Stand Up and Get Crunk

First of all, congratulations and Who Dat to the Saints fans out there. While I'm not one, nor do I claim to be, I've got New Orleanian heritage and wish the city the best (and all of the ills of the world to the Colts, for the record) so I was pleased with Sunday night's results.

As we bid adieu to football season--with nary a lingering presence from a post-Super Bowl Pro Bowl--I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the World [sic] Champion New Orleans Saints.

When I've daydreamed about every NFL franchise having its own marching band, New Orleans was always one of the ones that seemed to be a no-brainer to me. They have marching bands at funerals (no mention intended of most of the rest of the Saints history) and of course When the Saints Go Marching In and all that jazz (literally!) make for an excellent fit for a pro football marching band in the Big Easy.

While such isn't (yet) the case, they have embraced and interesting, if not unlikely, band-esque tradition. This season, the Ying Yang Twins' Halftime (often known by its refrain, "Stand Up and Get Crunk") became a jock rock favorite in the Superdome. As its football-intermission moniker may suggest, Halftime is punctuated by a (synthesized) low brass bassline and has a distinctly HBCU marching band feel to it. I don't know why this song was put back into rotation five years after its 2004 release, but it sparked new life in Who Dat Nation and maybe, just maybe, its high-stepping appeal helped the Saints march into a championship.

Mojo DoJo

Strange things are happening with the USF basketball team; namely: winning. USF is currently .500 in conference at 5-5, after a four game winning streak, including recent wins vs. #17 Pitt and @ # 7 Georgetown. There's a lot of excitement in Bull Nation, particularly from the denizens of The BullsPen and I'll be honest, it's pretty cool, given that usually any and all excitement at this time of the year would be reserved for National Signing Day. People are even whispering (nay, shouting) thoughts about a postseason for USF! Crazy, right?

Well, I brought an honest question over to the management at Big Blue Homer. Sure, it's a Kentucky Wildcats blog, but quiet as it's kept, the proprietor over there is a USF alum and a good friend of mine. My question: Might we see a postseason for USF? His thoughts and mine are in sync: If there is a postseason in store for the Bulls, it will come in the form of the NIT. While many schools, including his own Cats, would scoff at this opportunity, we in Bull Nation would jump for joy, as we've been the Big East's whipping boy since we joined in 2005 and any modicum of success is a significant step up. Any sign of being on the way up is cause to start speaking of contract extensions for Coach Heath and lifting Dominique  Jones' #20 into the rafters of the Sun Dome.

Should we end up in the NIT, I have a not-so-secret desire that Carolina, who is having a worse-than-usual year and is currently sitting at 10th in the ACC, lands there too and our first game is at Carolina. Right now, it's a perfectly reasonable possibility. In the off-chance that USF should make the Tourney, Jacksonville is the only reasonable travel for me. So while I want the best for my Bulls, I wouldn't be mad if this year's building led to the NIT and next year, where there are first and second rounds played in Charlotte, we landed within an easy trip of Greensboro.

More on Dawgs Lax

LAX United also has their preview of our beloved Dawgs up. Coach Zim sounds optimistic, but then, coaches often do. One thing I didn't realize about our defense: Despite potential woes of losing Blevins in goal, we're actually returning five of seven starters--potentially 5/6 of our first two defenses--this year. Our other loss is Steve Settembrino, but we also regain Bobby Atwell. As long as we can get a quality goalie to step up both in goal and as a signal caller, I think at least that end of the field should be in great shape.

Season Preview - #14/11 UMBC Retrievers

InsideLacrosse has been counting down to the season by counting down their top teams of the preseason. Today they posted the preview of the #14 (Coaches' #11) UMBC Retrievers. I'll probably go into it more fully later (probably a good deal later, it's a busy week) but a few quick observations:

-We lost a lot of talent, but we've got some impressive looking folks in the pipeline. Here's hoping they step up.
-I'm VERY excited for the return of Bobby Atwell on defense.
-I'm somewhat trepidatious about the loss of Jeremy Blevins in goal.
-With just Kyle Wimer remaining from the "50" midfield, we may actualyl start creating offensive opportunities in the attack--crazy talk!

Equal Time

Sometimes it's tough having loyalties to multiple schools. I have two alma maters and work for a third, but there is a definite pecking order in play. UMBC, my undergraduate alma mater, where I spent four years and was involved in athletics through the pep band always comes first. Then it's USF, who also granted me a degree and where I fell in love with college football. Last, but certainly not least, it's UNCG, where I currently work and hold season tickets for men's basketball.

