New Team Suggestions

I thought about this some more and here is a list of suggestions of schools for Mascot Madness for the final 7 spots.

Bucknell Bisons
Lehigh Mountain Hawks
Lafayette Leopards
Seton Hall Pirates
Pittsburgh Panthers
West Virginia Mountaineers
Holy Cross Crusaders
Catholic University Cardinals (although I think they should be the Saints)
James Madison Dukes
Kings College Monarchs (Interesting Match up against James Madison)
George Mason Patriots (Another interesting potential match up for Kings)
Whittier College Poets (This could be a play in game with the Quakers and Diplomats. They would be in the "Lovers not Fighters" division)
Slippery Rock Rocks
Sweat Briar College Vixens
Vassar College Brewers

Here is a website that has a lot of interesting names:

http://www.smargon.net/nicknames/

Let me know your thoughts,

Mascot Madness

Very much like March Madness for the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament we (the normal cast of characters) decided to do a bracket of college mascots to see who would win. Does an Owl beat a Hawk, who would a spider beat, does a bullet kill a diplomat, does a wave drown a knight? All interesting questions. Instead of just picking colleges the field needs to have some meaning. First up we looked at the various schools we all attended, then Philadelphia area schools, schools that spouses attended, softball players etc. A field of 64 would be idea but maybe too many.

Here is the list so far:

Penn Quakers
LaSalle Explorers (Great on the road but restless at home)
Temple Owls (much prefer to play at night)
St Joseph's Hawks
Villanova Wildcats
Richmond Spiders
Gettysburg Bullets (An early favorite)
Rider Bronco
Franklin & Marshall Diplomats
Dickinson Red Devils
Delaware Blue Hens
Trinity Bantams
St John's Red Storm
Allegheny Gators
Rutgers Scarlett Knights
Pepperdine Waves
Indiana Hoosiers
Towson Tigers
Massachusetts Minutemen
Drexel Dragons
WestChester Rams
Cornell Bears
Clemson Tigers
Penn State Nittany Lions
University of California Santa Cruz - Banana Slugs (I thought the name was interesting)

That is 25. A good start but need at least another 7 to get this going. Suggestions welcome.

Quick Trip

I made a quick trip to New York City today. At last count they had 7 pro teams in the area (Giants, Jets, Yankees, Rangers, Knicks, Nets and Islanders) and the Mets. A cheap shot at PrimeTime I know, and the Nets are NJ but close enough. The also have some D1 college teams. All up a reasonable sports town (not Philly) but reasonable.

Anyway I go to a bar to grab a quick drink with a customer. Most bars have a TV, which this did. Most bars will have sports on that TV, which this did. But this bar had the Durham Bulls against the Louisville Bats (Rays and Reds AAA affiliates). I know that the Mets are bad but to show a AAA game in a bar just shows how far baseball has fallen in NYC.

JG Domestic

I went to this relatively new restaurant for lunch last week at the urging of a work colleague. Fortunately they decided to come with me and suggested that I try the pulled pork sandwich. I probably would have gone with the burger but I went with their recommendation, and boy was I happy with it.

Smoked Berkshire Pork - Carolina Style BBQ, Apple Slaw on a Dutch Roll. It was hot, juicy and very flavorful. It grabs you from the first bite. Try it.

jgdomestic

Aussie BBQ

My wife and I hosted an Aussie BBQ a couple of weekends ago. We have done this before, but previously it was a fund raiser for the local elementary school, but this year given some work being done on the house we couldn't commit to a date. Anyway with the work finished we quickly check dates with good friends (all 40 of them), and went ahead.

I'm a little partial but the food was awesome. I think the hit was the new kangaroo sausages from Exotic Meats and More. I hadn't had the sausages before but they were great. They had a spice to them that made them surprising. Everybody raved about them.

Along with the snags we had lamb chops, spiced prawns, lamb skewers, and "shrimp on the barbie". Of course we served vegemite sandwiches. For dessert we had Passion Fruit, Whipped Cream and Meringue. It tasted very similar to Pavolva, but much easier to make.

We washed it down with Aussie red and white wine, and a selection of beers. Cooper's Original Ale (Green Bottle), Cooper's Sparkling Ale (Red Bottle), Cooper's Vintage Ale, James Boags Premium Lager and from New Zealand Steinlager. Love all these beers, even the Steinlager. Please note no Foster's was served.

Disappointing Food

As you know I was at the White Sox vs Twins Game on Tuesday night. We got to the game early and walked around the stadium to look what food looked good. I even asked somebody what they would recommend, Polish Sausage and DiGiorno Pizza. That should have been the red flag but maybe he just liked baked at home Pizza.

I decided on the Polish sausage. Nothing special at all. The bread roll was like a cheap hot roll, and fell apart. The fried onions were tasteless, and the sausage over cooked. Although no outrageous for ball park food at $5.75, it still was not worth it.

No Hitter

In Chicago for a few days and decided to go to a baseball game. The Cubs are out of town so decided to see the White Sox play. The played the Twins. Francisco Liriano threw a no hitter. I think it is the first one this season. The final play Adam Dunn, the DH for the Sox, was up and hit a screaming line drive which was snatched from the air to perserve the no hitter and win the game. Liriano had never pitched a shut out because he had never pitched a complete game. The pitcher he was facing tonight was Edwin Jackson who pitched a no hitter last year. Final score Twins 1 White Sox 0.

Another question, why does it seem that no hitters and perfect games end 1-0?