Shannon Sharpe Mother

Name one thing about the Seahawks that would be memorable to anyone living outside of their local fanbase (Washington and Oregon mostly). Great offense? Great defense? Nope and nope. Shawn Alexander and his touchdown record? Nope. The only reason I even remember it is because I watch too much NFL network at times. Matt Hasselbeck? Well sure, people outside of the local fanbase know him -- he's that balding QB from Seattle. Eh, doesn't really count. Plus, he's a shill for Qwest. I won't say anymore about that.

So what, you say. None of this changes the fact that they were a good team and had a good year. True. I guess this is most easily explained by showing some examples -- so let's look at some teams that have won the Super Bowl...

2005 Steelers: The media loved to focus on the Jerome Bettis karma angle, but I think that was a tad overdone. The true cosmic reasons for their victory: a QB who doesn't just have an awesome record for his first two years, but also has a heart-attack inducing sandwich named after him, a coach who spits alot and has a scary chin (and also had a long tenure with no SB win), a receiver who grew up conflicted about his mixed heritage and is now a national hero in Korea, a linebacker who has taken a bullet in his ass, and Antwaan Randel-El (who will lose all of his good karma for going to the Redskins).

The new millenium Patriots: 6th round QB who looks like a male model, coach who was abysmal in his first head coaching job but is now considered a "genius," team concept as opposed to a collection of stars, and the greatest clutch kicker of all time. The cosmos was conflicted for all three of their Super Bowl wins, because any of the teams they beat would have been memorable as well.

2002 Bucs: John Gruden's revenge against the Raiders, culmination of one of the best defenses ever put together, a QB who generally performs well and gets fired, Keyshawn Johnson, and "who's our favorite player, Mr. Derrick Brooks."

2000 Ravens: one of the best defenses of all time, Ray Lewis and the fact that he still scares you, "offensive genius" coach who had an offense that didn't score a touchdown for several games in a row, Shannon Sharpe, and a QB who was jettisoned after winning the SB.

1999 Rams: A freakish offense that may have been put together by G-d just for kicks, coach who burnt out as his last coaching job almost 20 years prior to that season, Kurt Warner's rise from grocery bagger to star QB (to has been just a couple years later), rare team that had a great offense and a great defense, and Kurt Warner's weird wife.

See -- these are the things you need to be a championship team -- good storylines and things that people will remember. All the Seahawks had this past year was Trent Dilfer (the QB from the 2000 Ravens), and they kept him on the bench. Mike Holmgren doesn't count, because he is boring (even if many of his former coaching staff members have gone on to tremendous success). His one SB win ties in too much with Brett Favre and Reggie White, who if he hadn't been on a winning SB team, would never have given one of the most classic speeches of all time in front of the Wisconsin legislature.

So why does any of this matter? It doesn't. On to why I brought it up.

For our Thursday lunch last week we went to Maxine's, which is on Chemeketa across the street from the Statesman-Journal building.

It made me think of the days before Tre opened, when one of the paper's pre-eminant thinkers decried the addition of a finer-dining restaurant to the downtown scene instead of a place for 20-somethings to hang out. I wrote far too many words explaining why it deserved a shot and in the process probably ensured that this blog, which gets a good amount of traffic given that it's about food in a small town that most people have never been to, will never get any coverage in the Statesman.

So in the end I lost that argument. Tre became MVPs, a place with a DJ seven nights a week and a forthcoming bikini contest sponsered by Corona. I do expect Angela to be a gracious winner and compete in the contest just to show me how wrong I was. I think the Statesman-Journal should fully cover Angela's participation in the contest with an above the fold front-page photo spread. It's in Salem, it's for 20-somethings, it's happening! You got what you asked for! Now go get involved!

Maxine's is a purveyor of American diner-esque food -- burgers, sandwiches, breakfast, and other things you think of when I say American diner-esque food. We've walked by there many times on sojourns to other restaurants downtown, and decided to give it a try.

We had a good group that can easily challenge the boundaries of good taste -- me, Naco, PCA, Word, Ex-Dr. Jesus, and Bossman.

I don't remember exactly what Bossman got, but it came with the house soup, which he liked very much and commented that it tasted homemade. Ugh the perils of doing write-ups several days after the visit. Ex-Dr. Jesus got he reuben and said that it featured mostly Thousand Island dressing and was light on the corned beef and saurkraut (sp?). He liked the french fries, but was unenthused overall. Word got the meatloaf special and said that the meatloaf was very good and tasted homemade, but the rest of the dish was just ok. PCA got the egg-salad sandwich, which he said was better than he had expected it to be. Naco got the reuben, and he'll get to that soon I am sure.

I got the chicken fingers. They were fried competently though they weren't strongly seasoned so overall they were bland. They came with a ranch dip which was fine and the french fries were fine too. My lunch was fine, just unexciting. Nothing I'd go running back for.

I drank water with my lunch, as I saw on the menu that iced tea only came with one refill. Not good. PCA got his usual diet Coke and was startled to find out that he'd have to pay full price for each fill. Something to keep in mind if you're a thirsty eater like myself and PCA.

Service was good and fairly prompt. I don't drink a whole lot when I do water, so I couldn't judge how quick the refills would have been.

Overall, they do a competent job with most items (reubens are tough, and sometimes I wonder why people order them), but their food is definitely toned down below where my palate likes it. If you are into American diner-esque food, this may be the place for you. My grandfather in Ohio would like this place, because he loves diner food (did I ever tell you that the first sit-down restaurant E the Elder ever went to was Bob Evans in Celina, Ohio?). If you are looking for jazzy and spicy, this isn't the place to go.