I'm fortunate in that it's fairly rare that any two of my teams play one another. Rather, this hierarchy comes into focus when an opportunity arises for one of my teams. For example, USF's photo store recently sent out a coupon for money off of an order. It was a compelling offer--get a USF print to have framed, perhaps for the man cave I hope one day to have. I checked out the offerings and have a pretty good idea of the print I'll get getting. My next step? Check out the photo store at UMBC. Because if I'm picking up USF merch, I need to give equal time to UMBC. This unfortunately makes my discount worth a little less, as I'm ultimately spending more money, but hey, I gotta represent.

A similar situation: I was approached by UNCG's Spartan Club, who I work closely with in my job, about becoming a member. Like most booster clubs, they have different financial levels at which they join. I've got much love for the Spartans, but I respectfully declined. Why? The way I see it, joining Spartan Club with an $X donation would also compel me to join both the Bulls Club and Retriever Club at equal or higher levels. What started as a $X proposition is now a $3X proposition. I briefly considered if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with, and admittedly, the season tickets reflect that. But when it comes to support, which I could do from near or far, it was all or none.

Here's a tangent, but not too far of one: I made a suggestion to myself--not nearly as binding as a resolution, commitment, or promise--that I'd like to make it to at least one game of both of my alma maters each year. I've actually been pretty good at making at least something the past couple years, be it football, basketball, soccer, or lacrosse. But many of those have been games of convenience, right here in North Carolina. I'd love to up my commitment and do a bit of traveling. USF gets a bit of an advantage in this department in that football is my favorite sport, which of course UMBC doesn't have. On the flip side, however, I'm in the Baltimore area far more than I'm down in Tampa. I may catch a UMBC lacrosse game this season--I haven't been to a home game since I graduated. And as for USF? I just might make the road trip to the Swamp to catch USF at Florida. Stay tuned.

Chili when it's Chilly

I'll be honest. This has relatively little reason being in a blog about sports and marching, but I wanted to share it and there's a logical tie-in, so I'm going for it.

While I'll concede that chili is sports food, it never really has been for me. I know it's a tailgating staple for those in colder climates, but most of my tailgating days were spent in Tampa rooting on the Bulls, so I can't say the chili has come out. For that matter, it hasn't been a particularly big deal when watching games either, although a friend of mine, a WVU alum, put together a pretty mean pot when we got together this year for the USF-WVU football game. Even band kids I know have chili stories, of band or corps parents cooking up big old pots for those cold football games, but that wasn't even on my radar.

So when I decided to try my hand--this past weekend while snowed in--I sought guidance. I had bookmarked this post from Tailgating ideas some time ago for when occasion came to pull it back up. Since I knew I was going to be using black beans, I found this recipe from Food Network's Rachael Ray online. I also incorporated a variation on the "secret ingredient" from One Great Season's recipe (but I'll let you watch for yourself to figure out what that was. From there, it was look at each, pick and choose what I liked and what I didn't, add my own touches and get to work. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Here's how I did it:

1 pkg ground turkey

2 sweet Italian sausages, removed from their casings

1 15 ¼ oz.* can black beans, drained

1 16 oz.* can chick peas, drained

1 14 ½ oz.* can diced tomatoes

1 cup crushed tomatoes/tomato paste

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 ½ tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp Old Bay

¼ package taco seasoning

A couple of generous shakes crushed red pepper

A couple of generous shakes Lawry’s season salt

¾ cup  lager (I used Yuengling)

¼ cup Southern Comfort

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp beef broth

A couple splashes of Texas Pete hot sauce

1 heaping tbsp ricotta cheese

*different companies package their canned beans and vegetables differently, so get the size closest to that size--"Campbell's Soup Can" size, roughly.

Before beginning: Combine seasonings. Combine beer, SoCo, worcestershire sauce, beef broth, and hot sauce.

Brown turkey and sausage in the bottom of a large pot on medium heat. Once browned, add liquid mixture and chopped vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add tomato paste and stir until well incorporated. Add diced tomatoes, black beans, and chick peas; mix thoroughly. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally. Finally, add ricotta cheese and seasonings and mix thoroughly. Continue to cook for an additional half hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve. 

I don't claim to have mapped the chili genome here, but I'd say it turned out pretty damn good. If it gives you one more option for your Super Bowl party, I've done my job.

That'll teach me

Not long after I posted that the only thing looking up about UMBC's basketball season was the coming of lacrosse season, both teams decided to teach me a lesson. UMB basketball went to league-leading Maine and came out with a victory, while UMBC lacrosse lost (unofficially) 9-3 in a preseason scrimmage at Navy.

