Weekend Meal: A Blake Shelton BBQ Chicken Pizza from
Pizza Hut. While I typically only like
pepperoni on my pizza and most people have an adverse reaction to even the
thought of putting barbeque and chicken on a pizza, this is one alternate
topping I really like. Unlike the
Parmesan pizzas, this creation from Pizza Hut was very tasty. Obviously, country singer, Blake Shelton’s,
input was critical. One warning, this
pizza did not reheat well, microwave or oven.
Try to eat the whole thing hot out of the box.
F1 The Canadian GP
It’s an unassuming track in an unassuming country that
somehow often produces dramatic results.
From a last turn wall that collects champions to a race retirement
attributed to . . . a beaver, in golf
terms, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a hazard.
The greatest race I ever saw was Jensen Button’s rainy 2011 Canadian GP,
running last to first, and passing for the lead on the final lap. (The Kurt Busch-Ricky Craven duel at Darlington is a close second. The Kurt Busch Indy-Charlotte Double
documentary ran after this race. Kind of
interesting, but not terribly informative.)
The announcers kept bringing up that Button race, though today’s race
was bright and sunny.
This race’s main drama would seem to be whether it would be
Rosberg or Hamilton winning it for Mercedes and would their inter-team feud
lead to handbags and a slap-fight at dawn.
I know the F1 media loves these fratricidal team affairs, but I’m over
them. One-car teams would do nothing but
increase the level of competition (or at least separate sponsors for the cars,
like other series). How about letting constructors
go ahead and supply other teams with chassis’s (like up to four)? Teams already let out their engines to other
teams. Let the points accumulated by
these teams contribute to the Constructor’s championship.
There were the usual wrecks and retirements at this
high-attrition track. What was
unexpected was the two Mercedes cars also having problems. Running way out front, both cars had an issue
with their Energy Return Systems overheating (the brakes charging their
batteries like a hybrid car) that dropped their speed by 20 mph. Hamilton
then lost his brakes and was forced to pull in.
Rosberg gingerly held his lead for most of the rest of the race. It took the competition that long to finally
catch up to him, even with him being hobbled.
Rookie, Red Bull driver Ricciardo would make a strong pass
to take the lead. Behind him, Perez, who
had been in second, started dropping. Massa would plow into his
tires, attempting a pass on the last lap.
Both would careen into the tire barrier, violently. Perez was blamed for the incident for
blocking. I say that’s a bit
questionable. Jenson Button would come
from mid-pack to finish fourth. Awesome.
The announcers were thrilled for Daniel Ricciardo. He is well-liked on the paddock. They said the Aussie always has a smile on
his face. On the top step of the podium,
he had an ear to ear grin that never stopped.
This is a popular, feel-good win.
Ricciardo’s got this Joe Dimaggio blue collar look to him that’s hard to
dislike.
Tennis
I turned on the TV Saturday morning to watch the Ladies
Final, since Maria Sharapova was in it.
Before the picture actually came on the screen, I immediately heard a
woman making a screaming grunt. That
killed it for me. Even with the sound
off, I couldn’t watch. Somebody has got
to muzzle these players.
Hockey
Given how the Stanley
Cup is going (3-0 Kings at the moment), I probably should have watched this
instead of the baseball game on Saturday.
I managed to miss all of the exciting scoring in regulation (Kings came
back from being down by two goals to the Rangers twice), but did see the
overtime. The first one was actually
quite exciting, but as the minutes wound down without a winner, dread of
another OT period set in.
The second OT was about what you’d expect from a bunch of
exhausted players. Even the L.A. fans were almost too
tired to continue cheering. The end came
so quickly and unexpectedly, I didn’t see it, even while watching closely. The Kings won it on a deflection from a blue
line shot. HD does not help the game
broadcast with moments that fast. You
could just barely see it on slowed down replay.
Hockey has a problem there. The
sport doesn’t translate to the dominate medium well. Perhaps somebody could bring back the
glowing, streaking puck effect.
Baseball
I said I wouldn’t be complaining about my reception
anymore. So I picked up the Royals vs.
Yankees game in the 4th inning when my Fox reception came back after
going out shortly after the first pitch, but I’m not complaining. I was able to listen to the Tigers vs. Red
Sox game on the radio, which was the game I really wanted anyway. I didn’t get to hear the end of it, but the
Tigers seemed to have things well in hand.
There wasn’t much point in listening to the Fox broadcast while the
other game was on the radio. From what I
was watching, it was a non-stop tribute to Derek Jeter and endless replays of a
successfully challenged pick-off call.
The Royals won it 6-3 off of the Yankees’ questionable bullpen.
On Sunday, the Rangers lost to the Indians 3-2. One of those Ranger runs was off of a wild
pitch. Not good. During the game, the second baseman, who’s
name I didn’t even know, was injured.
This was the guy replacing the injured Profar, taking the place of Ian
Kinsler (now on the Tigers). Meanwhile
at first base, was another replacement, who was taking the place of the injured
Triple A guy, who taking the place of an injured Mitch Moreland, who was taking
the place of an injured Prince Fielder.
I know Darvish, Beltre, Choo, and Andrus on the current roster. That’s about it. I wonder if Eric or Matt in the broadcast
booth will be called upon to play a position?
After that depressing game, I flipped over to the El Paso
Chihuahuas game in progress. The game
started an hour after the Ranger game, but I’d only missed half of it. I was there for the exciting part of the
game, Tim Haggerty looking at the clock and wondering if the team was going to
be able to make their flight in two hours, given the game’s glacial pace. He started looking up PCL rules for curfews
and suspended games. The dogs would go
up 10-7 late. I think both teams may
have decided that neither wanted to have to continue the game on a later date,
so things sped up a bit. A bit after
5:00, my time, the game finished. The
team charged off the field. Tim gave a
professional, but very efficient game recap, which closed with, “I’ve got a
flight to catch in less than an hour.
I’m outta here.” Such are the
perils of a nearly 4 hour, 9 inning game.
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