Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The story goes that in the early days of Vegas, the casinos had a special offer for a 3 piece chicken dinner for just under two bucks.  Back then, the standard table bet was $2.00, so with a win you had the coin for a tasty chicken dinner.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Why is the blog writing about chicken once again, you ask?  Well, before the big rematch of the Cougars and the undefeated Brown Stars, the only other team in the league without a notch in the L column was Chicken Shack.

After the winless Cougars turned the Rising Stars into Falling Stars by defeating them 15-12, we were hoping there would be some chicken dinner delivered to the Cougar postgame courtesy of the Shackers for giving them sole possession of first place.

The Cougars were ready to play, came out strong in the first inning and batted around the order.  No small feat when you are batting 12.  We took the early lead and then gave a couple back in the bottom of the inning.

As the game moved along, we traded runs but never lost the lead.  In the bottom of the 6th, we were leading 12-10 and our opponent dropped two runs on us to tie up the contest.

In the top of the 7th, Martini, looking like Kirk Gibson, led off the inning with a base hit, which was the start to our three run rally to go on top 15-12.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Cougars knew we needed to play winning defense to be triumphant.  The first two batters hit frozen ropes to center field both stabbing Stabber in the chest.  His heart was in the right place because he clutched the Clincher like the love of his life.  

Now the Cougars needed one last out and with Martini on the mound, now looking like Nolan Ryan, strikes out the last batter for a hard-earned and well-deserved victory.

We had a number of highlights:

• Melchiorre, the "Dean of Bean" fought the violent winds at the park and pitched strike after strike and notched two K's in his outing.

• Flandog was a mad dog on the basepaths, taking huge leads, swiping the extra base and scoring runs.  He hedges his bets at work and is incredibly aggressive on the field. 

• Dave "The Lip" Lipinski was an offensive and defensive star.  First, he drives over 4 hours from Iowa to get to the real Field of Dreams in Wilmette.  At the plate he ripped the ball to the gaps and racked up his RBI total.  In the field, he saved a number of runs with his stellar play at second base and started an incredible inning ending double play to stop a Star rally.

• The biggest stars of the game were Steve and Cheryl, our only fans on a late, cold, windy, school night.  They drove the 120 mile round trip, braved the elements and celebrated with us.  They are always at the top of the in-law starting lineup!

We brought the postgame over to the Cougar Shack and partied like we hit the jackpot.  While others, well, let's just say what happens at the Cougar postgame stays at the Cougar postgame.

We celebrated until the wee morning hours but our chicken dinner never arrived.  After the party was over I had my own cereal celebration, which was truly the Breakfast of Champions.

Recipe, But First Disaster

Congrats to the Tappers for their first victory in three seasons.

The Cougars lost 20-19 in a hard fought match.  If the Cougars judged success based on the level of drama rather than the actual result, then we would be in first place.

After the game Josh and I got gussied up and celebrated his victory.

There were a few highlights for the Cougars on the field but the best play of the night was at the postgame, of course, by Diddy.

Here is the recipe to be a winner on and off the field.  It is not a recipe for disaster.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Servings: 12
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 30 to 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, boiled and shredded (or 4 12.5-oz cans of chicken breast, shredded)
• 12 oz. bottle of hot sauce
• Two 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
• 16 oz. bottle of Ranch dressing
• 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (or a combination of both)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the chicken with the bottle of hot sauce and spread in a 9×13-inch baking dish (or any 3-quart baking dish).
3. In a saucepan, combine the cream cheese and the ranch dressing over low heat until the cream cheese is completely melted and smooth. Pour the mixture evenly over the chicken. Then sprinkle the cheese on top.
4. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with celery sticks (and/or other vegetables), tortilla chips or crackers.

We love the game but it is the post-prefix that makes our night.

Why Did The Cougars Cross The Road?

Why did the Cougars cross the road?  To pluck the Chickens, of course.

Every week during the season the Cougars get up with the chickens, shake our tailfeathers and cross 17^th Street ready to strut our stuff with a sunny side up attitude. 

The Cougars/Chicken Shack matchup was the fourth all-time meeting and the first with their new fowl name. 

The name change is quite appropriate because with a 0-3 record against the former Hitmen, each game seems to taste like chicken to the Cougars.  Even with the lopsided record, this rivalry is still everything it is cracked up to be.

As the blog reviewed last week, the Shack is at the top of the pecking order and will remain so after last night.  With a final score of 10-8, the yolk was on the Cougars. 

So now, as usual, we will turn our chicken scratch into a full cock and bull story.

The top of the first inning left us with egg on our face. We made a number of bird brain plays in the field. But we didn’t brood about the errors; we know our hands are finger lickin’ good.  Our hatched plan finally worked and we proved it in the next couple innings by holding the Shackers scoreless.

