okay, this probably won't turn out quite right, but the results of the "Foot and Ball Guys" draft tonight are below the fold.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Travelogue: The Calf’s First Twins Game
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I had meant to share the story from my time next to the Twins bullpen last week in a Cup of Coffee but hadn't gotten a chance yet. Here are a couple of fun parts of the trip.
The herd and I arrived to the Twins/Indians game last week about an hour before first pitch. We left Buffalo around 7:30am for a 12:10 first pitch. The hope was that the Calf would get a little bit of sleep before the game during the 3.5 hour car trip as his usually nap time falls between 12:10pm and 3:00pm. Naturally, he finally fell asleep when we were about 30 minutes outside of Cleveland. This was not before he learned how to undue his car seat buckle though. Seriously, the calf is 18 months old. How did he figure out how these things work already? It took me about a week and a half before I figured how his car seat works. Anyway, onto the trip. I am going to share a couple of photos. Those who are friends with me on the internet may have seen some of these already but I will share again as I think they add to the story.
Believe it or not I haven't taken the Calf to see a Bisons game yet. For some reason I wanted his first game to be a Twins game. Thinking about it now it probably wasn't the best idea but he responded extremely well to the large crowd.
Messing Around with the 1987 Bill James Abstract
Last November, Sheenie and I were in Duluth for a wedding and wandered around town. We stumbled upon an antique store that had a massive collection of books on the second floor. Eventually, we ended up leaving with about $40 in books (which mean about fifteen books). Among the ones I snagged was The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1987. I slowly flipped through it in recent months and found a few items particularly interesting.
Continue reading Messing Around with the 1987 Bill James Abstract
Pint-Sized Reviews: Port Brewing Old Viscosity Ale
It's after noon, so I think it is safe to talk about beer on a sunday. 'specially since it is my birfday.
I bought this bad boy at a Bevmo in Vacaville last weekend, on the way home from Oakland, where the Boy got himself a fancy-dancy trombone as his graduation present. Said trombone got a nice workout on Friday at the local pizzeria when his jazz quintet played a gig, in return for pizza and tips. The crowd consisted mostly of parents of the quint, plus a table-full of their friends, but we had a great time, and the pizzeria did a nice chunk of extra business.
This was my early present to myself, after a tasty dinner of baked beans, roasted chiles, and BBQ'd beef ribs. Mmm, dinosaur bones! Hard to resist when they are only a couple of bucks per pound and pretty meaty. I gave them a nice rub, let them stand for an hour, then smoked (indirect heat) for ~45 minutes over hickory chips and charcoal, finishing with just a couple of minutes on direct heat to crisp up the undersides. Fatty, smokey deliciousness.
And this was dessert. Port Brewing is the extension of the venerable and venerated Pizza Port. If you are ever in the San Diego area, I highly recommend a trip to the mothership in Solano Beach (although they now have locations in Ocean Beach, Carlsbad, and San Clemente as well). Excellent pizza, and a bitchin' beer selection. Each location has its own lineup.
Port Brewing was spun off in 2006, locating in Stone Brewing's former facilities. Named Small Brewery of the Year at the 2007 GABF, and Champion Small Brewery at the 2008 World Beer Cup, these guys know what they are doing.
The Old Viscosity Ale is a strong ale that reads like a Russian Imperial Stout. This is a sipping beer that really should be shared with friends. But it is so good you may be tempted (as I was) to keep it all to yourself. Consider yourself warned.
Continue reading Pint-Sized Reviews: Port Brewing Old Viscosity Ale
Pint-Sized Reviews: Strubbe’s Grand Cru Flemish Red Ale
I finished my book o' the month early this month, so I decided to sit down to celebrate and to write up the First Monday post. This seemed like a good time to crack open a bottle of something that I hoped would be special, or at least different.
Strubbe's Grand Cru Flemish Red Ale is a Flanders-style sour ale from Brouwerij Strubbe, a family-owned and -operated brewery in Ichtegem, Belgium. Somewhat weirdly, the firm also produces a second Flanders-style red ale, called Ichtegem's Grand Cru, first produced in 2006. It is unclear from their website whether these are actually different beers, even though they sport different labels.
The Flanders Red Ale style is a sour ale style. Unlike lambics, which traditionally are open-air fermented in musty old barns infected with Brettanomyces yeasts, leading to their characteristic flavor profile, some Flanders Red Ales apparently get their tang and pucker from the addition of Lactobacillus during fermentation, which adds lactic acid. In addition, they typically are aged for a year or longer in oak barrels, adding a further acidic note (from acetic acid). They tend to have very fruity noses and flavors (tart cherries, plums, raspberries), despite not actually having any fruit in the wort.
