Would You Eat This?

I saw this at a 7-11 in Watertown/Oakville and I had to take a picture.

  

I believe these are taquitos, but one can never be certain when it comes to gas station/7-11 food.  One can only assume that most of these taquitos are "normal" flavored, but it looks like 4 of them are special and possibly buffalo flavored.  I feel like I would try one of these just to say I did, but at the same time these things do not look appetizing.  When I first saw them I thought they were really gross, old hot dogs like the ones you see rotating at the Kwik-E-Mart.

After thinking about this post for a bit, I've come to realize that I'm not a normal person.  When it comes to food, I would potentially eat a lot of things that most normal people wouldn't dare put in their body.  These "taquitos" would be one thing, the Dorito/Mountain Dew hybrid cupcakes that I blogged about would be another.  No idea why, but I think it's because I'm just curious what everything tastes like.  It's also because I have no self control when it comes to eating and I want to eat everything all the time, but it was just funny to finally realize that.  All it took was a picture of gas station/7-11 taquitos for that thought to register with me.

Brian's Favorite NHL Team

Hello.  How 'bout that ride in?  I guess that's why they call it Sin City.  I just really wanted to open this final post with something funny and for some reason The Hangover was on my mind so there ya go.  Anyways, what a journey this has been.  It's no easy task to select a new professional sports team to start rooting for.  A ton of research and a good deal of my free time that should have been directed towards grad school work or watching Breaking Bad went into this decision, so I hope all who read my blog have enjoyed the ride.

To begin my final analysis, I just want to again thank everyone for their input over the past week or so.  I became aware of a lot more fun facts about both the Rangers and Bruins that I never knew and a lot of what people had to say impacted my decision.  If you're a fan of my #2 team don't get angry!  My choice was not to spite or piss anyone off.  I made the decision based on a variety of things that I will soon get into, but at the end of the day I felt like one team was just slightly a better fit for me than the other.  Where there was a Bruins fan like Chris Fontaine, Drew Guarino, or GTNTC listing reasons for me to like the B's, a Rangers fan like Jenn Dice, Kat McCarthy, or Chris Wystepek would counter with a reason to pick New York.  It was a classic battle of Boston v. New York, and that's where I'll begin.

City

The geographical location of a team means very little to me, as evidenced by my other favorite teams, but it's something that I factored into my decision.  Both Boston and New York are big time cities with tons of people, tall buildings, cool things to do, and so on.  At first thought they're a wash, but then I thought on it a little more.  I've been to both quite a few times and both have good areas and bad, but if I had a choice to visit one over the other, 9 times out of 10 I'm going to Beantown.  The city is cleaner, people on the streets are nicer, it doesn't smell like dooty, and the overall vibe is just better.  Don't get me wrong, I have a ton of fun when I'm in NYC (probably had the best time in New York the last time I was there - WHAT UP A-TEAM), but I would have more fun in Boston.  Granted, I somehow spend significantly more when I visit Boston (holy hell was the weekend leading up to and including New Year's expensive), but it's worth it.  Also, if you read this blog you'll know that I experienced a DEEP FRIED RICE BALL for the first time there.  That alone gives Boston the edge in the battle of location.

 

Fan Base 

I'm not in the business of telling lies here.  Do I lie?  Absolutely.  If you say you don't lie then you're a liar and should never be trusted.  Why did I say that?  Well, I'm a Boston Red Sox fan and I know how Sox fans are and how they treat visiting fans.  The answer is not good.  Boston fans are some of the biggest assholes in the world.  If you're not with us, you're against us.  Nothing wrong with that mentality, but Boston fans take it too far sometimes.  I can think back to a few years ago when a young chap (no idea why I'm using "chap" here) named Timothy Ezekial Terenzi and I ventured to Boston through a blizzard and a half to watch a Sacramento Kings v. Boston Celtics game.  It was the 3rd quarter and the Kings were getting embarrassed to a point where very few starters for the Celts were even in the game.  Neither Tim nor I acted out at any point during the game (mainly because our Kings were getting crushed), yet we were heckled.  That's fine.  Heckling is part of defending your home court, but was it necessary to throw ice cubes, popcorn, change, and whatever else you could find at two quiet Kings fans when their team was down by 30 points?  Where's the class in that?  New York is not much better, but I actually felt safer wearing my Papelbon jersey and Sox hat into Yankee Stadium (I believe I was with the legendary Spencer Griffin) for a classic Sox v. Yankees game.  Neither fan base has a ton of class, and yes I know a few bad apples spoil the bunch, but I shockingly have to give the edge here to NY.  At the same time I just want to agree with 95% of the people who contacted me in regards to this decision and say that Philly fans are the worst.  Granted, if I was a Philly fan I would be accepted by them, but it wouldn't be worth it to associate myself with them.  The NY fan base is the best of a bad situation.

