110 thoughts on “February 6, 2015: Victory”

      1. I did not realize until just now that you could get a hockey assist in baseball. The more you know.

    2. Find a copy of Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe cookbook. He has great recipes for chile. Like this one.

      that recipe is incomplete. I typically would dry-roast my onion (quartered), unpeeled garlic, and spices on my comal or in a dry skillet (rather than sauteeing the onion).

      Also, short ribs! Oh, man, I'm getting all excited now. Red chile with braised short ribs....

      1. If I ever win anything again at the CdL, I want my nickname to be Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango.

        1. Weird, I was just having a fb convo with my cousin who works at the Science Museum about the large Pterosaur in the lobby.
          Quetzalcoatlus. I missed the first "a" trying to spell from memory.
          Then I wikipedia-rabbit-holed Quetzalcoatl and Quetzal and then I see this.

          1. So you are saying we inadvertently crossed paths in a psychic space? Somehow, I'm not surprised.

            Missed you by about 10 seconds yesterday, btw--I saw you from the bus.

                1. Everyone and their grandma has a black coat. (Myself, EAR, CER, and HPR included.) Claret stands out.

        2. Consider you're winning at a Brooksian pace lately, this will probably happen. Although, that name is a pretty sweet one for your Royal Rumble win, so I maaaaay consider going ahead with it.

    5. New Mexican style chili is my go to-

      Red Kidney Beans
      Pinto Beans
      Black Beans
      small yellow onion
      poblano pepper
      corn
      Cubed Pork butt (if desired)
      Salt and Pepper, cumin to taste
      chicken stock
      New Mexico red chili* (canned los palmas medium will work in a pinch)

      Dr. Chop par boils the dry beans in water, with some chili and garlic powder. She drains and rinses the beans under warm water, returns them to the pot and adds equal parts chicken stock and red chili sauce to finish the beans. We add a can of corn (drained and rinsed), and cubed pork butt with the spices. Bring the mess to a boil and turn down to a simmer until the beans are tender and the meat falls apart. Serve with home made tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheddar.

      2. I will second the Las Palmas brand endorsement. You don't anywhere the depth of flavor from making your own, but it is a good product and saves a ton of time and effort.

  3. So, I pretty much watched zero NFL football this year. Not exactly zero, there were a couple of situations where I had no choice but to watch a few minutes. But, none of the Super Bowl and not one minute of the playoffs.

    Verdict: my life was just fine without it. I did watch football on Saturdays (mainly the Green and Yellow, with a little bit of Maroon and Gold mixed in) and really that's all about NDSU pride and my interest in the Gophers. I like Jerry Kill and since I'm a Minnesotan, I'd like to see the Gophers be interesting, but I'm off that bandwagon as soon as it hits a rut. But anyways, I don't think that I'll completely boycott the NFL going forward (I reserve that right), but I'm also pretty sure that I could live without it just fine and will probably never spend Sunday afternoons watching football regularly again.

    1. I've been joking this week that over the past three years I've spent a grand total of maybe an hour watching football and they've been the happiest three years of my life. That's true, and I can't say football is the reason, but I definitely don't miss it.

      1. It may not be why you are happy, but not having it hasn't caused unhappiness.

        Interesting note: my Dad tends to sit and watch a lot of sports on TV. For Christmas, my sister bought him a book on Truman: 900 pages. He devoured it. I brought him a book entitled "The Devil in the White City". He blew through it in a day. I'm committed now to bringing him books to read. He likes to watch TV, but he also likes to read, apparently. I'm not going to tell him what to do, but if he is gonna read what I bring him, I'll keep bringing him stuff to read.

              1. I'm noting a mutual friend besides you on the FB, so... yup. There's some overlap there.

          2. Okay. I've got plenty of already purchased books for him to read, but I can delve into that.

            Fun fact: My Dad actually saw President Truman as a kid. He used to live in Little Falls where my GFather had a barbershop at Camp Ripley. President Truman came there to review the Missouri NG. Gramps took Dad because he said, "You never know when you are ever gonna see the President." Never again for my Dad, who is now 72 and has never been in the presence of another POTUS.