I am a sucker for sour ale styles, from traditional lambics (which typically are fruit-flavored) to gueueze (a non-fruity lambic style, but if it had been invented by Americans would probably be called an Imperial or Double or Triple Lambic, because it is seriously funked up) to Flanders reds.
The Strubbe's version of a Flanders red hits most of the traditional notes. It has a pretty, deep amber-red color, low carbonation, lots of tart cherry notes, and some sourness and astringency. It's a fine sipping beer.
Unfortunately, it's not a great beer for the style. For an analogy, I'd put it on about a Blue Moon level on the witbier scale, far below something like the Allagash White, but nothing you'd be embarrassed to serve to friends. For that, you'll need to pony up for the Rodenbach Grand Cru (oh, yea!) or Duchess De Bourgogne (mmmmm). And if somebody in upstate New York were to some how send me one of these (draft only, sadly, and apparently no longer produced??), I would be eternally grateful.
That said, there's nothing ordinary about Flanders red ales. If you've never had one and your palate is even a wee bit adventurous, I'd urge you to give one a try.
NBA Season Review/Playoff Preview
SBG and myself, without having any idea how to record a podcast, decided to trade some e-mails in a NBA season review/playoff preview. Below are the results from those e-mails. if you want to practice basketball, then you can get things from Mega Slam Australia
Season review time, who are your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd All-NBA teams
SBG: CP3, Wade, LBJ, Love, Howard -- Kobe almost gets the nod at the two primarily because Wade a lot of games. Wade's better, although I don't think he and LBJ on the same team is a good fit.
FTLT: It looks like we are going to have some disagreements right from the start. CP3 and LBJ deserve their spot on the first team, for sure. I would love to be able to to include Love on the first team but I can't justify starting him over Durant. I really went back and forth between Bynum and Howard as a first team player. I wanted to stick it to Howard but his numbers are just better than Bynum. My starting 2 guard? Has to be Kobe. To paraphrase Sports Fella here he had a vintage Iverson season and I'd take that over D-Wade. CP3-Kobe-LBJ-Durant-Howard
SBG: 2nd Team: Westbrook, Kobe, Durant, Aldridge, Garnett -- Maybe my bias is showing a little, but good God has KG been an animal over the last couple of months. Durant's a top fiver, for sure and arguably a top-twoer, but he's not better than LBJ. It's not close.
FTLT: Bynum-Love-Josh Smith-Westbrook-Tony Parker. You are doing a much better job that me in sticking to real positions with the ALL-NBA selections. I can justify Josh Smith as a 3 in my head and let's be serious, Russell Westbrook is really a 2 guard masquerading as a point guard anyway. As for Parker, he almost averaged 18/8 as the best player on the Western Conference's 1 seed. That deserves a seat at the table.
SBG: 3rd Team: Parker, Harden, Anthony, Griffin, Bynum -- There are two great small forwards in the game. They are probably also the best two players in the league. The drop off from those guys to the third guy is just as huge as the Shaq, 'Zo, Laettner draft.
FTLT: Marc Gasol-Millsap-Aldridge-Joe Johnson-Deron Williams. Not a lot of great small forwards out there, you are right. As a result I went with a couple of power forwards on the third team.
Also, you may have noticed I omitted Carmelo, Wade and Griffin. I really feel that I only need to justify Wade. He is a great player but if we are going to knock Rose of of the all NBA teams I think it is fair to do the same to Wade. Dude missed almost 20% of the season.
Moving onto the awards, first off, MVP:
SBG: LeBron James. In a rout. No question. The Heat are 12-1 when Wade sits.
FTLT: No contest. Next up, Most Improved:
SBG: Nicola Pekovic. Dude was a brutish foul machine last year and this year, he was a talented big man with terrific feet, an incredible knack for establishing low position, and he looks for all the world to be a potential all-star in the future.
FTLT: And we agree on another. You can make an argument for Ersan Ilyasova, I won't but you could. Pek all the way. I think we can both agree on Rookie of the year (Irving) and 6th man (Harden). Who takes defensive player of the year?
SBG: Kevin Garnett. Okay, I'm biased, but this guy has been terrific. Just an absolute monster like in the good old days.
FTLT: Consider this my formal apology to Tyson Chandler. I mocked his contract in our podcast. Through one season, I was wrong. Chandler 1, Dwight 2, Michael Beasley, last.
