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When it comes to food safety rules, there has always been one that really bothered me, one that I sort of fundamentally disagree with as a cook. Of course, you know that I’m talking about the moldy ice machines…I mean, seriously, who cares? The ice in there is cold, it stunts the growth of any really harmful bacteria. Stop being such a baby about it. Ok, obviously I’m kidding. Moldy ice machines are gross. When I’m cooking, there are really only two situations in which I don gloves – cutting super-hot peppers or if I’m handling a single large piece of meat for an extended period of time, like trimming and cleaning a pig. Other than that, if I’m sitting at an open kitchen and I can see the folks preparing my food, I’d rather see freshly washed bare hands over latex gloves any day of the week. Why? Because, when you have a layer between your skin and the food, it is very easy to touch something and not realize that you have just contaminated the gloves, then just go about your …

Get Your Ex Back Now! WARNING: Unconventional Methods - Click Here Powered by Max Banner Ads How did I not realize Savannah is only a four and a half hour drive from Atlanta? Had I known that, I’d surely have visited more often. Plus, Savannah was just included in Travel + Leisure’s list of most affordable getaways. Luckily, a friend convinced me to visit for a girls weekend getaway. We had a blast on our 3-day jaunt and I wanted to share with you the ups and downs of our trip. Making the most out of the weekend, we decided to spend one night in historic Savannah and one night on Tybee Island. To be honest, neither hotel would I recommend staying. We booked the Westin for the first night. While it is a beautiful hotel, it is definitely NOT in the historic district as Hotwire would have you believe. We had to take a ferry across the water to get to the historic district. Waiting twenty minutes for the ferry definitely puts a damper on the fun. But downtown Savannah is a lot of fun. I’d love to go back and stay at one of the boutique hotels there. Our first night, we dined at a restaurant called B. Matthews Eatery. This is a trendy spot that features live music on the weekends. Start with one of their creative cocktails. I chose the B. Matthews Margarita. It is slightly spicy with habanero infused tequila and refreshing with fresh plum puree. Other highlights are the Lemongrass Pear Martini and the Bootlegger 5 Spice Mule. Although Gnocchi is a small plate, order it as an appetizer as it comes with broccoli and mushrooms in a red sauce, perfect for sharing. The crab, another hit, is so fresh it tastes like it came out of the ocean minutes before it hits your plate. There’s also a lamb shank, not to be missed. Our cabbie had suggested a couple places to visit after dinner: Rocks on the Roof (top of the Bohemian Hotel) and Savannah Smiles. These tourist traps were a major disappointment. Rocks on Roof may have a terrific view of the river, but that’s all it has going for it. The drinks were expensive and watered down. As for Savannah Smiles, we were told it was dueling pianos but it sounded horrible before we even got inside and looked like a total dive so we bailed before paying any cover. We came to the realization that stumbling upon an upscale lounge wasn’t going to happen and settled for The Bar Bar. It has several rooms – one with a large bar, one with pool tables and another for dancing. It was definitely a place I’d have found myself about a decade ago. But on a girls weekend away, being hit on by young guys, it did just fine. After a night of debauchery, we took is easy the next day, sleeping in and walking along River Street. The one redeeming factor our hotel did offer was late checkout of 3pm and we took full advantage of it before heading to Tybee island. I did some research for lunch spots and had we not slept quite so late we would have had a leisurely lunch at Green Truck Pub or Zunzis. I don’t know quite what I expected at Tybee island, but air brushed t-shirts and tacky souvenir shops weren’t it. I’m not inclined to go back. In fact we went back to Savannah for dinner even though it is a 30 minute drive. This time, we had a lovely meal at a charming newish restaurant called Maxwell’s. If you are looking for a romantic spot to enjoy dinner in Savannah, this is the place to go. It was packed on this Saturday night with lots of locals, but the tables still are separate enough to provide and intimate dining experience. Also, they have the most fantastic singer there. He knew some great hits from the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John and more. Like B. Matthews the night before, Maxwells offers their own cocktails. I had their version of a Long Island Tea, the Southern Tea, sweet but not overly sugary. If you like Manhattans, order the Savannhattan. My dinner date had the Ruby Red slipper, with Grapefruit juice and champagne, which she was rather pleased with. Our server highly touted the avocado

I'll be on Twitter, but posting here will be very light despite the baseball search. Four days at Disney, five at the beach and a few visiting my family on the way back. Hopefully, I'll get in a couple of poker tourneys in Florida, too. There are a couple of things in the hopper for posting later this week. I'll be back in June. TD

