Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Johnsonville Brats. I'm a fan of hot dogs. I'm a fan of sausages too. It's important to realize that there is a difference because I occasionally substitute hot dogs with sausages. But because grilling a sausage dog takes more time than zapping a hot dog in a microwave, the Baggetts don't enjoy sausage dogs very often. So on those special occasions, we have always reached for a package of Conecuh sausage and we have always been very pleased with the results. Well Julie recently changed the game by introducing the family to Johnsonville Brats. These are not the huge sausages you see Green Bay Packers fans preparing at their tailgate in a vat of beer and onions. These bad boys are found in the hot dog section of your grocery store and are only slightly bigger than your normal hot dog. I guess you could cook these brats in a microwave but I played it safe and used the grill. Pro tip: when grilling, remember that these are sausages with casings that can rip when exposed to prolonged heat. Rotation is the key.

These are so good! The brats Julie purchased had cheddar cheese inside the them but I cannot find this variety on the Johnsonville website. It doesn’t matter though - if you see some, buy them!

This week, I love the state of golf. I've seen a lot of golf trends come and go over the years - changes in apparel, swings, player physiques and much more. Golf is certainly more popular with regular folks these days and I fully believe that popularity is due to the success of Tiger Woods. However, as I watched the 2014 PGA Championship last weekend, it was clear to see that Tiger is struggling with his health and his game. That observation, combined with the troubling news from the golf retail industry, made me concerned about the future of golf. But that tournament was a great shot in the arm and proved that the sport is indeed in good shape.

Even though Tiger was not around for the weekend, the leaderboard featured young stars, old favorites (Phil!!!) and foreign players. Each year, golf experts roll their eyes and wonder aloud if the PGA Championship should be even considered one of the four "major" tournaments. Given the ratings success of this year’s event, I’d say that conversation has been silenced.


Having Tiger fade from the game could be good on an economic front. For hard core Tiger fans, it's Tiger or nothing. This approach could translate to lower demand for tee times and equipment, thus causing a drop in the amount of money one would have to spend to enjoy the game. That's always a good thing!

Time will tell. You never really know with Tiger - he could bounce back stronger than ever. Either way, the game of golf is in a really good position. Oh, and folks...we’re going to be seeing Rory for a very, very long time. He's good at everything.


This week, I don’t like the ice bucket challenge. You've probably noticed a lot of Facebook videos of celebrities or athletes pouring buckets of water over their own heads lately. This craze, called the ice bucket challenge, has really gained a lot of steam over the summer and is supposed to be a fun form of charitable fundraising.

Here's my understanding of the ice bucket challenge: PERSON A challenges PERSON B to donate money (usually $100) to a specified charity within a certain amount of time (usually 24 hours). If PERSON B fails to meet the challenge, he/she has to dump a bucket of cold water onto their own head. The act can be filmed and PERSON B can call out other people for a similar challenge.

In these videos, pouring the bucket of cold water onto your own head is the “punishment” for failing the challenge of donating money to the charity. So given the large number of videos seen across social media, it doesn't seem that charities are benefiting much from these challenges. Actually, it seems that people prefer to dump water on their head over donating money to charity!


NOOOooooo! Not you too, Coach!! I mean...am I wrong? Do I have a complete misunderstanding of this challenge? Please set me straight!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Val Kilmer. I recently watched Oliver Stone's The Doors for the first time. Even though this movie was your typically weird Oliver Stone film, it helped me learn about this band and also remember that Val Kilmer was the man in the 1990's. This realization prompted me to look back at Kilmer's career. You won't believe what one of the more questionable choices to play Batman is doing these days.

Yes, this is real. And yes, this is great acting. Visit the official Citizen Twain website for more details about this show. Kilmer's a great follow on Twitter too.

