Some Holiday Bowl help

View of the bay in San Diego from the Manchester Grand Hyatt. 

Photo courtesy of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego

On Dec. 30, two of my favorite things will be joining forces: my Arizona Wildcats and the city of San Diego. My Wildcat football team will be playing in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl against Nebraska.

I still do a double take when I see the Pac 10 standings this year, and see Arizona in second place, just under Oregon. But it’s real. It happened. The Arizona football team finished second place in the Pac 10.

So, for all you folks of the Arizona or Nebraska persuasion headed to San Diego for the bowl game, I thought I’d post a few of my favorite spots in one of my favorite cities to eat, grab a drink, or hang out. I lived in San Diego for about a year and half, splitting time between Chula Vista (practically in Mexico but very close to downtown) and Vista (north San Diego County).

I included how far these places are from Qualcomm Stadium, where the Holiday Bowl will be played. Most are 10 miles away or less. If you hit any of these while you visit San Diego, you won’t go wrong.


Top of the Hyatt- Distance from Qualcomm Stadium: 8.6 miles-If you’re downtown, head to the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and go to the very tippy top of the hotel to reach this bar. You aren’t going to find cheap drinks here, but it’s well worth the romantic vibe and the breathtaking views of San Diego.  It claims to be the tallest waterfront hotel on the West Coast, some 40 stories high. So sip a cool cocktail (I recommend the chocolate martini!), take in the view, and you'll start to contemplate moving plans to San Diego.

View from the Top of the Hyatt
Photo courtesy of the 

Manchester Grand Hyatt

Extraordinary Desserts- Distance from Qualcomm: 1430 Union Street location, 7.85 miles; 2929 Fifth Ave. location, 6.3 miles- There are two locations, so you have no excuses. Go. Now. This, to me, is one of the best places to end a romantic evening, or any evening really. What better way to end your night than with an incredible dessert and a delicious latte? I miss a lot about living in San Diego, but this is near the top of my list.

The Prado- Distance from Qualcomm: 7.1 miles- This restaurant at Balboa Park (even if you don’t go to The Prado, visit Balboa Park for any museum you would want to see. It’s right where the world famous San Diego Zoo is too) is in my “special occasion” range but you won't be disappointed. I had one of the best steaks of my life there. Balboa Park at night, lit up during the holidays, is awesome too.

Basic- Distance from Qualcomm: 8 miles- This pizza doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary, but it's addicting. It is located downtown in a cool, old brick building and has a great urban vibe to it. Basic is a great place when you just want to grab some pizza and drinks with your friends in a relaxed, fun atmosphere.

Photos of Basic courtesy of Basic

The Living Room- Distance from Qualcomm: La Jolla location, 14.3 miles- If you’d like a place where you can order coffee, tea or wine in a cool coffee shop, and chase it with a walk on the beach, this is the spot for you. There are several Living Room locations, but the one I love is in swanky La Jolla, and within walking distance of a lot of upscale shopping too. You know, if you are into that sort of thing.

Pannikin Coffee and Tea- Distance from Qualcomm: Encinitas location, 25 miles- There are several locations, but the one in Encinitas off Highway 101 is my favorite. The building’s original use was as a train depot. While you are in San Diego, please, PLEASE drive Highway 101. It runs you through several beach towns, and Encinitas has a funky vibe to it that's worth checking out. It will make your life better. And while you’re doing it, stop in at Pannikin and get some good coffee and a freshly-baked pastry. It’s the right thing to do.

Little Italy- Distance from Qualcomm: 8.5 miles- There are several good spots here so it's tough to just  recommend just one, but there are several good Italian restaurants, and it’s right near downtown.

Old Town- Distance from Qualcomm: about 7 miles- Hit this area for some good Mexican food and also some cool shops. You can also check out some of earliest history of San Diego.

