Capitol 501 Draft

Jerome Simpson makes a catch in

exhibition game on August 20, 2009.

David Butler II, US Presswire

So I had my first draft for the 2009 fantasy football season. I had the 4th pick in the first round, and I made a gutsy move when I didn't pick Maurice Jones Drew (ranked 3rd) and went with Chris Johnson (ranked 6th or 7th) from Tennessee instead . Predicting which one will do better is near impossible, and they'll probably have similar numbers in the end. I just didn't have a good feeling about MJD, so I went with my gut. Here's how the first two rounds went:

Round 1:

1) Cybertron Decepticons- Adrian Peterson RB

2) Team Hutson- Michael Turner RB

3) Team Ramrod- Matt Forte RB

**4) Melton Marksmen- Chris Johnson RB

5) Rogue Sheeners- Maurice Jones Drew RB

6) Team Plunkett- DeAngelo Williams RB

7) Team Farley- Steven Jackson RB

8) Team Myers- LaDainian Tomlinson RB

9) Glue Sniffers- Larry Fitzgerald WR

10) Johannesburg Prawns- Drew Brees QB

Round 2:

11) Johannesburg Prawns- Andre Johnson WR

12) Glue Sniffers- Steve Slaton RB

13) Team Myers- Frank Gore RB

14) Team Farley- Randy Moss WR

15) Team Plunkett- Calvin Johnson WR

16) Rogue Sheeners- Aaron Rodgers QB

**17) Melton Marksmen- Steve Smith WR

18) Team Ramrod- Marion Barber RB

19) Team Hutson- Brandon Jacobs RB

20) Cybertron Decepticons- Tom Brady QB

After getting Chris Johnson and Steve Smith in the first two rounds, I felt like I had done fairly well. Steve Smith wasn't my first choice for WR, but I had pick #17 in the second round, so I figured the top 5 or 6 WRs would be gone before it came to me. Instead I got the #5 and #6 WRs by the end of the 3rd round. Not too shabby.

In the 4th round I still didn't have a QB because I didn't realize how quickly the other teams would start drafting them. 5 were gone before I had my pick #37. I felt like I had to take Tony Romo before all the good QBs were gone. Again, it wasn't the safest move according to the pre-draft rankings because I passed up Kurt Warner (who was the #4 QB as compared to Tony Romo who was #7). Warner went to Team Ramrod as the next pick. Again, I didn't have a good feeling about Warner, but my gut might haunt me later in the season. I guess it's the gut feelings that make fantasy football so much fun.

I'm pretty excited I got Antonio Gates as TE again this season, but there are lot of other good TEs this year.

Here's how the Melton Marksmen look:

QBs- Tony Romo (DAL), David Garrard (JAC)

RBs- Chris Johnson (TEN), Derrick Ward (TB), Larry Johnson (KC), Darren Sproles (SD), Donald Brown (IND)

WRs- Steve Smith (CAR), Greg Jennings (GB), Hines Ward (PIT), Lance Moore (NO), Percy Harvin (MIN)

TEs- Antonio Gates (SD), Dustin Keller (NYJ)

D/ST- Dolphins

K- Jason Elam (ATL)

I'm a little worried that my RB lineup is a little weak, but we'll see what happens.

Dijon Potatoes

For the Chicken:

3 Chicken breasts cut into nuggets

Minced garlic

Onion powder

Olive oil

For the Potatoes:

4 Russet potatoes cut into 1” square pieces

Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning

Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon of butter

1 Cup of shredded Swiss cheese

Minced Garlic

¼ Cup of milk

Boil water in a large pot with the potatoes and lots Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning. Let the potatoes boil for 15 minutes.

Then heat olive oil in a skillet with the minced garlic and onion powder. Add chicken (lately I’ve been soaking the cut chicken in a bowl with garlic and olive oil for a few hours before cooking. I’m not sure if that actually does anything for the chicken, so maybe someone can let me know if that’s a waste of time). When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, put the heat on low and let the chicken brown slightly on all sides.

When the potatoes very tender, drain the boiling water and put the potatoes back in the pot. Add butter, Swiss cheese, sprinkling of garlic, more Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning, milk, and Dijon mustard (I don’t actually know how much to tell you to put in, but maybe the picture below will give you an idea. Start with a little and then add more until they taste spicy enough). Mash until the potatoes are a consistent paste.

