Sunday, April 25, 2010

“Commit to roster choices - Carroll County Online” plus 3 more

“Commit to roster choices - Carroll County Online” plus 3 more

Commit to roster choices - Carroll County Online

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 10:37 AM PDT

He did it again. We spent Friday afternoon wondering aloud why the Ravens would give up their coveted first round draft pick when there were several key players still available.

I was watching the NFL Network (yeah, I'm one of those) after the draft to catch up on the day's events and the analysts were reviewing each team's performance in the draft. When it came to the Ravens, Charley Casserley made a comment like, "The Ravens, they haven't had a good draft in what … 12 months?"

So it goes for Ozzie Newsome, clearly one of the best in the game since taking over as general manager of the Ravens.

Newsome is known for his philosophy of selecting the best available player, regardless of their team's positional needs. If the team needs a defensive back and their next highest rated player is another linebacker, then the linebacker becomes a Raven. It's hard to argue his philosophy when you consider guys like Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Joe Flacco, and Ray Rice are all products of that philosophy.

That philosophy plays well in the world of professional football and probably has some merit in the world of fantasy sports, but how does it translate to your player selection in your recreational sports draft or when selecting the players to complete your roster on your travel basketball team?

One of the benefits of coaching recreational sports is that the drafts are often done for you and you know nothing about your players until you show up at the coaches meeting and they hand you a list of players to call. That's when your true coaching skills come in to play and not how well you can recruit or evaluate players.

It's also the most fun as a coach because there is no pressure on your ability to win games — just on making each player better than when you first get them. You just take the players that were assigned to you and make the most of it.

When holding travel tryouts, after evaluating your team's positional needs, do you select the player that may be a good fit or do you select the best available player? At the younger age group, take the best overall player and even the best overall athlete over positional needs because you have the opportunity to teach them the fundamentals and tactics of the game.

As the players get older and the demands on the team are greater, it may make more sense to select the player that fits the open hole in your roster. With that being said, if you really need a point guard but a 6-foot, 5-inch center with a sweet turnaround jumper shows up at tryouts, are you really going to pass her up?

There is no right or wrong philosophy for player selection whether it's at the professional or recreation level. Newsome has his believers because of his track record, but there are many others with similar success who select by position.

Just be comfortable in why you made the selection you made because, as American novelist Tom Robbins says, "Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach."

Reach Times rec sports writer Robert "Bird" Brown at 410-857-8552 or Robert.brown@carrollcountytimes.com.

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Benefits Of A Private Alcohol Treatment Facility - Transworld News

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 02:41 PM PDT

Benefits Of A Private Alcohol Treatment Facility

Malibu, CA 4/25/2010 09:48 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

Cliffside Malibu

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Benefits Of A Private Alcohol Treatment Facility

The Efficiency Of California Alcohol Treatment

Keys To Highly Successful Inpatient Alcohol Treatment

[Malibu, CA] - Cliffside Malibu, a prestigious and private alcohol treatment facility on the Malibu coast, has long been a leading light in the California treatment community. Now, the center is pleased to announce its renewed commitment to providing its clients with superior sober living services in the wake of their primary alcohol treatment program.

The healing process doesn't end on the last day of primary rehab. On the contrary, patients need continuing support in order to develop the life skills and self-esteem on which all lasting recovery must be built. The best private alcohol treatment facility, then, is one which provides the best aftercare services to their clients. Of these services, none is more important than a supportive sober living program.

Those principles, in turn, are the bedrock of Cliffside Malibu's treatment philosophy.

Cliffside Malibu is respected both for the quality of its caregivers and the elegance of its amenities. Since its founding, the private alcohol treatment facility has been the choice of upscale clients seeking expert treatment in a discreet luxury environment. As the private alcohol treatment facility prepares to launch its new initiative, those clients can expect to be even better served on the road to recovery.

