October 22, 2008
Cooking Gumbo…
Someone once said that the word “gumbo” is the Cajun word that means, “yeah, throw some of that in the pot too…” Whether or not that etymological assertion has any culinary accuracy is not important because gumbo just simply tastes good. Today, I hope to whip up a batch of gumbo with lots of different “stuff”.
First of all, it should be apparent to anyone who read yesterday’s “Tuesdays With The Sorries” that I had written it on Monday night prior to the conclusion of the Pats/Broncos game. Otherwise, the Broncos would have been front and center for mention of their stunningly sorry performance from the opening kickoff to the final gun. Denver has a bye week and here is what the coaching staff has to figure out:
Can anyone on that defense get off a block and/or make a tackle?
Sometimes you have to connect the dots in order to see a trend. Consider:
Tom Brady is with Gisele Bundschen; according to a NY gossip column, they are planning a wedding and reception in NYC. Tom Brady is out for the season with a knee injury.
Tony Romo is with Jessica Simpson; according to gossip columns, they were recently shopping for a ring at Neiman-Marcus. Tony Romo is out for a month (?) with a broken finger.
Reggie Brooks is with Kim Kardashian; gossip columns tell us that she says they love each other’s body [too much information…]. Reggie Bush is out for four weeks with a knee injury.
Perhaps, there is wisdom contained in the lyrics to a rock song from my teen years sung by Jimmy Soul:
“If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife.
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.”
In the interest of full disclosure and candor, my long-suffering wife of 42+ years is indeed a “pretty woman” and my life has been a happy one for that duration. However, maybe NFL players might take heed …?
When I read the NFL-mandated injury reports for the week and see players listed as “questionable” with regard to his ability to play on that particular weekend, I often wonder why the entire roster of the Detroit Lions is not so designated. As fans, we should all give thanks that the Lions do not play either the Chiefs or the Bengals this season.
HOW-EVAH, let me give you fair warning. On 28 December 2008, the Kansas City Chiefs will travel to Cincinnati to play the Bengals about a month after both teams have been eliminated from mathematical consideration for the playoffs. Santa is making his list of people who have been naughty and nice. If you’ve been naughty, you may tickets to that sewage dump game in your stocking on Christmas morning… Do not say you were not warned.
The MLBPA asserts that they have proof that the owners colluded to keep Barry Bonds out of baseball last year. Well, if they have proof, then it should come out in some kind of hearing/arbitration/legal procedure and we can then all judge the gravity of said proof. So until I am made aware of what the proof consists of, let me state my position on this matter:
1. The MLBPA is close to correct – but only with regard to spelling.
2. MLB owners did not collude to keep Barry Bonds out of baseball.
3. MLB owners did conclude that having a unidimensional pain-in-the-posterior in their clubhouse collecting an eight figure annual salary was a bad idea.
I presume that you realize that the reason that the World Series will begin in St. Petersburg and not in Philly is that:
Rays’ pitcher, Scott Kazmir, was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game.
Phillies’ reliever, Brad Lidge, was the losing pitcher in the All-Star Game.
Did I hear someone say he had not realized that? Oh well, I guess that means that the All-Star Game remains irrelevant despite the best efforts of the Commish…
I received an e-mail from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times yesterday informing me that a column known as Morning Briefing would no longer appear in the LA Times. He sent along a copy of the notice that came over the wire on Monday night announcing the demise of this long-running column, which focused on offbeat items and the lighter side of sports. There are probably less than a dozen of these columns left in newspapers around the country that run more than once a week; they are falling victim to the cutbacks in the newspaper business. The SF Chronicle used to run a column called Open Season until a couple of years ago that was on my “must read list”.
It is a shame to see those kinds of columns go away. Newspapers serve a dual function; they should intend to inform and they should intend to entertain. [When a paper hits the exacta here, the paper reaps a large benefit.] Offbeat columns such as Morning Briefing – and such as Dwight Perry’s Sideline Chatter – do a lot to advance the “entertainment” objective of newspapers. It is not a good thing to see them go by the wayside.
Finally, to offset the less than happy news that Dwight Perry sent me in that e-mail, here are two entertaining items from his Sideline Chatter column in the Seattle Times:
“Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was pulled over and arrested near his hometown of Lincoln, Neb., early Saturday morning on suspicion of DUI, speeding and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle.
“Police wouldn’t say whether it was the top or bottom of the fifth.”
“Honda has been named the “official car” of the NHL.
“The WNBA, not to be outdone, is rolling out a ‘Yugo, girl!’ ad campaign.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
