Message from a burned Bush
So Reggie Bush is saying that paying college athletes will 'destroy some people.'
Well, when it comes to those connections, Bush, who broke almost every NCAA rule there is during his time at USC, should certainly know.
How egregious was Bush's NCAA violations? Well, he had his Heisman stripped. O.J. Simpson did not. (Debate that dichotomy, all you want, but still.)
So Bush is entirely the wrong spokesman but his point has validity, both in the micro and macro in terms of young people.
In terms of college athletes and allowing them to profit from name, image and likeness, well, a lot of college sports fans are hemming and hawing about "recruiting violations" and "unfair advantages." Uh, folks, those already exist. Ask Reggie.
But few are noting how vulnerable the college athletes will be when this becomes allowed. Think of someone like Zion Williamson, who is having to sue for the rights to his NIL right now from a former business colleague who fronted the Williamsons some money and believes they have a stake.
Think of the slime that will prey on the athletes? And we know the NIL changes are coming - the state legislatures will make sure of that - but few other than Jay Bilas and Marcus Spears are discussing this in terms of possibly being a bad thing because of the vulnerability of the athletes and their families.
In that regard, Bush's statements make sense.And in the macro sense, without getting too preachy, we are sorely under-educating the youth of America in two primary directions.First, handling of money, even in the most basic of fashions is a life skill that far too few young people have. Second, man, we need to re-examine civics (and even civility) in terms of education.
No, neither of those are on some bureaucratic checklist regarding test scores or foundation donations, but they certainly would aid in the real role of education, which is preparing individuals to live and give them the best chance to succeed.
Sermon done, soap box pushed to the side.
Lance in depth
Maybe it was the lower expectations for Lance than I had for The Last Dance, but I thought Sunday's first of two parts on the 30-for-30 on the greatest American cyclist of all time was well done.
Was it a home run? Well, it's not completed on that front, because we still have another two hours to go.
Lance did a few things exceedingly well that TLD let MJ off the hook for.
First, Lance showed the kind of raging (bleep)hole Lance Armstrong has been since he started competing. Yes, he blames a lot of it on his tough father, but a lot of us had fathers who were hard on us growing up and we did not becoming raging (bleep)holes.
(Side note: Or maybe we did and we just pretend we're not raging (bleep)holes. Side question about the side note: Spy, what's the record for 'raging (bleep)hole references in one 5-at-10, because I think we may have topped it?)
From his interactions with teammates to even his exchanges with his first coach when Lance realized he didn't need him anymore to all of his dealings with anyone who could not help Lance advance Lance, wow was he a thinking or another word nope a raging (bleep)hole.
I am hopeful that the professional doping and cheating and especially all the lying about it will be the central points of next Sunday's conclusion, because part I of Lance allowed the cheating multiple-time Tour de France winner a lot of wiggle room in the "Everyone was doing it" realm.
Still, I will say this and I could not say this all the way through TLD: I am excited to see the conclusion of Lance. Maybe that's because TLD was sooooooooooo long, and Lance is only two parts. But I'm in until the end with Lance, even though he's a raging (bleep)hole.
Tuesday in the kitchen
Well, we did a lot of cooking, and I mean a lot, over the weekend. We truly enjoy it friends.
Here was the menu, and the great thing about a slew of these projects - other than the taste of course - was the ability to prepare the bones in advance and cook or unveil wherever we arrive.
Friday night we had grilled chicken, our sour cream potato salad, three-bean pasta salad, hash brown casserole. I believe we have discussed several of these as go-tos among my collection before. We also tried some whipped up sides from our Signal Mountain Farms box. (More on that in a second.)
Saturday night we did our ravioli lasagne (again, we've shared the basics on this around here before), caesar salad and bread. No, JTC we did not make homemade ravioli this time, but we did dabble in an experiment that worked extremely well.
Follow along. We made two pans - there were about 15 people here - and divided them as one for kids and one for adults. In the kids' pan we used basic cheese stuffed ravioli and very straight-forward jar sauce. In the adult pan, we browned the sweet Italian sausage with sweet peppers and finely cut sweet onions and added that to our hand-crafted marinara. Been my experience that the palettes of the tots are more basic and prefer to avoid the textures of the peppers and such.
Monday night we did shrimp, glazed carrots and tomato tart. We will take requests for the recipe of one those three, and we will share later today. Deal? Deal.
As for the side we pulled out of the box on Friday night, well, it actually turned into an appetizer for the adults and it may have been the most popular thing I made over the weekend.I pulled a head of cabbage from the SMF box and remembered a neighbor telling me about cabbage steaks. So we thought we'd give it a swing, especially since, hey, even if this stinks, then we still have plenty of food for dinner.
