numero uno

I could have been number 1, but decided to let you do it. Merry Christmas.

1) Lauren drives, throw a DVD on for the kids, and start thumbing away on your crackberry. C'mon slacker: if there's a will, there's a way.

2) Odds of the Saints and Skins making it are very close to each other, so much so that a win in Minnesota makes it a toss-up going into the final weekend. Should the Packers lose and Cowboys win, then Dallas will not play at full throttle going into the last game. So it's go Skins, and go Bears for this weekend.

The Crickets Famous Fruit Cake Recipe:

1 cup raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 fifth of dark rum
1 cup sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 cup apple juice
4 whole cloves, ground
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans, broken
1 pint Brandy (for spritzing)

Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add 1 cup of rum and macerate overnight, or microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit.
Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes. (Batter can be completed up to this point, then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before completing cake.)
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake another 10 minutes, and check again.
Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack or trivet. Spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan.
When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy.

Alternate Method

Soak all the fruit in the brandy. Put all other ingredients away. Drink all the rum. Enjoy the holiday. (Eating the fruit soaked in brandy will help relieve the resulting hangover the next morning.)

Happy Holidays!!!

I saw the Recipe in your early post. I do believe I perfer the Alternate Method.

fellas- the scene from here at JFK is nothing i'd wish upon any of you. the people here at this airport and the surrounding areas are clearly still reeling from the 22-10 wounds of last sunday night. babies crying. teenagers pouting. people rushing around, pissed off, not acknowledging one another. it's rough. the only thing i can do is sit here and smile thru my delay. thinking about todd kneeling out the clock.

i really hope none of you have flights thru minneapolis next week. could be a similar scene...

With Landry being hurt our corners are going to have to step up. More leg injuries....

in case you missed it:

ruinromo.com

no its not me stumped... its Romo a la High School. I do believe I would have wiped that smirk off his baby face back in high school. And taken his mother out to a nice seafood dinner and never call her again...

For those who care, it's now official that Parcells is a Fin. I hope this works...

"... I think that puts us a little shy of 137,300 right now, with doing an actual count. ..."

Posted by: freakzilla | December 20, 2007 05:49 PM

"Actual" count? Could it be? Could freakzilla really be the late MV Dame in hiding? [Yes, I said LATE, you treehouse sand-bagging, haiku-quitting, Charlie Weis-loving, excuse for a yankee transplant to DC!] If freakzilla is not MV Dame, then pardon my Turrette's.

Also, something about Romo a la High School seems alot like Romo a la Grade School, which also seems alot like Romo a la now, which is it to say, Jessica Simpson is the proverbial senior macking on the freshman ... and now lets RUIN THE FRESHMAN! Hopefully, that gets cross-posted at ES for maximum distribution. Nothing would say Happy New Year's Eve Eve like crushing the Cowboys at FedEx.

That said, Todd Up, we got us some Vikings to disrespect!

A friendly correction for Jasno's previous blog entry: 1 deep safety (8 in the box, 2 corners) is a cover 1, not cover 3.

HTTR

Toddcoat,

My guess is that the Tuna will be good for the fins. He has done a good job every where he has been. During Gibbs I, I knew the skins had a good team when they could beat Parcells' Giants. I believe Parcells may be the one coach who won more than he lost against Gibbs I.

Thx for the lowdown on the Landry injury, TheCrickets. I was wondering whether he was having a relapse of "paint balls."

Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!

I think you're right Mark (from the future), but it's hard to immediately take a liking to a guy who coached two of your divisional rivals before.

As odd as it is to say it about a 1-13 team , I think we have the foundation of a good team. The defense needs to get younger - and it will, and Parcells will move us to a 3-4 there which we already have the pieces for, but that apart we just need a solid QB and some receivers, and get our special teams to stop giving up big returns, and we're in business.

But the AFC East is going to be a very competitive division for the next few years; New England won't fall apart overnight, and Buffalo and the Jests are on the rise, so we'll have to work hard to get to the playoffs.

Good luck to the Skins for Sunday, I'll watch and cheer you guys on, but I may be pretty gloomy depending on how the 4pm game goes!

TDawg, from the previous post about your holiday FA wish list, all of those guys are in the Pro Bowl this year. The lesson of the Fletcher/Smoot acquisitions is to dial it down and avoid the guys who would have an ego driving their salary demands. I don't remember whether Briggs got a Pro Bowl nod this season, but Jasno's chat yesterday suggested the Skins might target him for the weakside to replace Rocky next season. [I only remember that Nick Barnett did NOT get picked for the Pro Bowl, which was part of the annual re-confirmation that the Pro Bowl is a popularity contest/beauty pageant/such as.] Anyway, I'm ambivalent about Briggs ... not about performance (which may well be a product of Chicago's system), but about character/locker room stuff (Lambos as highway sign ornaments, vows never to be a Bear again ... then being a Bear again, Tom Brady/Travis Henry-like DNA distribution, etc.).