In the middle innings, our chicken fingers tightly gripped the drumsticks and we beat the ball to the chicken wire in left field.  With aggressive baserunning, the Cougars scored and grabbed some chicken breast by repeatedly getting to second base.

In the end though, the Cougars were not able to make chicken salad from chicken poop and were the ones to lay an egg.  We looked like a farm team out there at times.

As always, the Cougar coop had their share of highlights. 

• Our spring chicken, Boomer, once again ruled the roost.  He is now 9 for 9 on the season and he has ended the chicken and egg debate.  Boom undoubtedly comes first.

• There is a Japanese proverb that states, “It is better to be the head of a chicken than the rear end of an ox.”  The Cougars agree with this wisdom because the Chickens’ heads were staring at the rear end of JOx all game.  Although it seems that he dashes around the bases like a chicken with its head cut off, he is no dumb cluck.  Jeremy is cock sure on how to get to home plate. 

• Diamond Dave is our tough old bird and his hard-boiled focus can be seen on the mound and at the plate.  The Dean of Bean scrambled the Shack bats and had them looking cock-eyed with his stellar pitching while he beat the ball like a cracked egg at the dish.  He and Barb then stuck their necks out for both squads and hosted a top-notch gathering at the best nest in Wilmette.

It was such an exciting game and having so many fans at the game on a glorious night made the match that much better. 

In fact, there was quite a hen party in the stands.  We had so many wives cheering behind our bench that it made me wonder if the Hot Chicks are really Cougars?  Hmm.

The next game against the Game is in two months. Now, we all know not to count your chickens before they hatch, but mother hen says to bet the nest egg on the big cats.  Then the Cougars will truly have something to crow about.

Words With Friends

In the dawn of the morning, just hours after the Cougars left the diamond, there was a certain buzzing in my head jarring me from my sleep.  Shaky, smelly and snoozy, this was certainly not the way to rise.  Was it an alarm?  Was it the remnants of last night's excess?  Nope, neither.

The wake-up cry was simply informing me that it was my move in the addictive app, Words With Friends.  An apt metaphor as Cougar words needed to be shared with Cougar friends.

Like softball, Words With Friends offers a competitive connectedness with comrades.

In the season opener, the Cougars were matched up against the rival Brown Stars.  Our goal was to play like Merriam-Webster and drop many seven letter words on them such as inspire, intense and impress.  Instead, we dropped the ball numerous times as well as a handful of four letter words that are only found in the Urban Dictionary.

Our first inning was quite scrabbled.  

The Brown Stars had the first move and placed their letters on the board's pink star and racked up a 4 point lead.  The Cougars mistakenly thought we were playing Numbers With Friends and quickly went down 1-2-3.

In subsequent moves on the surface, the Cougars hit the ball with as much glee as a 50 point tiledrop.  Unfortunately, we gave our opponent an opening by making our ERROR into ERRORS.

Heck, we would find it easier to play a Q word without a U than it was to put our hands firmly on the ball.

Although a tough night, there were a few highlights from the contest. 

• The Joke Writer, who is approaching the half-century mark, had two triple word scores on the bases and showed that even an old man can still get to third base twice in a night.  
• Flandog made a couple of impressive catches in the field.  In past blogs I may have referred to such outstanding fielding as "Pulling a Fortier;" however, this term will now be reserved only to reference hamstrings. 
• Our new Cougar cub, Boom, came out in his inaugural game and promptly went 4 for 4 while leaving a trail of smoke on the basepaths.  He was voted Newbie of the Year for the McKenzie Variety Show and he is the front runner for the Cougar Rookie of the Year (well, he is the only rookie).

When our racks were cleared, the Brown were the stars, outscoring the Green 15-9.  Given last season's results, this was not unexpected.

Before the season, the park district got in the alphabet game and decided to play A and B.  Our commissioner gave teams the option of a competitively competitive division or a recreationally competitive division.

The B division is comprised of six returning teams and one newcomer.  Based on last year's results, the B division final standings would have stacked up like this:

1. Chicken Shack (fka Hitmen)  5-0
2. Gullivers  4-1
3. Brown Stars  3-2
4. Ethervision  2-3
5. Cougars  1-4
6. Tappers  0-5
7. Geriatric Springers  NA

Shack is clearly the favorite in this new campaign and the Cougars are anxious to continue the rivalry this coming Tuesday night.  The Cougars are aiming to make our ballplay as good as our wordplay.

The Chickens are the best but the Cougars are going to try and kick their app.  You see, we spent the entire offseason mastering Angry Birds.