Las Olas- Distance from Qualcomm: Cardiff by the Sea location, 21.4 miles- a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place right across from the ocean off Highway 101 in Cardiff by the Sea (which has to win an award for one of the most pretentious sounding city names ever, but it is actually). They added a second location in Carlsbad, further north on the 101. Good Mexican food with an ocean view. It's the Southern California way of life. 

Mission- Distance from Qualcomm: Mission Blvd. location, 10.8 miles- I still have dreams about the French toast here. All the pancakes and French toast dishes come with fruit, and when it comes out to your table, the entire world seems right. There are a couple of locations around San Diego, and both are pretty busy and weekend brunch/lunch. But, the French toast is worth the wait.

Enjoy San Diego!

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How an Alabama or Texas fan survives Los Angeles

It occurred to me last week that very soon, Los Angeles will be inundated with crazy passionate Alabama and Texas football fans due to the Rose Bowl for the national title game (Oregon and Ohio State fans will be here too, but I assume they know their way around for the most part).

Anyway, we welcome you to Los Angeles. I thought I’d provide some tips that may help you enjoy your stay. I am sticking to the areas around Pasadena, assuming most Rose Bowl game visitors would be hanging around and staying in a hotel nearby. But by all means, go to the beach. No one is stopping you.

One: Avoid the 101, 405, and 110 freeways if at all possible. Unless of course, the tourist in you would like to experience Los Angeles traffic first hand. If you fall in that category, check out the 110 around 5 p.m. on a weekday. If you consider sitting parked on the freeway a good time, this is your moment. The 5 isn’t fun either, but it gives you hope of being open, because it is... sometimes. The other three freeways offer you no hope, except at 3 a.m. Oh, and I guess while we’re on the subject, I should mention we don’t really call our freeways, “Highway 101” or “I-405.” We call them “the 101” or “the 405.” It’s what we do.

Most directions to the Rose Bowl will have you take the 210 or 134, and those are the freeways you should try to stick to. The 210 will rarely give you trouble.

Give yourself time to get around town. You ask any Los Angeles resident “how long does it take to get to X place?” No matter where you are, no matter where you are going, their response will usually be, “It’s about 25 minutes with no traffic. Two hours with traffic.” Don’t ever assume traffic will be clear. EVER.

Two: Take the Metro. L.A. is jumping in on this whole “public transportation” fad, which only took a couple hundred years. If you’re staying around Pasadena, the Gold Line will be your line of choice. Want to see Chinatown, Downtown L.A., Pasadena and Little Tokyo in one day without hopping in a car and sitting in traffic? The Gold Line will be your best friend and  help you accomplish all of those goals. For $5, you get an all day pass. Some of the Metro stops have places for you to park, some do not. Visit the Metro website for more info.

The Gold Line will take you to Union Station (a cool to explore all by itself), which will allow you to walk around Downtown L.A. without having to take a car, which is as God intended Downtown L.A. to be. If you have the chance, go to http://www.downtownlawalks.com/ and download free podcast walking tours of Downtown L.A. There’s a history tour, an arts and culture tour, a shopping tour, and an international tour. It’s a great way to explore downtown on your own terms.

You can hop on another line at Union Station, the Red Line. The Red Line will take you right to Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue (just called “Hollywood and Highland” ‘round these parts) which is near just about anything you want to be near in Hollywood. You come on the right day, and you might catch a movie premiere happening along Hollywood Boulevard. Or, you can take your photo with a dude dressed as Spiderman. Or Jack Sparrow. Or Elmo, possibly.

Sigh. Hollywood is fantastic.

Three: If you are a Texas fan, avoid the USC campus. It’s not an especially great area of town anyway, (it’s getting better, but still sketchy), but you probably aren’t welcome much there. Especially if you happen to be wearing a Vince Young jersey. In fact, I wouldn’t bring up his name. I’m just trying to save lives here.

Four: We don’t care as much about football as you do. That’s fine that you care so much, but try to keep it under control, OK? No one here cares about Bear Bryant and you might as well know that up front. If you do that Hook Em’ Horn thing all over the place (one of my personal annoyances), you'll just look ridiculous. Please try to remember that.