            2. My gramps also met Harry Truman. My great-grandparents ran a restaurant in Omerha, and Harry Truman visited one day when he was Prez for some weird reason.

                1. Actually, wasn't Truman kind of like that? If I recall, directly after leaving office, his wife and he drove across the country. By themselves. Secret Service wasn't such a big deal in those days.

        2. I see a lot of it because I work Sundays and hey, what else is on TV? However, I haven't gone out of my way to see any recently, and I think I'm happier without it too. The Super Bowl was an excellent game but I didn't exactly get emotionally invested.

          After the game, there were countless Super Bowl comments on FB, of course. Whether the person was cheering for Seattle or New England, or whether they were Green Bay fans with their tiresome Schadenfreude after their loss, it occurred to me that almost every football fan I know is at their absolute worst as a human being when they're talking about football. It's just...not any fun.

          1. someone told me the other day that in Wisconsin, domestic abuse reports increase on days the Packers lose. I don't know if this is true, but it wouldn't surprise me.

        3. River of Doubt, by Candice Millard, about Teddy Roosevelt exploring a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil.

          The Path Between The Seas, by David McCullough, great read on the construction of the Panama Canal - also plenty of Teddy R.

        4. Yes, BS's roommate's book about the Commodore is very good, and sounds like something your dad would love.

    2. I still enjoy watching NFL games, but I recognize my hypocrisy. Kind of like recognizing that my vegan daughter has a point about the immorality of the meat industry, But BACON. Or looking at bewbs But Sexism.

      1. I enjoy watching the actual sport, but I despise the NFL and NCAA as organizations and I do worry about the health and safety of players. It makes me sad to see the state some players I vividly remember playing (Jamaal Lewis for example) live their lives in. And I'd like to avoid giving those organizations money. But I sure do love watching Aaron Rodgers throw footballs.

        1. I've been sort of saying for a while that I still enjoy the sport of football, I just object to the NFL. And for other reasons, NCAA D1 football. But I never really cared about that, so it's less of an issue than the NFL. There are certainly things the NFL could do to bring me back, and I hope they do them, because I enjoy football.

          1. The combination of what you guys are saying about the organizations, the head injuries, and the way fans, in general (at least around me), talk about their teams (i.e. how much they hate the other teams/fans) has made watching even a minute of football completely un-enjoyable for me. Even if everything turned into some football nirvana where no one got hurt and the NFL was a perfectly un-corrupt, arrogant organization, I would still stay away. To each their own, and all that, but I would dance a little if the sport totally disintegrated and went away.

            1. Yeah, I definitely get this. I'm, I guess, thankfully somewhat isolated from a lot of the idiocy of the Football Culture but I do find any run-ins with it pretty terrible. At this point, I can only watch about half the games and I'm not really heartbroken over that. I think if situations ever changed and I couldn't watch any I'd probably be okay with that. And I'd love to see the NFL and Goodell crash and burn.

            2. no matter how much I feel the same way, you put me in front of a highlight reel of Barry Sanders runs, I get all giddy inside

              1. The game is not without its beauty, for sure.

                For me, I have been actively decoupling from professional sports of all kinds for the past several years. I still love NBA basketball, although I don't watch as much as I used to. And baseball, yes, but my interest has noticeably waned over the past five seasons. Part of this is a function of the way my life is right now and the preciousness of every minute I have at home. I suppose if my wife was a huge sports fan (she is the opposite of that), I'd have more incentive to watch. I've kind of moved on though. So when the NFL (especially) does something that is outrageous, I can easily just say, enjoy it folks, I'm out.

                I should say that I decoupled from most college sports (a certain upper midwest school excepted, gobizon) a long time ago.

                1. I have also watched less and less sports now that my son is here and my wife doesn't like sports either. I still devour everything baseball, and I hope my son will like it, too. But he's too young yet.

          2. I've been sort of saying for a while that I still enjoy the sport of football, I just object to the NFL.
            Actually, I believe your facebook post was "I still enjoy the sport of football, I just object to the NFL." No "sort of" to it.
            Facebook isn't working for me right now, or I'd search for it.

