Fernando Torres signs with Chelsea

Will Experience Be a Determining Factor in Super Bowl XLV?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have 14 starters with Super Bowl experience and 11 of those guys have played in two Super Bowls. [That doesn't include back ups like Larry Foote and Antwan Randal El, who both have Super Bowl experience. That's just the starters listed on the offensive and defensive depth charts.] The Packers, meanwhile, have just two starters with Super Bowl experience -- the amazing Charles Woodson and defensive end Ryan Pickett, who played his rookie year with the 2001 Rams.

Tomlin has coached in two Super Bowls (one as an assistant with the 2002 Tampa Bay Bucs and, of course, as the head man for the 2008 Steelers.) Green Bay's head coach (and the pride of Greenfield!) Mike McCarthy has been to zero.

If experience were the sole determining factor, the Steelers would win in a landslide. But then, if experience were a determining factor for success in life, we would all watch "Murder She Wrote" reruns instead of "The Jersey Shore," AOL would still rule the internets, and Marv Levy would still be coaching.

Recent SB history is pretty mixed in terms of experience versus inexperience, so much so that you have to wonder if experience counts for anything at all. The Packers won SB XXXI, then promptly went out and lost XXXII to the Denver Broncos. The St. Louis Rams won SB XXXIV, then lost to the New England Patriots in XXXVI. Of course, those Pats won a couple more, but lost to the Giants in XLII. The Indy Colts won XLII, but lost XLIV to the New Orleans Saints. On the flip side, the Pats did win two more SB's after their first win. The Broncos defended their title and, of course, the 2008 Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals for a second title.

Clearly, experience does not equal a win, but what it might mean is that the Steelers can dispatch their jitters more quickly, or at least that's what I hope.

The Super Bowl, no matter how much coaches and players may want to treat it like a run of the mill game, is no run of the mill game. It's weird. It's crazy. Halftime is way longer. Big stars show up for the National Anthem. There are reporters there from all over the world. When a guy with a microphone and a podcast in the Republic of Palau can get media credential, rest assured it's an out of control spectacle.

Beyond that, the players know that all NFL eyes are on them. Guys play just a bit harder on Monday Night Football, knowing that the rest of the league is at home watching them play. They want to perform for their peers. They most certainly don't want to embarrass themselves. If there's that much more additional pressure on a Monday night in October, what must this feel like?

I don't believe there is any way to anticipate what this stage is like if you haven't played on it before. Hines Ward puked his guts out during introductions before SB XL. Pig Ben said that, in most games, he has butterflies at the start, but that they go very early on, but in XL, they never went away.

There's no question that Aaron Rogers has been riding a hot streak for the last month and a half and has made long stretches of the post-season look like a 6 on 6 scrimmage. At times, he has been more accurate than Brady, more mobile than Vick and cooler than Montana. But if the nerves get to him at the start, if the lights and glitz and media glare, not to mention Jerr'Jones' death star HD screen hanging above him, gives him a fit of the yips early on, the Steelers might have the crack they need.

It's reasonable to expect that Rogers and the Pack will have at least some nerves. And while they work through the butterflies and twitches, the Steelers need to dig the Packers' grave and push them into it.

We know the Packers can score. In the regular season, they averaged 24.3 points per game and have averaged 30 per game in the post-season. Nobody's putting 30 points up on the Steelers defense, but I don't think you can keep them out of the endzone all night, nerves or not. So the Steelers defense needs to create opportunities early and keep the Steelers offense on the field throughout the first half. Oh, and they need touchdowns, not field goals. Touchdowns just aren't going to do it in this one.

If the Steelers can build a big enough lead at the start, it could be all the difference end. Just ask the Jets.

Burlap to Cashmere: Love Reclaims the Atmosphere

New Burlap to Cashmere song, and it is beautiful.

Spending money to make money.Well, other people's money anyway.

The story so far.

I have another blog. It's about the supermarket tabloid headlines each week. I've been posting there since around New Years of 2010.

I decided to "monetize" the Other Blog, which means ads. Ads are tacky, the blog is tacky, perfect fit.

