"Were good" Two words coming from coach that really piss some of you off around here, oops 🙃
Aw shit
Hopefully this post doesn't offend the purists, but I hosted 12 people for a pizza party this weekend and it was the runaway favorite so I thought I'd share it.
I've been making this pizza for two years now and it has gone from novelty to mainstay for all who've tried it which is crazy to me.
It's an olive oil base topped with five cheeses. Fresh arugula and balsamic glaze are added post-bake.
68% hydration with Caputo Pizzeria so nothing super fancy. Just fresh ingredients in the right amounts and the most improbable crowd pleaser was born.
Thanks for reading.
I saw this idea months ago and finally got to try it.
Due to a communication mixup, the dough wasn't quite ready and developed a tear during the final stretch. I employed the basil leaf trick and whaddayaknow, it worked!
Normally, I'd pinch the dough together and use extra semolina which probably would've worked as well, but it was cool to learn something new.
It's totally my fault, my adhd brain has failed me again. For some stupid reason I thought it was groceries this quarter. Then this morning, while getting accustomed to seeing my Discover card information in the Capital One app (something else that annoys me!), I realized it's been gas since July the first and I have ZERO dollars earned!
I get gas four or five times a month at $50 a pop, and muscle memory is the 2% I get with my Prime card, so that's what I've been using. Somebody shoot me!!
It's mostly background noise during the off-season, but football is king in my house once September rolls around so it's nice that this thing got wrapped up.
PS, we won't talk about the three months I didn't have it but still paid for it, grr..
Jared Goff has proven to be one of the most prolific, efficient passers in league history through 10 seasons.
He's top 5 in every metric that matters yet is routinely listed behind the likes of Joe Burrough, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love and Justin Herbert. And now is even behind Caleb Williams and Drake Maye ffs.
Win a superbowl however, and he'll be instantly elevated to the next tier with the likes of Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson (the Seahawks version).
Win two, and dare I say he puts himself on the tier with Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Painting Manning and the goat, TB12 himself...okay, forget those last three. lol
Anyway, the point being, Jared Goff has done everything except the thing that matters the most. So if you want respect, if you want to be in rarified air, if you want to be included with the top 5 QBs, if you want to be a first ballot hall of famer, go out there and win a superbowl and cement your legacy yourself.
Do that, and all of these stupid ass top 10 QB lists that have you at 10 or lower won't matter, and we won't have to bother with defending you anymore.
PS, Not listed was Jalen Hurts and Sam Darnold, who are on their own tier, the superbowl winning quarterback's tier. We'll take that one too!
But I've always been a fan..
Caputo Pizzeria flour, 67% hydration, 72 hours bulk refrigerated ferment, 5 hours balled at 69⁰ F, baked at 864⁰ F for around 3 minutes.
I do not pre-cook the mushrooms. I've tried that a dozen different ways but found great success leaving them uncooked once I bought a mushroom slicer.
After covering the Detroit Lions for more than seven years, the Lions beat writer received unexpected news.
As reported by Sports Illustrated reporter John Maakaron, the Motor City team has pulled back his credentials and denied him access to team activities at its facilities.
“Please be advised that beginning with 2026 training camp, the Detroit Lions will no longer provide media credentials for Lions on SI,” John Maakaron publicly addressed the email. “This applies to all credentialed Lions football events at Ford Field and the Meyer Performance Center in Allen Park…”
John Maakaron of Detroit Lions on SI received an email revoking his access to media coverage for the 2026 NFL season.
The denial is not just limited to the facility coverage, but also to all sorts of media reporting from Sports Illustrated by Maakaron.
After his conversation with the Lions PR department, he got to know that he had made certain violations that led the Lions to arrive at this decision.
Maakaron has been known for highly critical columns and pushing tight boundaries regarding team info.
This includes opinion pieces calling for the departure of Lions Team President Rod Wood and publishing granular insider updates that occasionally rankled the front office.
Per John Maakaron of Detroit Lions on SI, this news came out of the blue. He first received his credentials in 2019, and since then he has written 7,000+ articles and more than 100,000 tweets.
He also reiterated that each NFL media credential is a revocable license and the rights are reserved by the Detroit Lions or the NFL.
The decision quickly sparked reactions across Detroit’s media landscape, with one prominent Lions content creator openly criticizing the franchise’s handling of the situation.
