Drew

I really don't care who the Yankees hire, because no matter who gets hired or fired or who stays, ESPN will be shelving World Series coverage to rehash it all. If I didn't have to hear about Boston and the Yankees as if they were the only two teams in baseball, I would hate them a lot less.

For that pop about Bruce Froemming, I wish for nothing more than a perpetual torment of Dan Iassogna's house-of-mirrors strike zone.

Was he wearing pants when he took the mound?

Eckstein was above-average in the AL--putting up numbers to finish 4th in Rookie of the Year balloting in 2001 and 11th in MVP voting in 2002, following with two average years. 2x NL All-Star. IMO, he and Edgar Renteria are two guys who benefit from playing in the National League, two guys who had trouble hitting AL pitching. Upside, he's not the human corkscrew 0-for-Juan is, but with no power. I'm interested, but cautiously optimistic.

QUOTE(knightni @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 07:48 PM) She's a human Pez dispenser. I'd totally smash that but if you're talking about TV cook honeys, Nigella Lawson is where it's at:

I can rarely make it through an entire Dinner: Impossible because of Irvine's whiny voiceovers. And his food usually does not seem particularly exciting, just that he prepares a whole lot of things with minimal resources in a very quick turnaround. But for obvious reasons I enjoyed this one. I'm a huge Good Eats fan as I conceive things to cook just as much on technique as I do on ingredients, and as far as straight-ahead cooking shows, Barefoot Contessa and Molto Mario. Rachael Ray I find abrasive and patronizing, and Sandra Lee is horrific. Food, for me, is a creative hobby like other people draw or paint. No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel and America's Test Kitchen with Christopher Kimball on PBS I also highly recommend.

So I tried looking for this but since the search engine seems to be inoperative, I wasn't able to see if this had already been posted. Cooking is a big hobby of mine, I sometimes do side gigs as a catering chef or bartender, and at any given time have at least half a dozen Food Network shows on my DVR. Just tonight I caught Robert Irvine of Dinner: Impossible wearing a Sox jersey and cooking in the outfield kitchens with Ron Kittle, preparing a patio feast for a retired Chicago cop and 200 of his friends by the 7th inning stretch and using only ingredients found in the Stadium commissary. While a brat with melted American cheese wrapped in a seared flour tortilla, Swedish meatballs, and Dippin' Dots tossed in margarita mix are not necessarily what I'd consider 'gourmet' or anything that could sway me from Polish and grilled onions on the 500 level, Bill Veeck, the father of modern ballpark eats is either beaming or rolling over in his grave, I can't decide which. All in all, a fun show that is a diversion from a dismal season. I wondered if anyone else has seen yet. I can't imagine I'm the first or that this is even the first time it's aired.

Pods throws someone out. Who'd have thunk?

Ridiculous. Nickel-and-diming your franchise player out of town. Can't say I haven't seen Reinsdorf do this before, though.

Congrats, Fatty.

And they drink Old Style. Even their beer sucks.

Most importantly, the Cubs have been on WGN, which means anyone anywhere could watch them while the White Sox have been plagued with retarded broadcasting decisions fueled by greed. Contrast that to the 1960s, where after a resurgence in popularity provided by the Go-Go Sox, the White Sox went to UHF broadcasts when less than a third of the TV sets in America could view UHF. And then in the 1980s, the Winning Ugly '83 season was a pay-per-view affair on SportsVision. Eventually the White Sox would be on cable, but at a time when not many people had cable TV. And the games in Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim weren't airing in the Midwest until 9-ish, putting it past the bedtime of its most important demographic in creating a new generation of fans. Kids. Kids need mommy and daddy to take them to the games, to buy them the caps and jerseys. While no other team played all their home games by day, only Texas was saddled with the time zone differential for their road broadcasts. But the Cubs were always on WGN, where anyone could watch, and after school. I watched loads of Cub games because I loved baseball. In the early 1990s, the Sox picked up some momentum. A new park, Michael Jordan's minor league stunt, Frank Thomas, and those cool new silver and black jerseys reignited some fervor for the South Siders, but they could never keep up the momentum. If the White Sox continue to put a good team on the field, keep things affordable, and court families in their marketing efforts, they can turn it around but it is a change that will take a generation or so. I think that the White Sox would be a better team if they ran their franchise the way Arte Moreno runs the Angels. The guy puts a competitive product on the field but somehow finds a way to keep ticket prices down and parking is only $8.