Venue

When comparing the TD Garden and Madison Square Garden I started laughing.  For some reason I never made the connection that they're both referred to as "The Garden".  First off, does everyone know what a garden is?  It's not a place to play hockey I can tell you that much.  If my grandfather opened the screen door at the back of the house and saw people playing hockey in his garden he would do three things.  First, Pop would swear and say something like "son of a bitch".  After that he would mutter a bunch of this and that and end it with "I'll fix those bastards".  Lastly, Pop would reappear with a shotgun, fully loaded, and get everyone out of his garden.  Looking at the facts, MSG is bigger, allows for more people to see a game, and has a ton of history on its side.  At the same time that makes it older that the Boston Garden which holds close to the same amount of fans and is in a much better location in its respected city.  I really want to pick MSG here because of the legendary games that took place there, the high profile boxing fights, the concerts, and the fact that my Aunt Maryanne took me to see Jordan in his prime play the Knicks in the playoffs when I was younger, but I have to side with the TD Garden.  Again, I'm not all about the past or the history of the teams or what happened with the stadium or players before this year because that's prior to me becoming a true hockey fan.  I'm living in the HERE and NOW and the more up to date and better located Boston Garden gets the nod.

Coaches

Now I can start looking at the teams and coaches instead of the other aspects of the Bruins and Rangers.  Let me get this out there right now.  John Tortorella is a BOSS.  100% definition of a BOSS.

I knew very little about hockey a few weeks ago, but even I know Tortorella is a BOSS.  Nothing against Claude Julien, but Tortorella is my favorite coach in the NHL regardless of my decision.  If I'm a Rangers fan, that's awesome.  If I'm a Bruins fan, I have a massive amount of respect for him because he speaks his mind and is not afraid to get AGGRESSIVE with it.  So the nod here goes to NY.

Players

I think everyone can agree that each team has a ton of talent.  The Rangers seem to have more "superstars" on their team, but the Bruins seem to be more of a complete team.  Henrik Lundqvist (tough name to spell) seems to be the unanimous #1 goalie in the league, Gaborik, Nash, and Richards, amongst others, seem to be some of the best players on the ice, and who doesn't love Ryan Callahan?  The Bruins counter with a pretty decent goalie of their own in Tuukka Rask (absolutely hate that name), a guy who seems to be the best defensemen in Zdeno Chara (respect to a fellow giant), and a ton of good to great guys in Bergeron, Krecji, and Marchand.  Although I love superstars in sports like Adrian Peterson for the Vikings, Durant for the Thunder, and even a throwback to Michael Vick back when he was on the Falcons, I'm more of a team guy.  The Bruins embody what it really means to be a team in my opinion.  As pointed out by GTNTC in his essay/short story and by Professor Guarino when I asked him, the Bruins use 4 lines on a consistent basis.  One line might be better than another, but they're a very balanced team and I can dig it.

Future

In terms of future success, both teams will have plenty of that.  As a new fan, I'm interested in aligning myself with a team that has some new faces.  Looking at the Bruins, two guys stick out by the names of Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton.  Seguin seems to be a stud on offense who could produce goals like a stud and Hamilton seems to be a rookie who will learn a ton from Chara and become known as a great defensemen one day.

The Rangers counter with Chris Kreider who, unlike the Bruins players, is an AMERICAN.  I'm shocked it took me this long to say the word AMERICAN or some form of the word AMERICA, but here it is.  The Bruins only have two American born players on their team and one of them is Tim Thomas who will be MIA while the Rangers have a plethora including the Boxford, MA native Kreider.  That's neither here nor there, but this kid seems to have a ton of promise as well.  But last time I checked, two is greater than one.  I'm no mathematician, but I have to give the edge to the Bruins here with their two young guns in Seguin and Dougie.