Scoop the potatoes onto a plate and put chicken on top. I like to pour more olive oil from the skillet and more Swiss cheese on top of everything.

Serves 3.

Origins: Once again, I developed most of this recipe while living in France, specifically the potatoes. I started putting honey mustard on baked potatoes after I saw someone do that at a McAlister’s in Mississippi. When I moved to France, I used Dijon mustard and emmental (Swiss) cheese on boiled/semi-mashed potatoes along with some other spices. Then I heard they would become real mashed potatoes if I added milk, et voila. I developed the chicken recipe after I moved back to Clinton, Mississippi when I got sick of waiting for a whole chicken breast to cook in the skillet. The chicken was also too dry when I cooked it this way, so I cut it up into nuggets. I loved the results, so I added it to the potatoes.

Châteaux Soup

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts cut into nuggets

6 cups of extra wide egg noodles

1 can of no salt added corn

1 or 2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 tomatoes cut into quarters

onion powder

garlic powder

olive oil

Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning

shredded Swiss cheese

Pour a little oil into a large pot and heat. Cook chicken in pot and season with garlic and onion powders. When the chicken is still mostly pink, pour corn, tomatoes, noodles, bouillon, hearty amount of Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning, and enough water to cover everything into the pot. Boil for 10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked and noodles are tender. Use slotted spoon to pour into bowls and sprinkle Swiss cheese on top.

Serves 3

Notes: I started cooking this on a weekly basis while living in Châteauroux, France (hence the name). I’ve never actually measured the exact amount of noodles or spices, so I’ve just guessed on the amounts.

Sam Thacker's Lines

In a previous post I mentioned I saw Sam Thacker open for Corey Smith in Houston. When I bought his CD Lines, a blank CD came in the packaging so that I could burn a copy for a friend. After hearing the album's first track, "Yes", I was optimistic. However, the album was mostly a disappointment.

Every song sounded like he ripped the melody and chords from another song. "Something" = Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games", "Right Where We Want It" = Caedmon's Call's "Not Enough", "Don't Leave Here Tonight" = John Mayer's "No Such Thing", "No One Needs to Know" = Switchfoot's "Meant to Live", "Tonight" = Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville", et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. After I realized Thacker's songs sounded like cheap rip offs, I couldn't listen to this CD again.

Know how most Christian music sucks? Usually, these simple songs use the same regurgitated chords (like D, G, C) that all other Christian music uses. I think that's what happened to Thacker's music, so his songs sound cheap and unoriginal.

While listening to this CD, I realized that he might be more successful if he wrote Christian music. Instead of singing about doing shots with his girl at 4 am, he could sing about praying to Jesus at 4 am. Even if the music sucks, Christians are loyal customers as long as the lyrics pay lip service to God. I'm not even sure Sam would have be sincere as long as he appeared religious.

Three Cheers for Gluttony

James Coney Island, a Houston hot dog chain, celebrated it's 86th anniversary today by selling chili cheese dogs for 86 cents each (cheese not included, which is a little odd because the chili should cost more than cheese out of gun). I don't feel like the store advertised it very well because they only had a small sign outside the door you would not have seen unless you were already going inside. The store looked empty, and not many people were eating chili dogs. I heard about the event last time I visited when the lady at the register gave me a flyer. I kept the flyer and wrote the date on my calender, so I've been looking forward to this for about a month. I followed Ryan's lead tonight and got 4 chili dogs. After the tater tots, I had a Crave Cupcake follow the chili dogs. Later, he was hurting. Oddly enough, that wasn't enough for me. I'm now eating a whole bag of butter popcorn as I write this post. I did run/walk 5 miles after dinner, so maybe that makes up for it all.

A wise man (maybe wise isn't the right word) once said, "That would be cool if you could eat a good food with a bad food and the good food would cover for the bad food when it got to your stomach. Like you could eat a carrot with an onion ring and they would travel down to your stomach, then they would get there, and the carrot would say, "It's cool, he's with me." - Mitch Hedberg

House of Blues Excursion

Took this picture from where I watched the concert.

I was surprised my cell phone camera took a fairly

descent picture.

