Happy Sunday

Brett Favre lost.... that is all.

You can't be serious....

Lane Kiffin. Yup. You. What the hell did you just do? You had one year at a HUGE football school like Tennessee (yes their stadium holds over 100,000 people!!!) to go back to USC. Granted, USC is a good gig, don't get me wrong. But, seriously, you could have been a GOD in Knoxville. They revere college football down there (They like it in LA, but basketball is king there). I mean this is SEC FOOTBALL!!! There is very little that can even come close to touching that. But, the bright lights are calling to you I suppose. I hope the lights fall off their scaffolding and smash you into that lovely LA pavement. If you are trying to become Bobby Petrino, you are well on your way. Good luck with that one. He is nearly as scummy. Except he actually stays places a bit longer than a year.

I feel awful for Vols fans. And this is coming from the guy who is a Hokie and is still overjoyed how VT just whipped up on your team in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (did I mention how much I love Chick-Fil-A?). You have just made an enemy out of an entire state. Way to go. That takes talent. You had such a good thing going there in Knoxville. You had good classes coming in, a great stadium to play in, and a conference that looked like it may be getting a bit easier to control on your side with Meyer maybe being out of things. But you go to the west coast and need to take a run at the Pac-10. Guess what? The Pac-10 SUCKS compared to the SEC. Nowhere near as good. Hell, at this time, the Mountain West may be a better conference (probably not but still). I will say I think it is getting better but it still will never be the SEC. Nothing is. You will regret this for sure.

I remember I used to really love USC. As a kid, watching the games on tv, that was the college I wanted to go to. I wanted to be a Trojan. I continued liking them as I got older. Always sort of wanted to pull for them. Then they got really good with Pete Carroll. Hey, even better. Fun team to watch with lots of talent. Awesome. Now, I won't be watching any of their games unless it is to pray that they lose. Can anyone say go Oregon?!? I hope you fall flat out there Kiffin. You will get what is coming to you I guess, one way or the other.

Tennessee fans, you deserved better. Good luck in getting that.

Green Bay / Arizona, Chapman, et al.

So, wow! What a game yesterday afternoon between Green Bay and Arizona. That was just one of the single most entertaining games I have sat around and watched in ages..... and I really don't get into pro football too much. It was just back and forth and just fun. Great plays by both teams. No defense but those offenses were just so good that I wonder how much was D and how much was just that the QB's and receivers were just that good. But a game for the ages as far as I am concerned. Dramatic and all. Went to overtime even! Just lots of fun to watch. Good job guys. Yeah the Pats game.... ugly. Whatever. Would have been nice if they had won, but I am not invested in them. Now if VT had lost like that, I would be wreck after watching it. I probably would not have made it through the game as I would have sick to my stomach.

So, Aroldis Chapman was signed to a five-year, $25 million deal. I am really surprised the Red Sox didn't get more into this. Apparently they had backed out a while back and never got back in. Not really at least. But the Reds? Really? That team just seems to have a lot of organizational issues. Can they afford to do something like this? I don't know. I don't think so. They have so much money tied up right now that it just seems like a scary move on their end. It could pay off, but I wouldn't put money on it. Big market teams can handle burning $25 million without an issue. But, a team from Cincinnati has to be smarter than that. They must be REAL sure he is the guy. I hope for their sake he is.

Haven't had too much to say about beer lately. I have a ton of things to drink right now. I still have the Great Lakes Christmas (which is growing on me), a ton of Clipper City Marz-hon, a Lancaster mix-pack, and a lot of nicer beers. I am almost through my Christmas gift from my wife of the Unibroue mix packs. I really prefer the dark pack over the light pack. And it isn't just due to the higher alcohol beers. Every single one of the dark pack has been great. I still have one more to try from there and I am sure I will love it. I have one of the light pack as well, but the only one I really have enjoyed from that pack was the Blanche de Chambly. That was a really nice wit beer all in all. But, the Ephemere and Chambly Noire were definitely nothing special. Maybe I will do an actual review on the last one I have left from the dark pack (Maudite is the one I believe). Yeah, that will work. Hopefully I will get it done this week.

Oh yeah, great comic here for all of the physics nuts out there (like me!). Going to start reading this one regularly along with LICD and LFG.

It is 8:41am on a Friday......

...... is it too early to have a beer? I am dreaming about one right now. I am going to have to put some Small Craft Warning Uber Pils in the fridge for this weekend. That is some REALLY good stuff.

Also, still have some Clipper City Marz-hons (from Cherie's real cheap stock up, 2.99/6-pack!). Dunno. Gonna have to have some good stuff. Of course I got like four hours of sleep last night.

Stayed up late reading and couldn't fall asleep after that. Currently reading The Blind Side (yup, the one the movie was based on). While I am not sure of how the movie will be for my taste, Michael Lewis is just an AWESOME writer. Moneyball is one of my all time favorite books. And not just because it looks at sabermetrics in baseball (one of my favorite things to read about, yea Bill James!) but because Lewis is just that damn good of a writer. This book has the same style as Moneyball and Lewis tells a story so well. Just a great writer in my opinion.

Oh yeah, Roll Tide. Way to go. You deserved it unsurprisingly.