This week, I love watching Graham color. Graham's wonderful mommy goes to great lengths to make sure he stays entertained all day. He's recently taken a liking to coloring. It was never one of my favorite activities but I can't resist when he tugs on my hand to sit down and join him in a coloring session. He's mastered the basic scribble and can sorta say "blue" now. It's fun to watch him give it his best try. Sometimes he uses his left hand, sometimes he uses his right hand, sometimes he uses both hands annnnd sometimes he does this:

This week, I don't like John Calipari's recruiting success. In a past post, I mentioned the incredible achievement of Duke and Michigan to land four McDonald's All-Americans in the same recruiting class. Well, that number has now been eclipsed by John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. They managed to sign six All-American's in this year's class. Calipari has been the head coach at Kentucky since 2009. Each year he has recruited a stellar Freshman class and each year they all left school once the season concluded. This year will be no different. What really bugs me is that Kentucky was the preseason #1 ranked team in the country. I don't know how a bunch of unproven players that have yet to play in a college game can influence the polls like that. Don't get me wrong - Kentucky is good. But they've already lost a big-time game this season. All I can say is....GO DUKE.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Cheers. I’ve been expressing my appreciation for certain television shows a lot lately and Cheers is a unique example for two reasons. First, we’re coming up on the twentieth anniversary of the series finale (May 20th). Secondly, I never watched Cheers during its original run because it wasn’t a show I would have particularly enjoyed from the ages of 4 to 15. But I do remember Cheers for being an iconic, primetime show that NBC proudly showcased on Thursdays nights, well before the networks devolved into platforms for talent contests. You may not have watched many episodes either but I bet you recognize the theme song.

So I was browsing through the TV shows that Netflix offers for instant viewing and I came across Cheers. Learning that all 275 episodes are available online struck me as a disappointing result for this show that was once so hugely popular. I dunno – I imagine that, for TV shows, being made available for unlimited online viewing with no commercial interruptions is the equivalent of a sick horse being put out to pasture to spend his final days alone. It’s like the owners of Cheers (NBC or whoever) have finally thrown their hands up and said, “We can no longer make any money off of this show. It can’t hurt to give it to Netflix.”

Let me get back on topic. Cheers is a great show and although I’ve only seen the first few episodes of Season 1 from 1982, they touch on some topics that remain very relevant in today’s world. A parent’s awkward dealing with a child’s homosexuality, the Boston Red Sox / New York Yankee rivalry and more. Other neat observations: men’s and woman’s fashion has changed A LOT since 1982 and even though he had been in the NBA for 3 seasons by 1982, Larry Bird was already revered enough to have his poster on the wall of the pool room in the back of the bar.

One last quality that I enjoy about Cheers: each episode is only 30 minutes long. Episodes of my current and all-time favorite shows (The Walking Dead, Twin Peaks, Breaking Bad, LOST, etc.) are all an hour long. So the shorter episodes of Cheers seem like small-but-refreshing bursts of entertainment.

OH! One more thing! I don't go to bars but if there was a bar like "Cheers" nearby, I would definitely go to it.  Nice open floor, well-lit, lots of tables and all that brown wood and shiny brass!

This week, I love NES nostalgia. I was the last kid in my class to get a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) but unlike the other kids, I had unlimited access to a huge library of games to play thanks to my parent’s video rental store. I don’t get to play video games very often these days but I recently came across a YouTube channel that brought the NES nostalgia flooding back. The NES Guide’s lone purpose is to provide gameplay footage of every NES game that was produced for North America. Most of the videos are about 10 minutes long and even though I haven’t played these games since Cheers was on the air (see what I did there?) watching these videos makes me vividly remember guiding Mario to his next mushroom, getting pummeled by Mike Tyson, breaking tackle after tackle with Tecmo Bo and so much more. All of this nostalgia has made me scout eBay for used NESs and even learn more about the virtual console offered for the Nintendo Wii that allows you to play these classic games online. I don’t know if Graham will want to try video games but I sure would like to have him start where it all began for me.

