Thursday, July 21, 2011

Top 6 Reasons How and Why Wes McElroy Annoys Me

 
Wes McElroy is a sports talk radio host on WRNL in Richmond, VA.  He can be heard on AM 910 Monday through Friday from 3pm - 6pm.  He annoys me for many reason and it's too bad he owns the best time slot for sports radio.  So, with that, I give you Ruben's "Top 6 Reasons How and Why Wes McElroy Annoys Me."

6. His outro music at the end of his show is completely aggravating, old and tired.  It is played just prior to 6pm and ends every show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HagzTRmUBIE

5.  I have 'tweeted' at Wes several time. He has never responded to any of them.

4. I have emailed Wes twice. One time he responded after 10 days, the other time not at all.

3. Wes loves baseball, it's his favorite sport, which in itself does not bother me. What does bother me is his incessent coverage the sport.  Baseball is boring and many sports fans just don't care about it any more.  We get plenty of Flying Squirrels coverage from Wes because of this.

2. Wes is from Philadelphia, PA and relocated here to take his current job.  Because he grew up in Philadelphia he talks about the Phillies constantly.  This is Richmond and most sports fans don't care about a team that plays 250 miles up 95N.  Richmonders identify with Richmond teams and Washington DC teams, not Philadelphia teams (Eagles DUH).

And the number 1 reason how and why Wes McElroy annoys me:

In the lone email he replied to "My listeners don't care about minor league football. Only the NFL and college football."

You are wrong Wes McElroy.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Would You Pay $17 to Eat a Sandwich From Panera?


A week ago my family and I wandered into the Panera Bread in Chester, VA at the corner of Jeff Davis and Route 10.  Upon entering the store, an enormous sign advertising a brand new lobster sandwich jumped out at me. I am a life long lover of anything lobster, but my wife was picking up the tab and I didn't want her to pay the $16.99 asking price to feed my inner lobster demons. 

All week I thought about that lobster sandwich.  I didn't matter if I was at home watching TV or answering emails at work.  It takes a lot of balls to list a $17 sandwich on your menu.  I had to try it.

A few months back the local Quiznos started selling an $8 lobster sub at select locations.  This also interested me, and after driving to three different locations I finally found a Quiznos that was not sold out of the lobster sandwich (VCU bookstore on Broad st).  I learned a very important lesson that day at VCU, you get what you pay for.  The lobster sub was horrible.  It was a massive glob of mayonaise with tiny particles of lobster meat mixed in.

So today I went back to the very same Panera I visited last week and placed my order.  What I was served was pleasantly surprising.  The sandwich consisted of 16 ounces of large chunk lobster meat served on a bed of lettuce, a light mayonaise sauce on a 'freshly baked' ciabatta bread roll.  When you look at the sandwich the very first thing you notice is the sheer size of the lobster chunks, they were massive.  In addition to the large chunks of lobster, what sets this sandwich apart from the Quiznos failed sandwich attempt was the mayo.  The Quiznos sandwich used mayo as its base, while Panera used lobster as its base.  Panera used a watery mayo, but it was applied very sparingly. In fact, the mayo seemed to be more of a sauce than a binder.  This made the lobster the main attraction instead of the cheap mayo.  As I picked at the sandwich I noticed an entire piece of lobster claw on my bread.  If I could have changed anything it would have been the bread.  I am not a big ciabatta fan but went with it since it was standard on the sandwich.  French or regular Italian would have tasted better in my opinion.  Also there wasn't much seasoning on the meat, so I sprinkled on some salt.

After I finished the sandwich I approached the manager and inquired about how the lobster sandwich is cooked and assembled.  The manager was a friendly guy and was completely honest about the meal.  He stated the meat is comprised completely of lobsters caught off the coast of Nova Scotia, and in fact the lobster was not cooked at the individual Panera location.  The meat is delivered to the store precooked and chopped in giant bags, then once an order is placed an employee assembles the sandwich.

So, would you pay $17 for a sandwich from Panera? I did and it was pretty good. 

The new Panera lobster sandwich gets a 4 out of 5.


Saturday, July 16, 2011

Former Raiders Still Playing and Miss United States

This week has been a busy one for the staff and players of the 2011 Richmond Raiders.