While writing the last post, I saw on Corey Smith's website that he had a concert in Houston on Friday (last night). I normally don't go to concerts, but I thought this one might be cool, especially since I really like his music.

Maybe I should have realized this already, but the House of Blues is basically a bar with a stage. Since I couldn't find anyone to go with me, I went by myself. I've never been to a bar by myself. It was really awkward. I then noticed there were a bunch of high school kids there. That was weird. As the show started, two girls who looked like they were 12 stood next to me. I thought, "You've heard his music (like 'Let Me Love You On a Backroad') and know what he's going to sing about, right? There's a Jonas Brothers concert going on down the street that be more to your liking."

I really enjoyed his show because I knew his music and was able to hear some new music that will come out on his new album (which he just finished recording). The coolest part was meeting him after the show. I told him when I worked in Europe I would listen to his music to remind me of home. We then talked briefly about France and how he spent a semester in Paris. I would have never thought he would have spent time in France.

I'm not sure if the crowd was small or large for a Corey Smith concert. I would think his following is more around Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and maybe the Carolinas. I really have no clue, but he did mention in the concert how he was happy to see such a friendly crowd so far from home.

After the concert I bought a CD from Sam Thacker, who was the opening act. So far the album is pretty good. As I bought the CD, he told me that there was a blank CD in the packaging so that I could burn a copy for a friend. Apparently, he doesn't care about illegal music sharing (but it's probably not illegal if the artist tells you to do it, right?).

Corey Smith - Hard Headed Fool

I like some country music even though it's not really "cool." Still, I really like Corey Smith, a Georgian musician. On his website he talks about how he combined multiple music formats he heard while growing up in the South (country, gospel, hip hop, rock, blues) into his style. I can hear those different styles, but I'd still say he's mostly a country artist.

I recently bought his most recent album, Hard Headed Fool. I got most of his other music as soon as I learned about him from friends at Mississippi College. The first song I heard from him was "If That's Country", which makes fun of popular country music:

Straight out of Nashville, here’s your next big star

He don’t write the songs he sings, but he knows the words by heart.

Wears a cowboy hat, and some tight blue jeans,

And he struts around the stage like he’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen.

He looks like a super model, knows how to strike a pose

And he don’t mind the makeup, as long as no one knows.

And he’s got that crooked grin, and talks with a southern drawl,

Acts like Toby Keith, but sounds a lot like Tim McGraw

But if he’s country I’ll kiss your ass,

And throw all my Willie Nelson records in the trash.

He’s the same old shit in a slightly different bag,

But if he’s country, well then country’s pretty bad.

I don’t watch CMT

Naw that shit makes me sick.

And that ole Kenny Chesney,

What a hypocrite.

He’ll swear he’s country,

But he lives in the Caribbean.

Sings all about the islands now,

What happened to the Tennessean

Aw if he’s country I'll kiss your ass

Throw all my Johnny Cash records in the trash

He’s all about image cuz image pays the bucks,

Aw but if he’s country, well then country really sucks.

I'm also a huge fan of his song "Maybe Next Year".

He's playing in Houston, TX soon, so maybe I'll actually go to that concert even though I usually don't go to concerts.

Federation of International Static Teams (FIST)

Santonio Holmes scores winning

touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII

Matt Cashore, US Presswire

I just created a new fantasy football league with a bunch of friends from church in Jackson, MS. Most of us were part of a 20s ministry called "Static" at First Baptist (hence the "Static" in the league's title). I honestly got a little giddy while creating my team and looking over my draft options. I'm so ready to waste hours watching games and guessing which players will give me the most points. Oh... wait... I'm moving to Scotland where I won't be able to watch the games... crap. I guess my team will suck this year.

Last year I accidently asked a friend who played fantasy football, "How's your fantasy going?" I didn't realize what I said or how it sounded. We were at church. It was awkward.

Book Review: Mississippi Secrets

I bought Mississippi Secrets at a Barnes and Noble in Biloxi because the authors (Dr Gary McDowell and Ruth McDowell) were having a signing there. I figured I might as well support a local author.

The book itself is average and not overly impressive. The narrative is easy to follow but not very deep. This shallowness is not always a problem, especially if that's what you want. For better or worse, the best word to describe this book is "folksy."