"We pride ourselves on providing our clients with the best alcohol treatment experience possible," said a representative from Cliffside Malibu's clinical team. "Our luxurious sober living facility is an essential part of that experience, especially insofar as it helps residents prepare for the challenges of day-to-day living in a substance-free world."

Unfortunately, that sort of long-term thinking is precisely what distinguishes Cliffside from its competitors

Many residential alcohol treatment centers offer a competent primary program to their clients. But only the most elite private alcohol treatment facility will invest sufficient resources in their sober living services. In fact, many of the most well-known exclusive alcohol treatment centers in Los Angeles provide marginal or even inferior sober living options for their residents. Unsurprisingly, those facilities routinely fall short of the promises they make in their advertising brochures.

For recovery patients and their families, say Cliffside administrators, that sort of failure is unacceptable.

"Primary alcohol treatment is the beginning of the healing process, not the end," said another Cliffside clinician. "At Cliffside Malibu, we understand that our clients trust us to help them get better forever, and we do everything in our power to do exactly that. Our commitment to sober living is a product of that underlying philosophy."

It's relatively easy to find a private alcohol treatment facility in Los Angeles. It's much harder, though, to find a private alcohol treatment facility that genuinely cares about the long-term health of its clients. The caregivers at Cliffside Malibu are remarkable both for their professional expertise and for their personal passion. As Cliffside's successful graduates have learned firsthand, that combination can make all the difference in the world.

*

Cliffside Malibu offers luxury residential alcohol treatment centers in Malibu, California. For further details about Cliffside's treatment methods, amenities, or other general information about exclusive alcohol treatment at Cliffside Malibu, please call 1-800-501-1988 or visit our Web site at www.cliffsidemalibu.com.

This press release may be used freely, provided that the resource box is included and the links are active. A courtesy copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would be greatly appreciated.

admissions@cliffsidemalibu.com
www.cliffsidemalibu.com/

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Winemaker Jon Grant, a vegetarian, samples Pinot Noir ... - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 02:55 PM PDT

It's the classic pairing mantra: red with beef, white with chicken or fish. But what if the winemaker is a vegetarian?

As winemaker Thomas Houseman of Anne Amie Vineyards in Carlton, Ore., points out, winemaking is "a pretty carnocentric club." But he says you don't have to be a meat-eater to make or enjoy good wine.

"Anything that you can pair with meat, if you think about it stylistically, it's easy enough to pair with either vegetables or meat alternatives," says Houseman, a former cook and a vegetarian since high school.

Winemaker Jon Grant stopped eating red meat at age 12 and went vegan 15 years ago. None of which stops him from turning out reds - traditionally paired with hearty meats - as the owner of St. Helena-based Grant Family Wines and as assistant winemaker at Turley Wine Cellars.

"Pinot Noir and mushrooms are a great go-to," he says. "Wild mushroom risotto with an understated California Pinot Noir can be quite lovely."

Winemakers differ on how big a role being vegetarian or vegan plays in the cellar. For Grant, being vegan is part of a bigger philosophical approach.

"The interesting thing about this, at least for me, is it's almost like a lifestyle thing as well. I make my wines naturally. I don't inoculate, I don't acidulate and filter and fine (all techniques to manipulate wines). That is an example of the way I go about my life in general, that is minimal impact - just be conscious of where I am and just let things happen more organically."

Peter Wellington of Wellington Vineyards in Glen Ellen, vegetarian for more than 40 years, sees pros and cons to his diet.

"One advantage, I think, is actually probably a more sensitive palate to more subtle flavors," he says. "Disadvantages are, it limits making food and wine pairing suggestions. It makes it tougher to make those to the general public."

Houseman, on the other hand, thinks your palate is affected by the style of food you eat - a lot of spices, for instance - but doesn't think eating or not eating meat makes much of a difference.

Something all the vintners agree on: Winemaker dinners require careful navigation.

"Pinot Noir is always matched up with either pork or duck," Houseman says. "There are very few dinners that I go to that don't have pork or duck in them."

