The Dilema of Being a Vikings Fan

My first +Minnesota Vikings memory comes from the 1987/88 NFC Championship Game against the  +Washington Professional Football Team.  I can still remember laying on the floor crying after the ball slipped through Darrin Nelson's hands on 4th down and my dad just patting me on the back and then taking me outside to throw the football around.

There would be many more trying moments over the next couple decades both on (multiple NFC Championship Games) and off (Love Boat, Original Whizzinator) the field but I can honestly say that not once did I ever stop supporting the team, even though there was clearly a knuckle head or two employed by then over the years.  Then came the news this Friday and I can honestly say for the first time, I stopped and thought about how this was going to change how I felt about supporting the team going forward.  I own and Adrian Peterson jersey and on Saturday, I started to think about how wearing that to watch the game this coming Sunday would make me feel.

Two years ago, I wouldn't have given it a second of thought but I have a son now, and as anyone who has kids can tell you, your perspective on life is forever altered.  I thought about how I would feel wearing the jersey of someone who felt the need to do what he did (yes did, not is accused of doing.  Statements from his lawyer confirm the fact that Peterson has admitted to doing what he is accused of.)  I can not ever fathom doing something like this to my son and I have so much trouble accepting the fact that there are people in this world who find this type of behavior acceptable.

I truly wish that the +Minnesota Vikings would have the courage to stand up and say that this type of behavior is not acceptable.  I wish they would have the guts to suspend Peterson but since they would much rather step back and pass the buck to the +NFL, they won't.  They (the league AND the Vikings) will stand behind Peterson until it is a bad business move to support him, in much the same way that the +Baltimore Ravens did with Ray Rice.  It makes me sick and at the same time sad that not one person in a leadership position will step up and stand for something besides money.

I'll just close with this.  Peterson is admitting to actually doing this, and there are actually people jumping to his defense left and right because "this is how things are done where he is from and what he is used to."  Well folks guess what; there are plenty of types of behavior and actions that were acceptable in the past that we look at today and can't imagine a time and place were society condoned them.  I would have thought that in 2014, we could all agree that beating a child with a tree branch was one of those things, but I guess not.

Pit Barrel Cooker #1

My wonderful wife was kind enough to let me pick out my Father's Day gift this year and since I was looking at getting a smoker, I decided after much research on the interweb to get a Pit Barrel Cooker from the Pit Barrel Cooking Company.

It showed up after a month and I was excited to get started with cooking, since I had never smoked anything before.  I watched all the videos on how to cook the different meats and noted that they stated multiple times during said videos that cooking times would vary from what they were seeing due to the fact that they were in Colorado and the air is much thinner.  After looking around on Youtube and at the Amazon reviews, it was challenging for me to find some helpful information of cook times so I thought I'd post about my experiences with them and try to give as much detail as possible to help others who might be in the same situation as I was.

St Louis Style Ribs
Cook Time:  ~4 hours 15 minutes at 500 ft above sea level (Official video says 4 hours 45 min in Colorado)
Seasoning Used:  Lightly with Beef & Game (not salty at all)
Sauce Used:  Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle

Mmmmm

I'd never tried ribs before so I was very excited to try this out.  I had seen reviews that said the seasoning was too salty so I decided to go a little lighter with the Beef and Game seasoning than they did in the video on the website.  How light?  Take a gander at the slab on the left and see for yourself.

Just like stockings

Next up was to figure out the cooking time and if I needed to trim the ribs or not.  Everyone else who had posted cook times that I could find had done baby back ribs, not St Louis style and was quoting times that were ~30 minutes less than what is quoted on the video.  Since the same video quotes 4 hours and 45 minutes for St Louis style ribs, I decided to check them after 3.5 hours to see where they were.  With that, the ribs were hung in the cooker with care, in hopes that tasty meat would soon appear.  I decided not to trim the ribs before hanging them and the bottom of them was JUST barely above the coals.  I neglected to measure them but next time, I will so you can know before hanging how long your ribs could be.

Fast forward a couple beers and 3.5 hours later, and I checked the ribs.  They looked like they could have used a little more time since the meat wasn't pulling back off of all the bones yet, so I put them back in with the intention of checking on them in another 20 minutes.  However, sometime in the next 10 minutes, disaster struck and one of the racks ripped and fell onto the coals.  For everyone (including my wife) who is now yelling "See, hanging them is a TERRIBLE way to do this, I told you they'd fall off!!!!" allow me to explain what happened.  While removing the membrane, I believe I removed too much tissue between the bones and then that same area was weakened further by testing the ribs to check if they were done.  This was all MY fault, and not a faulty design in the cooker.  Rack #2 was perfectly fine, but at that point, I pulled it off as well, applied sauce, and tossed it back into the cooker for 15 minutes while I wrapped poor Rack #1 in tinfoil to keep it warm.  

