Tag: Sports & A Beer

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Sports & A Beer – Where have all the Good QB’s gone?

It has been a pretty dismal year for quarterbacks in the NFL. The hapless Jets of New York have cycled through four already and have probably come to the realization that Aaron Rodgers on one leg is easily their best option. The other New York football club is on a back-up from a QB who wasn’t lighting the world afire either but they must be thanking the football gods that the Jets are getting most of the bad press.

We aren’t even near the worst as the Patriot combo of Jones and Zappe cannot get you more than 10 points in a game as they showed in stunning fashion losing to the yet again underachieving Chargers 6-0. Not even one point!

Even Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs don’t look good. And that is a troubling sign for the NFL. Maybe GMs are thinking that if Brock Purdy can pilot a devastating 49er attack that any old fourth-rounder can succeed but that is so not the case.

The injured list is growing each day. Rodgers, Cousins, Burrow, Jones, Lawrence, Richardson, Pickett and Carr. Other teams are going with the likes of Sam Howell, Desmond Ridder and Aidan O’Connell. Not many Heismans there.

Your beer task for this exercise is to stock your ‘fridge with the C.J. Strouds and Jalen Hurts of the beer world wherever you may be because more QB1s are going to get injured and you are going to need really good beer to talk about because some of these upcoming games are gonna be real hard to watch.

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In the Tap Lines for December 2023

It is the end of the road for 2023. 31 more days until 2024 starts smacking us around. It has been a doozy. Strikes. Indictments. Wars. Inflation. And we are probably gonna run it back again. But, before you say we are doomed, we still have great craft beer and Christmas beers!

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Craft Beer & Brewing’s Best of 2023

~ special featured reviews of beers if I find room amongst the seasonal 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 Going Infinite by Michael Lewis

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to NPR’s Book of the Day

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Where are all the Good QB’s?

~ 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.

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Sports & A Beer – Trade Demands

As a lifelong Trailblazer fan, this summer of trades has been bittersweet.  Not seeing Damian Lillard in the red and black is weird.  But what is weirder are the trade demands being made.

I love Lillard but telling Portland that he wanted ONLY to go to Miami felt a little hostage-y.  And I wasn’t the only one to think so as the NBA head office fined him and his agent over it.  But Lillard was an absolute angel in comparison to James Harden who is toxic enough that the 76ers didn’t even want him on a team flight and had security bar him from the plane before pawning him to his third team in three years, the Clippers.

I am way more pro player than pro ownership but a player can’t point and expect to go.  Unless.  The preferred team is willing to actually negotiate in good faith.  Now that we have both had a good laugh, here is what should be done by the player.  Let the team you want to leave know that you have a preferred destination but also give them other less liked but OK landing spots.  My guess is that the reception will be a lot better when not demanding with a capital D.  And the fact that there is a list will incentivize team 1 to deal since other teams are in the running.

Trades can be good or bad.  Try to make them better people.

For beer, I would suggest a fun game.  Bring three separate beers from your ‘fridge and see what you can trade for from a beer loving friends stash.  You can even ask for a beer to be named later.  See who ends up with what and who thinks they won.  See if being super extra demanding works to your benefit.

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In the Tap Lines for November 2023

Fall is well and truly here in SoCal. And with Halloween in the rearview we can focus on the twin heavy hitters of Thanksgiving and Christmas and by that I mean the Doctor Who episodes forthcoming. And also plenty of craft beer talk and general foolishness like…

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from NBA cities for the new season

~ special featured reviews of beers to take to Thanksgiving (or not)

~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 Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Patented

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Demanding Trades

~ 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.

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Sports & A Beer – College Football Realignment

College football has a great product and loyal tailgatin’ fans but boy do the people in charge seem intent on not being content raking in cash hand over fist.

TV deals have created strange looking for literally greener grass dynamic as teams bolt one conference for another no matter how much air travel that means for the gymnastics or lacrosse teams.

The former Pac12 nee Pac10 is now just Cougars and Beavers. There are two “Big” conferences with more teams than games in a year. Supersized SEC and ACC and rivalries trampled into dust.

But there is a path out of the chaos. It starts with their being one TV deal that is evenly split with bonus money to individual teams that rank in the top 10 and those that make the playoffs. Further, at least half of your games have to be played in your time zone and each university will be required to retain at least one legacy rivalry game.

