A Late Reaction to the UK Super Bowl Commercial

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Allow me to quickly recap my favorite parts of the Super Bowl, which I realize was three weeks ago. Give me a break. I spend my days begging firms to give me an unpaid summer internship. Anyways, fave moments:

3. Budweiser puppy commercial. That relationship between the puppy and the Clydesdale is the best friendship since that guy and his lion friend.

2. Bruno Mars half-time show. No wardrobe malfunctions, no skimpy outfits, just good fun.

1. UK Football commercial.

It is strange to say that my favorite football-related thing about the Super Bowl was the commercial for the bottom feeder in SEC football, but the super bowl was a TERRIBLE game. And that one-minute commercial gave me goosebumps (I’m kind of lame). It was well done and served as a great way to reach the average Wildcat fan, the ones who aren’t UK students or avid KSR readers.

I have often found myself feeling embarrassed when UK football plays hype videos. Our hype videos over the last few years have largely been comprised of footage from games that we lost in a terrible fashion, but hey, we made a couple highlight reel-worthy plays. First, we had Operation: Win, which we did not do. Then, our motto was “RISE.” We went 2-10 that year, or maybe that was the 4-8 season. I honestly can’t remember. UK has been promoting a new era for long time, and telling fans that this is the year. But the new commercial doesn’t follow the same old mold. It asks, “Why not?” We know that we were 4-20 over the past two seasons. And we know that there is a long road ahead with the new staff. And we know that we’re playing in the best conference in college football. But why not? Why not support a team that is trying to rebuild? Why not support a new staff who just brought in a historic recruiting class? Why not support your city’s team even though they have struggled?  We are finally recognizing that the program has not been a priority and that we have a team trying to work their way up from the bottom.

The day UK hired Mark Stoops was the first day I got truly excited about UK football. Stoops understands the road ahead of him, and still seems 100% committed to the program, and I think airing a commercial during the Super Bowl is proof of that. Want further proof? See Bradley Dale Peveto getting hired at LSU. See also, Top 20 recruiting class and any 2014 recruit’s Twitter page. Those guys are excited. Many of them even enrolled early because they are just ready to get to work. (Unrelated, but one of them complimented my statement necklace the other day).

I just hope that fans are as committed as Stoops and Co.The team is hyped. They believe. They’re ready for August. I’m excited, too, but I just hope the rest of the fan base feels the same. I hope that attendance stops dwindling the way it has over the past two years.Why not get behind the football team the way that we get behind Coach Cal basketball teams? What else do you have to do on a crisp Fall afternoon? We have all been to Boyd Orchard and Keeneland enough. Let’s go to football games and support a team that has a lot to prove. They’re ready to build a program, and a good program has to have fans.

And in case you need to see it again…

UK Football’s Recruiting Jubilee Should Be Met With Caution

Pump your brakes kid…the high school football Cats haven’t won a game yet.

The big news coming out of the University of Kentucky this week wasn’t the progress of John Calipari’s Kitty Cats (as it usually is in mid-February), but the shocking culmination of the incredible football recruiting class hauled in by second-year coach Mark Stoops.  Depending on what service you look at, Kentucky sits comfortably in the top 20 teams in terms of a heralded recruiting class.  Despite still being in the bottom half of the SEC, Kentucky football is now a hot item in February and definitely a player in the Sports Are Involved conversation.

However, Kentucky fans must be quick to not assume that Kentucky is definitely on their way to consistent eight-win seasons, much less division titles, appearances in SEC championships, and crashing the College Football playoff.  Unlike basketball, which can solve program sicknesses by a pinch of John Wall and a dash of Demarcus Cousins, Kentucky will not “rise” to the top without consistent top 20 recruiting classes, actually winning games in a competitive conference, and of course retaining the coaching staff which has generated this hullabaloo.

So in other words, pump your brakes kid, the wins aren’t guaranteed.

In fact, only six years ago, Kentucky signed two talented quarterbacks and seemed poised to jump to the next level after the Andre’ Woodson era.  You can check that out here.  By the time Morgan Newton was tripping over himself to open the 2011 season against Western Kentucky, it was clear that the talent level was not near high enough for Kentucky to challenge in the SEC during the Joker Phillips regime.  And even though Newton’s class (and ones around him) produced a flurry of talented high school players, it sure didn’t ensure success when they laced them up in college.  In fact, as many UK fans know, it was downright embarrassing.

The Newton era serves as a word of caution.  Sometimes, the stars these players amass in high school don’t shine as brightly in the SEC.

However, the hope is that by recruiting several consecutive classes laced with four and the occasional five star player, then surely that some of them will contribute.  And the more that contribute, the better the chance that UK can get an SEC victory or two, as I expect them to do next year (Vanderbilt and Mississippi State home games look awfully tasty).

But again, pump your brakes kid…the new football Cats are still kittens.  Let’s hope one day they grow up to be Wildcats.