Where the Balls are Rounder

With only one meaningful game remaining in the football season, it's been time to turn my attention to basketball. I've actually been to more live basketball this year than I have since my days in pep band, now that I'm a season ticket holder at UNCG. And yet it's only just now that I'm really starting to pay good attention to the grander scheme of college hoops.

I follow three and a half teams: UMBC, USF, UNCG, with a passing interest in Maryland. Things are actually starting to look up for them. USF  improved to 3-5 in the Big East and first the first time since joining the conference won two consecutive conference games vs. Providence and Seton Hall. If that doesn't sound like improvement to you, well, you're not familiar with USF and Big East basketball. UNCG now has a couple of home wins after a non-conference playing whipping boy to the ACC, and notched two consecutive wins at the Coliseum (interrupted by a home loss back on campus in Fleming). Maryland currently sits atop the ACC. And UMBC? Well, despite a 1-20 record, saved only by two winless teams from being the worst in all of D-I basketball, there's reason to be optimistic at UMBC. Why, you may ask? Because starting with a preseason scrimmage at Navy, it's lacrosse season.

In watching, I'm reminded that I love Big East basketball. It's an interesting realization: While I'm a USF alum, Big East basketball was, and for the most part, still is, a "them" and not an "us" to me. For starters, my entire time at USF was spent in Conference USA. And clearly, USF has never been a force in conference hoops, so it's easy to feel disconnected. On the other hand, I feel more closely connect to ACC hoops, being a part time Terps fan and living in NC, specifically in Greensboro, home of the conference headquarters and often the conference tournament. Clearly I've got a good solid east coast bias, but watching Syracuse-Georgetown last weekend, Louisville-West Virginia today, and Georgetown over Duke this afternoon, I was reminded of my conference love. 

Just how big is the big game?

I heard on last night's PTI that the city of New Orleans is planning to cancel schools and postpone activities of the courts on the Monday following the Super Bowl. Fair or foul?

I actually surprise even myself that I went back and forth on this. I've been saying for years that the Monday after Super Bowl (and a couple other sports distinctions, including the BCS national championship game and the NCAA basketball championships) should be a national holiday. And yet, when a locality--one whose team is playing in the Super Bowl--chooses to do so, my knee-jerk reaction is "Education! Important! Don't cancel school for a sporting event!" even though I've often advocated that they do exactly that. So after checking myself, I decided that yes, it was a good thing that they chose to make a holiday of the date, particularly since in the case of school, it gets "snow day" treatment, so students will still get a full complement of instruction.

Similarly, I found myself of two minds on the fact that the University of Alabama saw fit to cancel classes for days surrounding the BCS National Championship Game. I can see the rationale for it: Unlike in the case of the Super Bowl, a significant amount of the residents of the community (in this case, students, faculty, staff, and alumni) can realistically attend the game itself. My thought is this: If the rationale behind canceling classes was that logistically, they wanted for the sizable contingent traveling to the game to do so unfettered, then their logic is sound. If it was merely a day to honor the team for making it to the national championship game, I wonder if they did the same when other teams made their respective national championships, most recently the women's gymnastics team, 2002 national champions. And yes, I fully realize that football is king in Alabama, but if the rationale was simply honor, why not the gymnastics team?

Let's go back to the Super Bowl for a moment. The only reason it even needs to impede upon the work week at all is because it takes place on a Sunday night. The PTI guys postulated on something I had never even considered: Why not hold the Super Bowl on a Saturday night? While the Powers that Be have us conditioned to think that NFL football = Sunday (or Monday night), they use Saturdays for late season and playoff games, once college football is out of the way. For that matter, college football, which own fall Saturday, plays its national championship game on a Thursday night, so clearly it's been done. Beyond the tradition, I honestly can't think of a reason not to reschedule it. Not that I don't have respect for that tradition, but I wouldn't be against "Super Bowl Saturday" entering the lexicon.

Sports Watching 2.0

There's nothing like being at a live sporting event. But we're getting to the point where big screen high-def TVs are almost as good, especially when you can enjoy the action with friends. But in the Internet age, there's even quite a time to be had watching games alone.

Behold: Sports Watching 2.0. Recently, especially towards the end of this football season, I've watched games alone but not by myself. Inevitably, when watching games on TV, I'm also on Facebook. And as I update with general thoughts on the game, so do several of my friends and family members. Dialogue ensues through comments and statuses, and it's like you're watching the game with friends all over the country.

To that end, a question for those who read this. I've been toying with the idea of doing a blog-specific Twitter (in other words, a blog for 80 Minutes of Regulation, not for Curtis) where the random sports and marching thoughts that I currently post on Facebook could go, possibly to be cross-posted as well. What do you think? I've steered clear of Twitter thus far, but this seems to me to be a use I could get behind.