4B - Thursday, November 1, 2012 a The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4B -Thursday, November 1,2012 tlit b-Si(IC The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom FOOD COLUMN Chowing down on best of chips and dips ILLUSTRATED BY KRISTEN CLEGHORN Fulfillin fantasies at ' Football fans find community, culture in online game By ANDREW ECKHOUS DailyArts Writer When you grow up, odds are you will not play in the NFL. For most of us not lucky enough to be nicknamed "Shoe- lace," childhood dreams of grid- iron glory will soon be smacked in the face by reality. Only a min- iscule percentage will ever actu- ally "suit up." But football stardom is still achievable in the digital realm. "Fantasy football doesn't run my life, but it's a big factor in it," LSA senior Jay Sarkar chuckled. Fantasy football is one of America's fastest-growing hob- bies. Usually between eight and 12 friends, coworkers or fam- ily members will form an online league and draft real-life foot- ball players to their "teams." A player's game day perfor- mance will earn the "manager" of that team points, and can help him or her get a win for that week. Different game events are given varying point values, with touchdowns and yards as positives and interceptions and fumbles as negatives. Each team has its "sleepers," "sure things" and "hometown heroes." Fantasy sports participation has increased by almost 400 percent since 2005, from 9 mil- lion to almost 34 million partici- pants, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. With rapid ascent has emerged a pervasive culture. Some websites and magazines deal exclusively with fantasy football, and some restaurants offer perks for holding "draft day" in their establishment. FX even has a wildly popular televi- sion series about fantasy football called, what else, "The League." Many students, like Sarkar, say fantasy football is a method of making the NFL a more.inter- active league. "I'd gotten into the NFL in, probably, third or fourth grade, and some of the older kids said I should play fantasy football," he said. "I said 'What's that?' and they told me 'Think of it as a video game, just it relies a lot more on real life."' To demonstrate his contin- ued domination of his league, Sarkar ordered himself a gaudy, WWE-style championship belt, evidence of his four straight championships. Animated trash-talk, like Sarkar's nod to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is a common aspect of fantasy football. Wheth- er through rude text messages or a well-timed "woo!" shouted in an opponent's face, rivalry - wheth- er friendly or not - is an integral part of the experience. The participants in LSA senior Stef Manisero's league like to raise the stakes, and in week five, things got hairy - literally. "Two girls were playing each other and whoever lost had to wax our friend's back," she explained. "It already grew back though." Besides testing relationships with all of your closest friends, fantasy football also makes sports more engaging. For those who won't ever throw on a Lions jersey or a coach's headset, fan- tasy football is the next best thing. It adds a sense of strategy to watching sports - something sorely missed by athletes who didn't make it past high school. Fantasy football transforms armchair quarterbacks into heroes, and moves glory from the playing field to the digital realm. Enthusiastic managers can and will talk about their "monster week" to anyone who will listen. "If I'm talking to you about my team, you don't care, but you can't wait to tell me about yours," said LSA senior Mike Dewitt, who plays in Sarkar's league. "But actually, I think that fantasy helps people who want more out of the NFL get more out of it." Dewitt also explained that fantasy football can drastically affect perception of a player. "NFL players can make them- selves heroes by being good fan- tasy players, or they can make themselves villains by underper- forming," he added. Dewitt and Sarkar have both formed allegiances to players as a direct result of fantasy football. "I drafted LaDainian Tomlin- son three years in a row, and those were his three studliest years. After that, L.T. became a player I cheered for every year because I felt like he did something to help me out," Dewitt said. Sarkar takes his devotion a little more seriously. "Whoever is my biggest fan- tasy stud of the year, half of the time I'll end up buying his jer- sey," Sarkar revealed. "People will tell me 'Oh, you're a fair- weather fan!' I got knocked for buying a (Houston Texans defensive end) JJ Watt jersey. But, I loved him at Wisconsin, I love him in the pros, and maybe I own the Houston Texans defense." There are priorities that out- weigh fantasy football, though, as most football fans will tell you. Engineering senior Rick Lorenz, a Detroit Lions fan who plays in a league for money, chooses his heart over his pock- etbook every time. "Tom Brady is my starting fantasy quarterback, but if the Lions and Patriots are playing, I will not be upset if the Lions shut out Tom Brady and he gets me negative points." But that doesn't mean loyalty affects his strategy. "I set the best fantasy lineup possible every week. I don't take fan loyalty into effect," he explained. It's not all about what's hap- pening on the gridiron, though - Dewitt, Manisero, Sarkar and Lorenz all agreed that making a team name is a time-consuming process. While there are surely many people who skip the agony involved in crafting a wittier- than-thou team name, most will indulge. A good name will usually involve some form of football pun: In Lorenz's league there are team names like "My Vick ina Box," "Breaston Plants" and "Show Me Your TDs" (sound that one out when your little brother isn't around). While fantasy football does exude some hypermasculine characteristics thanks to its association with American sports culture, it's not necessar- ily a man's world out there. Man- isero is sitting at second place in her league - which is split half men and half women - and her only competition is first place LSA senior Rachel Nitzkin. "I wasn't going to play, but they needed another person, so I did it and now, I'm addicted," Nitzkin