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Final Thoughts: SB 43

Wow. What can I say? That was one of the most thrilling Super Bowls ever, and though it looked kind of bleak for the Steeler Nation for a couple of minutes, our team pulled through.

And how appropriate. All season long, the Steelers formula has been this: put the World’s Best Defense on the field and keep the game close. When necessary, Big Ben and company will get the job done on offense, even if it ain’t pretty. All season long we’ve heard about how great the Steelers defense has been, and how it just might be the best defense since the 2000 Baltimore Ravens or the 1990 New York Giants. Some in the Steeler Nation even whispered the phrase “Steel Curtain II”, comparing the team to the 1976 Steelers, arguably the best defensive team in NFL history.

That defense played really well for the first three quarters of the game. Madden and Michaels barely mentioned the name “Larry Fitzgerald” after the first quarter. The defense even managed to pull off the defensive play of the year with James Harrison’s 100 yard interception return. But then it all started going downhill. The Steeler offense – so prone to sputtering at just the wrong time all season long – couldn’t get it going in the forth quarter. And the defense, which had been so good for so long, lost its composure and quickly fell apart. LeBeau moved Troy Polamalu off Larry Fitz, and Ike Taylor, despite a valiant effort, just couldn’t compete. In fairness, it seems like no one could stop Fitz during this post season.

So it was up to Big Ben and the offense to get the job done. Tomlin put the entire team on Ben’s shoulders. Ben Roethlisberger – the quarterback that had a passer rating of 22.6 in Super Bowl XL. The same man that gave the Super Bowl XL game ball to Jerome Bettis, not only for sentimental reasons, but also because deep down he felt as though he didn’t deserve it. And, just like another quarterback that once wore the number seven, Big Ben delivered. 1:56 left in the game, 3rd and 6 at their own 26 yard line: a 13 yard catch by Holmes. An 11 yard catch by Washington. An incredible 40 yard catch and run by Holmes. And then… with 42 seconds left… the pass that just might get him in the Hall of Fame. An MVP catch by Santonio Holmes, a guy that’s won us far more games that I would have predicted at the start of the year.

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Super Bowl Party Recipes!

One of the attendees of Jim & Lisa’s 5th Annual Super Bowl Spectacular sent me a message on Facebook, asking for the recipes for a couple of the dips we served.

Instead of replying to him directly on Facebook, I thought I’d post them here to share with everyone:

WHITE PIZZA DIP

1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix
1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1 cup (8 oz.) ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz.)
1/4 cup (1 oz.) chopped pepperoni (optional)
1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In shallow 1-quart casserole, combine Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix, sour cream, ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.

2. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with bread.

We usually make this a slightly different way: we combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, pour it into one of the mini Crock Pots and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. We then cook it on HIGH for 1 hour or until bubbly, then kick it back to LOW.

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3-D Boobs!

In case you haven’t heard, two commercials will air in 3-D during the Super Bowl – a 90 second trailer for DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens movie and 30 second spot for Pepsi’s SoBe Lifewater. Additionally, Monday’s episode of Chuck will air in 3-D on NBC.

As you might guess, you’ll need a special pair of glasses to catch all the 3-D glory; the free glasses should be available at SoBe displays at Safeway, Vons, K-Mart, Ralphs, Kroger, A&P, Frys, Supervalu, Food Lion, Pathmark, Coburn, Fairway, Fresh Brands, Hy Vee, Nash Finch, Dollar General and Winn Dixie (Target and Meijer are scheduled to put them out on Saturday). And oh yeah – the lenses are purple and amber in color, so if you happen to have a pair of the old red and blue glasses lying around, you’re outta luck.

So anyway, I got several pairs of the glasses today, as did Robert Seidman of tvbythenumbers.com. Robert wondered if there were any demos or anything online that would let him preview the 3-D effect. He went to the website of the company behind the new technology and managed to find this gallery of demo photos. There are around 35 pictures in the demo gallery, and Robert’s favorite was of some fighter jets. Mine was, of course, this picture (yes you’ll need the glasses to see this in 3-D):

(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)

Yes, friends… boobs in 3-D! What a time to be alive!

Actually, you know that was probably the first picture they took in 3-D, right?

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More Random News

– The North Carolina legislature, never one to shy away from taxing anything that moves, is considering taxing digital downloads like music and movies. This is hardly surprising, as North Carolina has the highest tax rate in the South. Unfortunately, the $12 million that such a tax would allegedly take in is only a squirt of water in the $20 billion bucket that is the state’s current budget deficit.

– Speaking of deficits, the United States Post Service has such an operating deficit that it’s considering dropping a day of mail delivery as a cost-cutting measure. What may surprise you about this is the actual day the USPS is considering: Tuesday! Yeah, I thought it would be Saturday, too.

– Travel site TripAdvisor has come up with a list of the worst hotels in America, based on the ratings users leave on the site. The “winner” is Hotel Carter, a budget hotel located near New York’s Times Square. You should check out the reviews of the place: not only does almost everyone rant about how awful the place is, many have also uploaded pictures of the bed bug bites they recieved whilst staying there.

– In sports news, although the Charlotte Bobcats (the team) are showing signs of life, the Charlotte Bobcats (the business entity) are still struggling.  Amusingly, while the Bobs have beaten several good teams lately (causing local media and bloggers to start talking about how the Bobcats are “for real” this year), the team is actually only 1 game ahead of last year: 18-26 this year vs. 17-27 last year. But then again, what do you expect from a team with an absentee owner that doesn’t even know his way around town?

– It seems like there have been a million articles published about the Super Bowl this week, but so far I’ve only found that this one could hold my interest. It’s all about how the Steelers and Cards are a lot alike in business terms. It’s a good read – you should check it out!

– Lastly, Davidson phenom Stephen Curry hit a 75 footer in last night’s game. Check out the video here.