upon us…time to pick a side or go home. In the red corner: TheStarterWife and Clare, freestylin’ for the Diamondbacks. In the purple corner: Lady Andrea, Metschick, and surprise special guest star tap the Rockies, if you know what I mean. (Don’t feel bad. There is no force in the universe that could have stopped me from making that joke.)

Leading off, the lovely TSW, with her plea for the boys of Arizona:

Why does Stephen Drew smile, other than the fact he is the talented Drew brother? Fucking hit .500 against the Cubbies with two homes and four RBIs, that’s why.

Dear Reebok – Cat We All Just Get Along?

Be a woman. Be a fan.

Spend any amount of time watching the NFL this season and you cannot miss this ad featuring some Giants and Jets pals getting together to watch the game. [Youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=kixvRbdzqS0]

Why be so subtle? Isn’t the subtext of this commercial really this?

Stand By Your Man – Fantasy QB Results: Week 5

Week 5. Really. It is already Week 5. One-third of the regular season is done and gone.

Tom Brady remains the only undefeated QB (surprisingly in head to head QB match-ups Peyton Manning is 2-3 in this league), and Clare’s Speckhosen finally come back to earth with a loss this weekend leaving her tied with SA and myself at 4-1.

This weekend also saw GordonShumway’s Jake Delhomme go out for the season, so she might want to consider sending her third stringer Jay Cutler a few casual, “How’ve you been” emails while Drew Brees proves to be the flakiest date of the season.

Pink Locker Room

I feel like this week it should be the Orange Locker Room, since Holly’s Volunteers so thoroughly kicked Georgia’s ass. Thank god for small favors, like USC’s upset and Notre Dame finally getting a win, which caused most of the campus to play in a giant fountain and the reflecting pool by TD Jesus. That was actually pretty fun. I can take a wee bit of solace in those things because I sure as hell am not finding any in Iowa. Let’s see how the other Ladies are feeling…..

Metschick: Well, I guess Rutgers has shown that they are what we thought they were – a mediocre team that had been feasting on cupcakes. Now they’ve lost two in a row, including their Big East opener, although losing to the Bearcats isn’t a horrible thing. They’re a very good team, but I still wish Rutgers had won.

And this is why I didn’t want to invest further in college football. I’m already a Mets fan – I don’t think I can handle the additional heartache of another team. I honestly wasn’t expecting an undefeated season. But after the criticism of the soft early schedule, RU is really looking subpar when facing real competition. Oh, and I wish we had a bionic quarterback like Ben Mauk instead of Mike Teel. Does he understand that he’s supposed to throw to the guys in scarlet? Because none of the Knights deserve it, and because I couldn’t find a good picture of Haruki Nakamura, here’s Ben Mauk:

Friday Football Foodie – Overnight French Toast Casserole and Framboise

Sometimes it takes two things to make one great performance. Sigfried and Roy. Captain and Tennille. Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner. (Although Leinart better shutty-his-uppy about splitting time with Warner, and remember that his team won with the two-QB system last week.)

The FFF is back to brunch this week for the 10am games in the PST, with a recipe that part Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole and part The Joy of Cooking’s Overnight Baked French Toast. (Recipe not online, page 809 in the 1997 edition.)

Part of the beauty of this dish is all the work – what little work there is – is done the evening before brunch, leaving you to sleep in until past 9am on game day for a change. (And I bet Paula Deen would cry less than Leinart over sharing the creation of this breakfast.)

You will need…