Rise of the Little Guys

I wouldn’t consider myself a sports fanatic; however, I enjoy watching football from time to time–namely, the Missouri Tigers. Mizzou is not the greatest team in college football, especially now that they don’t have a really good quarterback, and even more so once they move to the SEC. Like any sports fan, I have my dreams of seeing my team go to the BCS championship. More likely than not, however, the end of the season greets me with disappointment and I tuck away my Mizzou car flags behind a stack of tools in my garage until next year.

But, before I count the whole year as a loss, I take a glance at how we’re doing in basketball. Usually, how this goes is after we have an unfulfilling football season I pull up ESPN to see how college basketball is going. Usually, I see a God-awful win/loss column, and turn off the TV and wait to see how next year’s football is going to go. I don’t enjoy watching basketball, especially if my team is losing.

When I looked up Mizzou basketball this year, what I saw was quite unusual: Missouri was 7-0 and ranked #10. Missouri was ranked! After an irksome 8-5 football season, where Mizzou did little more than fall short, it looked like basketball was going to be this institution’s redemption.

Missouri wasn’t expected to amount to anything in basketball this year because of their four-guard structure. Also, very few of the players were very tall, by basketball standards. The reason they were so successful wasn’t because they had a playmaker carrying them throughout the season, like you see in so many teams in college basketball, but because they worked together as a team. Frank Haith came into this organization and took the same players that had a 23-11 season last year, and transformed them into one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA. In this team, the ball didn’t go to a playmaker; it went to the open man. The results where staggering. Missouri ended the season 30-4 overall, losing only to conference rivals. Their offense averaged 6^th overall, with 80.3 points per game. They lost the Big 12 regular season championship (the only championship that doesn’t matter) to Kansas, but dominated their opponents during the Big 12’s post-season championship.

By the end of the season I was waging bets with friends. I just knew they were making it to the final four–if not the National Championship. After all, a team would have to score 80 points against Missouri in order to beat them. Unfortunately, a team did just that–86 points to be exact­–in the first round of March Madness. The score was 84 to 86. The team was Norfolk State–some no name 15th seed. And again, I have to tuck away my car flags and wait until next year.

Ultimately, though, this year has taught me so much about the power of teamwork. To take a team that was supposed to suck, changing nothing about the players but how they interact as a whole, Frank Haith created, without a doubt, the most cooperative team in this year’s basketball. He thereby created the most dangerous little-man offense in the NCAA. Even though it would have been nice to see my team in the National Championship, leaving the Big 12 as conference champions is enough for me.

A Piece of Italy

Tucked away on the east side of South Avenue, in downtown Springfield, Bruno's is a traditional-style Italian restaurant. Upon first walking in, the scenery almost looks like a piece of Italy–or, what I would expect Italy to look like, having never been there. The ceiling is raised, coated with Renaissance-style paintings, and is draped with vines–but alas, those vines are all plastic (real vines would have probably been too hard to maintain and with them hanging overhead, would have dropped dead leaves into customers’ food). The counters and tables are all varnished. The aroma of the building hits me as I walk through the door: a sweet herbal scent.

As soon as I enter a waitress greets me, asks how many people are with me and if I would like a window table, or if I would like a table in the middle of the room.

“A window table is fine,” I say. I give the place a quick onceover. The tables are all set with wine glasses and silverware wrapped in cloth napkins. The walls are all painted dark green, yellow and red. There also appears to be a wine bar upstairs, but I didn’t take the time to visit it.

“You have a choice between two tables,” she says, gesturing toward the only two window tables in the restaurant, both vacant at this moment.

I pick one and sit down. When my friend arrives we examine the silverware, which is real silver, and read over the menu. To give the place a legitimate Italian feel, all the items on the menu are presented in Italian. For all of us illiterate in the Italian language, the English translation is also on the menu, under the Italian print.

