Who likes food? Who likes football? Is there anything that goes together better than food and football? I think not. Football is the totally American sport. And come to think of it so is overeating.

It doesn’t matter if you prefer the college game or the pro’s it’s all good. It doesn’t matter if you like to tailgate before the game or just eat in the comfort of your own living room there are so many choices. You can be elaborate or simple, have breakfast or dinner or even snacks.

That brings me to the best website for tailgating I’ve ever seen and it’s really easy to remember it’s tailgating.com. Joe Cahn is the founder of the site and the Commissioner of Tailgating. In 1996, Joe sold his business the New Orleans School of Cooking and chucked it all to go tailgating.

Joe Cahn is the world’s only professional tailgater. He tailgates at football stadiums, NASCAR tracks, and any other event where they party in the parking lot. Now in his twelfth season on the road, he has driven the JoeMobiles over 500,000 miles, visited hundreds of cities, and has seen thousands of fans and has eaten his way through over 500 tailgate parties.

Joe has been to 31 NFL stadiums, 123 college stadiums and 9 NASCAR Tracks and his website is a culmination of everything tailgating. There’s even a tailgating gear section for the latest and greatest in gadgets.

But of course the best part is the food. And tailgating.com has recipes for stuff out the cooler, griddle, grill, oven, and pot. There’s breakfast items, appetizers, dips, spreads, salsa, salads, breakfast, chili, seafood, marinades, nuts, stews, soups, beef, pork, seafood, poultry, vegetables, desserts and drinks.

And starting with this weeks Patriots game preview we will be linking to the recipe section of tailgating.com each week so you can either plan ahead for the parking lot or go shopping for the house.

Enjoy the games.

Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Swin Cash made a triumphant return to the UConn campus as they were part of a Team USA squad that beat the UConn women 90-74 in front of 9,057 at Gampel Pavilion. Taurasi had 14 points, Bird chipped in 8 points and Cash added 4 to the cause. Lisa Leslie led Team USA in scoring with 19 points while former Tennessee guard Kara Lawson had 15 and former LSU star Seimone Augustus had 14.

Junior co-captain Renee Montgomery led the way for the Huskies with 17 points while freshman sensation Maya Moore had 14 points. Charde Houston showed off a new look and added 13 points.

UConn started the game by taking a 2-0 lead but a Bird three-pointer gave Team USA a lead. The Huskies eventually went up by six points in the first half but were overtaken by the more experienced Team USA team as they closed the 1st half out on a 9-0 run to take a 45-32 lead into the locker room.

More of the same in the second half as Team USA used their experience to build their lead. UConn got it as close as six points but Team USA just had too much for the Huskies.

UConn will have one more exhibition game, this Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, when they host Southern Connecticut State University at the Hartford Civic Center. The SCSU Owls are ranked 2nd in the Division II preseason poll. Southern Connecticut won the Division II championship last season.

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In part 2 of Barry Bonds interview with Jim Gray on Countdown With Keith Olbermann that aired tonight, Bonds says he feels “singled out” for being a target with the performance-enhancing drug problem that MLB has.

Among other things he said was the he won’t bring any baggage to the team he will play for next season. I guess that means he will be packing light next season.

Enjoy the video.

Thursday night’s Bonds interview videos.

Steve sent me this gem from ESPN.com. Take a look at the first picture that was a located on the front page of ESPN’s website.

Now take a look at the experts picks.

By Steve’s count and mine, that would be 3 out of 5 experts picking the Colts. I guess you don’t have to be able to count to work at the Worldwide Leader.

to Steve for sending this along to me.

More news from the Red Sox this afternoon concerning a few contract matters.

The Red Sox have picked up the options on Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez for the 2008 seasons. Kevin Cash declined his assignment to Pawtucket and has elected to become a free agent.

With the Red Sox picking up Wakefield’s option, the pitching rotation under contract for next season consists of Wake, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz. Bringing back Schilling would only strengthen the starting rotation. The Red Sox could also explore a #4/5 starter in free agency or via a trade.

It could be possible that the Red Sox will let Tavarez compete for a starting position but I think he will end up in the bullpen.

The two guys that caught Wake this year, Doug Mirabelli and Cash, are now both free agents. With both of them having proved they can catch the knuckler, it is highly likely that one of them will be back with the Sox in 2008.

The Red Sox also announced that they have received the player to be named later in the deal that sent Joel Piñero to the St. Louis Cardinals. They received outfielder Sean Danielson. Danielson will be assigned to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs roster.

