Bye Jermaine?

With the draft just a few days away and the Pacers in a must win situation rumors are swirling that forward Jermaine O’Neal is to be traded to the Toronto Raptors for a couple of players (plus one more player to make the number right) and the Raptors first round pick in the draft (#17 overall). O’Neal has been with the Pacers since 2000 after being drafted out of high school by Portland. But we all know those particulars.

O’Neal is just 29 years old, but he seems to be an old 29. He’s been playing in the league for 11 seasons and the past few have been marked by injuries and missed games.

Jermaine has been a solid player for the Pacers, but he has never really been a superstar. He played for the USA in the World Championships a few years ago and made the All Star team six times in his career to this point. And what may be the most important and endearing stat of his career, has avoided the legal troubles many of his Pacer teammates have been unable or unwilling to avoid.

But is O’Neal really worth keeping? On a team that is struggling for respect from the local community, and fair or not, Jermaine is the face of a franchise that has been bad both on and off the court. Sure he clobbered a fan during the brawl, but his uninspired play over the past few years have been much more indicative of where I see him now. He’s a big man who has been through a lot of NBA games and he just seems to be breaking down.

Frankly I’d be surprised if the Pacers can pull off the trade. I just don’t think Jermaine has it anymore and I can’t believe the Raptors can’t see that. Not to mention his ginormous salary. But hey, Larry Bird is in need of some miracle moves and a great draft day. Moving Jermaine may buy Legend a little more time, but he still has to hit a homer come Thursday night.

Restaurant Review: Fogo de Chao

The best advice I can give anyone planning to visit the Fogo de Chao is to go hungry. Very, very hungry!

This is a fairly new restaurant located in the old People’s Bank building on East Washington Street. It is a Brazilian steakhouse but don’t let that fool you into believing it is a traditional steakhouse in the Morton’s or Ruth’s Chris vein.

The room itself was decorated with dark woods with “gaucho” pictures on the walls and stained windows. As you enter the bar is to the right and the dining room to the left. In the center of the dining room is the salad bar. While it was an extensive salad bar, even the waiter told us not to fill up on salad as the meal was all you could eat.

The concept is that all of the meats, filet mignon, bottom and top sirloin, beef and pork ribs, lamb, chicken and more are roasted over a fire and the servers bring them out on skewers and you can have any and all of them and usually pick between rare and well done on the beef. They give you a little round card that is green on one side and red on the other. If you want more simply turn the card green side up. If you have enough for the time being turn the card red side up. Again, there is no limit to how much you can have.

When we were seated we ordered drinks. Linda had a Diet Coke that came in a little 12 ounce glass bottle that looked like they’d serve it in in some third world country. I had a caipirinha which was like a mix of a margarita and a mojito. It was very refreshing and tasty. In fact I had a couple! We then went to the salad bar. It had a lot of items including some fresh asparagus, carrots, several kinds of lettuce and dressings and some things I am still not sure of what they were!

My customized Caesar was excellent and I made sure not to eat too much. Linda had a fairly standard garden salad and some asparagus. She reported that the salad was good, but as she also went conservative on the amount it wasn’t really that important.

As soon as we were finished with the salads the cards went green side up and here came the meat. Also a basket of cheese bread (excellent), polenta (imagine grits fried into little cubes, also excellent) and seasoned mashed potatoes were served. As we would finish one of the items, more was brought out. The polenta was so good that I think I ate two plates myself. Linda tried it but she didn’t seem to care for it.

The first skewer to come out was the lamb. I thought it had a great flavor. Linda wasn’t crazy about it. The filet mignon (without bacon) came out next. It was really tasty and we both liked it a lot. The sirloins followed and both were good, but after the lamb and filet they were no match. Chicken and filet mignon wrapped in bacon came out next and they were scrumptious. Linda got a sausage at the start and they looked really good. Finally I got one and was kind of disappointed. They looked so plump and good, but didn’t really have much flavor. I likened them to the sausages at the breakfast buffet at the Omni. So beautiful, but so plain. Linda didn’t seem to think much of them either. My last go around was the beef ribs. The meat had been cut off of the rib so you didn’t have to contend with the bone. Too bad, but I apparently saved the best for last. It was even better then the filet mignon, and that is saying something. Linda just had a bite of it, but she seemed to like it. Other than the sausages and my pacing I had no complaints. I should have eaten slower. We never felt rushed and I wish I would have saved room for the papaya crème desert. If Linda had a complaint it was that some of the steak came out with more rare than well done, if any. So she left some really red meat on her plate.

