Florida State’s 2010 football schedule was released this afternoon. Below is a list of their games with home opponents in all caps:
Sept. 4 SAMFORD
Sept. 11 at Oklahoma
Sept. 18 BYU
Sept. 25 WAKE FOREST
Oct. 2 at Virginia
Oct. 9 at Miami
Oct. 16 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 23 Open
Oct. 28 at NC State (Thurs.)
Nov. 6 NORTH CAROLINA
Nov. 13 CLEMSON
Nov. 20 at Maryland
Nov. 27 FLORIDA
Their out of conference schedule includes a visit from Samford and Florida and a trip to Oklahoma. As for their conference schedule, in addition to playing the teams in the ACC’s Atlantic Division (Wake, Miami, BC , NC State, Clemson and Maryland), and their permanent rival from the Coastal Division (Miami), the ‘Noles swap out Georgia Tech for Virginia.
Overall the schedule has 7 home games and 5 on the road. One of the biggest changes that I like is the Miami game has been moved back to October instead of Labor Day Weekend. I think both schools are going to have good years and this early October matchup could finallybe of national importance.
My ridiculously early season prediction is for FSU to go 10-2 (loses to OU and UF) and head to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, NC. That would be one heck of a first season for Jimbo and his new staff.
Today was National Signing Day. All around the country high school football players, after being recruited by numerous schools, announced where they planned to play. Since Coach Bowden’s retirement there has been a buzz surrounding Florida State. Some of the top prospects in the state (Luc and Joyner) announced there were headed to Tallahassee once it was known Jimbo would be leading the program.
Following their announcements most of the news was positive as more and more players began to indicate they wanted to be a Seminole. While the announcements came in I sat at my desk working on various projects. Every once in awhile I checked a blog or two to see how the ‘Noles were faring. Throughout the day class began to take shape and things looked pretty good.
In the end the Seminoles closed with a consensus Top 10 recruiting class. Not bad for a team that has gone 7-6 three of the past four years. Now that the players have committed Coach Fisher and his staff can focus on developing them into better players once they arrive on campus. This has been something that has been lacking for the past couple of season decade and I hope from here on out the ‘Noles will begin their climb back to the top of college football.
No woman wants this for Valentine's Day
While I work talk radio fills the dead air of my office. I have always been able to write better with something going on in the background rather than silence. As Dan Patrick, Jim Rome and Jeff Cameron chat I pay attention to snippets of their programs while billing.
Every year around Valentine’s Day the same desperate commercial for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company hits the airwaves. The announcer happily states that getting a bear for your wife, girlfriend or that special someone will show them how much you care. They go on to note that you can personalize your own bear or chose from a variety of theme bears. To close they exclaim that you can even have it shipped to you overnight in time for the big day.
These bear peddlers prey on men who clearly have no idea what they are doing on Valentine’s Day. Buying a bear does not say you are thoughtful, it say’s you have no imagination and scrambled to grab something, anything to placate your significant other. Instead of dropping $90.00 on a pile of fur they would have been better off buying that classy heart shaped box of candy from CVS. The result would be the same (a huge amount of disappointment by your wife) and you would have saved yourself about $85 bucks.
I would never buy Becks a bear dressed as a lawyer, one with a heart shaped tatoo on its arm or the Southern themed Red Hot Redneck Bear, and if I did I would pay. The gift exchange would go something like this:
Me: Happy Valentine’s Day beautiful! I know you gave me a son and are currently carrying our lovely daughter so I got you something special.
Her: You did? Is it pearls? A night out with mom watching the baby? You are so thoughtful and I love you. Let me see it!
Me: Here it is! Unwrap it. You are going to love it.
*Crinkle of wrapping paper*
Her: What’s in this weird looking brown box with holes in it? Did you get me something that’s alive? We don’t need anymore pets and I don’t really want a chinchilla.
Me: No, it’s way better than that. It’s from Vermont.
Her: You got me a bear wearing leather chaps and a biker helmet?!?!
Me: Isn’t it the best Valentine’s Day present ever? It’s very thoughtful. The radio guy said it was the perfect gift. Want to make out?
Her (sobbing): Why did you ruin Valentine’s Day for me? What made you think I’d want a stuffed animal made by dirty hippies?
The sad part is people actually buy these things as their commercials come on year after year and apparently there is a commune in Vermont churning out these cuddly Valentine Day death sentences. I hope that the majority of guys who hear these commercials will react to them like I do and opt for a safer gift alternative like jewelry, dinner or a mani/pedi combo and avoid the disaster that will surely fall on any man who falls for VTB’s slick advertising.
