Let me check under my little hat....

Abraa Caa Dabraaah! Let me introduce to you an exquisite brew-ha that like its motto is "not quite a Pale Ale."This mysterious ale is crisp, fruity, and darn right refreshing. The dry-hoppy finish gives your mouth a quenching urge for more. Let me check under my little hat and reveal..... Magic Hat's #9!

Unknown to many, (because its only distributed on the East Coast and some Midwest states) Magic Hat is becoming a popular brewing company. They have quite a selection of products including a variety 12-pack called Joe's Garage.

#9 would be a perfect beverage on a warm spring day at your favorite golf course. Its quenching taste will put you at easy and you might just pull

something out of your hat...

Rumblings from the Weekend:

Greetings from an epic weekend of basketball and interaction with a female that resulted in sent flowers accompanied with an "I'm sorry" tag. For all of you men out there involved with a female, just for the record. All those accounts of flowers assist in getting out of the dog house are true. Moving on to (I present a new feature) "Rumblings from the Weekend:"
-Stealing a tall Miller Lite draft from a BW 3-esque restaurant may result in sudden vomiting in accompanying parking lots.
-Losing by 20 in your Sunday night basketball league results in unexpected bursts of energy.
-Flowers are indeed pretty.
-Walking can lead to benefits, such as unexpected parties and church parking lots filled with people who have a cooler.
-Greg Oden is at the very least 35 years old and shall be nicknamed Grandpa. Especially after that exceptional block that sent Tennessee and its tournament hopes home.
-The Ohio State and Georgetown might score 70 points combined.
-Florida and UCLA are going to be out for blood in a rematch of last years National Championship. I predict a lot of no-calls as these two go toe to toe one more time with everything at stake.
-When is the last time we had these sublets for a Final Four; two seven foot centers going at it underneath and the repeat champs facing the team the ousted the year prior?
-Empty stomachs + Alcohol = a bed and unexpected food.
-Babies look adorable in one of your favorite team’s outfits.

Watching Ohio State in this year’s tournament has been an eye-opening experience to say the least. It wasn't even Grandpa's "who's overrated now?" performance against Joey Dorsey. It was Mike Conley Jr. (stopping.....going.....st.....gone to the rack and one) dribble, drive, penetration he displayed. His hesitation move is one devastating weapon, leaving ankles, jocks, and pride in its wake. Defenders in their minds immediately go to the corner and place a dunce cap for the rest of the game. Perhaps it's the fact that Grandpa is his best friend or the Olympic gene pool, whatever it happens to be makes him a fearless, hungry wolf smelling blood. Ice water in his veins and he's all of 19 years of age. Just think if he and Grandpa win the title this year, then end up on the same team in the NBA? They would have won four titles in a row and once they develop on the professional level.... WOW! It could be the greatest duo of all time on the basketball courts, domination on all levels. Just food for thought in the inaugural Ramblings.

two thousand aught seven's NCAA men's basketball tourney

The selection committee got it right this year. Teams are as close to evenly matched as possible. Each round brings tougher competition. Each round brings out higher levels of play on both sides. Resulting in the most watchable tournement in the not-so-recent past. Even though we havent reached the grand finale the coup de gra it seems like we alrady have. For instance, osu's come back from the dead clawing out of its grave to over come an 18 point half time deficit. And the best part was you could see it on the faces of each and every memphis player: a look of submittance disbelief and shock maybe verging on horror for the beasts they had just unleashed. Sure they sit quietly on porch but only until their survival in the tournement is threatend. Then youll be shut down by infreakingtense man defence lookin like theyve been training in a buddhist temple, quick quick hands. As far as offence scoring points is no obsticle its what they do best how could you not with that baller senior and those two freshmen guys are purdy good too. Also have to give it to the Hoyas heroic come back to get to the final four through ot.. Then there is the multiple other over time games and the 6 point average margin of victory in the second round.
Some may say the lack of upsets makes this year's brackett a dissapointment and the lack of buzzer beaters makes it boaring. It's too bad they dont appreciate they quality basketball that has been played. Instead of only one shot at the end of the game we have multiple great shots come down the last five minute stretch. As far as the upsets go..stop focusing on the seed its never ment much in the past so why should we care if we can say a number 12 beat a 5. The 64 team bracket is designed to create the most amount of good competition as mathmaticly possible providing the seeds are ranked correctly. Well they came pretty damn close this year.

mmm the smell of fresh grass

So here we are, football is over, march madness is in full effect but i cant get my mind off them beloved boys of summer. Yes we still may get snow but the players are in full spring trainingis only a week or so left before opening day in Cincinnati is unleashed. A fresh start for the underachievers and overachievers. Baseball is forever lamented in my heart because of the players sucks as Jackie Robinson, Chris Sabo, Omar visquel and of course Ozzie Smith best short stop to ever set his feet between 3rd and 2ND, occasionally past 2ND on some crazy plays that only he can make. All the players i just mentioned have one great thing in common they know how to lay down a good bunt. How many home runs will adam dunn or bonds have is not the question to ask your self as a true baseball fan but the question is How many sacrifice bunts will be laid down to improve your chances of getting that key insurance run.

