How many days until college football?

That many

So Long Bearded One

Beer of the Week (on schedule even)

Week of July 28th --- Beer of the Week

Sweaty Betty





Good beer, better name. Sweaty Betty is a solid blonde wheat beer that is ideal for drinking on a hot summer day. If you are a connoisseur of the wheat beer this is one you will need to add to your catalog.

Beer of the Week (Friday Edition)

Week of July 21st --- Beer of the Week

Brooklyn Summer Ale





Good summer beer, light enough to drink at lot and just hoppy enough to keep me interested.

Beer of the Week

Week of July 14th --- Beer of the Week

Double Simcoe IPA





The Double Simcoe IPA is a hoppy beer. Hands down the hoppiest beer I have ever had and at 9% ABV is also packs a potent punch. After the first three drinks I was pretty sure that it was going to be a struggle to drink the whole thing. But after passing it around, making everyone else at the shindig try it, the taste really grew on me. There was only one problem, after drinking the Simcoe every other beer for the rest of the night tasted mostly like water (and I was not drinking coors light).

WTF?

Lose 10 games in a row.

Trade your best pitcher.

Take 4 straight from one of the best teams in the game.

Cleveland Indians baseball, catch the excitement!

Random Thoughts

C.C. is gone from the Tribe. Maybe it is an elaborate plan to get some prospects and then sign him back at the end of the year? No? Too bad.

Rafa Nadal vs. Roger Federer was the greatest tennis match I have ever watched. I don't normally enjoy tennis but I stuck with it through both rain delays to see what would happen. That kind of rivalry is exactly what tennis needs.

The U.S. Olympic Trials have me pretty fired up about the Beijing Olympics. I may not be a fan of all those sports but there is something about watching the best in the world compete that makes me sit down and watch.

Along those same lines Le Tour de France is underway. With most of the big names and teams out for (suspected) drugging it should be a very open and competitive tour. Le Tour has also tweaked the format (no opening time trial, no team time trial) and the rules (no time bonuses) to make things a little more interesting. I am a fan of the lack of time bonuses, now the riders times will truly reflect their time on the road.


College Football is only 52 days away!!

Beer of the Week

Week of July 7th --- Beer of the Week

Caguama






Caguama is not a bad beer, but it might as well be Corona Light.

Beer of the Week

Week of June 30th --- Beer of the Week
Summer Shandy




Beer mixed with lemonade? Sounds awful, actually tastes OK. Well tastes OK assuming that it is at least 90 degrees and sunny. So here is hoping that your 4th of July is sunny and warm so you can enjoy some Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. Based on the local weather forecast I will probably be drinking some Coors Light in the rain.

NBA Draft

I only have one question about this year's draft ... can you name one player who you are confident will become a cornerstone for his new team for years to come?

I am sure a few of these guys will turn out to be great, and some of the so called "sure things" have turned out to suck (Sam Bowie). There is just not a guy in this draft that you look at and say "that is the guy, we have to have him".

Some other quick thoughts:

Guy to watch: Brandon Rush (Kansas)
Runner-up: Joe Alexander (West Virginia)


7 footer taken to high because "you can't teach tall": Brook Lopez (Stanford)
Runner-up: Roy Hibbert (Georgetown)


7 footer taken to low because "he lacks offensive skills": Robin Lopez (Stanford)
Runner-up: Hell if I know (Mary's Laundry Institute)


Guy who should have stayed in college: Bill Walker (Kansas State)
Runner-up: Davon Jefferson (USC)


Guy who will benefit by being taken late in the first round by a solid team: Chris Douglass-Roberts (his team will also benefit from his NBA-readiness)
Runner-up: Nobody, all the other teams late in the draft who don't get CDR are going to select projects who they can keep in the D-League or Europe for a few years.


Guy most likely to be Darko II: Kosta Koufos (Ohio State) It pains me to type that, but it is true.
Runner-up: Danilo Gallinari


When you look back ten years from now the star of the draft will be: Anthony Randolph (LSU)
Runner-up: Derrick Rose (Memphis), but only if he is not playing in Chicago.

Welcome to last place

Beer of the Week

Week of June 23rd --- Beer of the Week

Murphy's Irish Red




A solid take on the Irish Red. Most people have probably come across Killian's before Murphy's. Murphy's is definitely the better of the two.

Beer of the Week

Week of June 16th --- Beer of the Week

Michelob Light




A little late but better than never. In honor of what my dad was drinking before 10 AM on father's day Michelob Light will be the beer of the week

US Open Preview

There was talk that last year at Oakmont (par 70) no one was going to shoot better than 10 over par. Well Angel Cabrera got home in 285 which just happened to be 5 over. I see this year some projections that the winners final score will be better than 285 which would mean a winner at even par or better being that Torrey Pines will be playing as a par 71.

Honestly, I like to see the pros struggle to break par. At that same time I like to see that someone has the ability to make a birdie hear or there to make thing interesting. A perfect example of this took place just last week in Memphis at the St. Jude. Trevor Immelman was down 3 strokes with 3 to play and made three straight birdies to get into the play off. He did go on to lose in said playoff, but at least he had the chance to make a late charge to get in. What was the winning score? If Immelman made 3 straight at the end to catch up the winning score must have been better than 15 under. Wrong, it was 4 under, proving that a course can play tough but is still open to the occasional birdie run.

My favorite thing about the Open this year will be that 18 is a par 5 and a reachable par 5 at that. Anyone with in two of the lead who can keep a driver in the fairway will have a chance to go after the green putting pressure on the leaders.

Another great feature this year will be all the play in primetime. Playing out on the west coast the last groups will be finishing up sometime past 10 PM in the east.

Lastly the USGA has decided to pair the top 3 players in the world for the first two rounds. Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and 14,000 fans will be going around the course together for the first two days. I feel bad for the players directly in front and behind them because they are going to witness a stampede before, after, and unfortunately during their shots. This is an interesting experiment that will be great for ratings, let’s just hope it works out on the course.

Predictions…

Tiger makes the cut, but does not finish in the top 25. His knee is going to be too much to over come while trying to gauge the ball out of the deep US Open rough.

Philbert is in it late but finds away to yet another US Open slip away (probably by dunking one at 18 trying to reach in two).

Defending champion Angel Cabrera misses the cut.

Justin Rose wins his first major and becomes the first European to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

Euro 2008 Preview

I put together a little Euro 2008 preview over at Just Rub Some Sugar On It. It is definitely a little more NSFW do to some of the language and pictures than what you are used to if you read what I write here.