This morning Becks was watching some show on the food network. The woman on it was making what she was cooking sound like the best thing ever and went on about how brining your meat before grilling it would make it more flavorful and moist. I planned on roasting a chicken for dinner and decided to give brining a whirl to see if it was everything the 5 ingredient lady said it was.
While Becks hot chocolate cooked on the stove I grabbed a large pot and poured in a gallon of water. I then warmed the water up so that the 3/4 of a cup of sugar and 3/4 of a cup of salt would dissolve easier. The recipe I found online also called for 3/4 cup of a cup of soy sauce. Once the mixture had cooled down I cleaned the chicken, plopped it in the mixture and put it in the refrigerator.
The meat was in the brine for 6 hours and then I roasted it in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours. I cooked it in a roasting bag to make cleaning up easier and placed an onion and several cloves of garlic in with the chicken. The meat was done when it hit 180 degrees and it was a perfect golden brown color. I let it rest for a few minutes and then cut into the breast to sample a piece.
It was very moist and has a nice flavor from the brining process. It was not salty at all and instead had a very subtle taste of soy mixed in with the chicken flavor. Becks and Mason both enjoyed the chicken, potatoes and green beans we had for dinner and I will give brining another shot next time I roast a chicken.
Fear the Biscuits!
A few minutes after 11:00 a.m. this morning the draft for the 2010 Gondola Baseball League kicked off in Tyler’s living room. I was looking forward to participating in a live draft since the last time I had been involved in one was in 1994 or 1995, the last season of SARBLE. Five other managers showed up and after filling up on some great wings and meatballs that Tyler’s wife Jenny prepared we got down to business.
Tyler organized the keeper league late last year and invited 9 other people (including me) for a total of 10 teams. After having an initial disbursement of players each team was allowed to keep 10 heading into this morning’s draft. My team’s (Monticello Biscuits) keepers were as follows:
- Victor Martinez (C/1B)
- Justin Morneau (1B)
- Chase Utley (2B)
- Michael Young (3B)
- Adam Dunn (1B/OF)
- Nelson Cruz (OF)
- Matt Kemp (OF)
- Roy Halladay (SP)
- Tommy Hanson (SP)
- Mariano Rivera (RP)
After staying up late last night to put together some sort of draft strategy I noticed there were a few steals available including Felix Hernandez, Ichiro and Brandon Phillips. The draft order was determined by pulling names out of a hat and I was hoping to have one of the top 3 picks so I could get one of the better players on the board. This did not happen and as the other guy’s names were pulled out I was wondering how far I would fall.
I ended up with the 9th pick. I consoled myself by noting I could have been stuck with the 4/5/6 slot which I think is worse than having two picks close together so you can kind of begin runs on certain positions. Below in order are the players I took this morning:
- Bobby Abreau (OF)
- Jonathan Broxton (RP)
- Nate McClouth (OF)
- Michael Bourne (OF)
- Kurt Suzuki (C)
- Alcides Escobar (SS)
- Jed Lowie (SS)
- Matt Garza (SP)
- Stephen Stasberg (SP)
- Jason Heyward (OF)
- Wandy Rodriguez (SP)
- Clay Buchholz (SP)
- Dexter Fowler (OF)
- Verson Wells (OF)
- Scott Baker (SP)
Due to time contraints I had to leave after picking Heyward and I am glad that Tyler and the other guys filled my bench with reasonably decent players. This season should be interesting and I am anticipating getting a few trade proposals once the rosters are uploaded to the site the first week of February or so.
Becks was craving pizza this evening and wanted to go up to Moon Spin in Thomasville after work. I picked up Mason and after making him a cup of juice we headed out to dinner. Pulling into the parking lot I noticed there were not that many cars and when we walked in we were able to get a table right away.
We sat down near the windows and pulled a high chair up for Mason. After ordering a pizza and some bread sticks we entertained Mason with a straw and my car keys. While he played and our food cooked the restaurant started to fill up. By the time our pizza arrived there was not an empty table.
Mason ate almost a whole piece of pizza cut up into tiny pieces. His newest trick is to point at something with his hand and then smile. He spotted a girl who was about 7 or 8 sitting behind us and kept turning around, pointing at her and smiling. She was entertained by him and he loved the attention she showed him in return. Becks and I joked that Mason is a ladies man.
We had planned to go grocery shopping after dinner but by the time we finished eating it was past 7:00 p.m. and the thought of carting Mason around the grocery store was not an attractive one. He was getting very fussy from cutting 4 new teeth and we decided instead to call it a night and head back to Monticello.