Jerseys

The next few things might seem silly to some, but I did my best to think of and evaluate everything when deciding what team to root for.  My plan was to make an investment in a jersey as soon as I settled on a team and I still intend to do so.  You can see the jersey for the Bruins in the above pic of Dougie.  I actually really like them.  Nothing wrong with a little gold and black and we all know the B in the center stands for Brian.  Love the drawstring at the collar and just think it's an overall cool jersey.

What about the Rangers?  Well my friends, they are none other than RED, WHITE, and BLUE masterpieces.

That's just a nice picture of the various styles that New York has, but my personal favorite would be the following:

AMERICA.  When I look in my closet I see a ton of different colored shirts and pants, but I love wearing red, white, and blue at the same time.  Is it because I love America?  Yes, yes it is.  Why do you think I became a Red Sox fan?  Ok it was for other reasons than their colors (I still have to say thank you to Gary Payne and Sean Casey for accepting me into the fold and holding a ceremony to make me a Sox fan), but the point is I love that combo.  I can see myself in both jerseys, but I can't deny the red, white, and blue!

Miscellaneous

This is my catch all section.  Instead of going into details about this or that I'm just going to rattle off a few things about each team that I made a note of when making my decision.

- The Rangers are from New York and I have never liked a New York team.
- Blades is the name of the Bruins mascot and the Rangers DON'T HAVE A MASCOT???
- Jenn Dice really really really likes the Rangers and really really really wants me to be a Rangers fan so we can watch games together during travel.
- GTNTC (also known as Gary St. Amant) wrote me an essay on why I should be a Bruins fan and Chris Fontaine has an adorable pup named Izzy who also likes the Bruins almost as much as she likes me.
- I love Jeff Velleca and whenever he decides it's time to play in the NHL, my loyalty will be to him and whatever team he plays for.  I'm never not a Team Velleca fan.
- Lucic is an absolute monster.  I can't get enough of his fights and actually just saw him fight in this Bruins v. Carolina game.
- Did I mention that John Tortorella is a BOSS?
- I actually really hate the Rangers jerseys that have the face of the Statue of Liberty on them.
- What technically is a "Ranger".  If it means like an army ranger than that's pretty awesome.  If it means ranger like Power Ranger then WOW.  Red Ranger (my favorite), White Ranger (he had a talking sword!), and Blue Ranger... boom.  But really, no idea what a Ranger really is.
- I love America.
- I'm shocked and appalled that none of my friends have bribed me with bacon to become a fan of their team.
- I really wish hockey tickets weren't so expensive.

The Decision

Enough beating around the bush here.  It's time for me to make my decision.  After a week long search process that took countless hours away from more important things, I have decided to take my fan-hood talents to none other than the Boston Bruins!  To all my friends that are Rangers fans, I love you and hope I don't receive any death threats.  But me being a Bruins fan just means we'll have plenty to talk, discuss, argue, and fight about!  Thanks again for all the input from everyone and hopefully the Bruins and I will have a long and healthy relationship that stands the test of time!

 

I should probably go and buy that Lucic jersey...  LET'S GO!!!!

My NHL Frozen Four

I'm not even going to call these four teams my Final Four because that's basketball.  After a very long week where I neglected my Corporate Finance work, half-assed some gym sessions, and really just focused on hockey instead of other important life obstacles, I've narrowed my list down to my Frozen Four.  In no particular order, the list includes the following teams:

Philadelphia Flyers

Boston Bruins

St. Louis Blues

New York Rangers

I'll be honest here, I think I'd be ok rooting for any of those teams.  They all have their pros and cons and I could make a case for becoming a fan of any one of those teams.  But at the end of the day there can only be one, so this post will cut the list in half setting up a championship round the likes this rookie hockey fan has never seen.  So without further ado, the #4 team on my list is none other than the St. Louis Blues.