The First Ever SAI Recipe Post

As the lone female contributor on SAI, I feel the need to appeal to our female audience (I’m looking at you, Kelly Jones). So, what do girls love? Pinterest. As someone who has mastered several Pinterest recipes (In fact, I just made a glorious pot of creamy tortellini soup), I wanted to share some of my favorite Super Bowl recipes with SAI nation. I’m hoping this will be the first of three-part series of posts. Part II will be my favorite recipes that involve beer (Beer is pretty sports-related, right?) and Part III will likely be a collection of March Madness recipes.

While this post may appeal to any female readers we may have, it’s really more for the males. Men, I am going to let you in on something. Women are impressed when you bring a dish to a party. I have been to potlucks before where there wasn’t enough food to go around because none of the guys brought anything, yet they gladly ate what all the girls brought. Also, I am not impressed by your store-bought Kroger cookies. But then, this other time, Robert brought homemade mashed potatoes to a Thanksgiving potluck, and it was awesome, and I’m sure at least a few girls swooned, or something like that.

I am here to help you, men. I am sharing a few of my favorite SUPER EASY and foolproof Super Bowl foods.

First, pizza. Pizza is one of the best game-watching foods, but I have grown quite tired of Papa John’s (thanks, law school and CBC). Homemade pizza is where it’s at, and I am going to share Casablanca’s signature pizza with you (Casablanca being the house of girls I lived with in undergrad).

The Valentine’s Day version of Casablanca pizza

Casablanca Pizza

Any kind of pizza dough (We usually bought Trader Joe’s pizza dough or the package mixes)

1 Green Pepper

Butter, garlic powder, Italian seasoning

Pepperoni

Several Slices of bacon

Pizza Sauce

Mozzarella cheese

Instructions: Preheat oven based on what your pizza crust recipe says. Prepare crust as instructed (some package mixes have you bake it for a few minutes before you put toppings). Cut the bacon into small pieces with scissors, and fry in a pan until it is halfway done (This is the key to the recipe because it ensures crispy bacon on your pizza). Dice the green pepper super super small. Spread sauce on your crust, and sprinkle a light layer of cheese. Add green peppers, bacon, and pepperoni and cover with another layer of cheese. Melt butter in the microwave and mix in some garlic powder and Italian seasoning and brush on the crust. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is starting to brown. 

If this is too much work, I have an even EASIER version of pizza for you.

Pizza Crescent Rolls

You just need some string cheese, a tube of crescent rolls, and pepperonis. Cut string cheese in half and cut pepperonis in half with scissors. Lay about six pepperoni halves and the half string cheeses on each laid-out crescent roll, and roll up. I brush melted butter and oregano on top. Bake at 350 for 9ish minutes. 

Moving on from pizza, Super Bowl partiers also loves crackers and dips. My dip recipes are my signatures, so I am not going to give those away, but here’s the recipe for Crack Crackers, which are easy and awesome and spicy and addicting.

Crack Crackers from Tasty Kitchen

1 box saltines

1-1 1/4 cups of canola oil

1 packet of ranch dressing mix

3 tbs crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 250ºF.

Add the crackers into a large mixing bowl. Add oil, powdered Ranch mix and red pepper flakes and stir. Let sit for 5 minutes to soak up the oil.  Lay them out on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet and drizzle the additional oil mixture over the crackers.Bake for 10 minutes. Easy as pie. 

I know that Super Bowl is mostly about appetizer foods, but I still want dessert at my Super Bowl parties. This M&M cookie pie is great for sporting events because you can use team colors with your M&Ms.

M&M Cookie Pie from The Foodette
1cup + 1 tbs  AP Flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter softened 
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 cup of M&Ms (Feel free to only use the blue and orange to support the Broncos) 

Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg and vanilla and blend. The combine flour and baking soda- mix until completely incorporated. Fold in the M&M’s. Dump into a greased 9.5″ pie pan and bake for 25-30 mins.

Last but not least, wings. Super Bowl is about delicious chicken wings. If you’re in Louisville, I suggest calling Bootleg BBQ and ordering some right now. If not, here’s a recipe for sriracha honey wings that I keep meaning to try.

Sriracha Honey Baked Chicken Wings from The Slow Roasted Italian

12 ounces Sriracha Sauce 
½ cup honey
1 lime juiced and zested
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 pounds chicken wing drumettes

Combine sriracha, honey, lime juice and zest in a medium pot over medium-high heat.  Whisk to combine and bring to a boil.  Add in the butter, and boil for 3-5 minutes.  Allow the sauce to cool.

Put chicken drumettes in a gallon size resealable container.  Pour about ½ of sauce over top of drumettes.  Reserve remaining sauce. Seal bag and massage to combine sauce and wings.   Marinate 30 minutes on counter top.  

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Remove chicken wings from bag with tongs.  Place on baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, brush with reserved sauce halfway through cook time.  Increase temperature to 425°F, generously brush with remaining sauce again and bake for 20 minutes until sauce is caramelized.

Ta-dah. Happy Super Bowl. Go Broncos.