Thanksgiving 2013

Hi All,

Today is the day that I post my annual 'Thanksgiving' entry.  It's an interesting one.  Here goes...

What makes a great Thanksgiving dinner? Great question - glad you asked.  Click on this link from NJ.com entitled, 'Poll: What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?'  Well, it seems like Turkey (big surprise) is the winner - along with sides like stuffing, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  Yum!  I'm getting hungry! Click on any of the links above for recipe related information - trust me, you'll really, really like it. And you'll find other recipes that are just as good with a simple click of the mouse!  Click on this link for a short course on the history of Thanksgiving foods. (from the Buffalo - New York - News)

Okay, so now that you have the recipes for Thanksgiving 2013, how are you going to cook and bake and serve all that food?  Indeed, click on this link from ivillage and your Thanksgiving Day will, in all likelihood, run smoother and give you less stress.

Oh, and if it seems like you spent a bit less this year on Thanksgiving Dinner, you probably did.  Click here for the lowdown on the lower prices of Turkey Day!

Click here for some images of Thanksgiving Dinner courtesy of Bing Images - notice I'm not using Google Images this time?  Yep - I wanted to mix it up and doing something a bit different.  Notice how juicy and tender the turkeys look? Scrumptious! Absolutely delectable!

So...football is a tradition on Thanksgiving as well.  Click here to find a list of the games being played (and the times) on Thanksgiving Day 2013.  Wow - that's a full schedule!  My faves...Packers, Raiders and Steelers (go Big Ben).  Games start at 12:30pm, 4:30pm and 8:30pm on FOX, CBS, and NBC.

And if you have a whole passel of toddlers (or just a few), you might want to keep them busy during the game - and dinner.  How in the world can you do that, you ask?  Easy...click on this link from Bing.  I did a search for 'easy Thanksgiving Crafts'.  Hey, at least you tried to keep the little tykes busy! Okay, okay, here's another link to keep the young ones busy with some crafts!

Finally, click on this link to get the full story about the first Thanksgiving - courtesy of Wikipedia the link is very, very interesting. Here's another link that discusses Thanksgiving - courtesy of Plimouth.org; which is a Smithsonian Institution Affiliations program.  Heck, you might just learn something new about one of the most American of holidays!

Enjoy the holiday and drive safely!

Regards,
Stu

All About the Big Game - Super Bowl 47!

Hi All,

It's back, its bigger then ever.  Louder, faster and with a great Halftime Show.  What am I talking about?  I'm talking about the Super Bowl.  Are you ready for some football?  We're up to SB47 now and click on any of these links for more information about the big game.

Click on this link to learn about the players and their thoughts on the big game - aka Media Day.  Interested in the players who are playing in the big game?  Click here folks.

Interested in the fact that the coaches of the two teams are brothers? Yep, we thought so.  And that's why pundits are calling this the 'BroBowl'.   

Click on this link to learn about the various matchups and get a scouting report on both teams. If you like statistics and number and such, click on this link from Pro-Football-Reference.com. I probably have mentioned this previously in the blog, but its a really, really great stats related site. Additionally, on the homepage they have links to other aspects of SB47 including team summaries (Ravens and 49ers), Super Bowl History

Okay, now that I've mentioned the 'who, what, when...' let's get tot he really good stuff.  Commercials. Click on this link for previous SB's commercials.  Interesting stuff in that it shows you the evolution of the complexity and entertainment value of SB commercials over time. Click on this link for a site that is covering -and will cover - commercials for this SB.

Click on these various links for blogs and 'super-websites' (in the sense of size and coverage and content) for more on the SB. In case you didn't know, you can do a Google search and enter 'NFL and blogs' and you'll get hundreds of results...here are a few of the better blogs that cover football.

1. Official Blog of the NFL
2. NFL Nation Blog
3. NFL - SBNation
4. NFL Gridiron Gab
5. Forensic Science Technician
6. 100 Yards and Running - The Score.com

So there you have it folks...if this list of links doesn't keep you busy than you absolutely, positively, must have football on the brain 24x7x365...

Enjoy the game and the links. Oh, and final score:  49ers: 34,  Ravens 14.   :)

Stu

A Giant Football Game!

Hi All,

This is the perfect day to post a blog entry about the New York Giants! If you haven't been living under a rock, you know that the Giants have beaten the highly regarded Green Bay Packers last weekend, 37-20.

Well, now the New York Giants are playing the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday at 6:30pm.

So, for more information about the big game, read on!

Click on this link from the NFL.com to see home pre-game reviews and get some statistics on the player and the teams.

CBS Sports has a really good article talking about the rivalry between the Giants and the 49ers. Click here to read the article.

You might want to take a look at this other article at CBSSports.com discussing Kevin Gilbride - the NYGiants offensive coordinator - and how he has helped the offense play a lot, lot better in recent weeks. Also, click on this link for matchup information, player evaluations and more from ESPN. Whoa....too much info!

Want statistics - click on this link from ESPN and you'll get your fair share of player and team statistics. Want an obsessive level of detail and statistics? Mosey on hover to Pro-Football-Reference.com and you'll get stats for every single football player that ever played the game. Neat features include team records, sortable stats, leaders, SuperBowl information, boxscores and much, much more. Incredible site.

Now that you've got the stats click on a few of these blogs to get some 'less mainstream' views on the playoffs. Note that I'm not recommending any of these sites - I'm just listing a few of them in no particular order...

Fifth Down - from the New York Times - NYTimes NFL blog

Pro Football Weekly.com - Analysis and handicapping and evaluation of the upcoming games.

National Football Post - 'All Angles. All Access' of football. Nicely organized site of football articles and commentary.

Finally, click on this link for the Top 100 Blogs for NFL Fans. Links are for each NFL team - so all teams are included!

Enjoy the big game!
Stu