I did enjoy the sections about the Native Americans in Mississippi because I didn't know their legends or myths. The section about Holt Collier (the former slave who found a bear for Teddy Roosevelt) gives a different perspective about the Teddy Bear incident that I had not heard. The McDowells' description of the Jim Bowie's knife fight near Natchez was also interesting and read more like a short story than like a history book. For me, the most interesting part of the book was the personal interview with James Meredith, the first African American to attend Ole Miss. At the time, Governor Ross Barnett was adamantly opposed to James Meredith enrolling into a white university. Gary McDowell asked, "How did you feel when Ross Barnett got up in your face and started yelling like he did?" James Meredith answered:

Well, you see, I was not just a soldier. I was a politician also. I always had a good deal of respect for Governor Barnett. I knew that what he was doing was not aimed against me. [...] You see, the whites in Mississippi were as restricted by the rules of White Supremacy as the blacks were, and not a single black was hurt during all those years I was involved in that in Mississippi. I credit Governor Barnett for that. I gave him almost total credit for being the one that kept the blacks from being hurt. He deliberately kept he whites under his hand, kept them believing he was going to take care of the problem so that they wouldn't go out hurting, shooting, lynching or whatever. [...] So actually, I always considered him mostly on my side. I thought that he wanted change in Mississippi just as much as I wanted change. But he knew there were certain processes that had to take place before full citizenship could be established after the system had been in place for more than 100 years. (118-119)

During the interview, James Meredith also said that whites lynched other whites who had broken the White Supremacy Rules. His responses fascinated me, and it's very insightful. I'm not sure if Ross Barnett deserves such a kind critique, but this answer would make a great prompt for a political science class discussion.

However, there were parts of the book I did not enjoy. The UFO story did not deserve to be in this book. The entire chapter about famous Mississippians could have been omitted. I'm sick of hearing about which famous actors and singers are from Mississippi. Faith Hill, 3 Doors Down, Lacey Nicole Chabert, Morgan Freeman, Elvis Presley, Afroman, Lance Bass, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffett, BB King, and LeAnn Rimes DO NOT make Mississippi special or important. I know that last sentence was probably blasphemous. I'm surprised this chapter does not include any famous Mississippi writers. This chapter would have been better if the McDowells had told Faulkner's and Welty's life story and contribution to literature. At least those two (unlike many they do mention) actually stayed in Mississippi.

They said Katrina was the most powerful storm ever in the Gulf of Mexico with 175 mph winds, but Camille had 190 mph winds. We simply don't know and never will know how powerful Camille was (including the storm surge's exact height). Katrina was a much broader storm with weaker winds, but this does not make Katrina the "most powerful storm ever in the Gulf of Mexico." I understand that the Katrina vs Camille debate can be very contentious, especially since Katrina memories are fresh and salient.

A couple other things bothered me about the book. For instance, they confuse Ole Miss with Mississippi State University. They aren't the same. The Bibliography showed they used 9 sources from Wikipedia, which is an academic taboo. There are also some grammatical problems. For instance, in Chapter 6 they use two spellings (Hinds and Hines) for the same man. I blame the publisher and editor for this sloppiness.

I hate speaking ill about certain parts of this book after reading Gary and Ruth's personal story in the last chapter. Dr Gary had been a history teacher in the public school system until 2005 when a student assaulted him in the classroom. Due to his injuries, he could not return to work and lost a lot of his vision. I could not infer if he was in a wheelchair before or after this attack. Later that year Katrina flooded their home, so Ruth had to pull up the carpet and make repairs without Gary's help. After the storm Gary dictated to Ruth this book since he could not see well enough. I'm impressed with anyone who dictates a book while blind.

Overall, I'd say Gary and Ruth wrote a descent, folksy retelling of Mississippi history with only a couple slight yet forgivable errors.

Mexican Turkey Burgers

1lb ground turkey

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 container of chive & onion cream cheese

Mix ground turkey with taco seasoning. Make 6 patties. For filling, put dollop of chive & onion cream cheese on 3 patties. Put remaining 3 patties on top of patties with filling. Grill.

Makes 3 burgers.

