Yearly Archives: 2011

Screen time

Perry Mason’s final analysis of the Lions’ season

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Last month I wrote a post comparing the 2010 Detroit Lions to the 2009 and 2008 squads on a statistical basis. Because the 2010 season had not come to a close, that post prorated the then-current 2010 statistics over the full season to provide an apples-to-apples comparison. Now the 2010 season is over, so a “real numbers” apples-to-apples comparison can be made. This is that comparison.

Category 2008 2009 2010
First downs 234 281 304
First downs allowed 350 332 320
First down ratio -116 -51 -16
Third down conversions 29% 49% 40%
Third down conversions allowed 46% 44% 39%
Third down ratio -17% 5% 1%
Total yards 4292 4784 5423
Total yards allowed 6470 6274 5497
Total yards ratio -2718 -1490 -74
Rushing yards 1332 1616 1613
Rushing yards allowed 2754 2025 1999
Rushing yards ratio -1422 -409 -386
Passing yards 2960 3168 3810
Passing yards allowed 3716 4249 3498
Passing yards ratio -756 -1081 312
Completion percentage 55% 54% 61%
Completion percentage against 68% 68% 64%
Completion percentage ratio -13% -14% -3%
Sacks 30 26 44
Sacks allowed 52 43 27
Sacks ratio -22 -23 17
Turnover ratio -9 -18 4

Detroit LionsOf the eight above statistical categories — which I would say are the key stats to winning football games — the 2008 Lions were better than their opponents at none. And they won zero games. The 2009 Lions were better than their opponents at exactly one. And they won two games.

But 2010 was different.

In 2010, the Lions outgunned their opponents in terms of third-down conversions, passing yards, sacks and turnovers. Further, they were just barely edged out by their opponents in terms of first downs (-1 per game), total yards (-4.6 per game), rushing yards (-24.15 per game) and completion percentage (-3% overall). And they won six* games. That is an infinite number more than they won in 2008, and 300 percent more than they won in 2009.

I’ll say it now, and I’ll stand by it next year: The 2011 Detroit Lions are going to be playing in the 2011 post-season.

*I think we all know they actually won seven games, but we will call it six for the Carebears fans who might read this.

menu plan Monday

The return of the slow cooker

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As we were driving all over the world over the last few weeks, Rockford and I worked on developing some some family goals for 2011. They’re not resolutions, necessarily, but things we’re going to be working toward over the course of the year. One of my personal goals was to do a better job making healthy, tasty dinners when Rockford is out of town. He’s actually here all of this week, but I didn’t think it would be good to use that as an excuse to eat mac & cheese for dinner again.

Monday: Roasted chicken

My dad got me a new slow cooker for Christmas (thanks Dad!), and this will be its inaugural meal. We’ll also be having green peas and mashed potatoes. Menu Plan Monday

Tuesday: McAlister’s

Rockford likes McAlister’s, but he rarely gets to go with us on kids’ night. Because that’s something we usually only indulge in when he’s out of town. But this week, because we like him, we’re going to take him with us.

Wednesday: Warm fajita salad and quesadillas

Rockford will be grilling a marinated skirt steak for this. I’ll be putting salad in bowls and warming up the corn and black beans.

Thursday: Margarita pork chops

This recipe comes from the gigantic Southern Living cookbook my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas. (Except that it was for pork tenderloin, but the grocery didn’t have any that weren’t already in a marinade. So chops it is.)

Friday: Homemade pizza

I hit upon a big “well duh” moment on the pizza front recently: I bought a bunch of precut veggies from the salad bar at our grocery store, making pizza night even easier. I’ll be doing it again this week.
Family matters

Playing favorites in Twenty-Ten

Happy New Year, pals! It’s time for the annual ButterscotchSundae Favorite Things Roundup! Last year I posted my list separately from everyone else’s. Not so this year. Here’s the list:

Favorite Show

  • Rockford and I both chose the Best Show on Television, the tragically under-appreciated “Friday Night Lights.” Its last season is currently airing on DirecTV, and I expect to cry like a tiny baby when it’s over.
  • Poppy picked “Team Umizoomi,” even though she hardly ever watches it. I don’t think she was feeling the spirit of the annual survey this year.
  • Pete went with the always-entertaining “Sesame Street.”

    Favorite Food

  • Homemade pizza topped Rockford’s list, making me feel sort of bad for only making it maybe twice all year.
  • Poppy’s pick for 2010 is macaroni and cheese.
  • Peanut butter sandwiches were Petey’s choice this year. This one was a hard one for him to narrow down, because he loves all the food.
  • The best thing I ate this year were the tacos at the Mitsitam Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian. The cafeteria there serves “the indigenous cuisines of the Americas,” and the beef tacos from the Mesoamerican section are unbelievably delicious.

    Favorite Drink

  • Rockford’s favorite drink of 2010 was Lindemans Framboise, a raspberry-flavored lambic beer.
  • Cream soda is my favorite drink of all time ever.
  • Poppy chose grape juice as her favorite this year, which leads me to believe I should start buying that instead of apple.
  • And Pete. Goofy, wonderful little Pete. His favorite beverage of 2010? Pomegranate juice.

    Favorite Song

  • Rockford and I were unable to answer this one. I’ve always had a hard time picking a favorite song.
  • Poppy just watched “Beauty and the Beast” on Thursday, so she picked “Be Our Guest” as her favorite song of 2010.
  • Pete’s favorite song of 2010 was the “VeggieTales” theme. As evidenced by the fact that he sings it 100 times a day.

    Favorite Book

  • Kate diCamillo’s “Mercy Watson” books were Poppy’s favorite this year.
  • “Dinosaur Days” topped Pete’s list. He’s very into dinosaurs these days.
  • As far as he can remember, Rockford only read one book this year. It was a collection of HP Lovecraft short stories. And so it wins by default.
  • My favorite this year was the “Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins. I wasn’t expecting it to be all that great, but I couldn’t stop reading the books.

    Favorite Game

  • Rockford’s game of the year is Lost Cities. It’s a 2-player card game that we play quite frequently.
  • Pete’s favorite is Candyland. I’m guessing because there’s so much candy on the board.
  • Poppy chose a game she got for Christmas, called Cat & Mouse. She has a travel version of the game; here’s a link to the original.
  • My favorite is Settlers of Catan, I think. Although I have been playing more than my share of Zuma Blitz on the Facebooks lately.

    Favorite Restaurant
    We all picked local restaurants as our favorites this year. Poppy and Rockford stuck with their favorite barbecue joint, Pete chose a Mexican restaurant, and I picked a local Southern comfort food establishment.