These dinners are usually long and elaborate; chefs tend to pull out all the tricks in their bag - lots of foie gras and "meat two ways."

The trick, vegetarian winemakers say, is to ask in advance for a meatless menu and make sure no one at the table feels the slightest bit uncomfortable. Houseman tries to eat "with as little fanfare as possible so that I don't call attention to myself. Really, I want the wines to show and I want people to have a great time. I don't want them to go, 'What are you having?' "

Grant feels the same way, although if the interest is friendly he doesn't mind talking about his choices.

"The last winemaker dinner I did was in Aspen. The people that were sitting immediately around me were actually jealous of the dishes I was getting" - roasted tomato soup, grilled vegetables and a fresh berry dessert.

Twenty years ago, Houseman remembers having to pack his own food for road trips. But these days, more and better vegetarian options abound.

"I love food," says Grant. "I've lost count of how many phenomenal meals I've had at the French Laundry." The Yountville restaurant, possessor of three Michelin stars, will make vegetarian or vegan tasting menus given sufficient advance notice - ideally when the reservation is made.

At Gather in Berkeley, a restaurant that serves vegan entrees as well as meat dishes, chef Sean Baker sees wine-vegetable pairing as challenging, but not impossible.

"I feel like we're pretty much always able to make a pairing. You can make wines work," he says. "Does it feel forced sometimes? It could, but there's always something out there."

Vegetarian food doesn't have to mean insipid. "We'll do stocks where we work on it all day long," Baker says. "Dried porcinis, roasted mushrooms, all these deep, earthy flavors and we cook it down with lots of merlot, lots of tomato paste. You come up with this stock that pretty much tastes a little bit nicer than a beef stock. Put some morels on that with any kind of nice Barbera."

As for wine itself, it's essentially a vegetarian product, although in some cases animal products such as egg whites and gelatin are used to fine the wine, a process that removes sediment.

Houseman fines reds when he thinks it necessary. Grant doesn't fine wines based on his philosophy of non-interference, although it isn't a deal-breaker for him when selecting other people's wines to drink. Wellington's wines are vegan.

For Grant, being vegan is "more of a philosophy than it is a practice," he says. "I'm doing what I can because I feel it's the right thing for me to be doing for me."

And although they're in the minority, they do sometimes find kindred spirits.

Wellington recalls going on a wine tour of France in the early 1980s and approaching the issue of dinner with some trepidation considering he was in the land of foie gras and beef daubes.

"Everywhere we went, even the top restaurants, I would tell them, 'Well, I'm a vegetarian,' and half the time the response was, 'Oh, the chef's a vegetarian, too!' " he says. "I gained so much weight. I ate like royalty."

Pairing without meat

Here are some tips for vegetarian food and wine matching.

-- Cooking styles can be a hint. If the traditional pairing is roasted meat, try roasted root vegetables instead. Instead of duck and Pinot Noir, try a platter of oven-roasted root vegetables. A meaty grilled portobello mushroom is another option.

-- Winemaker Thomas Houseman likes Pinot Noir with french fries. To go all out, toss the fries with truffle oil, salt and maybe a dusting of fennel pollen.

-- Pizza and rustic Tempranillo can be good partners. The same is true of a vegan pizza made with lots of vegetable toppings and soy cheese, says winemaker Jon Grant, a vegan.

-- For a challenging pairing like asparagus or artichoke, Grant adds lemon and salt to offset the umami, or savoriness, of the vegetables and bring the flavors into balance.

-- When in doubt, try sparkling wine.

- Michelle Locke

Michelle Locke is a freelance writer in Berkeley. E-mail her at wine@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page K - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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Vigneault calm behind Canucks' bench - ESPN.com

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 02:26 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- Less than a week ago, favored Vancouver was down 2-1 in its first-round series with Los Angeles and Canucks fans jammed radio phone lines and Internet message boards with calamitous rants.

