Monday, February 28, 2011

Steak Biscuits

I really enjoy a steak biscuit in the morning. I also enjoy country fried steak as a meal, but perhaps my favorite thing to do with it is put it on a biscuit and start the day.

Mrs. Winners probably has the best steak biscuits around. They have a great buttered biscuit and it is just a great tasty treat. There used to be a Mrs. Winners near where I lived and on Thursday mornings they sold them buy one get one free, and that was great because after eating just one I always wanted another one.

I've discovered that I can make them at home though. I like to use the frozen biscuits because they taste a lot better than the refrigerated kind. I just heat that up and a country fried steak patty and there you go. If I've got some gravy then putting a little on there never hurts anything.

Yummmm, steak biscuit.

JB

Friday, February 25, 2011

Baseball

Around this time every year I start to itch for a little Braves baseball. Maybe I'm just anxious for spring, maybe there is just no good sports to watch right now. But there's something great about the start of a new baseball season.

I love the game of baseball, I'm not so much into watching it...although I do watch a lot of Braves games. I really enjoyed playing as a kid, and even now I enjoy a good softball game. Something about playing catch, hitting a baseball...it's a great game.

Spring signals the end of the worst season of the year...winter. And the beginning of baseball. I'm ready.

JB

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Pressure From Society

One thing I've thought of recently is the pressure society puts on people to do certain things that aren't necessary at all. Probably the biggest societal pressure is for women to be skinny. But since I'm a man I don't really know about that first hand. Still, there are other pressures that are put on people for really no reason at all.

Take the pressure to have a good birthday. Society makes you feel like you should have a great day on your birthday, and if you have to clean something up or do some unpleasant everyday tasks you feel like you shouldn't have to since it's your birthday. But why? Isn't it really just another day? Is it so bad that you have to work on your birthday, or you might have to make your own sandwich for lunch? To me, it's nice to get to pick your favorite meal to eat and maybe what to do that evening, but beyond that I don't want to feel like I need to have a special day.

Another pressure is retirement. You see commercials about having a magic number that you need to get to financially so you can retire. And you can sweat out your 30s and 40s trying to shove enough money into your 401K and IRA so you'll have a nice nest egg 30 years down the road, but why? Sure, I believe in saving money and putting money back, but so I can sit around and watch TV all day? Sure, there are plenty of activities you can do and vacations to go on, but why do you have to spend 40 years saving so you can spend 20 years doing nothing? I would like to retire so that I can release my responsibilities to the next generation but if I get to age 62 or 65 and I'm not able to retire then I don't need to have pressure on me from society wondering why I haven't or why I can't retire.

There are probably plenty of other pressures everyone faces from society...these are just some of the ones I've thought of lately. It's easy to say that you can ignore what people think you should do or what they think of what you are doing, but it can be hard at times. But when you recognize that you only feel a certain way about a certain thing because its the way society says you should feel, then hopefully you will resist and just do what you think is right.

JB

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

NCAA Tournament

I've heard over and over that the NCAA Tournament is the greatest event in all of sports. Well, maybe. And generally speaking I have an opinion on how to make each and every sport's championship chase better, however, on this one it's not so much making the tournament better as making the sport better. I want to expand the tournament into a huge playoff that is 8 weeks long!

Now 8 weeks is a long time, it's pretty much just as long as the long, drawn out NBA playoffs. But I think my proposal takes everything we love about the NCAA Tournament and doubles it, then on top of that creates more excitement for college basketball. The fact is, regular season games are basically meaningless...and that's okay but when a team plays a full season of no-pressure games and then they have to win this one game in the tournament? They're in college, they may choke, give them a second chance with a series.

The regular season is boring and sucks because the games are only meaningful to the bubble teams. From mid-January to mid-March everyone is just talking about where a team's going to be seeded. So why don't we just start the tournament earlier instead of having to wait through the sports doldrums of February to get to March Madness.

First, the season begins on November 1st. For the first 6 weeks, each team plays 10 games. Play whoever you want, whether it be in preseason tournaments or at home, just play 10 games in 6 weeks. Then around December 10th (after football championship games and college finals) start playing the conference schedule. That means the next 8 weeks you're going to play 16 games. After the first week of February you'll have played 26 games and be ready for the conference championship tournament. That is played for money and pride, what have you and then have a selection Sunday with the new NCAA Tournament starting the 3rd Wednesday in February, which would be today.