I'm not a guy who is big into music.  I like listening to songs, have a few favorite artists, but I don't think I can like a team who's symbol is a music note.  I also don't like the idea of "singing the blues" because that means something bad happened.  I want nothing but happy thoughts when I think of my team!  The reason why the Blues are so high is because of Kyle McGuire.  The man made several good points about the Blues which prompted some in depth research by me and I really liked what I read.  They're a young team who isn't that good, but they're on the cusp.  I'm not trying to be a front runner here so I could hitch my wagon to the Blues and be happy if they turn it on and are nasty.  Another big reason is because of this man:

Vladimir Tarasenko.  This kid is Rookie of the Year material and I love it!  I drafted him and a few other young guys on my fantasy hockey team and he's a shining star right now.  I could become a Blues fan just because of this kid, but then why would I eliminate the Blues right now?  Because it's not about one player.  I don't like Duke for college ball because of Curry.  I like them because they always have a team of educated players who play great as a team.  They rarely have just one superstar on the court.  Duke is a team that's made up of quality players from top to bottom and not just one of two upper echelon guys.  So unfortunately the Blues will be singing the blues because they missed out on my fan hood.

Phew.  Big cut there.  I really really like that Tarasenko kid.  Going forward, Vladimir might be my favorite NHL player, but I'll just have to hope he gets trade to my favorite team which won't be the Philadelphia Flyers.

It's been really tough to justify my decision to cut a team in the top 8, but I have to do it in order to find my team.  One of the biggest reasons why I like the Flyers is because so many people hate them.  I probably had more comments/texts/messages thrown my way by people telling me they won't be my friend or they'll want to fight me if I become a Flyers fan than I had from people telling me to be a fan of any other team hahaha.  Kind of funny, but those are the teams I like sometimes.  Again, I can reference Duke where you either love em or hate em.  There is very little middle ground on a team like Duke and apparently the same goes for the Flyers.

Along with Tarasenko, I really like Claude Giroux.  Haven't read or heard a bad thing about the guy (maybe because I didn't search hard enough?) and I really like the way he attacks on the ice.  He always seems to be around the net looking to score.  I also like Kimmo because, well, that's a boss ass name.  As Professor Guarino pointed out, there are a ton of great fantasy hockey names to go off of that such as Kimmo-flage, Kimmo Therapy, and so on.  But the Flyers are more than those two guys.  They're also a team that seems to get after it.  Their fan base, although made up primarily of degenerate "Philly fans" who unfortunately get lumped together because of violent issues in the past, seem to be as dedicated as them come.  I feel like I would be accepted there because, after all, it is the city of brotherly love, my brother actually lives there, and I could easily adopt the mentality of a Philly fan, but I can't do it.

At the same time, if someone threw me a Philly Cheesesteak, I would probably change my allegiance at the snap of the fingers.  And by probably I mean I would absolutely.  But then again, I do love me some New England Claw Chowder and a nice New York style slice of pizza.

I feel like I've let a lot of people down with crossing off the Flyers (Lauren, Ryan, Matt, etc.), but I just couldn't pull the trigger.  Since I'm new to hockey I feel like I can't jump into a situation where I become part of the most hated team in the league with my limited knowledge of the sport.  I'd be all alone up here in New England as a Flyers fan and would have nothing credible to say when I argue with a Bruins or a Rangers fan.  Again, I could just learn that over time, but I want to hit the ground running with my team and get AGGRESSIVE with them.  How aggressive?  Well whatever team I decide on, I'll be placing an order for a jersey come Tuesday at work.

          v.        

I did not plan this.  When I started this search I really hoped to stay away from any "classic" match ups like a NY v. Boston type thing, but "here we are".  In case you haven't read the other posts, the location of the team doesn't really mean anything to me.  I don't feel like I have to root for a particular team because they're close to me which is why I hate UConn, root against the Patriots and Giants all the time, and despise Paul Pierce.  Seriously if I could pick one professional athlete and force them into retirement it would be Raja Bell (not sure if he still plays).  But if I had two picks, it'd be Bell and Paul Pierce.  Seriously hate that guy.  But anyways, both these teams seem to embody what I'm looking for in a hockey team.  Passionate fan base, great colors, nice jerseys, a team with a lot of talent but not necessarily a team loaded with superstars like Ovechkin or Malkin, guys that THROW DOWN (both the Rangers and the Bruins), and so much more.  I mean it's only been a few games and the Rangers already have 8 total fights for the year and I think they've played like 4 games!  Bruins aren't far behind either with 4 fights ranking them 5th.  They also have a Lucic fight where he clocks an Islander HARD.

