Before my beloved and frustrating Trailblazers went on a big 8-1 winning streak in January and February things were looking dire. They were sitting at 13-28 and had suffered some serious blowout losses. It was looking like yet another season of waving the white flag in the hopes of getting a shot at drafting Cooper Flagg.
But now things are looking better and with continued good play we just might be the top of the non-playoff tier in the Western Conference. The next progressive step would be playoffs next year.
To do that there are two things that I hope the organization and head coach Billups do to evolve the team like the logo above…
First, we do need to trim the roster a bit and hopefully acquire some additional long term draft picks. The Time Lord Robert Williams III could fetch some attention as could Jabari Walker and Matisse Thybulle and as good as Jerami Grant has been as a Blazer, he could garner us some picks as well. The roster reduction will provide a flight path for more minutes for Clingan, Scoot and Dalano Banton.
Second, solidify a rotation and send in waves of fresh players. Being able to bring players who have started like Scoot, Shaedon, Dalano and Clingan off the bench allows us less of a productivity drop off so I would kindly suggest doing hockey like shifts and just tire other teams out.
For beer, I would suggest locating a new brewery and buying a few of their beers in a can taster flight of sorts. Wild Parrot Brewing in East Pasadena springs to mind as does ISM Brewing in Long Beach.
My favorite month is here. Mostly ’cause it is my birthday month and I use all 28 or 29 days that I get to the point of exhausting everyone else. For this blog, I will do my best to exhaust you with beer news.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Oregon
~ special featured reviews
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Our Share of Night
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to An Arm and a Leg
~ Sports & A Beer returns with How to Fix the Blazers
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Since America is in a hate moment. Sorry, strong words to start a sports post but with the recent election cementing our centuries long march of hate. I thought I should inaugurate the year with a look at franchises that I, and many others hate.
The logos above show off a few truly despised teams but different parts of the country have their own heated rivalries. For me, any Seattle team is automatically on the list since I am from Portland. Also, add the Lakers as well. Nothing like hearing all of Portlandia screaming Beat L.A. even if I do currently reside in SoCal.
The Cowboys are on the short list with their whole America’s Team showmanship. The Patriots because of Brady. The Yankees because of their open checkbooks (much like another baseball team formerly of Brooklyn). Alabama as a representative of the high and mighty SEC conference and Ohio State with that super annoying THE Ohio State crap.
A sure way to get on the hate agenda is to have success plus be uppity about it. All the teams mentioned have both and boy does that spur people on. On the flip side, when those teams are not in their thrones boy is there some gloating going on. The Michigan Wolverines helped the country out with that last year. The other factor that I noted is that, like the orange baby, there is more crying of unfairness from the hated teams and not as much of the traditional fans saying, wait till next year bonhomie. There just aren’t many Chiefs haters and the small amount that there are feel like their hearts are not in it.
Now I am not going to ask you to drink a beer from someplace you do not cotton to. What I instead suggest is getting a beer from a brewery you admire and jotting down why you admire them. Why? It is much better to spend time with those we love than those we hate. That is why I do not watch the Lakers.
Strap in folks, there is gonna be some turbulence in 2025. I have mentioned, just yesterday in fact, that economics are going to be bad and the now annual Dry January will not help the beer world so be kind and helpful to counteract the bad vibes that are sure to be spinning.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Hop Culture’s Best of List
~ special featured reviews
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Knife by Salman Rushdie
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
~ Sports & A Beer returns with teams that are easy to hate
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
With the coming of yet another new college football playoff format, the old school traditional slate of bowl games are fast becoming even more irrelevant than they were before the advent of sponsored games. If you have lost track, check out this doozy of a LIST.
At some point, these games are going to become extinct. It is a costly endeavor to put together a good game but when all you have left to pick from are a bunch of 6-6 teams, no one is going to watch these shelf turds let alone buy a ticket to one.
I say, that you start a second tournament for teams that have at least 9 wins but did not make the big tournament and have a Best of the Rest tournament. Then next year that winner plays the national champion in the first game of the year.
Now, on to the beer….
When I get a 4-pack or 6-pack, I tend to give a can or bottle away because by the time I work my way through a full pack months have passed because I see newer beers and my FOMO (is that still a craft beer thing?) kicks in before I notice the forlorn last can in the hiding in the back where the new beers pushed it. If you too, have lonely singles, break them out while you watch these also ran bowl games.
Well, 2024 was going along pretty well for 10 months. We will need to really enjoy the living hell out of what may be a final American holiday season. Sorry, not sorry for being so dark but do your best to truly live the sentiment of the season. Christmas is a time for EVERYONE to be happy. I am happy for the great Christmas beers and will be for each of these 31 days.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Best of issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine
~ special featured reviews of Christmas Ales
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Shift Meal on the Ringer Food podcast
~ Sports & A Beer returns with what to do with the excess bowl games
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
For every sport, every season brings the coaching carousel. A coach gets fired and then by the next year is coaching somewhere else. In the National Football League both the Jets of New York and the Saints of New Orleans have parted way with head coaches and surprisingly the Premier League in England has only seen one high profile departure ( so far ), that being Erik Ten Hag being booted by Manchester United. It is too early for NBA firings but there are plenty of coaches whose hot seats are warm.
After the changes, the team may win a few games and the word leaks out that the coach had “lost” the locker room as if a character in The Importance of Being Earnest. It is more likely that any given sports team is a fragile state of being. It is why dynasties are so intriguing because they are not the natural state of affairs. United can rule Manchester and then can be usurped by City. Red replaced by light blue.
Coaches are integral but so is a dominant player or healthy players and luck. Lots of luck. A football in America can bounce so many ways and a football in Britain can ping just under or just over a crossbar. Which makes coaching changes such an object of discussion because the avid fan cannot really pinpoint why a coach will succeed or fail. If indeed they did either. A true bad coach is rare and may just be someone who is better as an assistant in truth.
Tying this into craft beer. Is there a brewery that you think could use a change in brewer. Not because one is bad per se, but just as a means of refreshing the current beers and dreaming up new ones? Maybe a brewery that has added a beer(s) to their line-up that are not in their wheelhouse while discontinuing others that were legend? Next time you are beer shopping, check out the beers that you think could use a new direction.
It is peak holiday season with Halloween decor still up (probably) and Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching. As with previous years, the elves, reindeer and I will start highlighting holiday beers, but only AFTER Turkey Day.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries inside airports for those flying this holiday season
~ special featured reviews of two beers from The Rare Beer Club
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Wool by Hugh Howey
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to My Unsung Hero
~ Sports & A Beer returns with the coaching carousel
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
We have entered Q4 of 2024. As always, the year just swings by before you know it. Before the calendar switches, we need to pack in fun like a trip to Colorado, which I will be posting about later.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries that won at this year’s GABF
~ special featured reviews of Halloween inspired beers
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Blocks with Neal Brennan
~ Sports & A Beer returns with WNBA and NBA expansion to Portland and maybe Seattle
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