Lions Syndicate rips Detroit over John Maakaron decision
Amid the controversy between the Lions and John Maakaron of the Detroit Lions on SI, Derrick of the Lions Syndicate YouTube channel defended Maakaron and spoke highly of him.
“ I think the Lions, they are dropping the ball. And it may not be the Lions. It could be the NFL in its entirety,” Derrick said. “Maybe this is not allowed, but to me specifically, the Lions are dropping the ball on the connection between fan and team.”
Reacting to the decision on his YouTube channel, Derrick said the issue extends beyond one reporter and reflects a bigger disconnect between the team and independent media.
“What I loved about John… He saw us,” he added. “He treated us like humans. He treated us like fans, which is more than the Lions do.”
Derrick also praised Maakaron for the way he engaged with fans during his time covering the team, saying he served as a bridge between the organization and its supporters.
As of now, Maakaron remains a media partner with the franchise until any further developments occur on the Lions’ side.
Bye Felicia
I only make a couple of gluten-free pizzas per year, so nailing the process has escaped me, but I'm getting close.
The biggest challenge has been getting a 12 inch pizza, which I finally achieved by using a 420 gram dough ball.
I'm pretty ecstatic about it because it now actually LOOKS like a pizza, and not something the cat dragged in. lol
I use Caputo Fioreglut flour and a recipe by Leopard Crust Pizza, which people who've tried it rave about how good the pizza is, despite the less than appealing looks..
Anyway, it's not often I get a request for gluten-free pizza, but now when I do, I'll be a lot more confident than I've been in the past.
Thank you for reading.
Neapolitan style. 67% hydration using Caputo Pizzeria flour. Baked for a little under 3 minutes in a Gozney Arc XL at 889 degrees F.
Here are the pertinent parts from the article:
Immediate release
If the Lions want to move on from Arnold for his alleged involvement, they have some options.
Detroit could release Arnold right now, but they would receive a dead cap charge of $7,314,869 in 2026 and $1,812,947 in 2027, according to Spotrac. While those numbers aren't astronomical from an NFL salary cap perspective, the Lions wouldn't save any money by releasing Arnold at the moment.
In fact, they would lose an additional $3,402,948 in cap space.
That might not be a big deal for a team with about $19.3 million in cap space, but it could hurt the team's flexibility to make additional moves down the road this season.
Future release
From a monetary standpoint, the Lions' best option to move on from Arnold is a combination of the other two options. They could wait-and-see how the process plays out and then release him after a court or the NFL rules.
Arnold currently has two years and $4.8 million left in guarantees on his contract, according to Spotrac. However, any suspension for violating the league's conduct policy would void the guarantees.
Article 4, Section 9 of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement outlines a clause known as a "forfeitable breach," something that would apply in this case. Here is how the league defines it:
"Forfeitable Breach. Any player who (i) willfully fails to report, practice or play with the result that the player’s ability to fully participate and contribute to the team is substantially undermined (for example, without limitation, holding out or leaving the squad absent a showing of extreme personal hardship); or (ii) is unavailable to the team due to conduct by him that results in his incarceration; or (iii) is unavailable to the team due to a nonfootball injury that resulted from a material breach of Paragraph 3 of his NFL Player Contract; or (iv) voluntarily retires (collectively, any “Forfeitable Breach”) may be required to forfeit signing bonus, roster bonus, option bonus and/or reporting bonus, and no other Salary, for each League Year in which a Forfeitable Breach occurs"
The key component to this is, "unavailable to the team due to conduct by him that results in his incarceration."
By breaching the terms of his contract due to incarceration, Arnold would no longer have the guaranteed money protection that would otherwise potentially keep him on the Lions' roster.
It's a sauceless creation I call the Spanish Pizza.
Topped with olive oil, fresh garlic, spinach, artichokes, spanish olives, parm, mozzarella and pecorino.
It's my same 67% hydration dough with Caputo Pizzeria flour cold fermented for 72 hours then balled and proofed at room temperature for 4 hours.
This thing is bursting with flavor. Give it a shot if you want to try something different but delicious!
Just something to kill time. The Lions analysis is below, the rest are in the link..
The NFC North surprised no one when it flipped on its head in 2025.
The topsy-turvy Black and Blue division saw the Chicago Bears leap from the cellar to the penthouse while the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings fell to the bottom levels. The NFC North was the NFL's only division with every team above .500 by season's end.