I prefer the solid, non-showboat, big-time performers ... the Art Monks of the league ... for free agency pickups.

Wanted to post this, from the 'other' paper:

"Rookie right tackle Stephon Heyer held his own against Michael Strahan last week. During quarterback Todd Collins' 27 drop-backs, Heyer went one-on-one against Strahan 14 times and didn't give up so much as a pressure. He got double-team help against Strahan just twice"

Kind of impressive, for a rook.

TC, I think Parcells will be good for the phins. He's got an eye for talent, and has drafted well.

Nate, from previous, back atchya. Are you telling me you don't have any UVa alum friends up here with vast tracts of McMansion in greater Ashburn who want to host visiting collegiate chummery from a bygone era?

Also, most depressing link of the week award goes to Stumped for the team stats on big play differentials league-wide. Just. No.

sfskin, I know you can't be teaching today... get your san fran booty up here and BYGO.

Consequently, Planet Earth is teaching my class today. Alas, I could not show Elf because I couldn't justify its educational value, but Planet Earth is flippin' sweet. Wish I had a flat screen plasma in my classroom. My 20" tv doesn't do it justice.

The concern over preventing big plays is directly related to the worry about maintaining the spike in Lust for Mayhem witnessed the past two games. If the D comes to play like they did against CHI and NJG, we'll be all right.

(Oh, and Todd needs to keep that magical unicorn ride going. But we knew that.)

Come on, Grilliams! Come on, defense!
Come on, Colonel! Come on, offense!
Come on, Bake! Come on, steams!

Nate, congrtulations on the attempt to BWI last night. Sadly it seemed your were flying solo.

Did what I could, coat, did what I could.

Wouldn't it be interesting if someone were to BWI while at BWI?

It'd probably turn out to cause some sort of bizzaro world creation which would be mistaken for a terrorist attack.

Normally, I root for Minnesota as a secondary team due to my family's deep roots in NW Minnesota (lots of Dorfs up there). I was so disappointed that those lousy Falcons went to the super bowl back in 1998.

All things considered, I would like nothing more than to see the Vikings destroyed this weekend. The saints demise would be nice as well. Todd Care of Business.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3164412

Part of their punishment should be to go wading in the everglades to find the gun themselves. If a gator gets 'em, so be it.

A friendly correction for Jasno's previous blog entry: 1 deep safety (8 in the box, 2 corners) is a cover 1, not cover 3.

HTTR

Posted by: RambleOn | December 21, 2007 09:36 AM

This is not in the least bit true. it depends on the actions of both the safty and and cb's

If the safty and the cb's both drop deep it certainly is cover 3.

If the cb's play man and the safty drops that is cover 1.

Dorf, agreed, in fact, why they haven't been fed to a gator yet is puzzling. You want to act like an animal, you'll get treated like one.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if someone were to BWI while at BWI? ..."

Posted by: -swb | December 21, 2007 10:21 AM

Actually, at the end one of the gates, Charles Mann has a bar & grill (I believe it may have the clever name "Mann's Bar & Grill"). So BWI at BWI about the SKINS is not outside the realm of possibility, and the odds even increase with holiday air traffic.

I got a new discovery channel show that could be a smash hit...

Thug vs. Wild

Now that'd be entertainment.

LOL, Dorf, I'd watch. Heck, I'd pay to watch that type of justice.

If the safty and the cb's both drop deep it certainly is cover 3.

If the cb's play man and the safty drops that is cover 1.

Posted by: sams3 | December 21, 2007 10:30 AM

If we're nitpicking up here (which RambleOn, sam3, and I certainly are), technically a Cover 3 would require the corners to drop deep, just to cover a third of the field, esp. with a zone blitz where down linemen pick up the receiver(s) who normally would be covered in man-coverage assignments.

I forgot a "not" (i.e., would not require the corners to drop deep).

dc that is not true at all. The zone blitz is a particular type of cover 3. cover 3 only implies that 3 dbs are playing deep thirds of the field.

The most basic Cover 3 scheme involves 2 CBs and a safety. Upon snap, the CBs work for depth, backpedaling into their assigned zone. One safety moves toward the center of the field. The other safety is free to rotate into the flat area (about 2-4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage), provide pass coverage help, or blitz.

aka exactly what i said.

cover 3 in its most basic form has nothing to do with linemen in coverage or zone blitzes

anyway... lets get the blog back to life.

