Author: AJ

Cubs Fire GM Jim Hendry, Reportedly Interviewing Sisyphus

by A.J. Coltrane

The Cubs futility continues (SI.com):

But the lineup was put together largely by Hendry, and not much has gone right for a team that hasn’t won it all in 102 years.

Pitcher Ryan Dempster got in a shouting match with his manager, the disabled list has been crowded with Cubs and Carlos Zambrano – who criticized his own closer early in the year – was banished from the team for a month after walking out of the clubhouse on a night he surrendered five home runs.

Hendry tried to bolster the lineup and drew some buzz by bringing back one-time ace Kerry Wood with a one-year, $1.5 million deal to be a setup man for closer Carlos Marmol. Yet fat contracts for Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez have always had fans wanting more from their stars, and the only move the Cubs made at the trade deadline last month was dealing outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland.

I read a theory a number of years ago that said (I think it was Bill James, I’m paraphrasing the quote) “The Cubs are going to sellout the stadium and sell tons of merchandise whether they win or not. This creates more inertia in and around the organization than is conducive to winning.”

Really, Hendry should have been fired for the Alphonso Soriano contract (8 years, $136m). To some degree though, it was the Fukudome (4 years, $48m) and (especially) Zambrano (5 years, $91m) contracts that did him in. Hendry seemed to have a knack for signing guys to long term deals right after they’d peaked.

Hendry’s background was in scouting. If the Cubs ever get stats-oriented they’re going to be tough to beat.

Actually, I think that would make them the Red Sox.

North Sound Beer Tour – Crossing the Pond to Chuckanut

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Continuing on the North Sound Beer Tour with our next stop, Chuckanut Brewing.

Stop 2 – Chuckanut Brewing in Bellingham.

Just down the street from Boundary Bay, about 10 minutes on foot, lies Chuckanut Brewing, sort of the antithesis of Northwest brewing. Owned by Wil Kemper (the same guy who created the Thomas Kemper brand years ago) and brewing with a high malt, low hop European style, Chuckanut has cleaned up with several GABF medals and high praise.

 The Beer – I get the sense that this was not the group’s favorite place, but I personally loved the beer. They had 6 beers on tap – all very summer appropriate, but not the kind of range that you are going to please a large group with. My favorites were the pilsner, brewed in a traditional Bohemian style with refreshing maltiness and just a hint of hops; it give the consumer a sense of what Budweiser probably tasted like in the early days. The Session Blonde was smooth and easy drinking; I could have easily knocked off several pints of that one. If I had to pick one overall, it would be the Kolsch. Probably my favorite style of beer for sitting outside on a sunny day, Chuckanut’s Kolsch was refreshing with a nice maltiness and a hint of flora overtones to it. Chuckanut also makes an English Style IPA. Coming in at a whopping 45 IBU, it is an IPA for non-IPA drinkers. While I am not a fan of the British IPA style anymore, it was a solid beer, reminding me more of an amber ale than an IPA. Chuckanut’s beers are available on tap only, so I would recommend taking home a growler or six of your favorites. Overall, I would give their beers 4 Lederhosen out of 5.

 The Atmosphere – Chuckanut sits just outside of downtown Bellingham in a converted warehouse. The space is large and has the brewery on one side and the taproom on another. Inside is nice – high ceilings, minimal decorations, not too fancy; a nice place to kick back and quaff a few brews. Outside there is a spacious patio with tons of room overlooking the water. The only drawback is the lack of shade – it can get pretty toasty out there on a sunny day. They lose a half point for lack of shade; otherwise they would have gotten a perfect score – the atmosphere rates as 4.5 Cumulonimbus clouds out of 5.

Dog Friendliness – It doesn’t get much dog friendlier than Chuckanut. Dogs are allowed on the patio, right at the table with you. The staff was nice and brought out a bowl and water for the pooch. I am pretty sure that they would have brought out beer for the dog if we asked. Chuckanut scores 5 chew toys out of 5.

North Sound Beer Tour – Sailing to Boundary Bay

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Recently, 8 people and 1 dog made a trek up north to participate in the inaugural “North Sound Beer Tour” sponsored by no one. Starting in Bellingham, we tackled 6 breweries over 12 hours on a spectacularly beautiful day. I was going to originally write one long review of the tour and then realized that it would be an epic tome rather than a blog post, so I have since decided to make it a series. The breweries that we visited were (in order of appearance) Boundary Bay, Chuckanut, Anacortes, Flyers, North Sound and Skagit River. I am rating all of the breweries on a 5-point (five being the highest score) scale in 3 categories: Beer, Atmosphere and Dog Friendliness. So without further delay, I give you the 2011 North Sound Beer Tour:

Stop 1 – Boundary Bay Brewing in Bellingham

Bellingham is a nice little town and is blessed to have two pretty great breweries, located within walking distance of each other. Boundary Bay is one of my favorite NW breweries; they have a solid beer lineup and one of the better IPA’s in the region.

The Beer – My personal favorites were the IPA (no brainier) – a nicely hoppy, northwest style IPA and the Imperial Oatmeal Stout, which had a wonderful maltiness with overtones of coffee and chocolate. The Scotch Ale, not one of my favorite styles, was immensely drinkable and not that cloyingly sweet/syrupy beer that I usually associate with Scotch Ale. I thought that Scotch Ale was a strange selection for a summer beer lineup, but what do I know. There really wasn’t anything in the sampler that I didn’t like or wouldn’t order a pint of. They have a nice, 10 tap selection, but definitely weighted to the heavier NW style beers you would expect from a Washington brewer. They sell growlers to go and they do sell several styles in bottles, which can be found in the Seattle area.  Overall, I would give their beers 4.5 out of 5 Flying Dutchmen.