Nothing's different until now. 128 teams, best 2 out of 3 in each round. Some would balk at this, I say it sounds good to me. My reasons are: gives everyone important college basketball to enjoy for an extended period of time, allows all the best teams in, and the best team will win in a best 2 out of 3. Some folks like the upset, well there will be upsets. Imagine the #2 seed going down in the first game, they are going to have to battle back and win two in a row. It'd be really exciting and I've got one more nugget to throw in. It's home and home for the first two games and then a neutral site for the 3rd game if necessary...all the way through the tournament.

The logistics: Have four 32-team regionalized brackets. They are each sub-divided into 8-team pods. Try to place each team within the geographic region they are located. Play 16 games in each of the first 4 days, then 16 in each of the next four days, then for the neutral site games you have 4 locations across the country. Each 8-team pod feeds into each location on a different day so that if all the series go to a 3rd game there won't be more than 4 games a day on one floor. So within the 32-team region, 8 play the first day, 8 the second day, etc. The first round last 12 days.

With the 2nd round you'd need to speed up. Now your pods are 4 teams so you combine with another pod in your region for the purposes of playing on the same calendar day. You play 16 games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then the weekend is for game 3's. Round 2 last 7 days.

You do the same thing for each subsequent round until you get down to the championship. All in all it would take 7 1/2 weeks to complete this tournament. It would take you from the 3rd week of February to the 2nd weekend of April...the Masters. So it would only extend one week past where it does now. Can you imagine the home court advantage teams would get when they play on their court in the NCAA tournament? And it's great because both teams will get that edge. As for the watered-down tournament field where there's 10 teams from the SEC and 12 from the Big East? It needs to be that way since the regular season is so short. But by the time you play 26 regular season games, conference tournament and NCAA tournament you've played 30 games.

I think this would be great for college basketball. Kill the regular season and expand the tournament. It would be great for me too because February is pretty boring after the Superbowl.

JB

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Stans

There are plenty of Mississippi State fans who would like for Rick Stansbury to be fired. If it were not for the great football season State had there would probably be a lot more. The plain fact is, when the football team is winning who really cares about the basketball team. But this year's Mississippi State basketball team has been filled with turmoil and a team with plenty of talent has produced lackluster results.

This is Stansbury's 13th year. And to paraphrase from what I read earlier in the year from Dan Mullen, 'the first two years the fans give you a grace period, then every year after that you lose 10% of the fan base. So the life cycle of a successful coach is about 12 years.' Well if that is true for basketball as well then Stansbury has been around long enough to complete his coaching life at MSU.

Should there be a change at head coach? Let's think about it for a minute. What are some comparable examples from the SEC, where the program fired the successful coach because they were not continuing elite success. Brady at LSU, Tubby Smith at Kentucky, and Godfried at Alabama. Bama is pretty good this year, but those other two haven't panned out too well. Still, if you can hire a proven coach I guess you've got to go with that.

Here are Stansbury's top ten accomplishments: 1. He is the winningest coach in the history of the program. 2. He has taken State to 6 of the 10 NCAA tournaments they have ever been to. 3. He was an assistant coach at MSU for 3 more of those NCAA tournaments including trips to the Sweet 16 and Final Four. 4. The Bulldogs have won 7 western division crowns, he has 5 of them. 5. He has one of the six conference championships in school history. 6. State has won the SEC tournament 3 times, twice under Stansbury. 7. He coached the only first team All-American. 8. He coached the only 3 triple-doubles ever accomplished by an MSU player. 9. Coached the nation's all-time leading shot blocker. 10. 2004 SEC coach of the year.

This year has gotten away from Stansbury. In fact, a lot of years within the last few have gotten away because of the attrition with quiting and transferring. That is frustrating for sure, but take a minute to realize what we have in Rick Stansbury. He is a great recruiter and a solid coach. He's the best coach we've ever had and him and his family are truly dedicated to Mississippi State. Stansbury didn't forget how to be a good coach, he hasn't lost his ability to make players great.

Every single year MSU is competing to the western division championship. Even in a down year like this one, State has the talent to win the SEC tournament and go to the big dance. State is never a cellar dweller, and always competes at a high level. Recognize what we have in Rick Stansbury, a good coach who allows us to stay competitive. He is very capable of bringing us back to '02-'05 status very quickly, just get off his back.