            1. Found it:

              I more or less gave up on the NFL a year ago. Not on football - the sport itself is still fun - but just the NFL.

    3. I've watched my share of NCAAF passively, since I live with a Saturday sun up-to-sun down college football fanatic, but no pro and none of the super bowl. It helps that even if I did want to watch, the Vikes aren't on here, they are mediocre, and I have no idea what players are even on the team. I like having my Sunday afternoons.

      1. What are you going to do next year when the Vikings will most definitely be going to the Super Bowl? Huh?

          1. Everyone knows that the world would end immediately prior to a Vikings SB victory. Which is to say the Vikes will never win one. Watching the Vikes in a Super Bowl is either Sisyphean or Jobian, I can't decide.

            1. Watching the Vikes in a Super Bowl is either Sisyphean or Jobian, I can't decide.

              I'm going with ancient memory.

    4. I agree with everyone saying that the NFL and NCAA are both morally bankrupt, contemptible organizations. They're almost cartoonishly bad. But I probably watch more football now than ever. I've been fully suckered into the whole fantasy football complex, and tailgating Gopher games is now part of my weekly fall routine. I dunno. I guess it's easier for me to accept the hypocrisy of watching it than it is to give up on something that I've spent years bonding over with my friends and family.

      1. Yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat here too (sans tailgating). I recognize their awfulness, but I still watch pretty much every week (or at least have it on while I do other stuff). I don't exactly get too hung up on the morality of the NFL in that no one is forcing a gun to their head to play. I know it's amazingly more complex than that, but still, it's a voluntary organization where even the least of the players are fairly well compensated. Things get murkier regarding NCAAF, but I don't really watch any of that anyway.

        That said, I don't think the NFL actually gets any of my money, or if they do, it's very, very indirect. I'm not going to games or buying gear, and I pretty much only watch stream RedZone, so I'm not even watching the commercials that fund the broadcasts. I'm not trying to justify anything to y'all or myself; I guess my outrage is matched by my apathy.

        1. I'm on board with this. I enjoy watching NFL football.

          I don't particularly like watching college football, as I find it to be an inferior product, and I find the idea of some of my Facebook friends going on about the moral evils of the NFL while being college football fanatics to be fairly laughable, anyway.

          I guess I just really don't care. I will say that I've gotten to the point where watching a losing game doesn't put an anchor on my day, but I'm not about to throw out my Vikings hoodie, either.

      2. One of the main reasons I keep up is that it gives me small talk to make with people in the office. Most of the people I work with don't want to talk about 20 year old Japanese video games, the latest Gucci Mane mixtape, or what surreal anime I am watching this season. And I'd rather not talk about my politics.

        1. This is also a good point.
          It can be so tedious having to tell people that no you really don't care about football and really the maximum interest in your life time was the two years following when you were hired and that was 12 years ago please stop wanting to argue Packers vs Vikings with me. The Vikings do suck and will never, ever win.
          So, "yeah that bridgewater really did some good footballin yesterday"
          But does that just add to my Sisyphean task of people understanding I don't care?

    5. I think I watched less than an hour of football from March 2014-January 2015.
      Then the dadgum priest mentioned the big game during his homily on Superb Owl Sunday morning.
      So the kids asked to watch it. They had to have everything clean and ready to go for Monday before I'd turn it on.
      I cooked dinner during the game. What was it? I don't remember, but then I made sweet potato chips.
      I kept passively watching the game after they went to bed.
      At least it saved me from having to watch a lot of commercials on Youtube.
      (Watching TV programming just for the commercials may be a low state, but actively watching just commercials on demand? Way lower.)
      I've been getting more joy from sporting than sports lately anyways. Jon Bois excepted.

  4. Now that I am without cable the NFL is one of the few sports that I can watch.

    Lik the Doc said above, it is nearly impossible to go through life without some hypocrisy. I won't plan my Sunday around the NFL but I will watch occasionally. I also think players are much more aware of the risks now than they were years ago. I have more of an issue with "amateur" sports than I do the NFL.