Notes: After finishing the patties, I put them in the refrigerator for an hour or so. I’m not sure, but I think they stick together better on the grill if I refrigerate them first. Instead of using ketchup or mustard, I like to put salsa and cheddar cheese on the buns. When I cooked these last time, I made 9 burgers, so I tripled the recipe.

Origins: A good friend, Jack Dean, gave me this recipe, and he got it from a friend. I don't know where that friend found it.

Cake Balls

1 chocolate cake in a box

1 tub of chocolate icing

1 package of almond bark

toothpicks

Bake cake according to box’s instructions. After cake cools, mix cake and icing until it is a consistent paste. Roll this paste into balls. Put balls into freezer overnight. Next day melt almond bark on stove in a “double boiler.” Take balls out of freezer. Stick toothpick into balls and coat balls with melted almond bark. Put balls on cooking sheet and allow chocolate to harden. Remove toothpicks and refrigerate.

Serves a whole bunch of people for days.

Notes: They taste like chocolate truffles. I used regular chocolate, but I could have used white chocolate bark. You can also bake your own homemade cake. I don't know how to do that, so I cheat and use the cake in a box.

Origins: One of Ryan's relatives owned a tea room restaurant and gave him a bunch of dessert recipes. Cake balls are supposed to be the latest fad around here.

You might want to try different sizes to see

which ones work better.

You need to freeze them overnight so that they'll

harden and not fall apart when you coat them with chocolate.

That's also why you don't pull them out of the freezer until

after the almond bark has melted and you're ready to dip the balls.

Don't use almond bark from a candy store.

It's too expensive. But the cheap stuff.

At least that's what I've been told.

This is not a "double boiler" like I mentioned in the directions.

Instead, it's a pot that's specially designed to melt chocolate.

You don't melt the chocolate in another pan because you'll

burn the chocolate or something like that.

Use the toothpicks so that you won't get

your hands messy.

Houston Beans

1lb bag of Camellia Red Kidney Beans

½ onion chopped

4-5 garlic cloves chopped

½ jar of jalapeños

1 red bell pepper chopped

4-5 slices of salt pork

Rinse the beans. In a large bowl, soak the beans in the refrigerator overnight with the onion, garlic, jalapeños, and bell pepper. Next morning, put all the ingredients from the bowl into a Crock Pot with the salt pork. Slow cook the beans for 8 hours until the beans are soft and tender.

Serves about 5 people.

Notes: I cut the bell pepper into large pieces so that I could have the flavor without eating them. I don’t usually eat peppers, jalapeños, or onions, but I use them to flavor the beans because bland beans are a waste. I would rather have too much spice than not enough because I can cut the spice with rice or something like that.

Origins: After watching my brother-in-law, Ryan, cook beans with a Crock Pot, I decided to make some alterations and add more spices. This is what I came up with.

Here's a picture of everything

in the bowl the before I refrigerated

it overnight.

After 8 hours in the Crock Pot, everything

was tender and tasty

Offensive Segways

While checking my email on AOL, I found this website called fanhouse, and there are tons of awesome sports photos.

Christian Petersen, Getty Images

Let's start with this photo of Kurt Warner with some other Arizona Cardinals during training camp on July 31, 09. There are several things to say about this photo. First, why does anyone on a professional football player need a segway to get around during practice? Second, why are there segways for each player? Third, could they play a scrimmage game completely on segways?

A USA Today article explained:

Many of the players are driving Segways around campus at training camp, from their dorms, to the practice fields and to the dining hall. Safety Adrian Wilson bought his but admitted it might not have many practical purposes when he returns home. "Maybe to make a mail-box run," he said.

I don't imagine any high school football teams will give their players segways for afternoon practices this August.

Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP

Michael Llodra from France collided into a ball girl while playing a match at Wimbledon. He looks like a creepster. She should be upset about him getting so close... after all, he is French. The article I linked above referred to her as "Blonde Erin" as if "Blonde" was her name. It's not. It's just her hair color. Do the English normally do that? "Meet my good friend, Brunette Janice."

Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

Being the pink gorilla in the race almost sounds like fun, except for being a pink gorilla running. I'm not sure how far I could run wearing that outfit before it got too hot. Kudos to him or her. This picture is from San Francisco's 98th ING Bay to Breakers 12k, which is one of the oldest and largest races.