In the middle of the near hysteria and panic from a city that has had its heart broken too many times by this hockey team over four decades, there stood Alain Vigneault. Like a man yawning in the middle of a tornado, the Canucks coach calmly and confidently predicted his key players would raise their games and the Canucks would be fine.

And, of course, that's exactly what happened. Now, Vancouver is hoping to wrap up its first-round series tonight with a road win over Los Angeles. The Canucks lead the series 3-2.

That Vigneault oozes serenity in these types of moments can be explained by a coaching career molded in hockey hotbeds. From a junior hockey coaching career in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to becoming the youngest head coach in Montreal Canadiens history (1997-2001) to stops as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators (1992-1996), a head coach with the AHL's Manitoba Moose (2005-06) and his current post (hired in 2006) in one the NHL's most passionate markets, Vigneault is well-weathered.

Nothing, at this point, seems to rattle this guy.

"Coaching is coaching," Vigneault, who turns 49 next month, said Sunday morning at Staples Center. "Whether you're coaching in Montreal or Vancouver, or in PEI [QMJHL] and you're in the playoffs, it's the same pressure. There's maybe more attention outside, but on the ice and behind the bench, it's the same thing."

More attention outside? When you're coaching in Florida or Nashville or Phoenix, you don't have an army of media following your every step, and you don't live in a city where hockey is debated 24/7, as was the case in his previous NHL coaching jobs in Ottawa and Montreal and certainly right now in Vancouver. It's relentless.

"Obviously we're used to being in a Canadian environment, where everything is big and everything is important," Vigneault said. "It has less to do with me and more to do with my players. I've got a lot of faith, I've been around them a long time; they're ready for this moment and they're going to go out there and prove it."

He has to believe in his core players because his fate is tied to theirs. Win or lose, Vigneault, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Roberto Luongo and GM Mike Gillis will be the faces of this Canucks era.

Two years ago, Vigneault could have easily been erased from the picture. Gillis replaced Dave Nonis as GM and inherited Vigneault as coach. In this league, that's usually a recipe for a quick firing; GMs traditionally like to hire their own coaches, the first step in putting their stamp on their new team.

Don't think Gillis didn't think about it. But after a feeling-out process between two men who didn't know each other, Vigneault survived, to the surprise of most people.

"That was the first major and probably biggest decision I was facing," Gillis told ESPN.com on Sunday. "I wanted to accomplish two things: one, I wanted to get to know him and find out what his philosophy was and why the team played the way it did ... all the regular coaching issues."

Even more important, Gillis wanted people to see everyone was going to get a fair shake.

"That everyone, from our head coach to assistant coaches to the training staff, would get a fair opportunity to put their best foot forward," Gillis said. "To me, for credibility issues, that was vital."

So Gillis set out to grill Vigneault before making his decision.

"I put Alain through a very strenuous period," Gillis said. "I designed 32 questions that I wanted him to answer. He answered them and we talked about why he felt the way he did about certain questions, and I was not only satisfied but very pleased with the answers. A lot of them went to the real core of coach-player relationships and he handled it admirably."

They talked coaching philosophy, with Gillis asking Vigneault whether he could adjust if the GM brought in players designed to help their offensive game. The Canucks were a defensive-minded team in Vigneault's first two seasons, a team that won the Northwest Division title in his first season. But Gillis believed they had to change their style when he took over.

"We had to become a more offensive team," Gillis said. "If you're going to succeed in the playoffs now, you're going to have to score goals; instead of the reverse -- for years, you had to prevent goals. Right now, with the way penalties are called and the style of play, you have to be able to score."

Vigneault had to convince Gillis he could adjust.

"After going through that process, I was satisfied and I felt we could work together," Gillis said.

The GM did make changes to Vigneault's coaching staff, bringing in assistant coaches Ryan Walter and Darryl Williams. But Vigneault did survive, and thrive.

"I have tremendous respect for Alain," Gillis said. "I think he's a professional coach who works extremely hard. His staff works extremely hard. He's accountable. He doesn't shy away from accountability. He accepts it. It's worked well."

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