Heading toward the 2026 campaign, the division once again looks like the most complete crew in the conference. I could make a case that each division in the NFC has immensely improved. In the East, the Giants have fresh vibes under John Harbaugh, and the Commanders and Cowboys filled significant holes. The South was already packed tightly -- albeit with below .500 teams -- and the Saints could very well leapfrog their three counterparts. The West sits as the likely best division in football with three legit Super Bowl contenders, but the presence of the rebuilding Cardinals makes it difficult to argue every team has a legitimate chance of swiping the crown. That brings us back to the North, where it's fairly easy to make a case for each of the four clubs winning the division.
The case for Detroit winning the division:
The Lions took a significant step backward sans Ben Johnson in 2025, but the offensive core remains an explosive whirlwind when Jared Goff is properly protected. Yes, the play-calling was an issue for much of last season, but the biggest problem was an offensive line that blocked like a paper doll for large stretches. The move of Penei Sewell to left tackle, the drafting of first-rounder Blake Miller and the signing of Cade Mays should provide an upgrade. If young guards Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany make strides, the blocking should significantly improve.
When Goff has time and the running game has holes, oh, baby, these Lions can roar. Amon-Ra St. Brown remains an uncontainable weapon who can get open with ease. Jameson Williams is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and has provided more consistency to go along with the game-breaking speed. Isaac TeSlaa showed flashes with some ridiculous grabs and could be a dynamic No. 3 as he gets more snaps. If Sam LaPorta returns healthy, they have a mismatch tight end who can give Goff an outlet.
Then there is Jahmyr Gibbs, who is in line to see the bulk of the carries. After playing tandem with David Montgomery for the last three seasons, Gibbs is in line for a Christian McCaffrey-type workload. The explosive playmaker boasts game-breaking speed whenever he touches the pigskin and is a weapon as a receiver. Increasing his reps will make the Lions offense even more dangerous. If everything breaks right, Gibbs will be an Offensive Player of the Year candidate.
On defense, the Lions added second-rounder Derrick Moore on the edge. If he pairs with Aidan Hutchinson to provide consistent pressure, the Detroit defense can climb out of the doldrums. Give Dan Campbell a solid defense and better blocking on offense, and 2025’s dip will be a blip on the radar.
The Lions faced a first-place schedule a year ago and slipped amid O-line issues and defensive injuries. Falling to fourth in the NFC North gives Campbell’s crew the benefit of playing an easier schedule this time around. Detroit can feasibly sprint to the top of the division before closing with three road division games in the last four weeks of the season.
The case against Detroit:
Injuries to Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph cloud the defensive operation. Branch’s late-season Achilles injury could keep him out into the season. It’s not clear when (or if) Joseph’s knee will fully heal. Those concerns, along with rollercoaster play from the corner crew, including former first-round pick Terrion Arnold, could lead to year-long issues in the secondary. While the Lions tossed more bodies at finding Hutchinson’s running mate -- from Moore to Payton Turner to DJ Wonnum -- none is a sure thing. The defense could once again be a feast-or-famine proposition in Detroit.
It’s one thing to believe the offensive line issues are fixed on paper, but we won’t truly know until the heat is fully provided. If the inexperienced middle collapses and the rookie right tackle struggles, the offense will be in the same fix as a year ago. Playmakers can’t make plays if the offensive line becomes a sieve.
Then there is the question of yet another new offensive coordinator. Drew Petzing is the fourth OC under Campbell in six seasons. Two -- Anthony Lynn and John Morton -- didn’t make it a full season before having play-calling duties stripped. Petzing has experience and is well regarded, but what if Campbell simply can’t find his next Ben Johnson?
Neapolitan style. 67% hydration, baked in a Gozney Arc XL.
67% hydration, 72 hours bulk ferment, 4 hours balled at room temperature.
67% hydration neapolitan style. Baked at 860 F using Caputo Pizzeria flour. 72 hour bulk refrigerated ferment followed by a 4 hour balled ferment at room temperature.
There was some chirping about the turkey day opponent when it was announced the other day (something about being tired of seeing Chicago and Green Bay), but nothing about our 7 - 19 record at Ford Field, which is more disconcerting.
Granted, we've had some awful teams during most of our time there, but geezus man, can we go on a win streak or something.
Dan Campbell 1 - 4, Matt Patricia 0 - 3, Jim Caldwell 3 - 1, Jim Schwartz 1 - 4, Rod Marinelli 0 - 3, Steve Mariucci 1 - 2, Marty We'll Take The Wind Mornhiweg 0 - 2, Gary Moeller 1 - 0.