Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Sunday Recipe: Caribbean Seasoned Roasted Chicken a'la Belize

Few things say Sunday dinner to me like a whole roasted chicken and I often do a really basic Italian roasted chicken with garlic, thyme, etc., but a couple of weeks ago, I was craving a something a bit different. I started thinking about a trip I took to Belize years ago and the amazing spices of the stewed chicken I had there. Everywhere, positively everywhere, there was just amazing, rich, flavorful stewed chicken, from the tiniest hole in the wall joint to the less tiny hole in the wall joints. (What can I say -- I was in a remote area. There weren't Michelin starred restaurants -- but the food was amazing. Caribbean soul food.)


For years, I've thought about that chicken and finally I resolved to replicate those seasonings and flavors. Instead of stewing chicken parts, I thought I'd roast the whole bird.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Steelers, Turnover Differential and Playoff Possibilities

If the playoffs started this weekend, the Steelers would be the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Those Steelers? My Steelers? Sure. But the Steelers, despite their 6-2 record, and despite their handling of the New England Patriots on Sunday at Heinz Field, feel like an incomplete team, a less than great team, don't they? And I think that feeling at the back of your mind which is causing your skepticism is turnover differential.

The Steelers are -10. Yes, that's minus ten. It's the worst turnover differential in the AFC and, in fact, it's the worst in the entire NFL. By way of comparison, teams with comparable records, the Detroit Lions (6-2) and the Buffalo Bills (5-2) are +13 and +9, respectively.


I started to wonder if any team had secured the overall 1 seed for the playoffs with a worse turnover differential than this version of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NHL Realignment -- A Sane Solution

With the Atlanta Thrashers at long last becoming the Winnipeg Jets, there is sensible, necessary talk of re-aligning the NHL. Currently, Winnipeg occupies Atlanta's former spot in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. Look at a map. If the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings are Western teams, then so, by god, is Winnipeg. Re-alignment is clearly necessary, just for geographic sanity.

Per the Post-Gazette this morning, the below four division re-alignment has been proposed:

That is simply asinine.