4 Hard Downs: DeBoer's Hired, Ripple Effects and Banana Bread

My kid is destroying this stuff and the CFB World is insane after Saban retirement

Wildcard Weekend delivered as we wait for the Monday Night match-up to cap things off. The football was fine but the best part was I actually got asked questions by my wife about what and why I know stuff about football. See, during CFB season I am working and really just alone with my screens taking notes and feeling a responsibility to give it my undivided attention.

Saturday, during Dolphins-Chiefs we watching and just hanging out. Then she asked how I knew something was going to happen. So we rewinded, paused pre-snap and we went position by position on what people are looking at and what I was looking for out of them.

Like, we got to talk about loading, zone turn vs man turn, motion as indicators, jet vs orbit. I even, as my guys at Split Zone Duo (which you should be reading/listening to) know, diagrammed things with whatever was around. In this case, UNO cards.

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She learned a little, I got to explain that these guys have so much going on mentally and still have to go out and create (defenders and OL) or avoid (QB, RB, WR) a car crash every play. Fun stuff, so let’s go ahead and SPOT THE BALL!!!

1st Down: Alabama Gets Their Guy

Old news at this point but the important part is about changing and figuring out how this works for a guy that no one on this roster has ever wanted to play football for in their lives.

Yet, this is a clear hard message, “we aren’t trying to recreate the GOAT, we are trying to create another special era for our team.”

I think that is important.

USC tried to chase down Pete Carroll by hiring derivatives (Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin). It didn’t work.

At all.

UNC Basketball had to wait two coaches, Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty, to get to Roy Williams coming home and bringing the program back to titles.

It is hard to step into someone’s image. It is hard to try to recreate, without the insane 104-12 record that it takes to create the buy-in. Kalen DeBoer is built for it, now it is just a matter of it works.

There’s a “culture barrier” in terms of a guy not from the South. There’s a no title barrier as well. There’s a lost to the team we lost to by more than we lost to them barrier too. DeBoer seems like a guy getting better with legs and Jim Harbaugh, if he didn’t win this one, would have never got one (while DeBoer best player was playing a C game).

I love the pivot. This is not hoping to ride the Saban train. This is a new thing, they are giving themselves over to Jeff Tedford, one of my favorites. A completely different style of ball. A completely different approach. An offense forward look. A modern day look at “our offense has to cook because if we can’t score 40 a game, we’re in trouble.”

Which, when they couldn’t hit 40; and not late 40 of wearing a team down. But out there hunting 40. Alabama was in trouble this whole season because they couldn’t run down 40 points.

This is not the idea of “offense is sexy” this idea is “we have to do this and we trust him to bring defense with him.”

Going to be interesting to watch.

2nd Down: Two TRs, What’s Next?

Tommy Rees and Travaris Robinson.

One, no clue what happens for him. The other is at Georgia.

What a pick-up for the Dogs. Great recruiter. Great coach and Travaris Robinson is value added to that staff.

Tommy Rees is now in the wind. Back to Notre Dame? Maybe. He is in a weird spot of, “I came here to grow,” and he did grow. Helped this offense adapt to Jalen Milroe and found ways to make it work. Worked all the way into the playoff. Next step is to make sure you don’t take a step back.

As someone with friends in the industry, your lead dog leaving is a nightmare because you have to find someone else to tighten up to; and they already have a guy. It is hard. I’m rooting for Rees to land somewhere he can be good and grow.

3rd Down: Online to IRL Friend, Neighborhood and Kid Class Hangs Like Back In The Day

No pics, I’m not trying to dox my neighbors or my new friend; and myself with my actual location or people I know. Did go to Cowfish with a friend and we have a ball. Cowfish is a burger/sushi spot that we love in SouthPark and my family plus a friend went and it was like, “oh we never met before but we know each other.”

Sushi? Check.

Burger? Check.

Salad? Check.

De-constructed Crab Rangoon? Check.

Running talk? Check.

It was a great hang and so glad she invited my family and gave my kid a very cool book titled, “Shelby Goes To The Dentist” a great book, check it out.

The day before? Neighborhood party. We crossed the street and my kid played with two kids she’s known since we moved back home while the adults hung out and played Cranium.

Your boy is a Cranium monster. I sniped two answers because the self-proclaimed eternal champs, and the hosts and the birthday man, said they were would for sure win the game. Guess what, I know the difference between, “Billy Bass” and “Big Mouth Billy Bass” and when the card sayd BMBB, you gotta say BMBB not just the BB.

There was another one too, but I don’t remember it but if we’re playing rules, the rules are the rules.

We are also going to our kid’s first hockey game this upcoming week. So, if you have suggestions of how to handle kids at minor league hockey please let me know in the comments, I will set the stage for you…

7 kids from the same kindergarten class. 14 parents, maybe more if grandparents or siblings go. One section. First hockey game for almost every one of the kids and for some of the parents. If you have tips let me know. Our current plan, as a collective, is to put all the kids together and take snack and restroom shifts. If boys need to pee, two dads take them. If girls need to pee, two moms take them.

Anyone can go buy snacks.

No clue about souvenirs. That ain’t my jam. I will get them, like Jurassic World, once we get seated, by myself, so my kid isn’t picking, I just get what I think she needs.

4th Down: Soft Banana Bread For Your Ass

So, here is the original recipe that I found that I thought was good from Sally’s Baking Addiction. However, I have a five year old and the crispy edges that come with this are a thing she hates. I had to retool things to make this what she would eat with the least amount of waste, for all my parents out there, you know what I mean. Nothing like looking at a kid’s plate and seeing your hard work discarded like the bubble wrap and box from Amazon.

Here’s how I do it.

2c APF

1tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

1tsp cinnamon

1/2c melted and cooled unsalted butter

2 eggs at room

1/3c sour cream (I will get to this because there is a variant that my kid also devoured)

5 large bananas mashed (I will talk about ripeness later too)

1.5tsp vanilla

1c brown sugar (2 unpacked scoops of 2/3 cups makes it easier and less messy as I rush through things so my kid doesn’t ask, “is the banana bread done yet?”)

Here we go about the mods from the original recipe:

-The melted butter blends into the batter better than the cooled and basically paddle mashed butter, I like the uniform nature of it.

-I upped the sour cream for texture, my kid likes it soft and I also have done it with cream cheese and buttermilk and she loves that variant as well.

-5 large bananas and the way she has been eating it, a whole loaf a day essentially, I couldn’t wait for them to turn brown, she also doesn’t like brown bananas. I take the bananas and put them in brown paper bags in the morning, I let them go for a few hours and then I cut them up, mash them and let them sit out for two hours before I add them into the mix, helps soften them.

-With the vanilla, I like a little more, also have used a vanilla bean because I was out of the extract.

Pre vs Post Cook

The biggest mod is that I cover it for the whole cook. Basically, it is a light form version of steaming so there is no crust. Or, better stated, a very light crust, which makes my kid happy.

350 for an 45 to an hour, the small loaf pan cooks quicker than the big loaf. Then you end up with soft, spongy banana bread that bounces back and my kid will eat a loaf of in a day.

This is going to be wild as we wait and see what Washington does. Thought they’d have someone hired but nope. Let’s see how they ruin a bunch of other schools’ situations.

Cheers!!!