WSJ's Field Guide To Sausages -- Nothing About The Bakken -- August 28, 2016

The Ford At The Star: this is the new corporate headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys, in Frisco, just a few miles from where we live. The stadium opened last night for the high school's first varsity football game of the season. Some data points from the article:

• the real estate development company building the largest team headquarters in the NFL: owned by the Jones family
• 12,000-seat indoor stadium, Dallas Cowboys to share with eight high schools in Frisco
• 91 acres
• 510,000 square feet for Dallas Cowboys offices and training facilities
• two outdoor practice fields (in addition to the indoor stadium)
• fitness center, allowing members to train near players and Cowboys cheerleaders (Legends, the hospitality business owned jointly by the Cowboys and the Yankee, will book events)
• a 16-floor, 300-room Omini hotel and conference center
• a 200,000-square foot medical center
• a 200,000-square foot shopping center
• 400,000 square feet of office space
• jogging trails, parking, and plazas will take another 60 acres
• $1.2 billion project
• $115 from the city of Frisco and the Frisco independent school district
• every major pro sports team in the Dallas area now have a presence in Frisco
• the Dallas Cowboys
• the Frisco RoughRiders (Class AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers, MLB)
• the Texas Legends (an NBA development league linked to the Dallas Mavericks)
• the Dallas Stars (NHL)
• F.C. Dallas (MLS -- Major League Soccer)

Speaking of the Dallas Cowboys: Earliest this summer I happened to catch a short segment on some sports talk show about the Dallas Cowboys. One analyst said that computer models predicted that Dallas would be #1 in their division or conference, or some such thing. The other analyst countered that with the likelihood of Tony Romo suffering another injury, it was unlikely that Dallas would have a winning season. The first analyst said that one cannot "forecast" the success of professional football team based on the likelihood of injuries. What? You have got to be kidding. The computer models did not take into account players' injury history?

Whatever.

Today in the Sunday Dallas Morning News, front page story, I see that Tony Romo won't be playing in the season opener: an MRO shows that he has a lower vertebral fracture.

Right on cue and absolutely predictable.

By the way, it now makes sense. With regard to Colin Kaepernick not standing for the national anthem. It turns out it's a personal problem. It has nothing to do with the US. Kaepernick is sulking. His back-up quarterback is outperforming him. It is likely Kaepernick will not be on the 49ers roster two weeks from now. That's the good news. The bad news: he could end up on the Dallas roster. Whatever. He refusal to stand during the national anthem is simply a personal problem, a rich adolescent sulking.

Kaepernick, Colin, Colin, the Prima Donna:

Donna, the Prima Donna, Dion

****************************

Field Guide to Sausages

From the WSJ weekend edition: a field guide to sausages.

****************************

Off And Running

Our older daughter has informed me that Olivia's soccer team is tied for the #1 position in their soccer league, after winning the season's opener, 2 - 0. LOL.

They win their first game of the season, along with the other half of the league (although I suppose there were some games that ended in a tie) -- but with all wins (one) and no losses, they have to be in first place. This is not entirely true. The rankings are also determined by the number of goals made by the winning team and how many goals the winning team allowed the losing team. It sounds pretty complicated to me. That's why colleges offer degrees in sports, I suppose.

Olivia is "playing up" this year. She and her closest friend are a year younger than the rest of her team and most of the league. Olivia played defense midfielder and was awarded two assists, an assist for each of the points scored.

**********************************

Dinner For One

The potatoes: boiled in a pot of water with one cube of chicken bullion added.

***************************

Spiralizing

I was also late to the spiralizer party. I was introduced to spiralizing by our older daughter, who in turn learned about it from our younger daughter. I bough a spiralizer from Amazon.com about one month ago but have not used it yet. The link takes you to a nice Los Angeles Times article on spiralizing -- coincidentally posted after I received my spiralizer.

From the article: spiralizing broccoli stems. Isn't that a cool idea. I throw away half (maybe more) of the broccoli I buy simply because I thought one only ate the florets.