For the dinner menu, the main course starts at $11.90, and only goes up from there. The most expensive thing I could find was the $24.90 Filetto di Manzo ai Funghi Porcini (beef tenderloin). The most expensive pasta dish, at $17.50, was the Shrimp Linguine. The appetizers cost from $3.90 (garlic bread) to $10.90 (the imported Parma ham). The deserts, which vary day to day, are all $6.00. Because the deserts are so varied, Bruno’s doesn’t have a written menu for them. Instead, the server announces that day’s desert menu to you at your inquiry (ours is kind enough to offer to write the desert menu down on the back of a to-go lunch menu, which we accept).

I have a glass of lemonade, which is $1.90, the same price as all other drinks. Feeling conservative, I decide to order the Spaghetti al Pomodoro (spaghetti with tomato sauce). I also choose an appetizer on the cheap side, and order the Zuppa del Giorno (soup of the day), which is $4.95. Today’s soup is minestrone (mi-nə-ˈstrō-nē).

I sense a familiar smell when the waitress brings the minestrone to my table; its aroma reminds me of alphabet soup. When I inform the waitress of my finding, she jokes that I’d figured out their secret. “We try to pick out all the letters before we bring it out to the table,” she says. “Maybe if you look hard enough you’ll find an ‘O’ in there somewhere.”

Though its smell resembles alphabet soup, the taste is hardly close. It’s a thick brown broth, filled with beans and a bit of herbs floating in the top of it. I also notice the lemonade is not Minute Maid, which is a good thing. I like a little originality in my food if I pay the big bucks for it (and yes, I consider a $1.90 lemonade high dollar).

I barely have enough time to finish my soup before the main course arrives. I’m sure the turnaround for orders drags a bit more during really busy occasions, such as a weekend, but I can always appreciate a quick presentation of my food. The spaghetti is good; it doesn’t have that mass-processed look that you get in other restaurants. It actually appears to have had real sweat put into it–although, you don’t taste the sweat.

When it comes time for desert, I decide to have the chocolate moose pie. They don’t use an Italian name for the deserts, because they are not on a fixed menu and the employees are American and don’t speak Italian for real. Nonetheless, the cake is very delicious and extremely filling.

With the drink, appetizer, main course and desert, my meal at Bruno’s rang up a grand total of $26.75. This is a lot for one person, but if you want to take someone on a fancy dinner to impress him/her, this is a good spot for it. I do want to mention that, though our waitress was very careful to ensure all our needs were met through most of the dinner, there was a period of time toward the middle where she could not be found. When a group of people showed up at the door, she appeared briefly to seat them, then disappeared again for a few minutes. Other than that, she was very considerate and helpful.

If you want to try their food but don’t want to shell out a lot of money go during lunchtime, when their food costs about half as much as their dinner menu. Their lunch appetizers range from $3.70 for the garlic bread, to $6.75 for the spinach and artichoke dip. Their lunch pastas range from $8.20 to $9.45 and the most expensive item on the lunch menu is their chicken tenders, which is $9.55. I’ll also note that their lunch menu is written in English, and not Italian. They must not be trying to impress anyone during the daytime.

All jokes aside, this is a very eloquent restaurant that seems to bring a little piece of Italy to downtown Springfield. I will keep this place in mind anytime I want to go somewhere fancy, but I don’t see myself eating here often because of the prices. Bruno's is located three blocks south of the square, on South Avenue, close to Pershing Street. Their hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 10 pm, and Friday through Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm.

Dinner or a Movie?

Dinner and a movie–the common cliché. It’s what a lot of people think of when the word “date” is mentioned. But is that necessarily the way to go? We’ve all heard of the expression, “Tried and true,” but does that really apply to dating? I’m no Dr. Phil, and I’m not trying to lay down the law in dating, but I have my own philosophies and practices I’d like to share:

First, I refrain from taking someone to a movie as a date. I suggest you do the same, too–especially on the first date. The reason is obvious: it’s dark, quiet and, if you don’t know the other person, awkward. If you’re not sure what kind of activities would make a good date, or you are broke, you can’t go wrong with just dinner; everyone likes to eat, and a quiet scenery will give a couple a chance to interact and get to know one another. This is vital for a first date, because you are basically two strangers and need time and communication to breech that comfort zone. 