    1. I also think players are much more aware of the risks now than they were years ago.

      Yep, that's a good thing. So are concussion protocols, although I don't think we really know how effective those are. I also think that increasing public awareness of the suffering that players endure both during and after their careers is a good thing.

      What bothers me more than anything is how football is glorified in our culture when there is a small minority of people who pay a huge physical and emotional price (even though they are well-compensated financially at least compared to the rest of us, but not compared to other athletes) to feed the beast.

      'Spoiler' SelectShow

      1. We've discussed many times before the concussion issue. It is an existential threat to football as a mass sport. With today's helicopter parenting tendencies, I fully expect youth football participation to (continue to) decline for the foreseeable future.

        I think football will increasingly revert to a rural, working class and southern sport. Soccer has already become the dominant youth (participation) sport in suburbia; I expect it to continue to grow and to grab more of the "athlete" types who now play football in relatively affluent communities and districts.

          1. My dad said that I could play baseball, golf, basketball, curling, or tennis. The only way I was going to be allowed to play football was if I got to be very, very good at kicking the ball. He was worried about knees at the time, but has more recently said that he figured that the constant collisions couldn't possibly be good for young bodies, regardless of more obvious injuries.

        2. Soccer has already become the dominant youth (participation) sport in suburbia

          Lacrosse seems to be the trendy one around here. Is this prevalent elsewhere?

          No love for wrestling...sigh. I was thinking the other day that there there should be an Obscure Sports Quarterly post for some of the lesser-followed activities. Gopher Wrestling was #1 ranked...until losing to Iowa recently.
          I was never that passionate a follower but occasionally went to a meet with Dad and Grandpa. If you want an intense sporting environment, that Iowa-Minnesota rivalry in Williams Area would give me chills.

          1. lacrosse seems to have long been a hot sport for the prep school set, particularly on the East Coast. Cool game that has been infested with popped collars.

          2. I was thinking the other day that there there should be an Obscure Sports Quarterly post for some of the lesser-followed activities.

            Many of the regular features here started as threads in the Cup of Coffee. Others just started as a post. If you post it, they will discuss.

  5. So I've already become the guy who goofs around on his smartphone so much that he finds himself looking for his phone while he's talking on it.

      1. I mean, sorta. It's come in handy more often than I would have thought. I knew it was a useful device, but was under the impression that they (and their plans) cost way, way more than they do. If I'd known how affordable they were, it would have changed things.

  6. I got an email from one of my colleagues today regarding an issue. She spelled out her question and she ended her communication with, "Please advise."

    I can tell you that she wasn't being sarcastic at all. Since this is the WGOM, however, I needed to share that.

  7. Suddenly I am really glad I got my taxes done early.

    As I may have related already, I figured out somewhat belatedly (i.e., after half-doing my taxes with the H&R Block product, which suh-hucks) that I could indeed complete my taxes with the already-purchased Turbotax product (yea for no capital gains this year?).

    1. I'm also thinking that just maybe Intuit should shift to two-factor authentication, sooner rather than later. This news is gonna really hurt them in the short run.

  10. Well, after seeing a desperate plea on the book of face, I am officially the new manager of the Newmark Diamondbacks, a Little League Minor League (9-11 years) team. This will be Trey's first year in a completely player pitch league. The original manager backed out this morning, which is the day before the second weekend of tryouts. I guess I'll have to pick players based on his ranking system, assuming I can figure it out.

        1. And daggers a three! and two more free throws! and the Wolves are leading!
          exclamation point!

      2. I saw this on the sidebar and almost just quit sports altogether. Fortunately I then saw your next two comments. The sporting world really needs a Ricky Rubio.

        1. It was pretty scary. He went into for a layup, got pushed, then his leg kind rolled up or whatever. The camera pans back to Ricky hobbling fast to the bench. Then follows him to the locker room.

          3 minutes later he comes back out. Must have rubbed some dirt on it.

            1. Im surprised he hasnt written the column "I motivated Ricky to get back on the court and lead this moribund team to victory"

  12. So, seems like tonight was a good night for the NBA.

    (seeing a score of 124-116 between the hawks and warriors makes me displeased that I didn't get to see it.)

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