Five: If you are driving, at least drive the speed limit. It’s not a suggestion here. That’s the slowest you can go in Los Angeles. DON’T drive in the far left lane, unless you plan on going at least 10 MPH above the speed limit, and that still might not be fast enough. I say this not knowing how Alabama drivers get around, but I do know my mom has gotten pulled over in Texas for going 10 MPH over the speed limit on an empty highway at 4 a.m. You would almost NEVER get pulled over for that on an L.A. freeway.

Six:  If you’re making a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, go during the week. The holidays get crazy busy around there, because it’s decorated in a way that will pretty much blow your mind. You’ll risk waiting an hour or more in line for just about every ride when you go on the weekend. Listen and repeat after me: “I will not go to Disneyland on a Saturday. I will not go to Disneyland on a Saturday.”

Seven: I wish I could tell you about each and every one of the awesome restaurants here, but that would take me weeks to put together. Just know that whatever kind of food you want, whatever you want to try, trust me, it’s here. I have a Sri Lankan restaurant next to my office, for crying out loud. Here is a guide to restaurants along the Gold Line extension, which just opened in the last couple of months. If you end up downtown, Phillipe's is a L.A. institution and is a must for French dip sandwiches (at a good price too).
They claim to have invented the French Dip sandwich, actually.

                                          Inside Phillipes

(Check out  http://eatingla.blogspot.com/  as a good place to start, where you can find more info on where to eat based on geographic area or type of food)


Eight: As for nightlife, uh, you’re probably asking the wrong girl. Sunset Boulevard is a good place to hop around if you want to stick in Hollywood and you want to hear some good music. Pasadena is a cleaner, classier area (sorry Hollywood. I love you, but it’s true). Hollywood, like downtown, is really getting a lot cleaner. But you do still need to be careful at certain parts of it. I like The Standard, for a cool rooftop view of downtown. Howl at the Moon is a dueling piano bar at Universal CityWalk that is always a good time.

Nine: If you want to attempt the Rose Parade (and you should, it’s fantastic), I suggest getting seats in the grandstands. You can show up right before the parade starts and your seats are waiting for you. You can spend the night on the streets or show up super early (we’re talking 5 a.m.-ish) and try your luck getting spots on the curb. As someone who has only done the latter, I’d say go for the grandstands. And make sure you use a bathroom before the parade. The portable bathrooms are scarce, and you just don’t know when you’ll see one. Keep that in mind.

Ten: Eat at In-N-Out. Look, I’ve been to Sonic and Whataburger. Just go. Get it Animal Style (if you order that you’ll sound like a local) and it comes with grilled onions. You won’t regret it.

I hope this helps.

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2009 and the Fall From Grace

You know how lots of Chinese restaurants have place mats with the Chinese Zodiac, where each year corresponds with a certain animal?

I happen to be born in the Year of the Pig, but we’re not here to talk about me. If there was a Sports Chinese Zodiac, the year of 2009 would be The Year of the Fall From Grace.

The image of TYOTFFG would not be an animal…well, it does involve a Tiger, but not an animal.

Tiger Woods is certainly not alone in having a rough 2009. The placemat would also have to have images of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. We should probably put Rick Pitino on there too. It would also show the late Steve McNair, unfortunately.

It’s not just that the year has taken its toll on some professional athletes or coaches; these men are legendary in their respective sports.

If we were living 50 years from now, these are still men we would talk about in sports history as some of the best that have played or coached the game (McNair is arguable, but he’s certainly legendary in Tennessee and in his home state of Mississippi).

Anyone who ever coaches men’s basketball at University of Louisville will be measured in comparison to Pitino. People around the game of baseball say Rodriguez could eventually go down as the best player to put on a baseball uniform. Experts will tell you there are few in history that have the ability to hit a baseball like Ramirez can. It’s not a matter of if Woods will pass the great Jack Nicklus in major tournament titles, but when.