The key to winning close games is all in a simple technique bunting. The exact definition for a bunt. a "bunt" is a type of offensive technique in baseball or fast pitch softball. In a bunt play the batter loosely holds the bat in front of the plate and intentionally taps the ball into play. A similar play is seen in kickball where the kicker simply taps the ball with his or her foot.

See folks is that easy to lay a bunt down its similar to kickball thatsright KICKBALL. So why are these "professionals"(players who get lots of money to play a game) unable to lay a simple bunt down when most needed. How many times have us the fans been so upset because the manager didn't call for a bunt or the bunt attempt was just awful. In evidence that a bunt can go a long way is the 06 World series. The all but lost cardinals against the mighty Detroit tigers and "the mayor" (sean casey another player i would want on my super team) How many bunts were laid down in that series. I can remember back to back bunts that were laid down successfully. During a successful bunt it can put alot of pressure on the defense to make a simple throw but it gets into the players head i have to rush this play and make a quick throw and sailing over the 1st base bag and into the stands. That was the exact events that lead to multiple runs for the cardinals and that series of events changed the whole outcome of the world series.

So for all you die hard baseball fans out there, how many sacrifice bunts do you want to see this year?

Dead Guy

Scrumtrulescence in a bottle. Rogue Dead Guy Ale is as pontent as its name. Created to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead this brew-ha is deep honey in color with a malty aroma. Symbolizing a german-style maibock with a well-balanced finish. Its outstanding to drink on your porch during a nice spring night while rocking out to the Greatful Dead. Enjoy this ale and don't be afraid to try Rogue again.

"Oh well a touch of gray, kinda suits you anyway,That's all I had to say, but it's alrightI will get by, I will get by, I will get by, I will survive."

---Greatful Dead "Touch of Grey"

The Face of Big Ten Bball

My favorite play in all of the sports world is a quarterback going down blindsided by a man with a running start and a thirst for blood. As a matter of fact any big defensive hit on the football field tops my chart. During the fall and early winter there is nothing better...but its march yo! Slam dunks nice cuts deep threes fast breaks plus buzzer beaters please. Watching the first two rounds of the ncaa tourney I often wondered are some of these teams still thinking the leaves are falling? Basketball is a thrilling game to watch ,that is, when the game has a smooth rythme to it. But there are those who refuse to keep the pace and do everything in their power to disrupt the others' tempo. The Big Ten strives on this. It does win games. It does take skill and practive. Blocked shots, full court presses and stolen passes are cool dont get me wrong but the way Michigan State went about it in the first round was just ugly basketball. I was honestly getting frustrated while witnessing four to five minutes of play go by without a fiedgoal. The average trip down court consisted of the crap you see at a gradeschool game: people throwing wild passes out of bounds, guys dribbling the ball off themselves, and no one able to hit a shot to save their lives. Come on, if I want to see that kind of action I'll just watch highschool ball on ONN. So all those teams out there concentrating harder on their own focus than disrupthing focus I'm pulling for you and until September rolls around defence takes a back seat.

Welcome to the Jungle

Greetings All!!!
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a self-described under-achiever who works full time at the Tri-State-renowned Party Source in beautiful Bellevue, KY. I'm a pessimist about almost everything. The main exceptions are Cincinnati Sports and women. Well, woman, to be more specific. I have strong beliefs about the following: Pete belongs in the Hall; he has no right to be a part of professional baseball, however. My beloved Bengals: Call me!! I'll be the designated driver! Now let's stay sober and win a damn Super Bowl! Huggs got a raw deal; but that was two years ago. GET OVER IT!!! Mick is a helluva coach and in a matter of time, Huggs will just be the coach of another overrated Big 12 school. As far as Xavier: keep dominating the A1o; maybe with all those A10 titles a coach might decide to stay for more than 2 years. On to UK: other than my girlfriend being one of "those" fans I could care less. Tubby is not gonna win a title every year, especially when Chris Lofton is in his own back yard, and can't play there. Other than that, go JungleKats. I hope we get another professional indoor franchise that fails miserably in that shitty arena.
Now on to the goodness...
In case no one has heard, Juan Encarnacion is doubtful to play in baseball's opening game. Earth shattering news, I know. The reason ESPN felt compelled to run this on the Bottom Line for more than a day is because, now we can't watch the former Red play on ESPN in the first nationally televised game of the season. It's merely another shameless ploy from our friends in Bristol to make everyone join the ESPN Family.
That being said, fuck ESPN. I emplore everyone to avoid ESPN. Seriously. On top of their website being slower than that guy in I Am Sam, you have to pay for almost all their articles. Go somewhere where you can find everything you really need.
Fuck ESPN.