The blog grew slowly and steadily until mid November, when it done blowed up. Since then, about 2,000 people a day show up, steadily and consistently. That means three to four times the traffic this blog gets. That also means the ads are starting to pay off.

Yay, free enterprise!



So last week, Google sends me a promotion. Why don't I advertise my blog on other blogs? They gave me a promotional card worth $100 American so ads for my tacky blog can show up on other tacky blogs.

This is what business people call "synergy".

So I'm going to spend $100 American of Google's money to see how this whole "spend money to make money" thing works. After all, the blog is making about $100 a month, which certainly is not paying the rent or supporting me in style to which I want to be accustomed.

Translating this into language Charlie Sheen can understand, this is not hookers and blow money.

One thing I worry about is that AdWords only lets you put in one word at a time for searches. So if I want to advertise on blogs that mention plastic surgery, I have to have the AdWords "plastic" and "surgery" separately. Likewise "reality" and "TV".

We'll see how well this works. When the first $100 American is gone, I will report back.

Super Bowl XLIII Memories ... Or, Just So Long as I Do Not Have to Sleep in a Tent

"Seriously, take some xanax."

I grunted. Then I continued twitching and tossing and fidgeting on my side of the tent. My crampy left calf was keeping me up, beyond which, sleeping on the hard ground was always a dicey proposition. I wasn't complaining so much as making very unhappy pre-verbal sounds, like a cranky toddler too tired to sleep.

And then there was the black and gold elephant in the tent.

At that moment, as I lay in a tent in a remote area in southern Chile, the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing in Super Bowl XLIII. I had managed to banish thoughts of the game from my head through our long day of hiking (more than 12 hours), but in the quiet of the tent with no other distractions (save for that crampy left calf muscle) I had one, intrusive, insistent thought: I cannot believe I am missing the fucking Super Bowl!

Somehow, I thought I could handle it. To this point, I had managed not to think about it, immersed in each day of hiking in one of the most beautiful areas of the world, plus I was often distracted by searing pain in my bionic, rebuilt ankle, so I had that going for me. Still it was crazy, inconceivable that I would miss the Steelers, the Pittsburgh Steelers mind you, playing in Super Bowl XLIII. I had given some thought to what it might be like to miss the game, but with game night coming down around me, no access to a television or even the internet, it was more slippery, trickier than I thought it would be.

While my fellow 'Burghers were cooking and cleaning and gearing up for the game, I was hiking to The Towers in Torres del Paine (pictured above), a trek that is pretty much straight uphill from the start. It's not technical climbing by any stretch, but it is a consistent climb for many hours which eventually brings you to the moraine at the base of the Towers. You've got to climb up this moraine -- loose rocks and boulders -- at an even steeper incline for about mile to take you to the Towers. That one mile? Takes almost an hour because of the grade, but also because the footing is a sprained ankle or blown out knee waiting to happen, so even those fittest of trekkers have to tread carefully. It was quite the day, too. The photo above is one of mine and I'm told that many a trekker has made the long hike to get there, only to have the Towers themselves obscured by cloud cover.

It had been an amazing, exhausting hike and we had wildly entertaining company at dinner, so it was easy enough to not think about the NFL. We even saw a guy hiking up the moraine in a pair of underpants. No pants, mind you, just a black hat, black vest, and hiking boots. He looked like an outcast from the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade circa 1992, save for his navy blue underpants with little clouds on them. That provided us hours of entertainment at dinner as we all wondered just how he came to hike in Patagonia without pants? Perhaps his luggage was lost? Maybe he was attacked by a feral guanaco, who ripped his pants from his body? Nah. I was convinced and remain so to this day that that he was German.

As Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes marched the team down the field for the game winning touchdown, I was laying in a tent, trying to be mindful of just how lucky I was. After all, how many people get to hike in Patagonia for over a week, treading their way through the Fitzroy range in southern Argentina and then in the Torres del Paine range in southern Chile? But sports allegiance in America is a funny thing. It defines us in many ways. I am, a writer, cook, reader, glass cutter, kayaker, hiker and a Steelers fan. It's not merely some entertainment, but part of who I am.

