Hawgwash BBQ: September 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

Roberto Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball right fielder. He was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. Clemente played his entire 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1955–72). He was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1966. Clemente was selected to participate in the league's All Star Game on 12 occasions. He won 12 Gold Glove Awards and he led the league in batting average in four different seasons. He was also involved in humanitarian work in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries, often delivering baseball equipment and food to them. He died in an aviation accident on December 31, 1972, while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1973, thus becoming the first Latin American to be selected and the only current Hall of Famer for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period has been waived since the wait was instituted in 1954. Clemente is also the first Hispanic player to win a World Series as a starter (1960), win a league MVP award (1966) and win a World Series MVP award (1971).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

RIP, 27 years ago, John Facenda (NFL Films) "The Voice of God" on Vince Lombardi

RIP, 27 years ago, John Facenda (NFL Films) "The Voice of God"

RIP, 27 years ago, John Facenda (NFL Films) "The Voice of God"- The Autumn Wind

To Scott's Favorite Chicago Bear....Happy 40th Birthday, Alanzo Spellman

2005 World Series Champs, Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen

Wizard of Oz!!!

We love you Ozzie!!!

BOOOO, These are the Best Oysters..FDA Warns Consumers Not To Eat Certain Raw Oysters From Washington State

The FDA has issued a warning not to eat raw oysters from the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state. Oysters from the Hood Canal have been linked to an outbreak of vibriosis, a rare illness caused by the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria.
The symptoms of vibriosis are: "watery diarrhea, often with abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. Usually these symptoms occur within 24 hours of ingestion and last no more than three days."
If you think you have vibriosis and have eaten Hood Canal oysters, tell your health department and see a doctor. The illness is rarely serious in people who do not have weakened immune systems.
So far, only 6 people have become ill from the oysters in California and Washington, but they were distributed to the following locations: California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, New York, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (Canada), Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.
If you've recently purchased oysters, you should find out where they were grown.

The FDA says cooking the oysters will kill the bacteria, but what fun is that?
Consumers Warned to Avoid Eating Raw Oysters from Southern Tip of Hood Canal in Washington State [FDA]

Don't F with BBQ!!!! Pork chopped: Rick Perry takes heat for barbecue blast

Rick Perry is learning all kinds of ways that words can come back to haunt a guy.

There’s his famous “Ponzi scheme” remark about Social Security from his book “Fed Up!,” which former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has used to bludgeon the Texas governor in their last couple of debates.

And now Perry’s in hot water in North Carolina for a remark he made all the way back in 1992, when he was Texas agriculture commissioner and Houston was hosting the Republican National Convention.

Last week, in the Raleigh News & Observer’s “Under the Dome” politics blog, staffers Rob Christensen and Craig Jarvis wrote:

According to "Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue," in 1992 when Perry was a promising Texas politician but not yet governor, he tried some Eastern North Carolina barbecue from King's of Kinston, which was served at the Republican National Convention in Houston. "I've had road kill that tasted better than that," Perry was quoted as saying.

The offending quote took a circuitous journey to the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination. It first appeared in 1992, in a Raleigh News & Observer story about the convention, then was borrowed by the authors of “Holy Smoke” in 1998, then was resurrected last week.

Reaction was surprisingly swift, given the quote was 19 years old.

“People across North Carolina are outraged over a presidential candidate's comments on ENC [Eastern North Carolina] barbecue,” said a story on the website of WCTI-TV, the region's ABC affiliate. ENC barbecue is known for smoking the whole hog and dousing it with a vinegar-based sauce. (Western North Carolina is known for using pork shoulders with a tomato-based sauce. In South Carolina, the preference for a mustard-based sauce makes North Carolinians crazy.)

Texas barbecue is all about the beef, which inspired mock incredulity in some North Carolina quarters. “Now I have heard that Texans like to drink a lot, and I guess it must be true, because only a state full of drunken cowboys could come up with the crazy idea that you make BBQ out of cows,” wrote Jeffrey Weeks in the Charlotte Examiner. “People of America, you make steaks out of cows. Read my lips, BBQ comes from a gosh-darned pig.”

Smithfield’s Chicken ’N Bar-B-Q, a North Carolina chain, immediately sent Perry two pounds of its barbecue, one pound of slaw and a pint of house hot sauce.

“While we acknowledge Texas-style barbecue is different from Eastern North Carolina Bar-B-Q,” wrote Smithfield director of marketing Richard Averitte in a letter to Perry that was posted Friday on the restaurant’s blog , “we are stunned that you feel barbecue from the Old North State pales so greatly in comparison.”

WCTI tracked down the proprietor of the restaurant whose ’cue Perry dissed all those years ago. Wilbur King of King’s restaurant in Kinston, N.C., told the station that Perry had clearly made the comment in jest.

But King wasn’t willing to let the would-be presidential nominee off the hook. "I do have one problem with his statement," King said. "He has admitted to eating road-kill, and knowing what it tastes like. How can this person possibly judge any food?"

“Holy Smoke” co-author John Shelton Reed, a retired University of North Carolina sociology professor, said Monday that people in his state do not mess around with this form of cooking. “Barbecue,” he said, “is the third rail of North Carolina politics.”

Don’t laugh.

In 1984, Democrat Rufus Edmisten, while running for governor, happened to call barbecue “that damnable stuff.” He lost, and blamed his intemperate description of barbecue. Recently, in a letter to supporters about the 2012 Democratic National Convention coming to Charlotte, N.C., First Lady Michele Obama mentioned the Southern hospitality, diversity “and of course, great barbecue.”

That landed with a thud.

It is well known in North Carolina that Charlotte does not have great barbecue.“

Even the News & Observer said if she knew of a good barbecue place in Charlotte to please let them know,” said Reed.

It’s a little early to make predictions, but let’s put it this way: Barack Obama’s victory over John McCain in North Carolina was razor thin--49.9% to McCain’s 49.5%. If Obama loses the state in 2012 … well, could have been that barbecue snafu.