The Braves won their fourth game in a row last night, beating the Twins 5-1. They’ll continue their three game series tonight (Pelfrey v. Hudson, 7:10) before finishing up with a day game Wednesday (Worley v. Maholm, 12:10). Julio Teheran was the big story last night, going 8 1/3 innings giving up 5 H, 1ER, 1BB with 4K. He threw a career high 123 pitches (80 strikes) and was able to keep his velocity up into the ninth. Even with some shaky command  at times, Teheran has been able to keep his BB% under control this season, currently sitting at 4.2%. Overall, it was a great performance by Teheran, the best in his young MLB career. He proved he could work through the order multiple times while keeping the velocity and control intact. Last night, Cory Gearrin became the first reliever other than Craig Kimbrel to record a save in 2013. So far, he’s posted a 0.90 ERA with a 3.48 FIP/3.69 xFIP in 20 innings. Obviously, Gearrin’s presence will be huge, and he may be more relied upon to get opposite-handed hitters out, who are currently only 2-for-27 against him this season. It is hard to expect him to be getting lefties out with this type of success, but if he can continue to work in a decent change up, you could see him as more than a right-handed specialist in the future. Eric O’Flaherty will undergo TJ surgery today. Michael Baumann had a piece on Grantland bringing up the ongoing question about whether Fredi Gonzalez can be blamed for Venters’ and O’Flaherty’s injuries. Big picture, I believe they are two different cases. Venters threw back-to-back 80 inning seasons after previously having TJ surgery. O’Flaherty, on the other hand, has only had one season during his career where he’s exceeded 60 innings. In somewhat good news, Jordan Walden says his shoulder if feeling better and hopes to return when eligible, next Monday. This actually went up last week (insider only), but Keith Law released his first mock draft for the 2013 Draft (June 6). With the 31st pick this year, Law suggested the Braves could target right-handed SS Tim Anderson from East Central CC. Reports see Anderson as a quick, toolsy player who won’t hit for much power (I’m sure if you bother Ethan enough he’d give you a more in-depth take). I wouldn’t get too attached to anything that comes out linking a player to a team, especially with the later first/supplemental round picks like the Braves have. NL East Phillies 1 – Marlins 5 Reds 4 – Mets 3 Nationals 0 – Giants 8

Coming up through the Minor Leagues, Julio Teheran projected to be a front-end starter with big strikeout numbers. Through his first eight starts this season, that hasn't been the case. Yet he's been perfectly fine with a different approach on the mound. Instead of aiming to blow everyone away, Teheran is settling in early with solid control. He has continued to improve in every start since a rough stretch to begin the season, with a masterful performance over 8 1/3 innings coming Monday night in a 5-1 win over the Twins. Why has Teheran been successful without the strikeouts? It's pretty simple: his walks are way down. "He's just hitting his location and trusting his pitches." - Gerald Laird on Teheran After walking seven batters in his first three games, Teheran has walked just two in his last five starts. That's a stretch of 33.2 innings, 13 of which came in Colorado and Arizona, arguably the two most hitter-friendly parks in baseball. On the season, Teheran's averaging just 1.63 walks-per-nine innings pitched. That's a great sign. His K/9 ratio of 5.44 is rather pedestrian, but as long as he continues to not give up free passes to the opposition, he will be just fine. While Teheran's success on the mound probably shouldn't come as too big of a surprise following a dominant showing in the Dominican League and Spring Training, it didn't seem likely he would achieve such results with the formula he's used thus far. The sky is the limit for Teheran, and he showed just how good he can be on Monday night with his best performance of the year, even if it was against a pretty mediocre Twins ball club. Follow @scottcoleman55

Stan Van Gundy told SportsTalk1080's David Baumann on Tuesday that he would not be returning to the NBA as a head coach next season citing family reasons. BREAKING: Stan Van Gundy just told us he WILL NOT be a head coach in the NBA next season. It's a family decision. — David Baumann (@DavidBaumann33) May 21, 2013 Stan Van Gundy: "The longer you are out, the more difficult it is to get back in... Right now it's not in the best interest of my family." — David Baumann (@DavidBaumann33) May 21, 2013 Van Gundy was thought to be at the top of the Atlanta Hawks' wish list this offseason. Van Gundy also told Baumann that despite being contacted by a lot of teams that he has not interviewed for any positions. That disputes an earlier report that he had been interviewed by the Hawks. Hawks general manager Danny Ferry has not established a timeline for naming a new coach. Other names that have surfaced in the search include San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, former Seattle and Portland head coach Nate McMillan and Euroleague legend Ettore Messina.