I am also a traveler. What to do when the two come in conflict? Super Bowl? Or hiking in Patagonia? Of course, as a Pittsburgh sports fan, the best time to travel is the summer time, the domain of that testament to irrelevancy, the Pittsburgh Pirates. But it's a terrible time to travel -- expensive and crowded. The best time to leave home is smack dab in the middle of football and hockey season. It's a constant conflict and one that I still haven't learned how to balance.

It seemed silly to fret about a game, so I lay there castigating myself for feeling sorry for myself. I was in this amazing place seeing incredible things and I was bumming because I was missing a game? Seriously?It was a long and mostly sleepless night -- what with the cold, hard-ground, the cramping leg, and the shameful self-pity. But the next morning, with the above picture my view at breakfast and another day of trekking in front of us, it was hard to feel anything but exuberant. A nice guy who worked at the campsite also had the world's weakest internet access and while it took him about 20 minutes to get the ESPN.com site to come up, I was truly grateful for his patience. That's how I learned the Steelers had won -- on a computer moving at glacial speed. (Given that I had hiked near and around several glaciers on this trip, it seemed somehow fitting.) It would be ten more days before I was back in the States and could see a replay of the game. (That's a whole other story. Damn you DVR! Damn you!)

So this year, no matter the outcome, no matter the quality of the game, I am here, able to watch the game in live action and, most importantly, sleep in my own bed. But I have to admit, a small part of me wishes I were going to be in a tent in some other remote part of the world, able to enjoy the news of the outcome at a distance, without the inevitable tension and anxiety of watching the actual game. Funny that.

Stuff I like:People admitting they have a problem.

Dana Milbank writes for the Washington Post. He's not my favorite writer there. I like Eugene Robinson more. But still, he did something this week that makes sense.

There's this woman on the national scene. She was a vice-presidential candidate and her ticket got beat like a red-headed stepchild. She was governor of a very sparsely populated state for a while, but she quit that job because some folks waved a lot of money in her face.

I think we know who I'm referring to, right?

Well, Mr. Milbank admits he is tired of hearing about her and realizes he is part of the problem. He has promised that he will not mention her in his column or on his blog for the month of February. Ross Douthat, a conservative writer at the New York Times, is also tired of her, but annoyed more in the fact the press treats her like the only important conservative voice, which she most certainly is not. So according to Milbank, Douthat will join him in the month long pledge.

I'm making the pledge here on this blog. On The Other Blog, I admit I'm powerless to choose what I write about, since I promise to report on the headlines on the covers of the supermarket gossip rags, and currently the National Enquirer and some of its sister publications in the AMI kennel are going after the half term governor and her husband, who according to Enquirer has a hooker problem.

This could work. If people stopped treating her tweets and Facebook posts like they were national news, they wouldn't be national news. I also promise not to comment on any posts about her in February on political websites like the Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo. It is a mighty temptation, but I can take strength in the fact that February is the shortest month of the year.

Blogging comrades, please consider this moratorium yourself. Case in point: that Plumber fellow. You know the one I'm talking about. It took months and months for the media to finally figure out he didn't amount to a hill of beans, but now he is back to being a private citizen to whom the press pays no mind, like Condoleezza Rice or Larry Craig or Lisa Kudrow.

I know you can do this, comrades. As we know, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

p.s. If you have the time, go on over to The Other Blog and click on some ads. There's only one day left in the month and I'm close to going over $100, but I need a strong day tomorrow (Monday).

Black Country rivals

Geoff Hurst at Chelsea

NASL Memories: California Surf

A Spurs wall

"Good Luck Hammers"

Brisbane Road

Hammers blowing bubbles

Hooligans

John Chiedozie

Brian Wilson in nautical mode

Scenes from "Reservoir Dogs"

Sunday Recipe: Green Goddess Dressing (on a green salad with chicken)

The first time I had green goddess dressing, it was served on some poached salmon, which was fantastic and a perfect mix, but its also just an amazing salad dressing. If you're going to serve it on a salad, I like this dressing on a very simple salad -- just some boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked stove top in the winter or on the grill in the summer, seasoned with just some salt and pepper and served on top of fresh leafy lettuce you like. Romaine and green leaf lettuces work well, and Bibb lettuce is sublime. Add some scallions to pick up the scallions in the dressing.