Either way I think I'm going to be happy.  Both teams seem like good choices to me.  But can I really root for a team from New York?  Do I really want another Boston team on my list?  All I know is I have a very tough decision to make this evening/tomorrow morning.  It can honestly go either way.

My NHL Team: The Elite 8

 

And here... we... go!  A lot of people saw me post this on Facebook because I was requesting even more help in regards to who to root for, so I might as well start off this post with that picture.  My original plan was to go through all 30 teams and just be able to pick one and call it a day.  Welp, things got a lot more complicated after this picture hit the Internet.  I've been swayed back and forth on teams thanks to the likes of the following:

 

Jenn Dice (America) - Alex Martin - Drew Guarino - Chris Wystepek - Kevin Monahan - Lauren Mancuso - AJ Bias - Tim Whittum - Tara Crowley - Jeffery Jefferson Velleca (READ MY BLOG JEFF) - Dan "I have a very difficult last name to pronounce" Desaulniers - Kelly LaBarre - Gary Payne - Kyle McGuire (tons of great points) - Joe Zeitler - Lil Dave - Theo - Sara Manning - Carney - Kat aka a member of the A-Team - Blake O'Brien - Spencer Griffin - Komich - Fontaine (doing SERIOUS work to convince me) - Mitchell Insero (I feel like you dislike the Flyers) - Adam Heidbreder - Connor - Ryan Gillon - Matt Ross - Matt Donofrio - Ferrazzi - Ryan Nellenback - Adrian Kaminski - Mikey D (with a threat to go with!) - GTNTC - Sara Flynn - Dave Miller

 

There are more people that have weighed in on my potential choice, but I just got really tired of typing everyone's name.  Either way, the input is appreciated.  The above bracket was created to have one East versus one West team square off for the chance to be my team, but I've decided to go in another direction.  Instead of an unfair bracket, I'm mixing all the teams up and having a free for all.  One by one I'll be eliminating a team so I might as well start by scratching team #8.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks are the first to go, but they didn't go down without a fight.  I really wanted to keep this team in the running because Chicago seems like a city rich with tradition, but they gotta go! I've heard on ESPN, from Professor Guarino, and countless others that the Blackhawks have the best jerseys in the NHL and even the best in all of professional sports. Let's take a look:

Good, not great in my opinion. I think people really just like that it's a legit Indian face. Not for me, but who am I to judge? Oh wait, I'm the person trying to figure out what team to root for so I get to judge everyone and everything. The more I research teams the more I begin to like them and I really like Corey Crawford in net. After researching the goalies, he is one of my favorite guys left in this search, but unfortunately we need to part ways.

Next on the chopping block is none other than the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Let's call a spade a spade here. The Lightning made my list because lightning is boss. It strikes fear into the hearts of their opponents. But what's lightning without a little bit of thunder? Nothing. I do like Martin St. Louis because he's undersized yet he carves up the ice like a mad man, but the team is from Tampa Bay and whenever I think about Tampa Bay I think about the Bucs from the NFL. At the very core of me I'm an NFL fan. I will never like a team from any sport more than I like the 49ers. With that being said, my very football oriented mind tells me I cannot pull for a team that reminds me of how awful an NFL team is. If the Bucs didn't suck so much I might be inclined to keep them on my list, but those orange Popsicle lookin throwback jerseys make me sick.

Now it's time to crack that 6-pack! I feel like Alex Martin and only Alex Martin will be upset about this, but I just can't keep em on the list. Love me some Joe Thornton (he's actually one of the few players I actually remembered before researching different teams and players), but I don't think Joe Thornton alone can sway my decision. I really do like the Sharks logo though:

I mean look at that logo!!! This might be my favorite logo for any hockey team. It screams ferocity, aggression, and murder. At the same time, it reminds me of Jaws and I watched that at a very young age which somewhat traumatized me for the rest of my life. I can never go to the beach without thinking about a giant shark coming out of no where and eating everyone in the water. Eventually I shake those thoughts off and go in the water, but watch out!