I wouldn't deal Buehrle for Crisp straight up but toss in some other pieces and maybe there'd be something at least listenable.

I grew up watching the Sox and thinking that October was for other teams but not the White Sox. On one hand, '05 to now goes to show how many variables that need to click in unison to really do something great. We caught lightning in a bottle with all the off-season dealings KW made. Why I haven't been watching the games lately is because I'd rather spend the time not being obsessively pissed off about how the team is playing on how it seems that Jerry Reinsdorf is mothballing the Comissioner's Trophy and burrowing in for another couple of decades' worth of suckdom. All the rah-rah on the team site about meetings with Thome, Konerko, and Dye about how they think this team has it in them--show us the money already. Obviously this team is not getting it done, yet nobody seems to have any urgency to make changes.

George Steinbrenner. Overpaying set the bar ridiculously high for everyone.

Time to scrape the s*** right off our shoes...

Thank you for '05, Kenny Williams Thank you for this great and awful crew...

I have a hard time voting for someone to play a position they only play 15 games a year, which is why I rarely if ever vote for Papi at 1B.

I'm going to go with 2009.

Trust me on Lawrence.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Jun 20, 2007 -> 12:17 AM) I'm going to at least one game that weekend too. It should be good times. I like the park though it could use an update. As for KC itself, it's a nice area but I haven't heard about that much to do other than look at fountains and eat barbeque. I did a little growing up there and I've recently been to visit family a few times and, well...there isn't much going on in downtown KC. Go a little bit south and there's the American Jazz Museum (which shares a building with the Negro League Hall of Fame) and the 18th and Vine Jazz District. The District itself wasn't much to speak of last I was there, about 3 years ago. It was a few façades of old jazz clubs, most notably the Hey Hey, a regular haunt of the Basie band, Jay McShann, and Charlie Parker in the 1930s and 40s. The Jazz Museum is a good place to spend a couple of hours, although if you're into jazz it's probably not much you don't already know. (I used to spin swing music for dancers). Westport is a cool little 'hood south of downtown which is like a tamer Wicker Park, the Plaza is a little farther north for ritzier, oft-touristy hangs--think a miniaturized River North. For barbecue, Gates has the best sauce in KC, although I'd side with the Smokestack for the best meat. Arthur Bryant's and Jack Stack you can't go wrong. Stroud's is great for fried chicken. If you've got more than a few hours to kill, I'd suggest hauling about an hour west to Lawrence, KS and cozy up to a few Boulevard Wheats in any of the bohemian dives of Massachusetts St. Lots of bands stop here to play, one of my favorites being on off-beat antifolk duo by the name of Drakkar Sauna. The last time I was at Royals Stadium was about 15 years ago. I remember going to games as a kindergartener in the early 80s and thinking the stadium was too clean.

If the bartender were smart, he'd have given the kid a Long Island. At least that kind of looks like Apple Juice.

Don't you have a Michelin guide? (Neither do I.)

I learned how to do Buffalo Wings from a guy who used to work at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY which is the supposed origin of the Buffalo Wing. Louisiana Hot Sauce + melted butter, stir constantly over heat to avoid separation. Deep-fry the wings in Vegetable Oil at 350º until golden brown and crispy, about 10-12 minutes. Let dry, quick-dip in sauce, shake and let dry on rack, serve. I really love the crispy skin and how it soaks up the sauce without getting soggy. I've done honey-BBQ wings although for all the fuss that a barbecue sauce involves, I'd rather just toss them in Gates or Sweet Baby Ray's. I'm currently thinking about a Jerk variation, although that would likely involve grilling for a more intrinsically Caribbean flavor.

If you don't have a grill you can get a smoker box, which works on a cooktop. Load it up with your favorite wood chips, soaked or otherwise. About an hour's worth imparts the smoke flavor and finish in a warm oven. Although be prepared, your place will smell like a campfire for the rest of the weekend. Sweet Baby Ray's is pretty good sauce, although I'm partial to Gates Original. You can get it at boutique retailers or gatesbbqkc.com. Their rub is also very good. Generally I avoid brown sugar rubs in favor of a dry spice rub--sugar is considered a wet ingredient as it melts and caramelizes under heat. With the amount of time barbecue is exposed to heat, it burns. Brown sugar is easily overdone and the result is a crusty, ashy black mess. Kosher salt, chipotles, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, and black pepper ground in a blender is a solid all-pupose rub with a fiery, smoky flavor. A smear of brown sugar balances the heat. My roommate does ribs every other week, sides and desserts are my forté.