Moving past the awards, what team surprised you the most this season?
SBG: San Antonio -- sure they were the number 1 seed in the West last year, too. I'm stunned that they are back in that position.
FTLT: I can't believe the Spurs are the one seed in the West this season. It defies logic. We all thought that the condensed schedule would be too much for their old legs. We were wrong. I am a little worried about the first round match up with the Jazz. It was Memphis' bigs that created match up problems for San Antonio last year and Utah has some big bodies in BAJ, Millsap, Favors, and Kanter.
I am going to go in a different direction for biggest surprise team though-- I am thinking the Clippers. ESPN was crowning them as Western Conference Champs before the season started. It turns out that Chris Paul's situation is not all that different than it was in NOLA. Then again, I would probably take a healthy David West over Blake Griffin. Then again, I am a certified Blake hater.
Were there any teams that you really enjoyed watching this that you expect to make huge strides next season, Wolves excluded?
SBG: I don't know. Golden State? They might be somebody.
FTLT: I really liked watching Milwaulkee with the Jennings/Ellis back court. I like the GSW pick though. It will be interesting to see what happens once Bogut suits up for them next season.
Enough about the regular season though. Let's talk playoffs What is your favorite first round matchup?
SBG: Memphis/Clippers should be good. I expect that Memphis wins that, though. I think the top four seeds will win rather easily in the East. Maybe OKC/Dallas could be interesting, but I don't think things will heat up until the second round.
FTLT: I am right with your on Memphis/LAC. I am going to take a nap tomorrow afternoon just to make sure that I can stay up for the whole game . It is funny that you mention OKC/Dallas as a possible upset. I was thinking the exact same thing. There is just something about this OKC team I don't trust right now. Between Harden possibly being hurt, OKC's big guns being content taking jump shots, and OKC's crunch time line up featuring Derek Fisher I am not as nuts about this team as I was two months ago. If gambling were legal I would put some down on Dallas +350 to win the series.
How about some additional predictions for the rest of the playoffs?
SBG: Lakers make the WCF along with SA. Spurs win the West. Boston/Miami made the ECF. Boston wins the East.
Garnett and the Celtics take down Timmy and the Spurs.
Okay, a girl can dream.
I think that Miami will get it done. They will beat the Thunder in six.
FTLT: I know I got a little ahead of myself with my last answer but I see a WCF of Lakers/Grizz and ECF of Chicago to play the winner of the Knicks/Heat series. For some reason I can't shake this Knicks team. I just feel like they have an upset or two in them. I see a Memphis/Chicago final with the Grizz taking the title in 7.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the season, your picks for NBA awards and your predictions for the playoffs in LTE form below.
Pint-Sized Reviews: Drinking in Prague – The Beers (Pivo)
As most of you all know, I've recently returned from spending about 9 weeks in Prague. This is going to be a two-part review of my drinking in Prague, which will cover the different beers I was fortunate enough to consume. Part II, sometime next week, will cover my favorite drinking establishments. Continue reading Pint-Sized Reviews: Drinking in Prague – The Beers (Pivo)
Race to the Bottom
Someone suggested that it's time for a race to the bottom. Well, it's a little early for the sidebar (the Twins are currently in 31st place for most losses in a season in franchise history, that makes for a long list on the sidebar).
However, I took the time to put the list together, below the fold.
Brew Day Melee – American Amber Ale
For the second installment of the Brew Day Melee, I decided to make an American Amber Ale. I'm running low with both my kegs, so I'll need something that can be turned around fairly quickly to get one filled back up. It will serve a far greater purpose as I plan to wash its yeast after primary fermentation for use in this year's barleywine.
I'll get to the recipe after the jump...
Brewday Melee – Cheaptoy Blonde Ale
A challenge was put forth to brew a blonde ale with a butt load of hops, mostly from my using my beer recipe software incorrectly. It is a style notable for its easy drinking feel, brownish-yellow (very, very light on the brown) complexion, and malt forward taste. In a moment of inspiration (thanks nibbish) I set out to craft the recipe and initially came up with a brew utilizing 1.5 oz. of Simcoe hops for bittering, .5 oz. of Simcoe and 1.0 oz. of Amarillo for flavor. Sadly, a trip to the brewstore turned up empty of Simcoe, so I audibled to Columbus hops (14.4% alpha-acid) for bittering and flavor. So, in the end, my recipe looks as it does after the jump.