After numerous stops, starts, delays and reschedules, the fine folks at aPa finally settled down and had their drafts Sunday night. I didn't miss it because of work for a change. This time, I was on vacation and had some friends in town, so we all ended up at Borgata and I missed the draft. But as history has shown us, it's probably better this way.
So let's see what Yahoo Auto-Draft hath wrought this time around:
1. (7) RB Larry Johnson - He would not have been my choice here, but I do expect him to bounce back, especially since the Chiefs will be leaning on him while QB Brodie Croyle hopefully develops.
2. (22) WR Larry Fitzgerald - You see how important stability at quarterback is? Fitzgerald probably should've been gone by this point except the Cardinals are still waiting on Matt Leinart.
3. (35) WR Chad Johnson - Oh, Chad. You're moody, you had some pretty bad games for me last year, you got a lot of blame that you didn't deserve, and now your shoulder's hurt. Though, all things considered, this is probably a pretty good value pick at this point, particularly if he decides he has something to prove this season.
4. (50) WR Roy Williams - Lost in the deserved hype over Calvin Johnson and the team still reeling from the flameouts of Charles Rogers and Mike Williams is that this guy's pretty easily the Lions' best player.
Oh, by the way, can I get a quarterback up in here any time soon?
5. (63) RB Selvin Young - He doesn't have a weed habit that we know of, so I fully expect him to rush for 1,000-plus yards barring injury. I mean, he is a Bronco, after all.
6. (78) TE Chris Cooley - Captain Chaos is back! He's become a favorite around our offices despite his Redskins pedigree. We still owe him for helping save us back in 2005.
Oh, by the way, can I get a quarterback up in here any time soon?
7. (91) QB Jake Delhomme - Thank you.... I think. Though his arm looked OK against th Eagles last week, I'm a bit worried about his lack of targets to start the season.
8. (106) Chicago DEFENSE - Still one of the better ones.
9. (119) K Nick Folk - I think he was the first kicker off the board, which shocks me. I'm also shocked that there wasn't a real run on kickers like there usually is. This also gives me more Cowboys (1) than Eagles (0), which just killed me a little inside.
10. (134) WR D.J. Hackett - Never got on track for Seattle or me last year. He'll get a chance early in Carolina with the Steve Smith suspension.
11. (147) TE Ben Watson - Seriously, he's about the eighth option in New England. I think there are tackle-eligible plays and quarterback bootlegs further up in the playbook before anything involving the tight end.
12. (162) QB Jon Kitna - If he predicts we're gonna win 10 games I'll kick his ass myself. Sadly, he might end up starting a lot because the Lions are, well, the Lions, and they're gonna be behind a lot.
13. (175) WR Sidney Rice - This guy's not bad. I feel like he would've gone higher if anyone had any kind of confidence in Tarvaris Jackson.
14. (190) RB Chris Brown - The Houston one. (Seriously, there's like six Chris Browns in the league and they're all running backs.) Likely bench fodder.
15. (203) Indianapolis DEFENSE.
Eh. At least I was up in my poker game while this was going on.
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Now playing: Jason Mraz - The Remedy (I Won't Worry)
via FoxyTunes
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Out and Back: White House Subs
It's commonly said that after you live somewhere for a decent amount of time, you become, for lack of a better word, immune to being intrigued by all of the things your town has. You know, the touristy spots, the historical landmarks, the things that people from other places come to where you live to see.
But I've been coming down here since I was in diapers, so I'm not quite sure what my excuse is for having never been to White House Subs before yesterday.
Originally founded and run by a World War II vet, the place has been around since 1946 and looks it. There's a few tables, but it's mostly a take-out place and they don't deliver. They tape a homemade sign to the windows out front telling you what time they close that night. They don't take credit cards. There's no soda fountain; they have a machine in the back. The back wall is covered with photos of everyone from Joe DiMaggio to Carrot Top. It's as vintage AC as vintage AC gets. They get their bread from the Formica Brothers Bakery, which is literally down the street. (But there's no exclusivity; in fact, most of the hoagie and cheesesteak places around here use Formica Bros. bread... at least the decent ones do, anyway.)
