Game Day Dip

and a play-by-play of my football journey

Oct 08, 2023

I brought The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, a book I still have yet to finish.

The leaves shimmered golden, and a soft, chill wind rustled through them. The car window froze my cheek when I leaned against it; a wool scarf leaked out of the top of my jacket, tickling my nose.

I was fifteen and grumpy. A not unusual emotional state for a teenager. But I was trying to stay upbeat.

The Naval Academy team was playing the Air Force Academy on the first Saturday of October, an apparently long-standing tradition, and we were going with a big group of our long-standing friends.

My book sat in my lap through the drive; it sat in my lap while we tailgated in camp chairs. It remained unopened until we got to the stands. Everyone stood around me as I vainly (and in vain) cracked the spine and tried to concentrate.

It was a point of pride for me to not care about football. In the South, it felt like on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays the entire world got collective tunnel-vision and became physically unable to talk about anything but football (against a backdrop of crunching pork rinds and Kenny Chesney).

I did try. I did. To learn the rules and to care. But at some point, the wild and immature rebellion of teenage years (which in myself manifested in an often pretentious obsession with reading old books, riding beautiful horses, eating fine food, and performing classical music) won out.

I told my friend recently that I used to hate football. She responded with “Well, that’s fair.” And I said, “No, no. I was pretentious about it.”

For years, I’d agree to sit with my dad to watch the game only if I was allowed to talk about anything but the game.

And then the “Quarterback” documentary came out. My husband was stuck when the company truck broke down out-of-the-blue in the middle of Missouri, so I was stuck at home alone. My dad had suggested I watch the documentary in what felt like a last ditch effort to make me care about football.

So I turned it on, wanting to engage but expecting to be bored out of my mind.

But I loved it. Turn pretty much anything into a story with emotion and a through-line, and I’m in. That’s why I cry during the Olympics (the sheer amount of work these people put in!). I fell deep into the season storyline of each of the quarterbacks, and I was particularly fascinated with Mahomes’ tactics, the way he and Andy Reid and the entire Chiefs team work together to create plays that subvert the expectations and the training of other teams in the league.

I blew through the documentary; I watched it three times in one week. My dad looked at me like I was an alien the first time I talked to him after I watched it. “I mean, it’s incredible, that 98-yard drive Chad Henne led when Mahomes got injured. No one throws like Mahomes in the red zone, and really, there’s no offense like the Chiefs’ in the red zone, and Henne stepped up.”

His jaw dropped.

It was embarrassing at the beginning of this season to tell people I was a Chiefs fan. I live in Colorado, a land of Kansan diaspora and an old and intense Broncos/Chiefs rivalry.

But I studied up over the summer, pouring over definitions and learning the positions (I still embarrassingly confuse tight ends and wide receivers, but in my defense this is partly because of the way Andy Reid plays his offensive line with guys like Kelce who block as well as they run). I subscribed to the Chiefs youtube channel and listened to the “New Heights” podcast. I followed the preseason games and bombarded my dad with tactic questions every time I saw him.

The season started, and I spent that afternoon at my parents’ house. It was Lions at Chiefs, and it was a good game, although it ended 21-20 for the Lions.

This has been a season of expansion for my entertainment horizons. I feel like I’ve been giving American pastimes a fair shake — I’ve gotten into football, I let one of my friends together with one of my sisters-in-law convince me to like a few Taylor Swift songs.

I gave several albums a chance, and found there were a handful of songs that I really grew to love (my Era is “Evermore” if you wanted to know).

I was proud of my growth. I no longer felt a childish need to put down what other people like.

And then Taylor Swift showed up at a Chiefs game.

And now I feel a pressing and undeniable need to explain my journey with both football and Taylor Swift so that people everywhere can know, unequivocally, without a doubt that:

I, Juliana Rae Nicewarner, am not watching the game this Sunday to see if Taylor Swift shows up. Even though I like both her and the Chiefs now, I don’t care if she’s in the stands. I want to see Kirk Cousins, an often underrated quarterback in the league, face off against Patrick Mahomes. I want to learn more about the game I’m learning to love. If Kelce gets hit, I will not say he should “shake it off.” If Mahomes throws an incomplete pass, I will not say he was aiming for “blank space.” If Kelce seems unfocused, I will not say, “Look what she made him do.”

So, you see, I’ve gone from a pretentious hatred of football to a pretentious love of it. Don’t associate me with those other new fans, I’m a serious football fan.

Oh, well. I just don’t want any bad blood.

Anyway, the pregame show starts in a few minutes, and I’ve gotta finish setting out the chips and dip. It’s Chiefs (3-1) at Vikings (1-3), and I can’t miss a second.

Game Day Dip

You will need:

For the beans

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder

2 (15 oz) cans beans, rinsed (I used black beans because it’s what I had, but I would recommend pinto beans instead for a more smooth texture)

8 oz canned green chiles, drain and set liquid aside

1 Tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the sweet potatoes

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

For the Queso

1 Tablespoon flour

1 cup milk (I use almond or oat)

Liquid from canned green chiles (about 2 teaspoons)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Dash of salt

1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated

For serving

2 avocados, chopped

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1/4 cup cilantro, snipped with scissors

Corn tortilla chips

What to do:

First, roast the sweet potatoes. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Pour the potatoes and oil into a roasting pan and cook covered in foil for about 30 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until they are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside (30 minutes to 1 hour longer).

To make the beans, heat the butter an olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling. Turn the heat to medium-low, and add the onions. Stir frequently until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the garlic, cumin, and chipotle powder and let cook until it becomes fragrant.

Add the green chiles, beans, and salt. Let this cook for 1-2 minutes, then fill one of the empty black bean cans with water and pour that into the pan, stirring the mixture. Bring this to a simmer, then mash with a fork or potato masher until its the desired consistency (smooth but not puréed). Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off the heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar. Set aside.

To make the queso, melt the butter in small saucepan on medium heat. Once the butter is melted, slowly add flour to the melted butter, whisking constantly to create a rue. Let this cook for a couple more minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth, thickened, and slightly browned.

Slowly add the milk, green chile liquid, and the spices to the rue, whisking constantly. Let simmer for another couple of minutes, until lightly bubbling and heated through. Slowly add both kinds of shredded cheese, whisking constantly. Let simmer another couple of minutes until fully melted into a thick sauce.

Pour the queso over the beans, and then top this with the roasted sweet potatoes. Layer the sour cream, salsa, and avocados over this, then sprinkle with the red onions and cilantro.

Enjoy!

What is your favorite game day app?

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