All said the meal was great. The price is $38.50 per person. A little steep, but not totally out of line downtown. We had a great time. It was our anniversary and was very appropriate for such an occasion. One other down note is that Tony George was there stalking me again. He was doing it at the DSW in May and now at the Fogo de Chao. If he wants an autograph he should just ask!

 

 

Michigan Sunday Etc.

The Drive host, JMV, has become somewhat of an Indy Car fan over the past few months. Not sure if it is because of Robin Miller’s rambling calls, the fact he is in Indianapolis or any other reason. I heard him mention the empty seats at Michigan on Sunday. This year I’ve kind of got back into Cup racing, probably because of my wife, but there are still so many things wrong with it that it just makes me shake my head sometimes. Anyway, I think the rah-rah IRL cheerleaders get way ahead of themselves. Unification was not going to fix Indy Car racing overnight and it certainly has not. That doesn’t mean it’s on its way, but it needs marketing and promotion and not just Dani C word 24/7. Anyway, I broke off an email to JMV yesterday with some of my thoughts on Sunday’s event and some other things. Thought I’d throw it on here...

Hey JMV,

I heard you mention that you saw the empty stands at the NASCAR race at Michigan on Sunday. As much as want to see the IRL in general and the Indianapolis 500 in particular, to have the relevance it once had, I think too many of the IRL sis-boom-bah cheerleaders want to make too much of the empty seats at MIS. Keep in mind that the last few years Indy Cars ran at Michigan the attendance was about equal to the empty seats at Sunday’s Cup event. On top of that, the majority of the Michigan’s crowd will always come from the Midwest and with half the area cleaning up after the storms it stands to reason some won’t make it this time around.

I’ve been pretty critical of the IRL since its inception, but this year I am just waiting to see how the unification plays out and if it sends the IRL up or if it is going to stay status quo and truly just a niche sport. This year’s 500 had as big of a “buzz” as it had since Penske, Ganassi and Rahal came over a few years back, if not since 1995. Unfortunately no one over at 16th and Georgetown has a clue about marketing, being it races or divers. They rely on a gimmick and let the other drivers go it alone. On top of that some genius saw to it that Sam Hornish Jr. was allowed to go taxi cab racing. He had a huge following especially in the Midwest which is where a shitload of the races are run. Of course that same genius was the de facto leader of Indy Car racing in the early 90’s and somehow decided a guy from Pittsboro whose family came here to go open wheel racing, not be given a real shot at driving Indy Cars.

That’s it JMV. It sounds like you have joined the IRL side and I think it takes making fans one at a time, but the demise (yeah right) of NASCAR isn’t going to make the IRL any more relevant.

Mark

Hey JMV, I heard you mention that you saw the empty stands at the NASCAR race at Michigan on Sunday. As much as want to see the IRL in general and the Indianapolis 500 in particular, to have the relevance it once had, I think too many of the IRL sis-boom-bah cheerleaders want to make too much of the empty seats at MIS. Keep in mind that the last few years Indy Cars ran at Michigan the attendance was about equal to the empty seats at Sunday’s Cup event. On top of that, the majority of the Michigan’s crowd will always come from the Midwest and with half the area cleaning up after the storms it stands to reason some won’t make it this time around. I’ve been pretty critical of the IRL since its inception, but this year I am just waiting to see how the unification plays out and if it sends the IRL up or if it is going to stay status quo and truly just a niche sport. This year’s 500 had as big of a “buzz” as it had since Penske, Ganassi and Rahal came over a few years back, if not since 1995. Unfortunately no one over at 16th and Georgetown has a clue about marketing, being it races or divers. They rely on a gimmick and let the other drivers go it alone. On top of that some genius saw to it that Sam Hornish Jr. was allowed to go taxi cab racing. He had a huge following especially in the Midwest which is where a shitload of the races are run. Of course that same genius was the de facto leader of Indy Car racing in the early 90’s and somehow decided a guy from Pittsboro whose family came here to go open wheel racing, not be given a real shot at driving Indy Cars. That’s it JMV. It sounds like you have joined the IRL side and I think it takes making fans one at a time, but the demise (yeah right) of NASCAR isn’t going to make the IRL any more relevant. Mark