Keep it simple. The purpose of a date is to get to know one another.

I always try to keep the first date simple. I avoid doing things like hiking or golfing because I’m not sure the other person likes doing those things. Going to a theme park would be extremely difficult to follow on the second date and getting drunk at a bar would be just a horrible idea to establish a first impression. A dinner at a quiet restaurant is the best way to go.

It's not what you're doing on a date, but who you're doing it with.

In reality, the best dates we remember are those we had with people that were fun and engaging–not the dates that were expensive and flamboyant. I like to just be myself. If the other person doesn’t like me in my own colors, the first date is the best time to figure that out.

I also don’t usually buy the girl dinner on the first date. I know that goes against tradition, but at this point I don’t know for sure if there is going to even be a second date. Why would I waste money like that on someone I will never see again? I’m not trying to encourage stuck-up behavior, but that’s just my point of view. I do, however, treat the girl to the second or third dinner, being more confident that I am not wasting my money, or time.

Beer or Wine?

For most of my adult life I have considered myself a beer drinking man–namely, Bud Light (as you may have guessed from my recent critique of the new Bud Light Platinum). Recently, however, I have found myself growing a liking to wine. To say that beer and wine have a lot in common would be like saying Webster Dictionary and Urban Dictionary are one and the same. Let’s make a quick comparison of the two beverages:

Alcohol Content: On average, beer has an alcohol content of 4-6% by volume; whereas, wine usually ranges from 10.7-12.4%. The light beers are usually the beverages around 4% alcohol and the darker beers come in at 5-6%. In wine, it’s a little bit more complex. White wine, as a general rule, has a lower alcohol content than red wine. The alcohol content is also dependent on how dry the wine is (dry means bitter). I personally drink wine for the taste and its contribution to a meal. Thus, I prefer the sweeter, but soberer wines to the drier, difficult to ingest wines. There is one more twist to the alcohol content of wine: ice wine. It is frozen halfway through distilment, not only causing a sweeter than normal taste, but also elevating the alcohol content, which ranks at about 12.4%. If you really want to get crazy, there’s a special red wine, known as Port Wine. At 20%, its alcohol content is comparable to that of liquor.

Flavor: For those of you who have never had beer, you’re not really missing out on a whole lot when it comes to flavor. It’s an acquired taste; and how well it goes down depends on its overall intensity. Darker beers tend to pack more of a punch, and have a bitterer aftertaste. Beer is never really sweet; it goes from weak flavor (light beer) to strong flavor (dark beer). German beers are closest to what would be considered a sweet beer (German beer is pretty awesome). Wine, on the other hand, can be either very sweet and delicious, or extremely dry and often, in my opinion, foul tasting. Chardonnay is a dry, red wine. If you think beer is an acquired taste, have a bottle of cheap chardonnay. White wine, as a general rule, is sweeter than red wine. There are exceptions to this rule, just as there were exceptions to the alcohol content rule. Missouri red wine, for example, is usually very sweet because of the concord grapes used to make it.

Social Junctions: Wine is most famous for its place in upper-class society and romantic dinners. Beer, on the other hand, is most infamous for binge-drinking youth and out of control parties. Though beer’s image may be tainted, there is nothing wrong with drinking a couple brewskies during a football game–wine just wouldn’t feel right.

Health Hazards: Alcohol is a poison, which cannot be metabolized by the body. In order for your body to get rid of it, the liver breaks it down. Not only can it damage and destroy the liver if you excessively drink alcohol, but it can also damage other cells in the body–including brain cells. This is one of the reasons (among several) why binge drinking is strongly discouraged.

Health Benefits: Recent studies suggest drinking one to two 12oz glasses a day of either wine or beer–alcohol namely–can lower your risk of heart disease. Alcohol (in moderation) increases the amount of HDL (good cholesterol) in your blood stream, and also seems to benefit the lining of blood vessels, making them less likely to form clots. No clots means no stroke. I recall the last time I had my cholesterol checked my HDL was low. Little did I know I wasn’t drinking enough beer/wine.