MSU News & Notes | April 9, 2016

Here are some MSU news and notes for your Saturday.

1. State lost to #1 Florida on Friday night, 8-2. The Bulldogs got out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning, which looked great with Dakota Hudson pitching. The Gators scored an unearned run in the 3rd, so Hudson was able to carry his streak of not allowing an earned run to 34.2 innings when he finally gave one up in the 5th.

That 5th inning was pretty much a disaster. Hudson didn’t give up a hit through the first four and then Florida had seven straight men reach base including six base hits. They scored five runs in the inning to take a 6-2 lead.

Game 2 will be at 6:00 Central on SEC Network+.

2. The new Dudy Noble Field will begin construction in the summer of 2017. It will cost $55 million instead of the original estimate of $40 million.

I have to imagine the reason we are not starting construction in the summer of 2016 is that 38 PERCENT INCREASE IN COST. This happens for one of two reasons:

• Stricklin didn’t get enough budget estimates and the GC who did give him one botched it severely.
• As per the usual, once architects got a hold of it they drew a stadium without any regard to cost.

Someone in Stricklin’s position needs to hire a construction management firm/person to handle this entire process. I’m 90% sure he did this, so I’m not placing blame on him, but the construction managers should be fired. They should’ve gotten multiple budget estimates to make sure the estimated costs would be accurate, and then stayed on top of the architects so they don’t run wild.

As someone in the construction field, I was surprised the initial renderings would only cost $40 million. So I think this error is squarely on the shoulders of a bad budget estimate.

I guess folks who don’t want to give up the current Left Field Lounge setup will have another year to enjoy it as is.

3. Next weekend is Super Bulldog Weekend. Here is the schedule.

4. Aside from the big weekend series at #1 Florida, the other sporting event most are paying attention to is The Masters. While I’ve liked Jordan Speith ever since he burst onto the scene last year, I am now a big fan of his after reading this piece.

5. Food time. Today let’s go over the breakfast ritual of french toast.

I’m a huge french toast fan. There’s three levels of bread you can use: regular sliced, English muffins, french toast. Regular sliced is just okay, English muffins a little better and french bread is the best.

The key with the french toast is to cut it up into slices and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for about five minutes. This helps it to dry out more and absorb the custard.

To make the custard, empty egg yokes (with only a little bit of the egg white) into a bowl. I use one egg for every two slices of toast. Then add some half and half (heavy cream and milk) to it, and vanilla extract. I don’t measure any of this – just make sure it’s a dark yellow mixture when you stir it together.

Get every square inch of the toast covered with the custard, then cook it in a skillet until it’s got some brown markings on the bread.

Next: Top 10 Moments of the Scott Stricklin Era

After the bread is done, take some ground cinnamon and confectioners sugar and mix it together on a plate. Pat the bread on the cinnamon and sugar so that it sticks to the surface. Throw a little bit of syrup on top and you’ve got yourself a delicious weekend breakfast.