While we are here, cabbage is in season right now friends, so if cabbage is your thing, go find some now. (Side self-realization: I guess if cabbage is your thing, you likely already know that by now, huh? Apologies.)
Cut the bottom (the root Spy) of the head of cabbage off and slice into about five or six pieces, about half-an-inch think. Place them on a sprayed piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. (Side questions: Do you say aluminum foil or tin foil? Is saying tin foil a thing of the past?)
My glaze starts with 1/4 cup of olive oil. (Side note: I have found that spending a few extra dollars on good olive oil is very much worth it.) Depending on your tastes, here's what we used, and that was playing a round game because we did not have our normal assortment of options:
> Teaspoon of garlic powder;
> Teaspoon kosher or sea salt (and that thing we said about olive oil, it applies to salt too);
> 1/2 a teaspoon black pepper;
> Juice from a medium size lemon;
Mix that with the olive oil and brush on each side of the cabbage steaks. Cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. You can go a little longer and even if the edges look burned, they are the tastiest part because they are the most caramelized.
While that's cooking, we crushed some almonds and browned those with about a tablespoon of honey. We topped the cabbage steaks with whatever glaze we had left and then topped it with the honey-cooked almonds.
Viola. (Side question: Who knew that former AL Cy Young winner Frank Viola was so accomplished in the cooking world?)
This and that
- Speaking of cooking, remember to vote for which of Monday's recipes you want. Can comment below or email me jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or let me know on Twitter at @jgreesontfp.
- Chuck Barkley is the media hero we need. Not only was he aces on The Match, now he's breaking news that the NBA is for sure coming back at some point. So there's that.
- I was not alone in my viewing or appreciation of The Match as Tiger and Peyton beat Phil and Brady 1 up. The event, which raised $20 million for charitable groups aiding in relief of The Corona, averaged 5.8 million viewers and peaked at 6.3 million around 6 p.m. Eastern (and that peak is right there with the best numbers from The Last Dance, which was on the more available ESPN networks). The Match beat the Coca-Cola 600 and was the top sports event of the weekend and the most-watched cable golf event ever. (The previous was the 2010 Masters which was on ESPN and featured the return of some dude named Eldrick from his love-life scandal.)
- Speaking of TV and sports, according to sportsmediawatch.com, The Match ranks seventh among average viewing audiences of sports events during the shutdown. The first two nights of the NFL draft - I love the draft; you know this - are 1-2, with three episodes of The Last Dance and NASCAR's return at Darling (6.32 million) going 3-through-6, and then The Match. A complete home run for everyone involved, in my opinion.
- As for that, here's hoping that not unlike Weekend at Bernie's 2 or Bad News Bears: Breaking Training, that some young go-getter in suspenders and designer glasses in the bowels of Turner Sports or the annex of PGA Headquarters does not think a surprise summer hit was so good it needs to be done again. This cast - and the timing was perfect - and if you tried to replicate that, it will fail. Miserably.
- My two hometowns represented on the MaxPreps' top 50 high school baseball players in the class of 2021. A kid from Campbell High in Smyrna is there, and Daniel Corona from Baylor School here in Chattanooga make the list of elite baseball players.
- Speaking of high school sports, the TSSAA has stated that high school athletes in the Tennessee can return to workouts on June 1. Yes, this happened late last week, but between the Mailbag, the lake and my general blood-alcohol level during that time, we somehow missed it. Here's more from TFP sports editor and area preps sports guru Stephen Hargis. Man, as if teams with more coaches and better facilities did not already have an extended advantage, imagine being a limited staff with limited financial reach and trying to keep pace 10 players at a time for the foreseeable future.
- I love stories like this one. Andre Drummond left a waitress shaking after dropping a $1,000 tip. Good for you Mr. Drummond. (Side question: Did anyone else instantly think, "Whatcha you talking' bout Willis?" when I said Mr. Drummond? No? Me neither.)
Today's questions
Hey, it's Tuesday. True or false, you know that that means. (I think true.)
True or false, you watched Lance.True or false, you will watch the second installment of the two-part series Lance.
True or false, you enjoyed The Match.
True or false, you like cabbage.
True or false, you have at one time in your life called money "cabbage."
True or false, cabbage would be more popular if it had a better name than cabbage.
As for today, May 26, let's review.
Wow, this is John Wayne's birthday. True or false, Clint Eastwood's catalog of Westerns is better than John Wayne's.
Hank Williams Jr. is 71 today. Yeah, I wonder how he's still alive too.
Today is National Redhead Day. It's also National Sorry Day
Rushmore of 'Sorry' and be creative.