For example, the mighty Oregon State Beavers would have to play six games against West Coast opponents and their big game against the Ducks. That leaves six games against whomever would bring them closer to the top ten from a strength of schedule viewpoint.

For a beer you could go one of two ways. You can find a beer that has lost its way and find out what can be done to make the beer better or you dan give in to the football fat cats and find the most expensive, barrel-aged stout and cackle like a tycoon.

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Sports & A Beer – Stop the Hot Takes

For someone like me who has established favorite teams and the agony that goes along with rooting for said teams, this is a bit of a golden age.  I can call up highlights with a touch of the finger, dig up arcane facts and get all the hot takes a fan could want.

Lately, I have wearied of the onslaught though.  The Summer of Lillard with YouTube videos of what must be 942 trade scenarios and podcasts claiming Chelsea is a broken team before three games are complete have me desiring the old days when I would have to wait until the next days sports page to get information.

Now, are these tweets and rants wrong?  No.  But they serve no purpose seemingly other than filling in an empty gap in time and space until actual solid information arrives.  Sound and fury, signifying nothing as a famous fan of Stratford-Upon-Avon FC once opined.

Or maybe I just need to take a break from the pundits and just watch the action.

For beer, it is the summer heat remnants and the best way to enjoy a game is with a session beer.  Dribble Belt from Russian River is a particularly good Session IPA for watching the World Basketball Championships or for football Angelenos, find a refreshing pilsner from Los Angeles Ale Works or Common Space before a Rams/Chargers game at SoFi.

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In the Tap Lines for September 2023

California has been in weird times lately. Hollywood strikes, a tropical storm for the first time in 84 years and robotaxis wild in San Francisco. Let’s get back on sturdier ground in beer…

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the new trendy beer city, Pittsburgh

~ special featured reviews of Oktoberfest 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 Circe by Madeline Miller

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers

~ Sports & A Beer returns with too many hot takes

~ 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.

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Sports & A Beer – Women’s World Cup

There has been some bad vibes from the 2023 WWC. Loads of injured players who couldn’t play. Teams feuding with coaches. Pay being a omnipresent concern.

Granted, there were a lot more concerns with the Qatar World Cup on the Men’s side but I have come to expect shady, un-fun aspects to the boys.

The positive part of me sees this as growing pains. For too long, too many issues were considered no concern. Pay, as I said at the top, being first and foremost on the long list but poor playing surfaces, sexism, predatory coaches and even shorts were a problem. Literally, this year, 2023, press was made of decisions to have kits with anything other than white shorts.

But the expanded field of teams has shown parity as favored teams have looked human and the plucky Morrocan side made the knockout round and had a player in uniform while still obeying religious clothing rules.

Maybe these bad vibes are needed to get us and FIFA to change for the better.

Now, to drink. I would say g’day to a big ol’ can of Fosters Lager but maybe a better choice would be to find a pale ale or session IPA with some of those NZ hops to toast the Kiwis who didn’t make it out of group play.

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In the Tap Lines for August 2023

August is filled with lots of, shall we say, interesting posts coming from me. Stay tuned in for the two daily posts for monthly features like where I pair beer with books, podcasts and eve sports stories.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from around the United States

~ special featured reviews of beers from around the country

~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 Sullivanians by Alexander Stille

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Who Shat at the Wedding

~ Sports & A Beer returns with bad Womens World Cup vibes

~ 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.

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Sports & A Beer – Bad Owners

If you are a sports fan, your favorite team just might be owned by an asshole.  Not saying that all people who own teams are but there does seem to be a preponderance of assholes amongst the super-rich who can swallow clubs whole.

The English Premiere League is riddled with fan groups trying to push owners out.  The NBA had the delightful Donald Sterling around for what seemed like forever before he finally became too toxic.  And the NFL’s version was Dan Snyder who will forever be linked to the Washington Redskins and not their new era Commanders name.

There are articles, and probably podcasts aplenty, about Snyder and his mis-management of the Washington Football Club.  His stubborn death grip on the Redskins name being first on the list despite the known fact, that changing the name made any Redskin emblazoned gear more pricey and you would double dip by selling all new gear to diehard fans.

What made it all the more egregious was that he didn’t listen.  Not to fans or even fellow owners.  When you get to a point where your delusion field blocks out your fellow richie rich’s, well that is a red flag.

Which is why it is hilarious that there was an anti-Dan beer brewed.  Makes me wish there were more beers that take on the 1%.