I can tell you, this stuff is so good, you could put it on a your stinky old gym socks and it would make them at least palatable.

Also, if you care about such things, it is sure to impress if you make it for a date or some friends. It is easy as pie. Actually, its much easier than pie which, I am told, can be hard to master. This? Not so much.

You will need
1 cup mayonnaise
one bundle of scallions - chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves (it's one large bundle of basil, essentially)
1 lemon - juiced
1 clove of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
heavy pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream

Add the mayo, one bunch of scallions, basil, garlic, lemon, anchovy paste, salt and pepper into the food processor and mix. When the basil and scallions are little shards of deliciousness, add the sour cream and pulse again. Taste for salt, but it's this simple. Also, again, people will be impressed.

Sunday Recipe: Super Bowl Feast

You don't have to be a Packers fan or a Steelers fan to eat like a champion on Super Bowl Sunday. In the event you want to plan a Super Bowl party menu, or just bring a contribution to somebody else's Super Bowl party, I've included the recipes for a number of dishes, any of which make a great Super Bowl treat, and all of which transport well if you're viewing somewhere else.

Don't be the guest who shows up with a bag of chips you bought at the Gas N Sip on your way over. Don't be that guy. Be the guest who shows up with the dish that wows everybody.

Mushrooms stuffed with pine nuts

Leek, Olive and Gruyere Galette

White Bean Dip

Green Goddess Dressing [served over a leafy green salad with grilled chicken or served with poached salmon]

Mini Turkey-Spinach Meatballs. These are simply my turkey spinach meatballs, made smaller (about 1 inch in diameter, maybe a hair bigger), which make great finger food. Because of the size, you need to bake them for a much shorter time period, around 15 minutes, but check them after 10. I serve them with marinara sauce for dipping, but they really stand alone, too.

Needless to say, Go Steelers!

White Bean (and Sun-Dried Tomato) Dip

This is a nice little riff on hummus, using some of those flavors, but adding some surprises. Dips are perfect for Super Bowl parties.

You will need:
2 cans of cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained
1 to 2 lemons, juiced
2 bundles of scallions, cleaned and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup bottled oil-packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Several dashes bottled hot sauce -- whatever your favorite is

Get to work:
In a food processor or blender, combine the beans, sun-dried tomatoes and the lemon juice. Cover and process or blend until nearly smooth. If it is a little dry, add some water.

In a large skillet, cook the garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Add the scallions and sautee for just a few minutes more. Stir in pureed beans mix, oregano, cumin, and hot sauce. Heat through. Test for salt.

Drizzle with Olive Oil. Serve with a sliced baguette.

Galette with Leeks, Olives and Gruyere

This is one of the tastier football treats I've ever stumbled across. The flavors are amazing, but the prep is easier than most things I putter around in the kitchen putting together. I served this little treat for the AFC Championship game and I impressed even myself.

You will need:
one 15-ounce package rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust
2 leeks, cleaned and chopped (white and light green part only - leave the dark leaves for the trash heap)
1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 cup coarsely kalamata olives - sliced or coarsely chopped
2 cups of freshly grated gruyere cheese -- NOTE: you want a young gruyere for this

The prep, wherein you pretend to know something about cooking, but really don't:

Allow pie crust to stand at room temperature according to package directions.

Slice your kalamatas into halves or quarters. Grate your gruyere and set both aside.

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. (If you don't have it and my supermarket seems to be forever out of it, use foil, but the crusts will stick a bit if you do. Parchment is better if you can lay your hands on some.)

In a medium skillet, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Cook leeks and fennel in hot oil until really good and soft -- for about 15 to 20 minutes. You want them to be tender and just a titch browned. Remove from heat and cool.