The last team on the outside of my Final Four looking in is none other than my former champs, the Anaheim Ducks.

If the Ducks were still MIGHTY then I might not need to have this search, but Disney decided to make the change a while back and so did I. And while I'm talking about the Mighty Ducks, does anyone remember the cartoon show?

CLASSIC SHOW. Remember when he put that gold hockey mask on and things got real? Loved it. And going with that, the whole reason why I liked hockey at all growing up was because of those fantastic movies. I don't think anyone can reference the Mighty Ducks without saying Gordon Bombay. Love all those characters and love all those movies, but that was years ago. I need to back a team not based on a movie or a cartoon show. I need a team that I can get excited about, a team that can fight, a team that can score, and a team that I can truly identify with and root for.

I'm down to four teams, so I'll soon be rooting HARD for either the Flyers, Bruins, Blues, or Rangers! I can't wait to take my talents somewhere!!

The Search for My Favorite NHL Team

 

This is one of those rare, non food related posts, so bare with me here.  Odds are if you're reading this, you know the back story.  In case you don't follow me on Twitter or you didn't reign in on Facebook, let me quickly fill you in.  I have never truly had a hockey team to call my own.  For years I've been a "Ducks fan", but that's like being a paper champ in boxing.  The only reason I claimed to be a Ducks fan was because I love the Mighty Ducks movies.  I would occasionally check in on the team and see how certain guys like Pronger were doing, but I never was a true fan.  That sucks to admit, but I never really got into hockey.  With that being said, I agreed to do a fantasy hockey league this year (happy I did Mitchell!!) and that sparked a huge interest.  I've since watched quite a few games and realized that I have no loyalty to the Ducks because they are no longer The Mighty Ducks.  With that being said, the search is on!

So... there are 30 teams and only one of me.  Some how, some way I need to eliminate 29 teams from my list in order to find my favorite team.  This is no easy task, which is why I took to Facebook and Twitter in hopes of gaining some quality input from friends, coworkers, acquaintances, people I hate but am friends with, and so on.  Based off of every one's input, where a team is located, their team name, my random bias and view of a team, jersey colors, age of a team, who the coach is, where some players are from, how they approach the game, and so on, I'll be widdling the list of 30 down until there is only one!  Without further ado, let me shed some light on my selection process!

 

Tons of options here.  Lots of cool logos, great cities, cool nicknames.  It's easy to chop off teams now because there are a few teams that I could really care less about even though I'm new to hockey.  This next picture should easily eliminate some teams:

AMERICA.  If your team is not in the United States of America then your team is not for me.  In no particular order, the following teams have been cut: Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks.  The only team that was close to advancing was the Canucks on the basis that they're called the Canucks and that makes me laugh.  But right there I cut 7 teams so now we're looking at the top 23!

Now that we trimmed the fat, it's time to take out 3 teams just because I don't like them.  I'm gonna pass on the Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Phoenix Coyotes.  No connection with them.  While I'm at it (for no particular reason), I'm dropping the Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators (even though I love the Predator movies), and Buffalo Sabres.  Small sigh of relief there because that puts me at the halfway point, but I still have plenty of work to do.  Up next is my favorite reason to not like a team:

This is Brian Livingstone.  He is a Devils fan which means I am not.  Love the kid, but the fact that he roots for the Devils means I will hate the Devils.  When the Devils were on TV while in college, Stone would sit in his recliner chair that he illegally brought up to campus and just scream and sweat for 3 hours.  I have never wanted to strike another human being more than when Stone was watching the Devils in the living room.  Hell on Earth.

I can't root for the Penguins because they seem too good to me.  I don't want to all of a sudden become a fan of the best team... and I also HATE Crosby for beating the US.  And since I don't want to be a front runner, the Kings are out as well.  I also don't think it would be fair for me to be a Capitals fan, even though I think Ovechkin is dirty.