According to a report by Buster Olney at ESPN.com, Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez wanted a $350 million offer just to talk. The Yankees were ready to offer a 5 year $150 million contract extension. Put that on top of the $82 million he would have received had he stayed, the Yankees would have been just a mere $120 or so million short.

Basically what that means is that any team now wanting to talk to ARod will probably have to put a similar offer of 10 years $350 million on the table. That’s just freaking insane.

Is ARod worth that much? Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. With the way, he has performed in the regular season, of course he’s worth it. How many free agents can give you 56 homers and 156 RBIs during the regular season? None. His postseason numbers with the Yankees sucked. So is it worth it for a club to sign him and give him what he wants just to get to the postseason and watch him fold faster than me laying down the 10-3 in my hand playing Texas Hold’em.

Plus you are bringing more than ARod the ballplayer. You’re bringing his off-field issues as well. Is it really worth it? All I can say is that I hope the Red Sox stay away from the newest cancer out there, ARod. I’d warn other teams to do the same as well.

Lots of news coming out of Beantown with the Boston Red Sox so let’s jump right into it.

Yesterday, I had found an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette saying that Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell had removed himself from the running for the Pirates managerial position. Today, Farrell released a statement confirming this:

“While I do have aspirations to manage in the major leagues in the future, my commitment to John, Tom, Larry, Theo, Tito, and the Red Sox, needs to be greater than one year for their faith in hiring me as their pitching coach. Therefore I have declined the opportunity to interview for the position of Pittsburgh Pirates manager. I look forward to contributing to and competing for another World Series title here in Boston.”

The Boston Globe emailed Curt Schilling for his thoughts on Farrell returning to the club and this is what Schilling had to say:

John Farrell is a HUGE part of the equation, not just for me either. He’s as good as anyone I’ve ever worked with and probably the most over qualified pitching coach in the world. This guy is a GM already. I think him doing what he’s doing is a testament to his love for the game more than anything.

This guy gets it on so many levels, personal and professional. While I would claim we are very close friends, he was always my coach first, which is something I desperately need at this point in my career. He’s as upfront and honest as you could ever hope someone in his position would be.

Add to that he’s as genuine and nice as anyone I’ve ever met. One of my real pleasures in life is the ability to rag him about the fact that he wears a 10 5/8 hat, or something close to it.

Good pitching coach, better person.

More from Schilling after the jump.

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This Week

The New England Patriots visit their most bitter AFC rival and defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis IN. Kickoff is at 4:15 p.m. This is the first ever meeting in NFL history between two teams at least 7-0.

The Patriots are 4-0 on the road this season and 6-0 in the AFC. The Colts are 3-0 at home and 5-0 in the AFC.

Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Colts.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -5. The over/under is 56.5.

My prediction is Patriots 34, Colts, 28. Give the points and take the over. I am 8-0 against the spread and have called the over/under seven out of eight times in 2007.

Tickets

The Colts are reporting the game as a sell out.

Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.

Getting To The Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the Indianapolis make sure you check out the links.

There is no weather information as the game will played indoors.

The Colts will be collecting canned foods and non-perishable food items as they team up with a local supermarket , Meijers, and Gleaners Food Bank for the second year and the “Sacking Hunger” program. Items will be collected outside the RCA Dome from 2:15 p.m. until kickoff two hours later. If you’re going to the game, show them what makes Pats fans great and donate some items.

Click for stadium directions, parking and stadium information, and a RCA Dome seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a little addition for this week and the rest of the season game previews. I’ve always loved this site and I’ve even tried some of the recipes.

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS is televising the game, and it is cleared for nearly the entire country. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Jim Nantz with Phil Simms doing game analysis. You can check here to see if you are getting the game from CBS and look for your local CBS Station.

Radio

The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.

It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresch and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.

The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.

Check this out for the low down on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and stations in your area.

If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 122, the Colts radio call is available on Channel 123.

The game can be heard nationally on Westwood One. Bill Rosinski and Dan Reeves will call the game.

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Day 5 of the offseason is upon us and Mike Lowell still hasn’t filed for free agency yet. Is this a good thing or bad thing. We can only hope that it is a good thing. The biggest news yesterday was that Doug Mirabelli filed for free agency. I think that move was just a formality as more than likely Tim Wakefield will be back next season, meaning that Mirabelli would be re-signed. So while you’re waiting for happy hour, check out these stories from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Fans catch treat at Varitek home [Boston Globe]

Lucchino: Focus to be on Lowell [Boston Herald]

Is Lowell a keeper? [Boston Globe]

Historic matchup [Boston Herald]

Mirabelli files for free agency [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Providence Journal, and Hartford Courant websites.