Scoreboard Gourmet

Opening Day of Hot Dogs

• Baseball fans will enjoy “in the ballpark” of 26.8 million hot dogs at US baseball stadiums this season. That’s enough to circle the bases 36,000 times.
• In 2010, consumers spent more than $1.6 billion on hot dogs in U.S. supermarkets.
• Weight Watchers includes hot dogs in its medically-approved diet regimen.
• Sixty percent of Americans prefer their Hot Dogs grilled.

In case you're wondering why on earth SG would run a Rays photo on MLB Opening Day, Kayem is the official hot dog and sausage of the Rays, and Red Sox (and Patriots, Lightning, Florida State Seminoles, and Boston College Eagles), and they're the ones who provided the hot dog stats.

p.s. Rays Opening Day is tomorrow. Red Sox too.
Go Yankees! Or, more importantly, Go Away Rain!

Everglades BBQ at the Super Bowl, and Pro Bowl, and Dolphins and Marlins Games

Everglades BBQ, as you can see by the photo taken by Steve Cahoon of Centerplate (who recently acquired Boston Culinary Group), is part of the pregame tailgate at Dolphins Stadium. 
In 2008 the concessionaire tried selling BBQ beef to Marlins fans, but it didn't work out because who wants cow when you can have pig! Chefs Dan Filarecki and Orlando Morales then created a pig-based-bbq menu and now there are Everglades BBQ stands and carts throughout the stadium. Yes SG should have mentioned this earlier in the season. Sorry. Next year you can check it out and let me know.

Everglades BBQ is now also in the BankAtlantic Center (Panthers), and the stadiums at Florida, Central Florida, Ole Miss (altered logo there, in place of the gator).

Scoreboard Gourmet I Still Love You

It's a new year. The Giants stopped caring about their season in the fall and the Jets are two games away from the SuperBowl (no, I'm not actually that confident). Tony G's risky Minneapolis airplane ticket purchase has high reward. I went to my first hockey game in years and my second is a few weeks away. UConn had a devastating loss to Georgetown. Wes Welker watched the last game of his season. Jayson Williams is going to prison. Spring Training postcards, pamphlets and calendars arrive in my mailbox daily (Twins Postgame Grapefruit Giveaway 3/5; single game tickets on sale 1/16). The Knicks are "suddenly competitive."
What I'm trying to say here is, I have a runny nose. I'm not exactly sick but I need tissues all day long. Scoreboard Gourmet, I still love you. We're nearing the Super Bowl, the most important snack-purchasing day of the entire year, (the second most important snack-purchasing day is the Saturday before the game, which you'd think was the most important but, apparently, many party-hosts seriously procrastinate.)

Speaking of SuperBowl Sunday, the Supervalu inaugural Snack Down Survey found nearly 40 percent of fans associating a special food or snack tradition preference with their favorite NFL or college football team, including:

—In Philadelphia, football fans named Philly cheese steaks as their top game-day snack tradition
—Chicago gridiron fans cited Chicago-style hot dogs and Chicago deep-dish pizza among their special traditions
—In Boston, New England clam chowder and Boston baked beans made area fans’ list of snack traditions
—Cincinnati fans’ quintessential game-day snack food is Skyline or Cincinnati-style chili
—In Baltimore and Washington, D.C. chicken wings tied with chips or other salty snacks as the No. 1 game-day snack. Baltimore fans also unsurprisingly listed crab among their special snack traditions
—In Boise, Idaho potatoes — baked and loaded — naturally made fans’ lineup of special football game-day snack traditions
—In Boston, about 38% of male football fans plan to watch one or more of the NFL playoff games or the Super Bowl at a bar or restaurant this year, vs. only 14% of women. Male gridiron fans in Boston believe they consume more calories at a Super Bowl party (24%) than at a Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa celebration (17%).

In other news, it's quite likely that Scoreboard Gourmet is going to return to its starting point and focus solely on sports-travel-eating. We shall see. And now, my nose. 

Drinking Rules at The Garden

Madison Square Garden Drinking Rules:
2 at a time to each 21+year old person.

Alcohol NOT Sold when the 4th quarter of any Knicks or Liberty game begins, when the 3rd period of any Rangers game begins, when the 11th minute of the 2nd half of any college basketball game begins (ie St. John's), towards the end of any concert (this one is hard to nail down in terms of time). 

Bleeding Tiger Stripes in Louisiana

Hemophilia is rampant these days. Everyone is bleeding team colors, so let's talk about Purple and Gold blood: LSU.

Pictured here, a pack of sauces you can pick up for $14.99 at your local Louisiana Winn Dixie. They're sold individually too ($2.99 at supermarkets, more expensive at specialty shops and touristy places). 

Last week the Tigers beat the Razorbacks (that's Arkansas) in their final pre-Bowl game. They're ranked #2 in the SEC West, and somewhere between 13-15 in larger NCAA rankings. Obviously I'm talking about academics here, not football.

