Very Cool

Baseball's Greatest Play

Life Lessons

Things we learned while in Washington D.C. for the Indians - Nationals game.

1.) If you drink at a bar called the Top Shelf you are going to pay $8 for a Jack and Coke.

2.) If you pick the correct spot on the National Mall to play whiffle ball you can become part of the D.C. bus tours.

3.) The difference between a vasectomy and a mastectomy and which sex they are preformed on (special shout out to donny whistles for this info).

4.) RFK may be the shittiest stadium ever built.

5.) The 1-2-5 double play might just be the second greatest play in baseball behind the unassisted triple play.

6.) I am not cursed. The Indians finally won a game when I was in the ballpark.

Beer of the Week

Week of June 25 2007 --- Beer of the week


Moosehead


Staying with the theme of non American beers I will venture a pick from north of the border.

Moosehead ranks second on my list of favorite Canadian beers, right behind Kokanee. I can't buy Kokanee in Ohio so Moosehead it is.






















Moosehead Breweries

Of Course

I mention one thing about how the Indians are pitching well and they go out and allow 9 runs. Fantastic!

Summer Sports Scene

Days until college football starts: 71

Don’t get me wrong I thoroughly enjoy major league baseball, but other than that summer is a virtual sports wasteland. The162 game season starts to wear on you after awhile, the MLS is a joke regardless of what Alexi Lalas thinks, no summer Olympics, ESPN is trying to pimp the AFL (all the Mike & Mike in the world won’t make me care), and my usual summer favorite Le Tour de France is going to be over shadowed by the cycling world’s doping scandals.

Just some quick words about the Tribe:

The pitching staff has looked as good this year as any in recent memory. C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, and Paul Byrd are a combined 23-7. Cliff Lee looked down right dominant last night (let’s hope this continues). Jason Stanford had a solid first outing and is pitching again tonight, and last but not least Jake Westbrook is expected to be called up to the big club (replacing Stanford, but you can’t have too much quality pitching hanging around) after a final rehab start in Buffalo. The bullpen has been quite reliable as well. With the Wick gone, Joe Borowski has done a solid job (20 saves vs. 2 blown) for a pitcher that does not over power people; his fast ball only reaches the low 90’s.

The offense is something that I don’t really worry about with this team. They went through a little slump in early June but now they seem to be getting it back on track.

In other words the 162 game season won’t seem so long if the Tribe can stay in first place for the duration.

This week concludes with a road trip to D.C. to catch the Indians – Nationals series at RFK and probably more beer than I will be able to handle (I can’t wait).

Beer of the Week

Week of June 18 2007 --- Beer of the week

Pilsner Urquell

A fine Czech Beer.

From Wikipedia: Pilsner Urquell is somewhat heavier (with an almost ale-like fruitiness in the malt body) and more strongly hopped than most so-called pilseners. Saaz hops, a noble hop variety, are a key element in its flavor profile.





















So run out and get yourself a sixer and drink until you can't feel feelings anymore.

Time to give our complete attention to the Tribe

Now that the NBA Finals are over, it is time to really start paying attention to baseball. It is still a long haul until the season really starts to get interesting, but when your team is in first place it is a lot easier to watch.

Two quick notes on the NBA Finals.

1) The Spurs are the best team we have had in the NBA since I can remember paying attention (MJ's first three titles). They may not have beat all of the other NBA champions, but as far as playing team basketball no one has been better.

2) The finals portrayed a tough physical style of basketball that was difficult to watch, did we really need the idiot who sounded like a wounded rhesus monkey howling right underneath the announcers booth?

You will now be seeing Tribe posts until fall practice starts for the Browns and Buckeyes.

C.C. goes for win 10 tonight.

Go Tribe!!

NBA Finals Game 4

Come on Cavs just get one game.


I hope LeBron decides that this is his team and if they are going to get swept they are going to do it in a game when LeBron gives every thing he has. I don't care if he is 1-30* from the field. If he is not passing to Boobie for three or Z or Sasha for a layup he better be shooting. I want to see him go down in a blaze of glory (or pull off a most impressive win).

We are all Witnesses (to a massacre mostly)



*These are my Dad's numbers

U.S. Open

I have really enjoyed all the talk this week about a score of +10 or greater possibly winning the open. I enjoy when the best pros have to struggle to make par, I have to struggle to make par every time I play so 4 days a year they should have to as well. I keep hearing quotes about the players not caring if it is hard they just care if it is unfair. I am not sure what that means; as long as everyone is playing the same course it is fair. It is not like there is a windmill on the third green that is going to block half the putts. If the greens won't hold your wedges from 120 yards like you are used to find a different way to get the ball close to the hole. These are the 156 best players in the world they should be able to get creative (I prefer a low hooked punch driver from 170 under a group of trees and skipped over a small creek, but that's just me).

The other quotes I have heard from the players deal with the fans wanting to see good golf. That is a cover for them wanting to play an easy course. I have not talked to one person who would be disappointed with a very high winning score. I think watching them get creative and pull off almost impossible shots to save bogey is much more entertaining than watching everyone throw darts at pins make 24 birdies in four days. My reason for this is that most people can relate to that miracle shot that can save a hole. When is that last time you made 5 birdies in a row?

My prediction is that the winning score is better than last years +5, but for every stroke higher I will enjoy it that much more. Oh, and for those Tiger vs. the field people: I'll give you Tiger and 4.