Fox Sports Braves in market for lefty reliever March 26, 2013; Lakeland, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Jordan Walden (52) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports The Atlanta Braves enjoyed a significant advantage in recent seasons, deploying not one but two premier left-handed relievers. Now Jonny Venters has undergone Tommy John surgery and Eric O’Flaherty is likely to follow. Huge blows, for sure. But not necessarily crushing. General manager Frank Wren said Saturday that the trade market has yet to develop, but rest assured, the Braves will actively search for another left-handed specialist. Mike Dunn, whom the Braves sent to Miami in the Dan Uggla trade in November 2010, would be ideal. For now, the Braves still have one quality lefty, Luis Avilan, who has pitched 6-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. Right-hander Jordan Walden, currently out with right shoulder inflammation, throws a “split change” that neutralizes left-handed hitters. Righty Cory Rasmus, the younger brother of Colby, was recently called up after displaying a good changeup and putting up terrific numbers at Triple-A. Global Post Atlanta Braves – PlayerWatch RHP Brandon Beachy, coming back from Tommy John surgery, had his scheduled rehab start with Triple-A Gwinnett rained out Sunday and threw a limited simulated game indoors instead. He was slated to pitch three innings after working two innings during an extended spring training game in Florida last Tuesday. Beachy had surgery last June 21 and hopes to return to the Braves during the second part of June. He is slated to pitch four innings for Gwinnett on Friday against Toledo. Braves 101 Atlanta Braves Bullpen Still Strong with Loss of Eric O’Flaherty The Atlanta Braves bullpen is riddled with injuries, but if they keep up their current pace, there is nothing to worry about. Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty are gone for the year with Tommy John surgery. Luis Ayala has been on the disabled list since late April with anxiety disorder. Cristhian Martinez was moved to the DL with shoulder problems to make room for Ayala on the roster. Jordan Walden” href=”http://www.sportsmedia101.com/atlantabraves/tag/jordan-walden/” rel=”tag nofollow”>Jordan Walden, though he should be back soon, has his own shoulder issues. But still, the Atlanta bullpen leads Major Leagues with a 2.65 ERA, 16 points lower than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Access Atlanta Dish Network customers may lose 47 Braves games on Fox Sports South and SportsSouth Dish Network has declined to pay Fox Sports regional networks for 47 Atlanta Braves games this year so metro Atlanta Dish customers will lose access to games starting this Friday against the Detroit Tigers – unless circumstances change. FSS added 45 Braves games in February from Peachtree TV and is now the exclusive local provider of 150 Braves games. (Other games are set aside for ESPN, Fox national, TBS and MLB Network.) The games air on either Fox Sports South or SportsSouth. Dish customers will still be able to view the other 80 or so games remaining in the season, according to FSS.

We keep our series rolling, and we're now done with offensive skill position players. Time to move on to the line. The Falcons are missing Tyson Clabo and watched Todd McClure retire, so this is a thinner line on paper. Fortunately, it's a line with a lot of young, promising players who might be able to step up. Might. At tackle, the Falcons are not extremely deep, but they have decent starting options. Let's move right into the roster breakdown at the moment. On The Roster Sam Baker, StarterLamar Holmes, StarterMike JohnsonTerren Jones (R)Alec Savoie (R)Ryan Schraeder (R) I'm projecting Savoie to tackle, even though he's not listed strictly as one. As you can see, there's some UDFA talent here that might make a difference. Project away!

Expectations Did you realize that DeShawn was brought to Atlanta in a Sign and Trade deal? He signed a 3 year deal for 2.24M per season in order to make the math work in the Joe Johnson trade. It had to be at least 3 years to be in a sign and trade. Just 2 years before this he was a key cog in Dallas winning the championship. A year before he was an ill-fit for a New Jersey Nets team that fell to pieces and experienced one of the worst seasons of his career. Our expectations were more aptly hoping (not expecting) that he could still provide parameter defense and hit an occasional 3 pointer. Results If you’ve read any stories about DeShawn you probably think of him as a wild card (or at least wild), but on the court it seemed like both DeShawn and Larry Drew knew what he could still do and what his knees couldn’t. DeShawn was given half of back-to-back games off based on whichever came Drew felt he needed his defense the most. This reduced DeShawn to appearing in only 56 games, but he starting 31 of those (mostly earlier in the season) and averaged his most minutes per game since he was a starter in Washington 5 years ago. When he was able to go we got the best DeShawn left. His defense win shares was almost the same as in Dallas during the championship year. Offensively he bounced back to shoot .364 from 3 point range from his .283 in New Jersey. His overall shooting was only .374 but since over 80% of his shots came from deep he had a very reasonable eFG% of 0.519, 7th best on the Hawks. Highlight I’m going with the February 22nd game against Sacramento at Philips Arena. Every time the Hawks needed a big basket it seemed like DeShawn was wide open and he didn’t disappoint. He was 2-2 from the line and hit his first 4 3 pointers making the 4th one late in the 3rd quarter to put the Hawks ahead 81-80. The next trip down he missed his first shot of the night (also a 3 point attempt) and was taken out. He came back in the 4th quarter and hit 1 more 3 pointer to push the lead to double digits with Atlanta never looking back. DeShawn only missed the one shot on his way to scoring 17 points. Prognosis Remember when I said DeShawn signed for 3 years? Well only the first year was guaranteed. It’s a no brainer that DeShawn get released because at this point he doesn’t have much left in those knees and Danny Ferry has plans for that cap space. He’s 32 now and has completed 13 seasons in the NBA, which mean he's probably at the league minimum level. While I enjoyed watching DeShawn ball as a Hawk, both sides knew how this was going to end when he signed the deal last year. While his experience is valuable I doubt he’ll come back at the minimum.

The Atlanta Braves finally played a game in which they didn’t have to rally to win. If Tim Hudson can’t put an end to his recent struggles, they may find themselves needing to overcome a deficit yet again. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Atlanta Braves News