Raider Louis Corum is slated to play at LB for the Virginia Destroyers as they begin their inauguaral season next month in Virginia Beach.  It appears that Corum will have a shot at making the final roster.

Raider Tunde Ogun unfortunately did not make the roster for the Destroyers due to significant competition at the HB position.  However, Tunde is playing for the Richmond based semi-pro team, the Virginia Hornets.  The Hornets played their season opener tonight in NC and pulled out a 47-0 win.  Tunde had six carries for 108 yards and one touchdown.

Raider Joshua Smith attended try outs this week in Tampa, FL for the AFL Tampa Bay Storm.  While the AFL season is drawing to a close, Kicker Greg Gunderson has struggled all season and the team is looking to replace him.  Josh was one of three kickers that were brought in to try out, with SIFL Special Teams MVP and former Trenton Steel kicker, Craig Camay making the trip to Tampa as well.  We wish Josh all the luck in the world in making this AFL dreams become reality.

Lady Raider Dance Team Coordinator, Laura Eilers was chosen to represent Virginia in the Ms. United States Pageant earlier this year.  On Thursday July 14th Laura was crowned 2011 Ms. United States in Las Vegas.  Laura will spend the next 12 months representing the Richmond Raiders and Virginia across the country and promoting her platform of cell phone free driving.

Lastly on July 9th, as part of WRNL's 2011 Walk on Week, myself, Gary Criswell and Law Lewis shared an hour of live radio discussing the current state of indoor football in Richmond.  Guests included Joshua Smith, Dan Ryan and Tommy Benizio.  The podcast is now available online at the below link.

http://tinyurl.com/6fswqs2

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Michael Woodhouse Takes Home Top DL Honor

Today the SIFL announced the All-League Team for 2011 and two members of the Richmond Raiders were awarded positions.  DL Michael Woodhouse, who led the entire league in sacks, was the top DL player named.  Additionally, FB Brandon Isaiah was named to the second team.  While no actuall All-Pro game will be played (which is common for minor leauge sports) the mere fact of being named to the team in itself is an honor.  Congratulations to both Michael and Brandon.

Entire List

FIRST TEAM
QB – Adam DiMichele, Erie
RB – Carlos Alsup, Houston
OL – DeMarqus Daughtry, Houston
OL – Dion Small, Columbus
OL – Raymond James, Rio Grande Valley
WR – Kevin Concepcion, Erie
WR – Dan Huff, Trenton
WR – Timone Marshall, Houston
K – Craig Camay, Trenton
K -  Trey Crum, Columbus (tie)

DL – Michael Woodhouse, Richmond
DL – John Paul Jones, Louisiana
DL – Brian Ellis, Rio Grande Valley
LB – DeAndrea Fillmore, Corpus Christi
LB – Justin Rivers, Columbus
DB – Lavance Richmond, Albany
DB – Damian Daniels, Columbus
DB – Damien Huren, Louisiana
KR – Anthony Merritt, Columbus

SECOND TEAM
QB – E.J Nemeth, Trenton
QB -- Robert Kent, Houston (tie)
RB – Brandon Isaiah, Richmond
WR – Antwone Savage, Albany
WR – Oderick Turner, Trenton
WR – Marcus Wilridge, Louisiana
WR – Gerald Gales, Columbus (tie)
OL – Marco McGee, Rio Grande Valley
OL-  Aaron Wheeler, Albany
OL-   Jeff Ridgle, Louisiana
K-  Blake Bercegay, Louisiana

DL – Larry Brown, Houston
DL – Tito Hannah, Albany
DL – Chris Bradwell, Columbus
LB – KaMichael Hall, Houston
LB --  Darian Payne, Alabama
DB— Demetrie McCray, Albany
DB—Eric Wicks, Erie
DB—Darvin Peterson, Houston
KR – Ramonce Taylor, Rio Grande Valley

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Albany Panters Take Home the SIFL Title

Congratulations to the Albany Panthers for winning the first championship title in team history.  The Panthers beat the Louisiana Swashbucklers last night at home, in a game that also broke team attendance records.  The below article details the game and the controversial officiating.

http://www.albanyherald.com/sports/headlines/Panthers_win_SIFL_title_despite_having_points_taken_off_scoreboard_124930599.html