I got there at about 8:30 after driving two laps around the place looking for somewhere to park. White House is tucked away in a pocket in the middle of the city; it's near everything (side streets run two blocks south to the main casino strip, and it's across from parking for the shopping district), but it's not in a place where it'll get lost among the brightness and buzz of the casinos. I went in and took a number. The place wasn't packed, but it was busy, even on a Wednesday night.
I hung out at the counter as I got my Italian hoagie and cheesesteak made. Here's the sub for you:
A half, about 9-10 inches long if I had to guess. I imagine those are Jersey tomatoes.
That second cross-section shot is in every Web review of this place ever. That's the angle it automatically corrects itself to when you unwrap it and lay it down.
The key to a good Italian hoagie can be summed up in one word: Balance. You don't want the onions or the spices overwhelming the meat, but you still want to be able to taste the cheese. And especially, you have to get just the right balance of oil and vinegar. Too much, and it's a bitter, sloppy mess. You put too much on and all the other ingredients suffer from being too dry. But at the same time, you need enough so that the bread softens just so, to a point where the firmness of the crust doesn't make it impossible to eat.
Well, when you've had 62 years of practice, you can probably do anything right, and this was an Italian hoagie done right. I don't know how close to perfection it is, but it's every bit as good as people who have been going there for years have been telling you it is. A hole in the wall in a city that is glitz built on top of grit, White House Subs is that rarest of things: a place that's bigger than the hype surrounding it, but that hasn't gotten too big for its own britches. That may not play on Atlantic or Pacific. But on Arctic Avenue, they wouldn't have it any other way.
But I've been coming down here since I was in diapers, so I'm not quite sure what my excuse is for having never been to White House Subs before yesterday.
2301 Arctic Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J.
Originally founded and run by a World War II vet, the place has been around since 1946 and looks it. There's a few tables, but it's mostly a take-out place and they don't deliver. They tape a homemade sign to the windows out front telling you what time they close that night. They don't take credit cards. There's no soda fountain; they have a machine in the back. The back wall is covered with photos of everyone from Joe DiMaggio to Carrot Top. It's as vintage AC as vintage AC gets. They get their bread from the Formica Brothers Bakery, which is literally down the street. (But there's no exclusivity; in fact, most of the hoagie and cheesesteak places around here use Formica Bros. bread... at least the decent ones do, anyway.)
I got there at about 8:30 after driving two laps around the place looking for somewhere to park. White House is tucked away in a pocket in the middle of the city; it's near everything (side streets run two blocks south to the main casino strip, and it's across from parking for the shopping district), but it's not in a place where it'll get lost among the brightness and buzz of the casinos. I went in and took a number. The place wasn't packed, but it was busy, even on a Wednesday night.
I hung out at the counter as I got my Italian hoagie and cheesesteak made. Here's the sub for you:
A half, about 9-10 inches long if I had to guess. I imagine those are Jersey tomatoes.
That second cross-section shot is in every Web review of this place ever. That's the angle it automatically corrects itself to when you unwrap it and lay it down.
The key to a good Italian hoagie can be summed up in one word: Balance. You don't want the onions or the spices overwhelming the meat, but you still want to be able to taste the cheese. And especially, you have to get just the right balance of oil and vinegar. Too much, and it's a bitter, sloppy mess. You put too much on and all the other ingredients suffer from being too dry. But at the same time, you need enough so that the bread softens just so, to a point where the firmness of the crust doesn't make it impossible to eat.
Well, when you've had 62 years of practice, you can probably do anything right, and this was an Italian hoagie done right. I don't know how close to perfection it is, but it's every bit as good as people who have been going there for years have been telling you it is. A hole in the wall in a city that is glitz built on top of grit, White House Subs is that rarest of things: a place that's bigger than the hype surrounding it, but that hasn't gotten too big for its own britches. That may not play on Atlantic or Pacific. But on Arctic Avenue, they wouldn't have it any other way.
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