(Update: For those of you at work who can't watch. Here is the ESPN live Blog.)

(Update 2: Even better: webcast from usopen.com.)

What the....

It is possible that I am confused here, but my idea of a good shot with 10 seconds left in the game and down by 2 does not involve Anderson Varajeo taking a driving, spinning layup over the top of Tim Duncan.

The Cavs played great defense last night, but you are not going to win many games in the NBA if you shoot less than 40% (36.7% to be exact) from the field.

Let us just hope that the Cavs can win game 4 so we don't have to hear about LeBroom until the next time LeBron gets us to the finals. And next time they get to the finals hopefully the Cavs will have acquired a couple of shooters to help out.

So, you're telling me there is a chance?

Back in college a few of us came up with a ludicrous idea that we should try to find a team sport in which we would qualify for the Olympics. We used some very important criteria to narrow down what sport we would choose.

1) We can drink beer while doing it.

OK, that pretty much was the criteria. Now I am going point out that we were completely naive about how much work and dedication that it would take to become proficient at a sport we have never tried more or less become world class. This plan was obviously hatched while keeping criteria 1 satisfied.


Our pick: Curling.












Why? Why not.

Let me break the decision down for you:

a) Involves ice. Ice keeps beer cold (no need for a bulky cooler)

b) Involves throwing/pushing rocks. Who hasn't thrown shit when they are drinking.

c) Involves sweeping. Sweeping is like mopping, and who hasn't had to mop up some drunken accident during a massive kegger at some point in their life. Also, we generally had to mop up after an inevitable water fight would break out from the spray hose attachment on our island sink.

d) Involves Canadians, eh? Canadians dominate curling, but more importantly they also brew great beer.

The only possible problem I see with this scenario it that it is very hard to run on ice while drunk (trust me I know).

Game 3 Tonight

LeBron is going to have to go for 40-15-10 if the Cavs are going to have a shot at avoiding LeBroom.

We are all Witnesses!!

Beer of the Week

This is going to be a weekly feature.

I am bringing back an old college tradition from the days at Harvard on the hill (Montana Tech Baby!!!)

I expect everyone to immediately run out an buy a six pack (or whole case if that is more to your liking) of the beer of the week. (Assuming it is available in you area)

Week of June 11 2007 --- Beer of the week

Dos Equis

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Tough day for Cleveland sports fans. C.C. goes 9 strong gives up 3 hits, no runs and we can’t even get a win out of it. It is easy for me to question Eric Wedge’s decision to leave C.C. on second in the top of the 8^th; if he sends in a pinch runner he would have advanced to third on the passed ball and scored on Victor’s single. For a change I actually trust our bullpen this year. I know C.C. was pitching great but in a 0-0 pitcher’s duel you have to manufacture runs anyway you can get them. I think this is just another example of the intricacies of the National League that slip by American League managers in interleague play (Wedge did pull off a successful double switch later in the game to his credit).

The Cavs got embarrassed last night in Game 2 of the NBA finals. I don’t care how much better one conference is than the other (obviously the west is far superior to the east) it is not good for the game if the Eastern Conference Champion is down 25 after the first half. This game really hurt my theory that the NBA is more sports entertainment than a true competition. If the NBA was even partially controlled by the league office through the officials there is no way LeBron picks up that second foul so early. Also the league would find some way to make this series entertaining. We will now have to see if the Cavs can find a way to pick up at least one game at home to make it worth even staging the finals.

And in the world of the Cleveland Browns, Brady Quinn is still our future quarterback and in my humble opinion that is never a good thing.

NBA Finals Game 1

So it looks like the Cavs shit the bed in game 1. I think Bill Simmons made the best argument I have read today about the Cavs playing there best lineup for only the last 6 min of the game. Let's all hope Mike Brown has an ace up his sleeve that nobody knows about. If he doesn't it is going to be a long painful reminder for some of us that we are still indeed fans of a Cleveland franchise and we are doomed to suffer for the rest of eternity.

I still have faith

We are all Witnesses!!

Clarification

I feel that I need to point out that some information in my last post may be misleading. It seems to imply that I don't care for the goodness that is Busch Light. As some of my friends back in Montana will kindly remind me "Busch Light is the nectar of the gods" and they would be correct in this point.

I would have no problem drinking Busch Light for the rest of my life. I have often said if I were stranded on on a desert island and I could have an unlimited supply of one beer I would choose Busch Light. Of course I am not on said desert island so I would occasionally like to sample some of the finer beers (KSK Commenter Beer Draft) that our available to me (until the stranding occurs anyhow), but it would be an inconvenience to be limited to Busch Light and Busch Light only.

I still think this inconvenience would be worth a chance to see the Cavs in the NBA Finals though.

Current Upper Limit

I am currently willing to spend $250 to get into the Q to watch game 3 or 4. My random free time web searching is making me feel like this is not going to happen, I will have to sit down to do some soul searching to see how much I am really willing to spend (soul searching = how many months I am willing to drink nothing more expensive than Busch Light).

Cleveland Cavaliers

Holy Crap they are going to the NBA finals.

I know I am a couple of days late on this, I have been so caught up in work that I sorta forgot that I was going to try to start a blog.

Anyhow, I hope to post slightly more often than once a month.