Sports fans want to believe these athletes can be great at their sport and great people that make the right choices at all time. Well, that’s not possible for any of us, so we shouldn't expect these guys to either.

After covering Major League Baseball for a year, I got a tiny, tiny glimpse into the life of a pro athlete. I realized that pro athletes behave they way they do because basically, these guys haven’t been told no since they were in elementary school. Most of these guys have known from an early age they were gifted athletically. They were most likely always in the cool crowd. They have few limits financially. Girls have probably been throwing themselves at these guys for most of their lives. It leads you to live in a warped reality.

It’s a reality that can cause you to think you are untouchable. As we have seen from the TYOTFFG, no one is untouchable. Woods’ nightmare seems to grow exponentially by the day. Pitino has to face recruits’ parents and try to explain away his poor decisions. A-Rod and Ramirez’s careers will always have a cloud over them: were they that good, or were they only good because they had help? McNair’s choices, or at least one very bad choice, left him dead.

Luckily for these guys (except for McNair, who tragically won’t get a second chance) winning seems to heal all wounds for the sports fans. A-Rod is a prime example of that. In a year where he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs in 2003 (by having his cousin shoot him in the butt to do so, which if that’s true, is another awful choice altogether). A strong showing in the playoffs en route to a World Series title, and that story seems to drifted away.

Hopefully, these guys learn from their mistakes. And maybe, we’ll look back on 2010 as the Year of Redemption.

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Getting started...

Why I didn’t think of this sooner, I’ll never know.

Basically, I like two things (outside of my boyfriend, my family and the Arizona Wildcats): sports and food.

I read/write/watch/listen to an absurd amount about both. I watch sports and cooking shows on TV and that’s about it. I download sports podcasts and food show podcasts. And, uh, I won’t go too into depth about how much food I actually consume on a daily basis. No need to scare people off right at the start.

So, here I am, starting a blog where food and sports will co-exist quite happily. It’s as the world should be, really. One of my favorite quotes was said by a football player in an interview with Sports Illustrated some years ago: “Food is my favorite food.” Truer words were never spoken.

I plan on covering the two from any and every angle possible. Nutrition, fitness (I do NOT claim to be an expert in either, as my thighs will attest), cooking, Q & As with people in the know, and rating stadium food (also known as CONCESSIONS! Are you rolling with me here?)

Sports and food always say a lot about a culture. I’m fascinated by different cultures and how they affect our decisions and our lifestyles. I think sports and food can tell you more about a culture over just about anything else.

I’m definitely not vegetarian, definitely not vegan, and definitely not a health nut. I simply love In-N-Out too much. But I do try to eat healthy as much as possible; I just fail miserably from time to time. If there weren’t such a thing as chocolate chip cookies, maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

I’m looking forward to all that I’m going to learn and all that I can share with anyone who stumbles upon this blog.

Oh and P.S. Be patient with my photography skills. I’m hoping they will become photography SKILLZ, but I have a long way to go.

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About Me

My passion for sports writing began at the University of Arizona. I covered sports there, including the men's basketball team, for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. I thought for sure my destiny was sports writing at some big newspaper or some fancy magazine. It wasn't.

After graduation I spent 2006 covering Major League Baseball as an intern with MLB.com. So yes, I was paid to watch the Padres and/or the Dodgers for an entire season. I loved every second of it. Except for the time Mike Cameron accidentally threw a baseball at my head.

After the internship ended, I worked a couple of different newspaper jobs covering high school sports. Good times, good people, not a good schedule. 

But somewhere in the midst of working nights and being home in the day, I started watching the Food Network. I found that I enjoyed being in the kitchen.  I also became fascinated in researching other cultures and their food traditions.  Reading the L.A. Times food section became as much a part of my life as the sports section, which I didn't think was possible.

So in late 2009, I finally got serious about something I'd wanted to do for over a year and started my own blog. 

My intent is to write about two topics I enjoy immensely and to give a side of sports that isn't just game stories and statistics.

I hope you enjoy it.

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