Blowout

“If you looked up” XX “in the dictionary, you’d see her picture there.”

This is not an uncommon slam. Fill in the XX for any word you would choose (ugly, gullible, clueless). What would happen if you really did look up a word and surprisingly found someone you knew?

I had an experience somewhat like that recently when I was surfing Wikipedia and found my way to the term “blowout“. Scanning down the article to the girls basketball section, there was my high school. Unfortunately, we were on the bad end of the blowout.

Back in early 1990, several years after I had graduated, my high school – South Torrance – played a basketball game against a local powerhouse, Morningside. When I was at South we were pretty good in soccer, girls softball and usually made the playoffs in football. Basketball? I’m sure we played but am also sure we were not very good.

South went to Morningside and ran into a steamroller. On our side was a total of six players. For those unfamiliar with basketball, you play five players at a time and because it is such an exhausting game, you will regularly substitute players in. As we had only one substitute, we were destined for failure.

On the side of Morningside was a good team and one exceptional player – Lisa Leslie. Leslie, for those that don’t know, went on to play basketball at USC and later played for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Leslie is one of the best women to ever play basketball and has earned 4 Olympic gold medals, 3 WNBA MVP awards and was the first woman to dunk during a WNBA game.

Leslie was a senior and was playing her last home game and her team decided to get her the ball as often as they could. During the first half, South lost two players to foul trouble, so ended up playing with one fewer players on the court at all times and not having any ability to substitute. Leslie, on the other had, scored 101 points. Yes, that is correct. In one half of basketball, a high school player scored 101 points.

Beaten and dejected, the South High coach did not bring his team out for the second half, forfeiting the game. If Leslie would have played another half, she would not only have broken the record for most points in a girls’ basketball game by a single player (105) but would have crushed it.

Both sides received criticism on that day. By quitting in the middle of the game the South High coach was ultimately disciplined for unsportsman-like conduct. The Morningstar coach was criticized for going beyond running up the score and turning the game into a mockery of a sport. Check out the article from the Los Angeles Times.

These flavors are a slam dunk in their own right.

A very basic recipe.

Season and sear the chicken with some onions.

Continue cooking and add the tomatoes and vinegar.

The balsamic vinegar brings both a richness and tang to the sauce.

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Prep Time: 10 M | Cook Time: 20 M | Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions:

Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts.

Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken, and season with basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes.

PREP 10 mins

COOK 20 mins

READY IN 30 mins

Nutritional Info:

Calories 206 kcal 10%
Carbohydrates 7.5 g 2%
Cholesterol 68 mg 23%
Fat 6.1 g 9%
Fiber 1.1 g 5%
Protein 28.2 g 56%
Sodium 538 mg 22%

Source: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Braised-Balsamic-Chicken/Detail.aspx?evt19=1