Super Bowl 50: Carolina Panthers Vs Denver Broncos

Never let it be said that Curmudgeon doesn’t know how to throw a party.  My Super Bowl Watch Party is going to be epic.

Several weeks ago I ordered the official Carolina Panthers Dab On Em T-Shirt; the one made famous around these parts by 95-year-old Mary Ward who has watched every single Panthers game since the franchise came to Charlotte, to give to everyone I’ve invited to the party.  Yours truly will be sporting her Luke Kuechly jersey.

They say that 1.3 billion chicken wings, 2 million Pizza Hut® pizzas, 12 million Domino’s® pizza slices and 14 billion hamburgers will be served during the big game.

Two years ago I dazzled my party-goers with Frogmore Stew, also known as a bog or low-country boil, a Creole-like Gullah feast which originated in the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina.  It’s a combination of Alaskan Snow Crab legs, jumbo shrimp, red potatoes, corn on the cob, Kielbasa sausages, sweet onions and Old Bay® or Zatarain’s® Shrimp & Crab Boil.

The ingredients are boiled in a 65-quart stock pot and when it’s done you simply drain the liquid, dump the ingredients on a newspaper-covered table and let your guests dig in.  There will be ramekins filled with drawn butter and cocktail sauce, plenty of lemon wedges and bottles of Tabasco® sauce will be on all the tables for the more daring diners.  Clean up is a snap.  You just roll up the newspaper and toss everything in the garbage.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Kickoff will be at 6:30 PM ET and air on CBS.  Ever since November when the Angry Kittehs were the only unbeaten team left in the league, virtually none of the so-called sports experts thought Carolina would do as well as they have.  The “experts” consistently viewed them as underdogs.

NFL media insider Ian Rappaport has reported that Super Bowl 50 will be Denver QB Peyton Manning’s “last rodeo”.  He carefully notes that Manning has refused to publicly state whether he will retire, but he “let the cat out of the bag” to his “inner circle”.

Denver fans will be rooting for the Broncos and Peyton Manning against the Panthers, but Carolina can play the sentimentality card too.  You see Leigh Ann Touhy, the woman made famous in the Hollywood telling of her adoption of a homeless African-American kid named Michael Oher in The Blind Side, is a compelling story.

Oher was born to a drug addict mother and a convict father in Tennessee in 1986, and spent a troubled childhood in and out of school where he had to repeat both the first and second grade. Dumped into foster care at the age of seven, he was eventually adopted by Tuohy who nurtured his love of football.

One thing they can't measure is your heart!! Remember that!!

— Michael Oher (@MichaelOher) January 25, 2016

Now, to be sure I don’t know who will win the game.  Oddsmakers have the Panthers as a 5+ point favorite.  But, but…Tuah the one-year-old orangutan at the Salt Lake City Zoo picked the Panthers to win.  You may ask yourself how can a one-year-old orangutan pick a winner.  Simple.  Tuah’s father picked seven of the winning teams before passing away last year.

I’ve suggested we embark on a Jell-O™ shooter game:  Every time Cam dabs it’s down the hatch with a shooter. (And yes, I’ve made a shipload of blueberry shooters!)

GO PANTHERS! 

And because no football post would be complete without some pom-poms, please set your male gazing cannons to stunned for these lovely Top Cats:

NOTE:  Hey Grunt, I’m sorry my friend.  Youse is gonna lose.

Super Bowl Sunday: Big Doings At Casa De Curmudgeon

The Big Bash for the playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers was a big hit with my neighbors a couple of weeks ago.  It was such a smash in fact that they demanded we do it again for Super Bowl Sunday.

The pressure has been mounting since I agreed to do it.  How do I top my last get together?  So I thunk and I thunk and I thunk.

I decided to go with one of my all-time faves—Frogmore Stew.  The Frogmore is very much like a Low Country Boil.  The big difference is crab legs are added to the boil.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Isn’t Seattle known for its Pike Place Market, the world famous fish market?  True enough.  Let me remind you that Peyton Manning was born in Nawlins.  For the uninitiated, that’s Cajun for New Orleans.  The Frogmore seemed like the perfect tribute to Peyton since it is closely associated with southern Louisiana and the Gulf south.  You see the connection now don’t you?

Frogmore Stew has as its ingredients Kielbasa Sausage, corn on the cob, new red potatoes, shrimp and Alaskan King Crab Legs.  You throw the potatoes in a 65-quart stock pot and let them boil in water to which some Zatarain’s Extra Spicy Crab Boil is added.  You add a couple of tablespoons of concentrated shrimp and crab boil and let the spuds boil for about 15 minutes.

Next you add the corn cobs which are broken in half.  Let those cook for another 15 minutes.  Then you add the Kielbasa sausage.  After about 10 minutes you add the crab legs and shrimp.  After the seafood has boiled for about 5 or so minutes you’re ready to drain off the water and dump everything onto a table that is covered with newspaper.

Place a bunch of ramekins on the table filled with drawn butter and shrimp cocktail sauce for dippin’.  Cut up some lemon wedges and you’ve got one helluva feast.

Clean up is easy.  You just roll everything up in the newspaper and toss it in the trash.

I’m going to stop by the party rental store on Saturday before I head off to work and pick up the three 6-foot banquet folding tables I reserved.  Sunday morning I’ll go the grocery store to pick up the 20 lbs of crab legs and 20 lbs of 10-15 count Gulf shrimp I ordered in advance.

I’ve already made some orange and berry blue Jell-O shooters and the Party Planning Committee is in charge of everything else.  I can’t do it all for cripes sake.

All the party-goers have been carefully vetted to make sure they are Broncos fans.  Seahawks fans are banned.

If a Seahawks fan should breach Casa de Curmudgeon’s DEFCON 5 security system, the ferocious junkyard dog Sophie will crawl in their lap and lick them to death.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday.  Be safe on the road, don’t drink and drive and be sure to root for the Broncos.