You can do all of those steps ahead - hours and hours ahead if you want to.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Roll pie crusts onto the baking sheets. Spread one half of the fennel/leek mixture onto each pastry, leaving about a 1/2 inch rim uncovered on the edge and form that into a little crust - like you would a pie crust in a baking dish. Top with cheese and the olives.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cut into wedges to serve and each pie makes 6 to 8 servings.

Sunday Recipe: Mushrooms Stuffed with Pine Nuts

Ah, pignolis, those unctuous little nuts.

These are a great treat for your vegetarian friends, but don't let that scare you off. They are sublime little pockets of goodness.

You will need:
18 large button mushrooms
4 ounces (ish) of pine nuts (that's two little jars)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely grated romano cheese
1 lemon, juiced
pinch of crushed red pepper

First, toast the pine nuts in a hot, dry sautee pan. Remove.

Clean the mushroom caps and remove the stems of the mushrooms. Dip each one of the caps in lemon juice and put top side down in a glass baking dish that has been brushed with olive oil(reserve the remaining lemon).

Chop the mushroom stems and sautee with the garlic in olive oil until they are completely broken down. Add the crushed red pepper and bread crumbs and sautee a couple of minutes. Then remove from the pan and toss in a large bowl with the grated romano and toasted pine nuts. Taste for salt and, if the stuffing mix seems a little dry, mix in some additional olive oil.

Stuff each cap with the filing and pour the remaining lemon juice over top.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

This is adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook, if you want to go to the mother-ship.

Miles Davis again

Miles Davis

More scenes from "Once Upon a Time in America"

Stuff I like:Zodiac

I have now seen the movie Zodiac four times. I saw it in the theater, I rented it twice from Netflix and I now own my own copy. It may very well be my favorite movie made this century so far.

People from Northern California of my age will certainly remember at least some of the events the movie is based upon. Some guy calling himself Zodiac took credit for multiple murders in Northern California starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s. He wrote letters to the local papers, most notably the San Francisco Chronicle, and the papers published his letters and the cryptograms he included. The murders he took credit for did not all have the same modus operandi and forensic science of the time is like the Stone Age compared to today, so even the best evidence the police had was circumstantial and the leads supplied by the public largely useless.

The movie has re-enactments of a few of the crimes Zodiac took credit for, but the bulk of the film is about the investigation, some from the point of view of the police and a lot from the point of view of Robert Graysmith, a political cartoonist for the Chronicle who became obsessed with the case, played in the film by Jake Gyllenhaal in one of the best performances of his career. The few gory scenes didn't bother me that much, and I usually have a very low tolerance for that kind of thing. It's the investigation that makes the movie fascinating. Again, being from Northern California, I already knew before I saw the movie that there was never an arrest or conviction for any of Zodiac's crimes, so each time a new name is brought forward as a suspect, you don't know how much credit to give the evidence the film brings forward.


Here is a picture from what may be the best scene in the film. Three detectives interview a worker at a refinery. From left to right, Elias Koteas plays Detective Mulanax from Vallejo, Anthony Edwards and Mark Ruffalo are the detective partners Bill Armstrong and David Toschi from San Francisco and John Carroll Lynch plays a "person of interest" named Arthur Leigh Allen. Of these actors, only Ruffalo can be considered a movie star. The rest of the guys are just working actors, but they are all pitch perfect, completely believable and wonderful at delivering the building suspense. I mean it as a compliment when I say that all of them are better at listening and reacting than they are at delivering lines, and they are perfectly competent at delivering lines.

The movie is played very low-key with the exception of Robert Downey, Jr. as the reporter Paul Avery, but his flourishes of flamboyance are completely in character. The cast is good up and down the line and the story is really about the victims of the investigation more than the victims of the murderer. It is directed by David Fincher, who also directed, Se7en, Panic Room, Fight Club and this year's Oscar nominated The Social Network. Those are all interesting movies in their own right, but if I was to introduce someone to Fincher's, I would absolutely start them out with Zodiac.

Matty Boy says check it out.

"Once Upon a Time in America"

Scenes from "Once Upon a Time in America" -- 1923

Scenes from "Once Upon a Time in America" -- 1933