Tag: soccer

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Sports & A Beer – January Transfer Window

For a few years now, I have had a monthly post which pairs books with beer and a second one matching podcasts with beer. 2023 seemed the right time to add a new brand to the family, Sports & A Beer.

Each month, I will cover a topic from the sports world, that I find fun or thought provoking or what is making me crazy about my favorite teams. And what better way to start than with the crazy rumor mongering and optimism that is the January Transfer Window in football (aka soccer).

This is the month about halfway through most professional leagues season, where underperforming teams get desperate, where teams with injuries are shopping and teams who think they have a chance to win now – pay for it dearly.

Liverpool have been OK but nowhere near their form as their attack has been reduced by injury but they have brought in reinforcements like Cody Gakpo. Arsenal were circling players but might get a gem from Brighton Hove Albion in Leandro Trossard.

My team, Chelsea has changed managers and have three teams worth of players in my opinion and have splurged more American money on a quintet of players. David Datro Fofana. The second Fofana on the squad. French defender Benoit Badiashile. Midfielder Andrey Santos from Vacso de Gama. And big signings Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk. And then wrote a super big check for Argentinean Enzo Fernandez.

Lot of names to Google there but the breathless spectacle and media attention and leaks and rumors are part of what makes Premier League football fun.

To pair with this crazy month, I suggest going one of two fun routes. One if you have a favorite team and one if you do not. If you do, each signing can be assigned as either expensive, a good deal or a steal. Then buy a beer in one of those three categories. If your team splashes cash then go grab a barrel-aged $20 bottle.

If you do not have a team then find a smattering of beers from football playing countries and enjoy while watching Sky Sports coverage.

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Another Season Ends with The Champions

I believe that most pundits and the sportsbooks would have pegged the sky blue of Manchester City to win the Champions League title in a year where the whole competition was called into question and the two finalists had backed out of leaving it earlier this year.

As if the Covid year wasn’t strange enough, right. Well, Chelsea of London won 1-0 on a Kai Havertz first half goal.

What does this have to do with beer? Well this was the first championship with fans in a while. Yeah, the Super Bowl had people but the outlook was much worse in February.

Now, beer and sports and tailgating are on the return with fans at NBA playoffs now too. That means the return of session beers. The return of beer in plastic cups. Spilling beer as you return to your seat. Paying $15 for 12ounces of beer. All stuff that I bitch about but really wish I could do. Be it in Porto, the Etihad or the home of Champions, Stamford Bridge.

With the end of the European season, now we can turn our attention to MLS and watching my Timbers play the Galaxy or LAFC.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Forgotten Stories of Football

With the Bundesliga playing in front of empty stadiums and the Premier League and La Liga warming up on the horizon it is time to delve into sports history, and the Forgotten Stories of Football from the Guardian leans into some hidden until now niches of football.

These are some deep cuts too. Backstory from a match between Man United and Galatasary. A two parter on a famous referee and how polio fears were overcome with the death of a fullback.

Very interesting and well read and paced.

Two pair with the tales, order up some Yorkshire Square or MacLeod ale and have yourself a proper pint of bitter or ESB.

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Zlatan goes to Kona

If I were the L.A. Galaxy, no need to have a beer sponsor, just package your beer as ZlatanAle and it will sell.

That being said, the original L.A. MLS team has teamed with the Kona Brewing Company making the brewery with both mainland and island operations the official craft beer of the LA Galaxy.

As part of the pairing there will be a new “Kona Lanai” bar at StubHub Center in Carson serving Big Wave Golden Ale, Longboard Island Lager and Hanalei Island IPA (the only one of the three that I have not tasted) plus taps of seasonal beers.

Sounds fine by me, though I am not really the target market since the beer pricing is so astronomical that I would much rather pre or post drink at the nearby Phantom Carriage.

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Thorns

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Continuing with the L.A. needs this theme, 2 Towns Ciderhouse in Portland has teamed with the Portland Thorns FC for a special Thorns collaboration cider.

The National Women’s Soccer League team’s cider is a portmanteau of sorts, “Two Thorns”, which the cidery explains is “a specialty cider made with whole Northwest raspberries and rose petals.”

Two Thorns will be on tap at the home pitch, Providence Park, “will also be available in the 2 Towns Tap Room, which is an official pub partner, and will be showing all Thorns matches.”

Now the City of Angels does not yet have a NWSL team but there is a brewery in Carson which is the same city where the Galaxy play. Hint. Hint.