Flipping the $250,000 bird: Bud Adams' middle finger draws fine from NFL

The NFL fined Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams $250,000 for flipping his middle finger at Buffalo Bills fans after his team triumphed over the Bills 41-17 in this past Sunday's game. From SportingNews.com: . . . more

Troy Polamalu One-Handed Interception (video)

I caught a few minutes of the opening game of this year's NFL season between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans. Being that I'm . . . more

Cassel & Vrabel to KC for 2nd Round Draft Pick

This one hit me like a kick to the face. Sad to see Vrabes go, and it's too bad about Cassel - he did a fantastic job last season; far, far beyond my expectations - but we can't carry two QBs for all that cap cash. This should give the Pats a lot of flexibility. As always, In Belichick We Trust.

Now we just need Brady back in action in September. Hopefully married life does wonders for Tommy's recovery.

(That is a legit power couple right there.)

Whiteout Conditions

The best wintertime New England Sundays involve glazed bacon (apple cider & brown sugar), a leisurely breakfast over the Globe, and a snow game drubbing of the week's opponent at Gillette. Nothing like a good snow game. Today's was ridiculous.

Looks like we'll have a white Christmas this year, although it'll probably be nasty gray slush by Thursday. Either way, this weekend's blizzard was quite enjoyable if you enjoy being a shut-in. If I have to tolerate winter, then pour the snow on.

Mulled cider on the stove (rum-less, alas), Paul Simon on the hi-fi, and cellentani with meat sauce on the menu for tonight.

The rest of '08 should be easy.

Pigskin Ponderings

I just watched the Bills throw away a win in the final minutes of their game against the Jets. Just a horrific soil, with a fumble by Losman returned for a TD then an INT on the Bills' next possession. This is bad news for Pats fans, as we desperately need Jets (as well as a few other teams) losses from here on out. Every game is a must win now, but New England will also unfortunately be dependent on the failure of key teams down the stretch. Not a good position to be in.

As last week's game proved, there are no easy wins for this team. Battered and depleted by injuries, the Pats nonetheless entertain every game. Let's just hope some form of secondary shows up today, ok?

Gametime!

Sunday

I'm going to resist the urge here to whine about how it's chilly out, how it's gray and increasingly dismal here in Our Great and Noble Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Just another fall Sunday in New England. Not going to wax wishful about my wanderlust for somewhere warm, sunny, and beautiful for the majority of the year, not just a scant few months. Nay - there's too much positivity in the air, too many things to celebrate.

Ladies and gentlemen: Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Bifano! A hearty congratulations to Laurie and Jeremy on their wedding this past Friday. I had the honor of being an usher in the wedding party, and it was a lovely affair. I think I need to rock the tux more often. More of my friends need to get married. Or at least I need to get invited to more weddings, they are a blast. The Scottographer was out in full force at the reception Friday night, snapping pics left and right and burning through film like the unpaid professional that he is. Too bad we can't expect to see those pics for the next several years, if at all...

Lazy Sunday reading: Catching up on my weekend WSJ, Globe, blogosphere, internews, and hopefully putting Prague out of its misery. Possibly my favorite way to spend a Sunday...

...with the exception of the Hub Sunday Sports Smorgasbord! Patriots-49ers at 4:15 and Game 3 of the Sox-Angels ALDS at Fenway at 7:17. That's about 6 or 7 hours of televised awesomeness, not to mention the associated daytime beer drinking. How 'bout those Sox taking two from the LAAoA out on the Best Coast and bringing it back to the Easy Coast to seal the deal? ThatswhatImtalkinabout.com. As for the Pats - Someone please tell Cassel the guys in red and gold are not his receivers. Thanks.

Victory Chili is a-simmering: One of the few benefits of cold weather is that it gives me the opportunity to cook up big, hearty meals, like stews, soups, chilis, and a ridiculous amount of glazed bacon. If everyone could start every day with glazed bacon, this world would be a better place. Football season means it's time for Victory Chili, and I've been simmering this season's first batch since about 3:30. Should be perfect in a couple more hours. For those interested, I once again used homemade turkey stock (frozen since April - the only stock in this market that's way, way up!), added a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest (minus a few sips for taste testing purposes) and substituted black beans for the cannellini. I'll let you know how it comes out. Preliminary tasting predicts near-perfect levels of flavor and heat. Full credit goes to my Gourmet magazine apron.

Unfortunate

Brady out with torn ACL.