said. Nitzkin, who had not been a serious football fan before, said fantasy has helped her under- stand and-enjoy the game. "I know what a receiver and a running back is now," Nitzkin bragged. "I learned so much. I was in my 8:30 class trying to pick between Kyle Rudolph and Jimmy Graham this week. I still have some research to do." Fantasy football does serve purposes other than competi- tion. For Dewitt, his league with high school friends is an anchor for their friendship. "I think it's more to keep us in touch than for us to play fantasy football and win," Dewitt said. What started out in middle school as a way "just to hang out with the guys" has become a way to check in with friends on a week-to-week basis. There is' no money involved in the league, it's simply a way of staying close, albeit remotely. While fantasy football die- hards are not out pre-gaming before noon like their Michigan football fan counterparts, they are equally dedicated. Some managers spend hours research- ing before the draft and just as long adjusting their rosters every week before Sunday kick- off. Fantasy enthusiasts may not be committed enough to pound seven shots of bottom-shelf vodka in a row, but their enthu- siasm is still palpable. Just ask any fantasy nut in the middle of a given week. By then, they may be halfway done complaining. A s many of you probably know, oldest children often get screwed out of something. And in my family, this was especially evident with the food I was allowede to eat - eat a fruit and a vegetable at every meal, if I wanted des- sert. Snack options NATHAN included WOOD carrots and apples, and junk food was almost never available. This included chips and dip. But every once and a while, my mom - a closet chips- and-dip lover - couldn't resist buying a bag and a pint of dip. And those were the days that heaven came down to Earth. Fast-forward 15 years, and here I am, still obsessed with chips and dip. IShave literally walked four miles in a blizzard to satisfy a craving, my grandma lures me to come visit her by keeping them on hand and every time I have to drive my friends to Meijer, they're the only things in my basket at checkout. So let's pop open a couple bags of my favorites. Favorite Flavored Chip: Better Made Barbecue Not only are these the best barbecue chips on the market, but they're also made in Detroit! Take caution not to confuse them with the same brand's Sweet Barbeque offering, which is far inferior. Confessions of a chip and dip addict. These chips boast a beauti- ful, light rust color and from the very first bite exude a forceful dichotomy of sweet and spice. If you have the willpower to let the flavors ruminate on your taste buds, undertones of smokiness and acidity also slowly elevate. My only complaint is that the chips could use more salt: A single serving doesn't even hit the double digits for my percent daily allowance of sodium! I mean, come on. You'll probably notice as you mow down on the bag that there are a select few dark orange chips. If you're sharing the bag with someone, fight over these chips. They are beautiful disas- ters chock-full of flavor - simply da bomb. And while dip for these Better Made chips is definitely not necessary, I do humbly rec- ommend pairing them with another Detroit classic, Faygo Redpop. Favorite Hipster Chips and Dip: Trader Joe's Ridge Cut Salt & Pepper Potato Chips and Caramelized Onion Dip Alone, these chips aren't spectacular. They are incredibly thick and crunchy, surprisingly punchy from the black pepper and ground jalapeno pepper seasonings and saturated in oil. And - in the manner of all things Trader Joe's - they some- how seem more down-to-earth. I just can't get over how greasy they are. But, because these chips are so sturdy, they're perfect for dip- ping, namely with the Joe's extra thick caramelized onion dip. The base is a trio of sour cream, cream cheese and the real sur- prise: mayonnaise. It's tangy and strikingly sweet with a nice mouthfeel (yes, that really is a culinary term) and is rich, with satisfyingly large and numer- ous chunks of onion. It has a mild lemon flavor in the back- ground serving to brighten the dip, yielding an acidic bite and contrasting nicely with the dark, black peppertones of the above chip. The caramelized onions are a hearty and warm deviation from the norm. And when these chips and dip come together, the collisions of warm and cool, sweet and salty, spicy and acidic and creamy and crunchy are simply irresistible. Unfortunately, though, not every city has a Trader Joe's (ahem my hometown), so when I'm home, IScan only enjoy this dip if I make it myself. And thus, I present my homemade replica- tion of Trader Joe's Caramelized Onion Dip: Ingredients: 2 Vidalia onions 2 tablespoons butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sour cream 1/2cup mayonnaise 3 ounces cream cheese 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Directions: Thinly slice the onions and cook in butter over lowheat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover the onions and continue cooking for 15 more minutes, still stirring occasionally. Add the salt to the onions, stir and cook* uncovered for five final minutes. Remove the onions from the heat and roughly chop. Let them cool. Whisk the rest of the ingre- dients together ina small bowl. Gently stir in the onions. Chill for an hour, and enjoy! Far classier than your stan- dard store-bought ranch dip, this caramelized onion concoction would also make a great accom- paniment for fresh crudits or cold crostini. And while these chips and dips are a great start, I still have another couple of favorites up my sleeve, including a "Classic" combination no one can resist. And so it is with great anticipa- tion that I pause my chip evalu- ation project for a few of weeks and leave you with three infa- mous words: To be continued ... Wood is double-dipping his chips. To stop him, e-mail nisaacw@umich.edu. I 6 4 0 6 a WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ISSUES WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ISSUES ON THIS YEAR'S BALLOT? COME TO THE 2012 ELECTION FORUM. TODAY AT 7 P.M. 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