Even though the Red Wings are one of the original six, I can't pull for them either.  The history of a team means nothing to me.  Think of me as a new born baby.  I'm now conscious that I'm alive in the world and am curious to see what it has in store for me.  Do I care about what happened before I was born?  Nope.  I'm a baby and all I want to do is eat a cheeseburger.  And if you were wondering, I'm fully aware that the baby analogy makes absolutely no sense, but I don't feel like deleting it.

To be honest, if the Islanders were staying on Long Island, I think my search would be over.  I travel there so much for work and have so much fun there with my travel family that it would be a no brainer.  I would probably be able to catch a few games while traveling there in the spring and a few in the fall so they would be my team, but alas, they're moving to Brooklyn so they're out.

Being from CT I should tear up at the sight of the Whalers logo, and for some strange reason, part of me does.  I am the complete opposite of a "homer" as evidenced by the professional and college teams I like.  The geographical location of a team means nothing to me.  My overall favorite team is the 49ers, I'm a Sox fan for baseball, Kings (soon to be a Supersonic King!) for NBA, Duke for college ball, Vols for college football, and so on.  The Whalers left in 1997, but their essence still remains.  Although the team is now the Carolina Hurricanes, I don't think I can support a team that picks up and leaves.

After all of that, the Elite Eight has emerged!  I'm down to the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks.  It wasn't easy, but I'm down to 8 and now have to cut it down even further to 4.  Looking ahead, the below graphic will give some insight into what else I look at when analyzing a team.

This Is How You Tailgate!!

If you're gonna tailgate, you might as well do it right, right?  You're staring into a cart with well over $200 worth of awesome.

I did my best to take everything out of the bags and lay it out for a nice picture, but it doesn't do it justice.

This post would have been so much better if I took individual pictures of what Derek and I ended up making for the tailgate, which by the way was for the 49ers v. Patriots game back in December, but one thing led to another and my hands were always dirty or I was too excited to take a picture because I wanted to eat everything.

Anyways, not only did we make everything from scratch, but we made so many different things and so much of everything!  Derek really made the tailgate epic by murdering a pulled pork recipe that he created on the spot.  A cool 10 pounds of that was a nice start, but that was only the beginning.  We made sausage and peppers, chili, buffalo chicken dip, had burgers, hot dogs, bacon for everything, chips, cheese, more cheese, every condiment you can think of, plenty of beer, hash browns that I wanted to wrap in bacon but we never got to them, and so on.  If you have a tailgate coming up you should seriously consider hiring Derek and I to cook everything because that was some of the best food I've ever eaten.  And by hire Derek and I to cook everything I mean hire Derek to cook everything and me to sample everything just to make sure it's ok.  I do a really good job of sampling the food...

I feel this post is appropriate for today because both the Niners and Pats are going to war!  Rise up Niners Nation!!  Big game today against the Falcons!!!

Working from Home

Who doesn't love working from home??? As an Admissions Counselor, my office allows for reading days where each counselor takes 40 files home and reviews them there instead of going to the office. Two things really make this day awesome. The first would be waking up in sweat pants and a T-shirt and not having to change all day long. The second would be what I get to cook for lunch. Since I'm home for the day I usually do something small for breakfast like a bowl of cereal and then have fun with lunch which is essentially breakfast 2.0.

What I have here is a pepperoni and cheese omelet (one of the worst words to spell in the English language - and technically it's scrambled eggs because I screwed up the flip in the air) that is inspired by my mother, some toast, and sausage links. It's nothing special, but it blows a normal breakfast like a bowl of cereal or some yogurt or oatmeal outta the water and it's better than a boring lunch like a turkey and cheese or a PB & J sandwich.

 

To close this post I want to throw in a public service announcement.  Don't be afraid to throw random things in when cooking eggs.  For some reason I used to just make scrambled eggs with cheese, some toast, and cooked bacon or sausage for the side.  Don't get me wrong, I love that, but I'm now getting more creative with my eggs.  I like to throw some pepperoni in the pan and warm that up with some olive oil before pouring the eggs in.  Instead of one kind of cheese I might use two or three.  Hot sauce is more or less a requirement at this point.  Spices and seasonings for days.  You can even dice up some fresh vegetables and toss em in there!  My personal favorite is a meat lovers omelet where I'll cook and chop up pepperoni, bacon, sausage, and ham and then mix that with as many kinds of cheese as I have.  We gotta step our egg-game up people!  And kudos to me for not making an "egg-cellent" or "egg-ceptional" type joke in this post.  I was scrambling for other jokes but I cracked under the pressure.  Good thing this post is over... easy does it.  Yolk.