So what's the final verdict?  Pretty damn good, especially considering I simply lit the coals, hung the meat, and walked away.  The sauce I used has just enough sweetness and kick to really finish it off just right.  I will for sure try this again.  My guess is the ribs are done somewhere between 3 hours and 30-45 minutes, with another 15-20 added on for that once you put the sauce on.  A smashing success for my first attempt at doing ribs.  Next on the menu is three whole chickens for a birthday party.

Wild-Blackhawks Game 2

Another game, another frustrating performance by the Wild.  I would not say that the Blackhawks have played up to their potential in either of these two games, yet they lead the series 2-0.  How is that, you might ask?  Because they are converting their scoring chances and the Wild aren't.  The Wild hit three posts in Game 1 and in Game 2, they had plenty of chances once they got done sleepwalking through the first period.  At least Matt Moulson is making the decision easy on the Wild about resigning him.

So what has to happen for the Wild to get back into this series?

• Get the top lines going.  It's been three games since they made any noise.
• Feed off the crowd.  I thought again the atmosphere in Chicago for Game 2 was pretty flat.  The Wild should be able to feed off what should be a frenzied crowd on Tuesday night.
• Convert more of these golden chances they've been getting in games one and two

Wild-Blackhawks Game 1

A couple thoughts before discussing Game 1 between the Wild and Blackhawks:

• Thank God this game is not on CNBC.  Not living in Minnesota, I had to suffer through the Wild being on CNBC for the first round.  The NHL and the NBC family should be ashamed of the quality of the broadcasting/production done in those games.  No explanation on who penalties were on or replays of them.  Charlie Coyle takes a shot to the face and has to head to the dressing room.  Think we could get a replay to see what happened?  Watching the game on NBCSN tonight was a huge improvement both in terms of production of the game and the quality of the announcing.
• I'm not a fan of the two man broadcasting team where the color guy is stationed at the bench.  Dave Strader and Brian Engblom did a solid job tonight but I just feel like the guy on the bench gets screened from plays a lot and has the added responsibility of giving the viewers the feel on the benches of both teams
• The atmosphere in the United Center seemed pretty flat.  Sure, it go loud when the Hawks scored a goal but everyone was back in their seats and sitting on theirs hands after about 20 seconds.  Maybe it's just how it comes across on TV but it didn't look like it could hold a candle to the atmosphere in the Pepsi Center from Round 1.
• Is there a more terrifying player with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone than Patrick Kane?

Tough game tonight for the Wild but if you've watched this team all year, you've seen this game happen before.  The Wild had an early power play opportunity and despite moving the puck well and generating a few looks, they couldn't capitalize.  The Hawks got an early power play goal after Zach Parise couldn't capitalize on a short handed break and then controlled the play for the majority of the period.  Possible huge development during this period after Andrew Shaw left the game with a lower body injury and is being listed as day-to-day.

The second period was a completely different story and the Wild came out with a much better forecheck and were able to generate multiple scoring chances but either couldn't put the puck in the net, missed it completely, or hit the post.  Chicago really struggled with turnovers in this period and they generated virtually no even strength pressure.  But once again, Jonas Brodin was called for a penalty and the Hawks were able to capitalize once again to go up 2-0.  So despite outshooting Chicago 17-3 in the second, the Wild went into the dressing room after the second period down two goals.

In the third period, the Wild again came out strong and after a few missed opportunities, Clayton Stoner picked up a goal after his shot found its way through Corey Crawford's pads and was eventually kicked in by Johnny Oduya after he initially swept the puck off the goal line.  A few minutes later, a great forecheck by Danny Heatley set up a goal by Kyle Brodziak and just like that, the Wild had tied it up in the third period at two.  But then, Kane walked around two Wild defenders on a rush and roofed a puck to put the Hawks up 3-2 and tapped in a spectacular redirection from Ben Smith on another power play and that was all she wrote.  An empty net goal provided the final margin.

Looking ahead to Game 2 Sunday afternoon:

• The Wild need to make sure the penalty kill from the first round against Colorado shows up and not the unit that finished 27th during the regular season.
• Hit the net!!!!!
• Can Ilya Bryzgalov win a game for them?  During the broadcast last night, they said he has given up 3 or more goals in 17 of his last 18 playoff starts.  If he keeps that up, I don't see the Wild winning a game, much less this series.