Moss Signs 3-year Deal with Pats

Some fantastic news for Patriots fans. (But what a groaner of a headline.)

There's always next season!

A Super Bowl Haiku

Ignominy book-
ends an imperfect season.
How 'bout those Celtics?

Unsung Hero

A nice article over at WEEI.com talking about how valuable Kevin Faulk is to this New England Patriots offense. Also, a very telling stat - he is the leader in receiving yards in the postseason so far. Good to know that even when teams shut down our big guns he's there to pick up the slack. And he made a couple impossible-looking catches last week. Cheers to Faulk!

And next Sunday cannot get here fast enough...

Tremendous job, Ken.

A tremendous piece of sports criticism criticism from Ken Tremendous over at FJM. An excerpt on why Boston is the Hub of the Sports Universe presently:

[T]he NE Patriots are about to play in their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, and feature a quarterback who is somehow handsomer at the end of each game than he was at the beginning; the Boston Red Sox have won two of the last four World Serieses; the Boston Celtics are 33-6; and also there is a hockey team.

An NFC Championship Haiku (Belated)

Ol' man Favre succumbs;
Cold, picks, and poor man's Peyton -
The Pack packs it in.

Hobbled Hero?

Brady's in a walking cast. I like the part about how he's on his way to Gisele's apartment with a bunch of flowers. Sensitive and he can thread the needle, ladies!

I'm not worried; he's got two weeks to heal up. Still, not the best news.

One Game to Glory!

An AFC Championship game haiku:

Pats' D stonewalls Bolts;
Hey Norv, a word to the wise -
Field goals don't win games.

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One game left. Despite three turnovers (3 INTs thrown by Brady), the New England Patriots were able to defeat the San Diego Chargers in Sunday afternoon's game. Yet another AFC Championship trophy for the Pats and the Kraft family, and a trip to Arizona to face the New York Football Giants in yet another Superbowl.

The recently-maligned Pats' defense was the key to victory in this one. All four of the Chargers' trips to the red zone resulted in mere field goals. There is just no way that they could beat the Patriots without a single touchdown. Great pass coverage, great pressure on Rivers, and bending just enough to give up 3 but no more. The defense came up huge on a day in which the offense was just so-so. The running game was key as well, however, with Maroney breaking out for some serious yardage, a TD, and sealing the game with a couple late first downs. Big props to Kevin Faulk who had a fantastic game with some big, really tough catches.

One more game, fellas. 19-0 is just one game away.

Victory Chili

Today was a frigid, blustery one in the horrific climate that is winter in New England. I needed a hot, hearty meal, and decided that chili would be the perfect compliment to the Patriots-Chargers game at 3:00. I was inspired by Ernie's post last week (and it looks like he brought out the "Victory chili" again for today as well). Since Ernie hasn't posted his recipe yet I made my way over to SimplyRecipes to see what Elise had on file. (A fantastic recipe blog, by the way. Great pics and instruction.) She actually had recently posted a list of several chili variations a few days back. I was planning on making a simple beef chili, but her turkey chili looked good. I followed her recipe with a few minor changes:

• I used a pound of ground turkey
• Upped the garlic to 6 cloves because that's how I roll
• I used 1 can of crushed and 1 can of diced tomatoes (28 oz. ea.) because I like the tomato chunks
• I used a can of red kidney beans and a can of white kidney (or cannellini) beans (19 oz. ea.) mainly for color and taste variation
• I added an entire diced jalapeno pepper
• I used about half the required cumin, accidentally (thought I had more left). I would definitely add the full tbsp next time to enhance the flavor profile.
  
• I used 1 Tbsp of oregano instead of a tsp, because I was concentrating on the Pats (didn't hurt)
• Probably used about 2 Tbsp salt and 1 Tbsp sugar
• I used about 1 1/4 cups of turkey stock, and I used my own! This was an incredible culinary experience, let me tell you. This is the first time I've used the excess stock I made for use in my turkey soup. It's been sitting in my freezer since right after Thanksgiving. It felt so rewarding. You probably wouldn't understand unless the prospect of simmering poultry bones and vegetables for several hours appeals to you.

Followed Elise's instructions from here, although I tossed the jalapeno in to sauté along with the rest of the veggies first, and then after they were all soft and translucent I put in the ground turkey to brown up before adding the rest of the ingredients. I also let it simmer for about 3 1/2 hours (I had added more liquid so I wanted to achieve a thicker consistency).