This week, I don’t like Duke’s situation for next season.  Let me first just say that, even though Duke advanced a lot further in the NCAA tourney than I thought they would, I was still crushed when they lost to Louisville in the Elite 8. My main issue was the way they lost. Duke didn't lose many games (six this season) but when they did lose, they lost BIG.  Looking forward to next season, I don't anticipate any leadership coming from the few "big men" that will be returning.  Lots of fans will be looking to Josh Hairston to be a leader but he's much better at providing comic relief in the locker room. That's Josh goofing off in the background at the 1:00 mark of this video.  Duke has one (1) player returning next year that is taller than 6'8", and that guy will be a sophomore.  Even if Duke snags a tall, high-profile recruit that plays center, he'll still be a freshman.  It will be an interesting season indeed.

Like, Love and Don't Like * Special Edition

You knew it was coming. I can't let the recent ESPN documentary about Michigan's Fab Five pass without responding. Here's a special edition of LLDL.

This week, I like the documentary about The Fab Five. I really did like the film. These guys came along about the time in my life when basketball meant everything to me. They definitely changed the game: from their shorts to their black socks to their insane amount of trash-talking. The film did a great job of telling how these five freshmen became starters and reached the NCAA title game in their first two years. The documentary also showed how this group of players were the center of questionable recruiting and ultimately tarnished Michigan's basketball program.

This week, I love the Duke haters. Watching The Fab Five was made even more enjoyable after watching Duke defeat North Carolina for the ACC Tournament championship earlier in the afternoon. See, even before I watched the documentary, I knew there was going to be a slant against Duke. The Duke program was arguably flying at its highest during the beginning of the Fab Five era. Duke defeated Michigan in the Fab Five's first appearance to the NCAA title game (1992). At the time, the game was billed with a racist, white vs. black undertone. Duke had previously found itself in this position in its battles against a predominantly-black team from UNLV in 1990 and 1991. And for some reason, that label sticks with Duke across the nation. Coach K and the Blue Devils are viewed as elitist, white, upper-crust basketball players. The Fab Five's Jalen Rose (and ESPN employee) best sums up this perception in the following clip. SALTY LANGUAGE WARNING.



Nice, huh? That's not to be outdone by fellow Fab Five member Chris Webber the following day on his blog in which he likened Duke to the Jim Crow era of the 1950's. Seriously. He said that.

This week, I don't like ESPN's proclamation that the Fab Five was the greatest recruiting class ever. This statement in the film's promotions sparked a heated debate with my good friend Clay Branch. I told Clay that it all boils down to what criteria is used to define "greatness" in this instance. The Fab Five didn't even win their conference title, much less a national title, so the group can't claim the title of greatest using their ability to win. It's better to argue recruiting rankings if you want to crown them the greatest. There's no doubt that this Michigan class was talented but I wasn't going to accept that they were the greatest class to ever be assembled. I did some homework to prove that I was right. You know what? I was wrong. Well, sorta. High school basketball recruiting rankings weren't as robust in the early 1990's as they are today. The gold standard is the McDonald's All-American Team, which selects the top players from across the nation to participate in an annual all-star game. I obtained a list of every player that's ever played in the McDonald's game. In 1991, four of the Fab Five played in the McDonald's game (Rose, Webber, Juwaan Howard, Jimmy King). I was blown away! I scanned the list to see if any other schools had duplicated this feat. Going back to 1977, many colleges have landed 3 McDonald's All-Americans but only two schools have signed four players: Michigan and........Duke. Coach K welcomed Carlos Boozer, Jason Williams, Casey Sanders and Mike Dunleavy in 1999. And if you want to go back to the "success" element, the Duke group won 4 conference tournaments, lost the 1999 national title game and won the 2001 national title - with lots of individual awards earned along the way. As I left the debate with Clay, I think it is best to say that the Fab Five were great in there ability to influence the culture of college basketball. And....I guess you could say they were very talented too.

UPDATE....Former Duke forward Grant Hill has written a reply to the documentary for The New York Times. The last line is priceless.