No, wait. It's gotta be your bull.

actually sam3, what you said was that in cover 1, corners play man, whereas anyone can cover receivers in man coverage (safety/corner/LB), but whateves. jasno's original would be too simplistic if it said 8 in the box plus two corners is any form of numbered cover coverage unless you know the corners' responsibilities. i THINK we agree on that.

How 'bout we help Parcells figure out how to get the Fins to 2-13? They have a game this weekend.

Ideas? Maps?

actually sam3, what you said was that in cover 1, corners play man, whereas anyone can cover receivers in man coverage (safety/corner/LB), this is true however unless you have 3 recivers on the field its rare you are going to have an lb or saftey covering a wr with only one saftey to help.

corners' responsibilities are key I agree with that. but whoever was calling him out called him out saying it was cover 1 and that also is an assumption just like jasons was an assumption.

Is toddcoat a fins fan?

Parcells doesn't start work for the Fins until 12/27 Nate. We'll have to beat the Pats all on our own.

Mind you it's not like we haven't done that before...

toddcoat, last week was the start of the fins two game winning streak, wasn't it?

With all this talk of cover 3 and cover 1, I think you all actually mean "Beat the snot out of the !@#$%^&* Vikings Sunday night!!" Right?

4-12, agreed. We all agree on the snot part.

Yes 'sween, although technically this is the middle week in our 3-game winning streak to end the season (we have Cincy at our place to end the season).

got a new discovery channel show that could be a smash hit...

Thug vs. Wild

Now that'd be entertainment.

Posted by: Dorf | December 21, 2007 10:38 AM

-------------------
Didn't they have a movie about that: Surviving the Game with Ice-T? Brilliant!

Hail.

toddcoat, I forgot about that closer. You gotta be VIGILANT against TheCindy -- she can really bring the heat on offense (i.e., irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, maps, such as).

I hear you on that one sween, I'll warn Cam, he listens to me on stuff like this as I have an in with "talent evaluators" like, such as.

"Semper Vigilantis!" or somesuch.

O Canada:
# 700 Communication Squadron Borden (Ontario): Semper Vigilantes

Some more great mottos up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Unit_Mottos:_Canada_(Joint_Service_Forces)

I *heart* Canada, eh.

Er, also this one. As Leonard Cohen put it, both of us cannot be wrong.

#772 Electronic Warfare Squadron Kingston (Ontario): Semper Vigilans (Latin, "Always Vigilant")

And that was a paraphrase -- the song title is "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong." My point was that it appears one or the other mottos includes an incorrect translation of vigilant. Editing vigilance? Maps?

Cover-2?

More fruit infused with brandy, and vicey versey?

What's the drive to Cooperstown anyway, like five hours? Isn't it up there in upstate NY (maps!). That's a lot of driving.

And is there snow? For Chloe's sake I mean. And our future LT, not-so-wee Rocco. Over the river and through the woods and like such as.

Every analyst picked the vikings just like they did the giants. The only one that picked the skins picked them last week too. Chris Mortensen holler at ya boy!

'Canadian Forces Northern Area: Custos Borealis.'

Is Custos a cousin of Aurora?

Yeah, I got nothin' today.

Off to my "alcohol free" company holiday party. Hope to duck out after a half hour or so. I'll use the 'too much work' excuse. By which I mean, 'Get back to the office to BMGO towards the Boren UltiToddum.'

Nate, correctamundo, Cooperstown is in NY.

And, according to snow coverage maps, they do have snow on the ground up there, fun.

Do you think Jasno has maps such as for his drive, or is he just a human version of South Africa?

Courtesy of a Latin Dictionary (hurrah for the Intergoogles!):

vigil

vigil -ilis [wakeful , watchful]; m. as subst. [a watchman].

vigilantia -ae f. [watchfulness , vigilance].

vigilax -acis [watchful , wakeful].

vigilia -ae f. [wakefulness , sleeplessness, watch; a watch of the night; the watch, sentinels]; fig. [watchfulness, vigilance, care].

vigilo -are intransit. [to keep awake , watch; to be vigilant, watchful, careful]; transit. in pass., [to be watched through, watched over]. Pres. partic. vigilans -antis, [watchful, vigilant]; adv. vigilanter.

So it seems that 'vigilantia' and 'vigilans' are both okay dependent upon the participle, 'vigilantes' is incorrect. Maps!! Such as.

Where are Dorf, Farstriker, or sfskin when one needs them?

Well, that was fun.

For Skins fans everywhere who cannot be in DC at this very moment, the following provides further assurance that DC is no Cooperstown.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/webcams/snowcam.htm

I keed, I keed. Going now...

That was quick 4-12!

Keep it classy, boys. This is a co-ed blog. Mind the use of the "v" word.

(can I get a) BEEP BEEP?