String Cheese

String Cheese - Gotta Have It or Who Cares?

I don't think anyone is ever in the middle on string cheese.  I feel like if you eat string cheese, you love it and it's a frequent snack for you, but if you don't eat string cheese, you're perfectly ok with it falling off the face of the Earth and you never really have a craving for it.  Growing up I know I was on the string cheese bandwagon because my mother bought it for me and I had it a few times a week with my lunch at school.  It was a snack made out of cheese, not mad about it, but it also allowed me to play with my food by peeling it apart and eating thin strand of cheese after thin strand of cheese after whirling it around for a bit.

Now that I'm older and a tad more mature, I don't see the allure anymore.

Toby: (watching Ryan eat string cheese) Wow, you just dive right in.
Ryan: You know, around age 12, I just started going for it.

Although I am a kid at heart, I'm more concerned with eating food quicker than I am with playing with it.  So at the end of the day I would attack it like Ryan from The Office would and dive right in.  When it comes to a snack, who really cares about string cheese anymore?  I'll take a can of Pringles, a granola bar, A PIECE OF FRUIT, or a throwback snack in Gushers any day.

Tenders v. Nuggets

Let me start this post off by saying WINGS are not included in this because they're the classic representation of buffalo magic. This post is to make a distinction between Tenders and Nuggets, something a restaurant in Kingston, NY needs to figure out.

Above is a picture of what I ordered. At first glance you're thinking "Mmmmm those look like good buffalo chicken nuggets (or even bites)" and you'd be right except that I ordered buffalo chicken TENDERS. Someone wanna tell me when false advertising became legal??? I was OUTRAGED to say the least. Thank God I ordered a pizza to go with it, but I wanted tenders and got nuggets. If places are gonna lie about things like this then what's next? I order fries and get a baked potato? Ice cream and I get frozen yogurt? Bacon and I get ham?!?! It has to stop! Bottom line is I hate false advertising and I never want nuggets over tenders. There's more food with a tender and as an AMERICAN I am entitled to more of whatever I want. #America 

Loaded BBQ Beef Nachos

I feel like the title says it all, but just in case, this picture above should help.

Drew and I were hungry one day while home from work and we needed something to eat. Instead of being boring and making a sandwich or ordering Chinese, I had a brilliant idea. Let's use blue corn chips, sprinkle 1/3 of a bag of shredded cheese on said chips, squirt BBQ sauce on that, cook a pound of ground meat and throw that on top (with some buffalo seasoning), then use the other 2/3 bag of cheese, and finish it off with whatever BBQ sauce we had left.  My mouth is watering just thinking about these chips again. They were so cheesy and delicious it's not even funny. I never not want to eat them.

Below is a picture of me finishing off what was left. Every once in a while someone approaches me about my blog and thinks that I don't eat half the stuff I blog about. Well sir or madam, you're an idiot. As this nacho nirvana came to an end, Drew tapped out with a massive amount still in the pan. He challenged me to just grab it and eat it all and I obliged. I know What's Really Good and it's givin the people what they want!

2013 - The Year of the Rice Ball

I just returned home from a 5 day excursion in the great city of Boston where I stumbled upon one of God's greatest creations: DEEP FRIED RICE BALLS.

If you don't know the joy that is a deep fried rice ball, drive to the north end of Boston to a place called Pompay and order at least half a dozen. These things are so good that I had them on back to back nights. A great man named Marty introduced these heavenly meteorites to me and it was like coming back from a war and reuniting with my wife. Tears of joy people. And I need to thank John Volks for deciding to go back for more the next night instead of telling the cab driver to take us to Atlantic City. That might have been an expensive ride...

Either way I think 2013 will be a healthier year for me and what better way to start off the new year, the new me, the new eating outlook of eating healthy than with deep fried rice (healthy part) balls!?!?  Cheers to a new year that promises to bring plenty of ups and downs which is why life is worth living!