JB

Friday, February 11, 2011

Songs, the Soundtrack to Life

One of the things I like about music is the memories a song can bring back to you when you hear it. If I heard a song today that came out five years ago and was played pretty often back then, I am likely to remember either where I was when I first realized I enjoy the song, or the time period in which I heard the song frequently. That's the thing about certain songs, you may not really love the song as much as the memories the conger up.

Maybe thats why music videos have pretty much died out. If you hear a song 10 times you have a view of it in your head, or maybe you are developing the memory that will be there when you hear the song in the future, but when you see the video it disrupts that view you had. It hinders the imagination.

I think everyone has some songs that when you hear them, you immediately think back to a specific time and place, an enjoyable memory. There maybe songs that remind you of someone, maybe some that remind you of a period of time in your life. Sometimes I'll put in an album on a road trip just to take me back to the time when I listened to that album over and over and over again.

It makes me wonder, if rock and roll had never come into popular culture and musically we lived as it were in the 1800s, would we still be able to conger up those memories. I have to say that without hearing certain songs that remind me of those times I don't know how much I reflect on anything specific. I have memories, and I remember the past, but I don't think I would intentionally pull out that file in my mind to think of a specific time...the way a song would bring back that memory.

So I think it's great how songs work as a soundtrack to life. They lend themselves to bringing back memories, different ones for everyone. Where you first heard it, or when, or when you were having fun and the song was playing.

JB

Thursday, February 10, 2011

NFL QBs

Before the Superbowl, and now after, there is a lot of talk about where Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers rank among the top quarterbacks in the NFL right now. In the spirit of me giving my opinion, here is my Top 15:

1. Payton Manning
2. Tom Brady
3. Drew Brees
4. Aaron Rodgers
5. Philip Rivers
6. Ben Roethlisberger
7. Michael Vick
8. Eli Manning
9. Matt Ryan
10. Joe Flacco
11. Matt Cassel
12. Carson Palmer
13. Matt Schaab
14. Jay Cutler
15. Josh Freeman

JB

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Potato Salad

I love potato salad. Really I just love my wife's potato salad. It is probably in the top 5 things I've ever put in my mouth. It's really good, I eat it like it's candy.

But there is also some not so good potato salad. The kind with a mustard base, it's really yellow and cold and just doesn't taste good at all. Then there's the kind where they left on the potato peel and didn't cook it until if softened and it's hard and not tasty.

I like the Cisco potato salad. Or at least I think it's Cisco...whatever food distribution company has the potato salad that is basically grey and purple, they serve it at Sweet Peppers...that is pretty good. But there's no topping the Denman classic potato salad...mmmmm.

JB

Monday, February 7, 2011

An American Tradition

It is amazing to me how big the Superbowl is. Superbowl Sunday may as well be an American holiday because everyone is into it. Other than New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July, I'd have to say Superbowl Sunday is the one day all Americans acknowledge for the football game being played.

Men, women, boys, girls, they all watch the Superbowl. Even if you don't like football...you like funny commercials, maybe the halftime show. If you don't even want to watch anything, you like the Superbowl party. If you don't like the NFL, you still watch the Superbowl. People could not watch a single snap of football all year, but they've got a party planned to watch the Superbowl.

I turned on the news Sunday morning and they are in Dallas for the Superbowl. It's not just ESPN, it's everyone. It's like, take a break from life...today is Superbowl Sunday. They say the day with the least crimes is Superbowl Sunday...it just goes on.

This year you had the Steelers and Packers. Now those are two storied franchises, and there's plenty of history coming into the game. But one team is from Pittsburgh, the other from Green Bay, Wisconsin? If this were baseball it would be the Pirates and Brewers. I know those teams play in the same league, but if a World Series were played with teams like that no one would know it's going on! If baseball doesn't have the Yankees or the Red Sox, some big market teams, forget about significance and ratings. The NBA brought the Lakers and Celtics to the Finals last year...not much meaning to non-NBA fans. But the Superbowl - it doesn't matter who is playing, the game is big and everyone is going to watch. And for sports fans, the two weeks leading up to the Superbowl are all about that one game. Game 1 of the World Series is probably the 3rd story on Sportcenter that day.