Comercials are bad enough, but having to suffer through the last minute of these games can become unbearable. These NCAA games that is, but it has been even worse this year due to the lack of excitement in the first couple of rounds. Two legitimate upsets is all we got, not to forget that VCU and Winthrop were somewhat bandwagon upstarts. We still got to witness Duke falter in the first round, which is always fun as the media homers seethe on the set.

The comercials though have gotten rather bad, espcially when watching courtesy of Direct TV's tournament package. They do allow you to watch all the games, but then air four seperate comercial breaks; at the same TIME! How can they do that? Isn't that grounds for breach of contract? Simulatneous comercial breaks are a travesty that should not go unpunished. That being said, people are still going to pay for it and it will be broadcast at any business with the sports fan in mind.

So I propose to all those people out there who are deterred by this phenomena to adjust to the predicament. Gamble on which comercials will be shown or turn it into a drinking game. That would be the only logical alternative to the lame comments that you pull out of your Mystery Science Theatre 3000 library of quotes. What are you going to do? In the words of the late Mitch Hedberg: "Make oatmeal."

Manifesto

Here we go. As the information age picks up speed accelerating at mega-hertz every day our eyes and ears become drenched by the mainstream. Weather it be CNN news, XM radio, or ESPN's Sports Center a specific and undeniable influence can be sensed. This sense has been pricked so many times one stops noticing it. Its presence takes the form of the wallet in your back pocket. Never feeling it unless mentioned and a conscious effort is put towards feeling it. Indeed right now many of you are shifting in your desk chairs suddenly aware of the lump under your ass...this is our purpose. The bullpen alchoholics want you to take note of your surroundings we want you to analize this excess of purified, steralized, streamlined, cookie-cutter, made for the masses weshouldgiveashitaboutbarrybonds national news. By reading this and the many many more blogs to be posted on this site it is our hope to spark if only a flicker of intrest in the things less seen which do not lie on the surface and God willing even inspire you to having an original idea yourself. Some of our blogs might be as revolutionary as the pet rock but I assure you some true jems will be found amoungst the rubble. This is the begining of a new age of information gathering soon internet posts and blogs will overcome monopolistic broadcasting soon everyone and anyones ideas will be heard and soon this blog site will recieve 200 hits a day. Just remember corporate America wants you were they can see you: floating face down in the mainstream. Vale.

Madness?

I've been so inundated with "12 over 5's", "10 over 7's", that I was blinded come tounament time this year. Using what is familiar usually guaranteed at least a fighting chance for my "illegal" office bracket, that I didn't factor in several elements. 1, my acumen towards college basketball slipped due to the University of Cincinnati's downright terrible performance this year. 2, the studs that would have declared for the NBA draft were forced to play for those teams that they usually committed to for a cover. 3, aside from Winthrop there were no really scarry Mid-Major teams. Granted some of that is hindsight, but anyone with at least a cursory knowledge about the college game could have seen in coming.

I'm not upset or anything because my bracket looks like a confused pirate's treasure map with all the x's on it, but it was an eye opening revelation. Mainly bringing back my notion that sports teams will in general mimic the towns they play for. In this instance the focus is on Cincinnati. Everything from the Bob Huggins fiasco, to the Andy Kennedy saga that transpired last year as he and Nancy Zimpher clashed time and time again; seems to have derailed the program. Everything that Huggs had built in this city was thrown under the bus in a tour-de-force by president Nancy. Not to villify that witch, but the truth of the matter is Huggs won basketball games, in doing that brought national prestige. Then a year before he was to lead "his" program in against the big dogs, he made a mistake. For that mistake she decided to set the program that he built into the cellar.

Why would one do that? Why is it relevant now? The simple fact that like my curiosity towards college basketball suffered, so too does the cities. The crosstown shootout doesn't feel the same. The buzz around town during the season isn't there. Sure Xavier made it this year, but was the city that into it? I say no. Ever since Huggs and his disciples have been redflagged it's brought a sour mood and a single black rain cloud with it. There is hope. Mick can recruit, which will bring back the face of the program. Fiesty, up-tempo defense and one hell of a college basketball town.