Holliday deal will kill the Cardinals

Matt Holliday just signed a 7-year deal with the Cardinals for 120 million according to reports. The first thing that comes to my mind is: What the hell are they thinking?!? I know that they are supposed to be using the Holliday deal to influence Albert to stay in StL but seriously, do you really want to overpay this guy to keep him there to spend another 20+ mill/year on Albert? You are going to have almost 40 million per season (at least!) tied up in two players. And St. Louis is supposed to be a mid level team. And the worst part.... it is SEVEN FREAKIN YEARS!!!!! Is Holliday the kind of player you want to do that for? Albert, you do that and more. Don't get me wrong. But Holliday? He is good, but not THAT good.

I just think that this is a deal that will end up killing the Cardinals down the road. I mean really tank them for like a decade or something. It is just so much money tied up in a player who just isn't worth it. Barry Zito, your deal is looking better and better everyday. Ok, maybe not going that far, but wow. Just wow. Boras, you had the team, and you used them. You used them hard. And it is their own damn fault.

Top 10 Beers of 2009

Ok, so my wife Cherie and I set out this year with a goal to try 365 beers. Well..... we hit that number before the beginning of November. Yikes. We went WAY past it. But, in this year of beer, I have found many an interesting brew. So here is my list of my top 10 beers in no particular order:

Gulden Draak - This was the beer that got me into Belgians... and I mean REALLY into them. What a great beer all around. Fantastic in all respects.

Brooklyn Manhattan Project - Oh I love me a good manhattan on the rocks once in a while. Garrett Oliver put together just that with this beer. It was soooooo good. Rye beer with cherry flavors and spices. Just great.

Brooklyn Cuvee de Cardoz - Surprised the hell out of me when I had this beer. Oh man, it was amazing. Only had a couple, but they were good. Spicy, flavorful, and didn't taste too heavy at all.

Harppon 100 Barrel Glacier Harvest 09 Wet Hop Ale - I am not a fan of hops for the most part, but this was a great beer with plenty of hops, flavor, alcohol, and enough malt to balance it out nicely. Good job to Harppon on this one.

Clipper City Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Uber Pils - I tried SO HARD to find a pilsner I really liked this year. Not many really worked out for me. This was by far the best and one of my current favorites. Oh, just an amazing beer all around. So much flavor, much more than almost any other pils I had this year.

Dogfish head / 3 Floyds Popskull - Had this at Pizzeria Paradiso in DC just last week. Oh man..... how do I describe it? Picture a really tasty brown ale .... on crack!!! Awesome!

Founders Backwoods B@stard - You saw above that I like manhattans. Well, I like bourbon in my manhattans (not the right way I know). So, since I liked bourbon I thought I would like this beer. Well, in fact, I LOVED it. Drool. That is all I can say.

Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire - I am not generally a huge fan of Saisons, but this dark one was just great. It had so much flavor with all of the spice of a good farmhouse ale.

Rogue Hazlnut Brown Nectar - Sweetly luxurious. Just so smooth, flavorful, and fantastic. Not for everyone and not for any time, but for when you are in the mood for the sweet flavor, this is a great one to have.

Victory Golden Monkey - A belgian style tripel from the east coast. Just a good beer. Has that great Belgian bite and that good kick of alcohol behind it.


Honorable mentions - Any of the Harpoon Leviathans, Rodenbach Flemish Sour, Chimay Blue, Kona Longboard Lager (I just enjoy drinking it), Orkney Skullsplitter, Clipper City Yule Tide.

Inspired to start this here blog

Ok, I was inspired to start this blog today from talk to Josh from Lost in the beer aisle. So here it is. I am looking to talk about a lot of things on here, not the least of which is baseball and beer. Hence the title right up top.

Just for reference, Right now, I (and the rest of RSN) am still trying to figure out what the Sox are doing this year. Lackey and Cameron just signed earlier this week in a RIDICULOUS Monday (Halladay/Lee deal, Cameron, Lackey .... yeah, that works as ridiculous). The more I look at it the more I like it. Should be interesting. Not sold on Lackey as a top of the rotation guy, but does that matter with this team? He is a #3! Maybe a bit of an overpayment (in years more than dollars), but it was still a good deal. I think this should end up being a very good team all in all even if they don't make any more moves. Gonzalez now though? We'll see. I'll believe it when I see it.

Enough Red Sox for now.

Alright, I just got an INCREDIBLE sampler from one of my vendors in Cleveland. Since we discovered we each have a love for beer, Dave (my guy there) and I have been trading beers back and forth. So, he sent this great sampler that has Great Lakes Christmas Ale (among others). A bunch of Christmas Ales in there actually and I am looking forward to trying them. PLUS, Cherie (my wife) gave me an early Christmas present yesterday with the dark and light 4-packs from Unibroue (wow, spelled it right on my first shot!). I have wanted to have these for a while but kept holding off. Now I don't have to.

This weekend should be a big beer weekend for me. Going to have some real good ones everyday. I am really looking forward to it. No VT games on as I have to wait for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl for that. And did I mention that Chick-Fil-A is AWESOME! Wish they had more than like TWO in New England. Going to go have some of that in Maryland when I am down to see the family next week for Christmas.

Ok, so that is all for now. This should be good. I hope so.