College football week 6 thread: UCLA Confidential

Happy State Fair week, Texas.

If you're going, let me know if the fried charcuterie board is any good.

 

A friend of mine went to the State Fair of Texas and spent $20 on a dessert of fried dough and Reese's pieces with a melted peanut butter cup in the middle.

Fried charcuterie sounds better.

 

You know what's good at the State Fair of Texas? The draft beers they serve in this little tented-over garden with six or seven big TVs just down the way from the Cotton Bowl. Sat in there and bent an elbow with my Hookems alum daughter a few years ago and we had quite the good time.

 

I know Nick Saban appreciation is as stylish as a leisure suit, but I truly appreciate the way he has been proactive on this topic when he could totally get away with being a Neanderthal.

 

I think one of the reasons Saban has been as successful as he has is the fact that he’s open to progress. They’re at the cutting edge with how they do nutrition — smoothie stations and chefs preparing meals to be available right after practice so they don’t drop weight — so it’s not a surprise he’s at the leading edge on mental health too. He yells and screams but when you listen to his words he’s far from a caveman.

 

It also makes me want to laugh-weep to see what could truly be done for mental health if our society was willing to invest in it at parity with physical health. Maybe you couldn’t do the zero gravity leather chairs, but imagine an urban school system with a comprehensive setup like that to address mental health and trauma in students. How much bullshit could you prevent out in the neighborhoods if we started valuing high schoolers like that?

 

This is such a great idea.

 

It wasn’t too long ago that he was the next big thing.

 

How early do you have to arrive? Sounds like a better time than the stadium, where you can see one game and one game only?

 

We were there for Gameday ... I promised my Hookems kids (the older two) that I'd come off the hip for ONE Texas-OU game, and that kid had already cashed in that chip (she chose well, too ... it was Charlie Strong's lone victory in the series). But she wanted to be around a Gameday, and trust me, when you're at the stage of life I'm in, when your kids wanna do something with you, you do it! She had a fun poster (very inside-Austin-ish) she'd tweeted out, and a lot of folks were walking by saying, "Hey, it's that Twitter girl!"

We got there around 8 and got to the little biergarten about 15 minutes before kickoff. We stayed until halftime, then booked it home to catch most of the rest of the game (which the Hookems won on a very late field goal). The whole thing's a very nice memory

 

From the Big Tex Choice Awards website:

Meats, cheeses, fruits – oh my! Chopped-up fresh mozzarella, salami, and crisp green apples are tossed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Italian herbs. Then the ingredients are wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried to a golden crisp, topped with creamy goat cheese and a drizzle of hot honey. Everyone’s favorite appetizer rolled into one perfect bite!​

To quote the Hee Haw audience after Grandpa Jones laid out what was for dinner ... yu-u-u-um yum!

 

Would