The Superbowl is huge. It really is staggering to me how big it is to America. At church, they reference the Superbowl. Women, they watch. All other channels, play repeats and chick flicks to catch the one girl sitting alone not invited to view it with friends. It unbelievable.

JB

Friday, February 4, 2011

Superbowl XLV

The Steelers are a really good team, they've got a great defense and they can move the ball on offense. I think this is a really great Superbowl matchup because Green Bay has a great offense and a really good defense. So both teams are good in all phases, but the Steelers are great on defense and the Packers are great on offense.

What I saw Aaron Rodgers do to my Falcons was tear them to shreads. He has played really well lately but that games stands out as his crowning achievement. The Falcons' defense is not that bad, the Packers offense is that good. With this game being in Dallas, on the turf like they were against Atlanta, I think Green Bay will be explosive again. I don't think they'll score in the 40s against a great defense but I expect them to hit 30.

The Steelers are always in the game and you never know how they are going to pull out a win. Big Ben seems to keep winning and winning despite his unorthadox QB play. However, I'm going to take Green Bay in this game because I think they are the best team, especially on turf.

Packers 31 Steelers 21

JB

Thursday, February 3, 2011

2011 Recruiting

Here's what I have to say about this year's recruiting: It's the curse of Cam Newton for Mississippi State.

So Cecil Newton asked Mississippi State recruiters for money, this much we know is true. Now whether or not Auburn paid Cam Newton is irrelevant, the bottom line is that he changed his commitment from State to Auburn after MSU would not pay Cecil the money.

Now all of this stuff laid in the weeds until early November and we all know the drama that unfolded for the entire month thereafter. Is it true that Mississippi State reported the allegations against Cam Newton after he signed with Auburn? - Yes, so there could be some sour grapes, but since the facts of it are true that doesn't matter...Mississippi State followed protocol throughout the entire situation (yes, I am a Mississippi State graduate, but to the best of my knowledge this is true).

Now Cam Newton winning the Heisman Trophy and leading Auburn to the national championship might be enough for a State fan to think of Newton like the fish that got away. But since State had a bounce back season without Cam Newton and by all accounts State would have been playing for the national title if they had gotten him, it is a tough pill to swallow.

But that's not all Cam Newton did to State. Over the course of December and January recruit after recruit that Mississippi State had commitments from, decommitted and went elsewhere. We are talking about the kind of recruits that make you drop from a Top 15 class to Big East level. Why? Because of the propaganda coaches around the SEC are spewing that MSU is about to go on probation because of the Cam Newton scandal. I don't believe that for a minute, there's not enough evidence to even try State - but it doesn't matter what I think, only what the recruit's think.

Not to mention the fact that these player's parents now know they cannot ask the Mississippi State staff for extra benefits...they sure don't want to be branded like Cecil Newton was. So along they go, bypassing Starkville and up to Oxford. Hopefully this curse ends now and there is no probation or penalties in MSU's future. But yesterday was a bad day for a program on the rise.

JB

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Groundhog Day

Hopefully the groundhog says it's going to be an early spring because I hate winter.

JB

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

A Student's Game

I have fond memories of being in college and going to the Hump....for Hoops. In 2004, Mississippi State went 25-2 and reached the Top 5 going into the SEC Tournament. It all fell apart from there but that regular season was really fun for me and my friends. We went to every game and got there a couple hours early to get the best seats. We eagerly anticipated the revealing of the Top 25 on the 5 p.m. edition of Sportcenter every Monday. That is the year I had the greatest excitement for college basketball, but every other year I also enjoyed very much.

There is no doubt that a basketball game is much more fun to attend then to watch on TV. Being a student you can go to every home game, and maybe make a couple road trips to see an away game. As an alumni, college basketball just isn't as exciting. Sure, I still root my team on, but it's just not the same as it was. Football is a different story, it hasn't lost one bit of it's luster.

All I'm saying is that college basketball is a student's game. It's more fun when you are on campus to enjoy the season. Basketball is a home-court sport and the students make tons of noise which does have an impact on the game. Even going back as an alumni the games weren't the same as it was in college. It's sad to me that that fun time has passed but recognizing that it's a student's game helps me leave those days behind. Now I can watch the games without feeling like a fairweather fan because I don't care as much as I used to.

JB