I served it topped with a mixture of mild and sharp cheddar, a healthy dollop of sour cream, and minced red onion and scallions. A chunk of Jiffy cornbread (delicious and basically free at $0.79!) adorned the dish, as you can see here.

I ate the first bowl before I realized I was nearly full, and finished the second just as this realization hit me. As I write this now I am overstuffed, but also over-delighted with how this turkey chili came out. Very flavorful. The heat level was near perfect - not too hot off the bat, but after several spoonfuls a sort of residual heat builds up, and the different heat sources add different flavors as well. An awesome cold-weather dish, and I made enough to last me all week.

AFC Title Bout

The Cold, Hard Football Facts have a good article breaking down why San Diego could pose a big threat to New England on Sunday. I don't think Patriots fans are shaking in their boots at this point, what with having beaten the tar out of San Diego early on in the season and the undefeated record, but the Chargers have played much better over the remainder of the season, including knocking off defending champs and favorite Indy. This at least has the potential to be a very good game. I admit that I was surprised by the ranking in several key categories that the Chargers have achieved this season.

History is against the Bolts, however. But history doesn't always come through.

I cannot wait for Sunday @ 3:00.

GO PATS!

How do we play this game? How do I play this position? How do we win again?

Troy Aikman (paraphrased), on Tony Romo:

There are some guys in professional football who just know how to play the game.

[Romo] knows how to win. He knows how to play quarterback in the NFL.

Now I'm not an ex-player or professional sports analyst, but I will go out on a limb here and submit that all pro football players know how to play the game in general, and their respective positions in particular. Also, everyone "knows how to win."

*Groan*

Two Games to Glory!

A Divisional Playoff Game Haiku:

Number seventeen;
Jaguars cannot keep pace with
Perfect Patriots

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A nice article by Don Banks over at Sports Illustrated about last night's game. Awesome.

Three Games to Glory IV?

16-0. Has a certain beautiful asymmetry to it, doesn't it? The New England Patriots have finished up an amazing, historic regular season in which big records fell, in which their quarterback and coach won the MVP and Coach of the Year awards. But, here's the thing: the real season starts tonight at 8:00, when the Jacksonville Jaguars come into the House that Kraft Built and try to defeat the offensive juggernaut that is the Patriots. The Pats have had a perfect season thus far, and now that perfection has to continue. Because it's one-and-done from here on out. Shutting up Shula and the '72 Fish was fun and all, but anything other than a goose egg in that Loss column and it's gonna be all Celtics and Spring Training talk in the Hub until Double Sessions next season.

I'm very confident that we can dominate the Jags tonight. They had an impressive late-game comeback against the Steelers (after having blown a comfortable lead in the 4th quarter), so they're hungry, and they're feisty, and riding on some emotion at the moment. Don't give them room to breathe. Get out to a lead early and they won't be able to come back.


(Image from news4jax.com)

GO PATS!

The Meta-Superbowl

Wow. Great Pats-Giants game last night, and the win marks the sixteenth for the Pats in the last 16 games! The game last night lived up to the hype, with the Giants leading at halftime and giving the Pats all they could handle until the last quarter. The game had the feel of a playoff game, despite its "meaningless" nature. It was the center of attention at the party I attended, with almost everyone watching the game, fans and disinterested folks alike - akin to the Superbowl.

I was worried there for a bit. The Pats came out looking flat, especially the defense. The blown coverage on the kick return run-back after the Pats took the 10-7 lead was demoralizing. The Giants added to their 5-point halftime lead with a TD in the 3rd quarter, resulting in their biggest lead of the game. A 12-point lead at that point in the game was by no means insurmountable by this Pats team, but nevertheless I was nervous as hell (again, as if this game were important...).

But they pulled it off. Brady and Moss connected for a huge TD in the 4th quarter, which took the lead. It also catapulted both stars into the record books with the single-season passing and reception records. The team also became the single-season scoring leader, in addition to joining the '72 Dolphins as undefeated in the regular season.

Props to Gostkowski, whose three field goals (two 37-yard and one 45-yarder) were big, and made up for his miss last week.

My accolades pale in comparison to those of Cris Collinsworth, however. In last night's broadcast he deemed the Patriots a "professional football team." Indeed, sir. Indeed. (This especially irks me coming from C.C. because I think he's actually one of the better analysts out there.)

Three more wins, boys.