7th Inning Stretch

My dad loves to send email to me and my siblings. Sometimes he sends links, but usually he sends some sort of screen-shot that nearly crashes my inbox. Today, however, he sent text, which I enjoy immensely. It's not about food, but it's something worth sharing. "The College" referred to is Manhattan College (19 Division-I teams; Jaspers and Lady Jaspers) where my dad actually cheerleaded (cheerled?) one basketball season when he couldn't get the seats he desired and wanted to be up close to the action. Brilliant. Love that story.

The college annually played the New York Giants in the late 1880s and into the 1890s at the Polo Grounds and Manhattan is credited by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the practice of the “seventh inning stretch" spreading from there into major league baseball. 

It is written in the Baseball Hall of Fame that "During one particularly warm and humid day when Manhattan College was playing a semi-pro baseball team called the Metropolitans, Brother Jasper noticed the Manhattan students were becoming restless and edgy as Manhattan came to bat in the seventh inning of a close game. To relieve the tension, Brother Jasper called time-out and told the students to stand up and stretch for a few minutes until the game resumed." 

On the college's 150th anniversary in 2003 at a New York Yankees game, Brother Jasper was credited with the Seventh-inning stretch.

Thanks, dad (and Bro Jasper). Everyone knows I love to stand, stretch, and sing between innings (and half-innings).

Final Four where to eat and watch: Wildwood BBQ

225 Park Ave South, New York, NY

Vitamin Water REVIVE official hydration partner of NCAA championships

This is sort of funny. Vitaminwater revive will be the only flavor associated with NCAA championships.
from the NCAA site:

Does the sideline presence of vitaminwater revive mean that the NCAA is now endorsing a supplement drink product?
No. The NCAA does not endorse commercial products/services, including nutritional supplements.

What NCAA banned substances might be found in vitamin water varieties?

Caffeine or guarana seed extract.

The NCAA bans caffeine because it is found to be a performance enhancer, and because of concern about the effects of stimulant use during intense exercise.  Caffeine will produce an NCAA positive drug test if amounts exceed 15 micrograms/mL in the urine sample collected.  There is not a formula to calculate the amount of caffeine one can consume prior to a drug test and not test positive.  Varying metabolic rates and time of consumption prior to urine collection are among the contributing factors. The 15 micrograms/mL cut-off is designed to allow for moderate caffeine consumption below the positive test threshold. 

Three Vitaminwater products (power-C, b-relaxed, and balance) contain ingredients that categorize them as impermissible under NCAA extra benefit rules. As such, schools cannot provide these varieties to student-athletes as a nutritional supplement, but they can be purchased and consumed by student-athletes on their own without any risk to their NCAA eligibility.

Two Vitaminwater products, energy and rescue, contain an ingredient or ingredients--caffeine and guarana seed extract (a caffeine source)—that are included on the NCAA’s drug-testing list of banned substances. The NCAA places a limit on the amount of caffeine that can be legally found in the urine of a student-athlete. This level was set to allow ordinary consumption of caffeine-containing beverages, such as cola, tea or coffee. Vitaminwater energy and Vitaminwater rescue contain low levels of caffeine. To put it in perspective, an average sized healthy man would have to drink ten 20 oz. bottles of Vitaminwater energy or rescue within several hours of competition to reach the level that could potentially create a positive NCAA urine test.

Mizzou cheerleaders on bar at McFadden's

Mizzou cheerleaders on bar (800 Second Ave, NY, NY) less uncomfortable since we are winning at the half. ha. I refused a bracelet so not to be a jinx, and clearly that worked.

Scarlet Knights and Huskies in the Tournament

from the Daily News (Kristie Ackert):

On her birthday, Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer was given brownies, cupcakes and something a lot of women's college basketball coaches were asking for Monday: a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a chance to avoid the dominating UConn Huskies on the first two weekends.

the No.1-ranked Huskies (33-0) were given the No. 1 seed in the Trenton Regional and could play the first four games within four hours of their campus. The other No.1 seeds are fourth-ranked Oklahoma (27-3) in the Oklahoma City Regional, third-ranked Maryland (25-4) in the Raleigh Regional and sixth-ranked Duke (24-4) in the Berkeley Regional.

It's women's history month, st patrick's day, and my friend just gave birth twins. why don't I have a NCAA category? did I used to have one? did Kristie Ackert make up the cupcakes and brownies thing to be poetic or did the coach of the Scarlet Knights really celebrate with those sweets?

Rutgers will face No.10 VCU (26-6), making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Saturday

Brother Jimmy's at Yankee Stadium

You heard it here first. And if you didn't I'd love to know where you did.

Brother Jimmy's, everyone's favorite ACC bar, is showing some Yankee pride by setting up an outpost in the Bronx at the new Yankee Stadium. And nothing goes together better than a bunch of Yankees and southerners. The stand is left field, field level.

Thinking about Brother Jimmy's makes me feel old. Remember when 1644 Third Avenue was a Bills Bar? More details when I know em.

And, speaking of Brother Jimmy's, here's their NCAA Men's Basketball tourney bracket. Go UConn!