The Atmosphere – I really like Boundary Bay’s setup. They are located on a main street, right across from the Bellingham farmers market, so there is plenty of street parking and paid lots if needed. The bar area is a converted garage with doors that will open and they have a sizeable deck for your outdoor seating pleasure. It really feels like a brewery with lots of wood and mismatched furniture. The atmosphere rates as 5 millibars out of 5.

Dog Friendliness – For a city that seems to be very dog friendly, BB is not. Dogs are not allowed on the outside deck and the deck is located on the side of the pub, so there is no good place to hitch up the pooch and keep an eye on her. Your best bet in the summer is to tie the dog to a tree in front and sit in one of the tables in the bar that are close to the doors. Not the best place in the NW to bring a dog – 2 tail wags out of 5.

Raising a Glass to a Legend

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The late Pierre Celis - his beers were so good that he had no reason not to smile.

I would be willing to bet most of you have no idea who Pierre Celis, who passed away in April at the age of 86, is. If you have ever had a glass of any sort of Wit or White beer (not to be confused with Hefewisen, which is something different), you should be thanking him for what you are drinking. Celis was a Belgian who started his first brewery in the late 1960’s after an uninspiring career as a milkman. Celis revived an old style of Belgian beer, Wit, which had all but disappeared; the beer that he unleashed on the world – Hoegaarden. Celis sold his interest in the brewery in the late 80’s and moved to Austin, Texas, where he started brewing Celis White in the early 1990’s, considered to be the first microbrewed Wit beer in the U.S. as well as the one which started the trend of Wit beers from U.S. breweries. Celis then sold that brewery and moved back to Belgium, and worked as a guest brewer for a variety of breweries until his death.

Next time you find yourself quaffing a Wit, raise your glass to one of the most important brewers of the 20th century and remember, if it wasn’t for him, you would probably be drinking an IPA.

A Rucker Park Legend Is Born

by A.J. Coltrane

From ESPN:

The Oklahoma City Thunder forward and reigning NBA scoring champion dazzled the crowd by scoring 66 points in an Entertainers Basketball Classic game Monday.

“I’ve always wanted to play at Rucker Park all my life,” Durant told one of the league’s emcees after his DC Power team beat the Sean Bell All-Stars, which featured Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III.

Rucker Park, located across the street from where the Polo Grounds used to stand, is famed for pickup games and leagues that have counted Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant among its visitors.

Durant fell two points short of the EBC scoring record, set by Steve Burtt Jr. in 2007. Joe (The Destroyer) Hammond is recognized as holding the park record of 74 points in a game.

My favorite part:

After the game, Durant tweeted: “No lie, jus had one of the best times of my life at Rucker park..wow! I love NY…Harlem waddup.”

Kevin Durant: The prize free agent signing of the 2017 NY Knicks!

We can all dream.

Grilled Pizza

by A.J. Coltrane

Grilled pizza! The dough recipe is here.

Grilled Goodness

Steps:

1. Saute or grill any ingredients that would benefit from advance cooking.

2.  Roll the dough out thinly.

3.  Lightly oil one side and put the oiled side down on a hot grill. When the bottom is nicely colored remove the pizza from the grill.

4. Lightly oil the top side. Flip the pizza over and dress the “new” (grilled) top side.

5. Return pizza to the grill, close the lid, and cook until the cheese is melted and the bottom looks good. (Fresh basil should be added right at the end — I put it on a little too soon in the picture above.)

San Giorgio Commercial – Revisited

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few weeks ago I was lamenting over a San Giorgio Spaghetti commercial that I couldn’t find, well I finally found it (in the video below at minute 1). It isn’t complete, but you will get the idea. I think they had a budget of about $10 for the commercial and picked up random people off the street to appear in it – the production values are just not there.

I got interrupted when I was watching it so I didn’t hit stop when it was over, and it lead me to encounter a commercial which I forgot about – the NY Giants singing a commercial for Pepsi Lite. I don’t know which is more disturbing – the Giants singing and dancing (terribly) in towels or that there was something called Pepsi Lite in the 1980’s. (The commercial starts at 1:32).

There are some other 1980’s, New York regional commercials in this block too, so enjoy.

Manchester United and Their US Tour

By Blaidd Drwg

Wayne Rooney - the man who scored more goals against the MLS in 22 minutes than the MLS scored against ManU in 360 minutes.

Manchester United recently wrapped up their MLS exhibition tour with a 4 – 0 crushing of the MLS All-Stars in New York. In the 4 game series, the Reds outscored their opponents 18 –2, but they still have one game left before they cross the pond – they are playing a competitor that should prove to be slightly more challenging than the MLS teams. They get to play the team that crushed them in the Champions League finals – FC Barcelona. THAT should be a good game.

I watched some of the Sounders-ManU match and, while US soccer has come a long way, it still has a longer way to go. The Sounders held their own in the first half of the game, but I think that had to do more with adrenalin and playing in front of 65,000 people than level competition. They got absolutely crushed in the second half when both teams essentially played their second strings and it became obvious that ManU was easily the better team. Wayne Rooney also reminded everyone that he can still play the game by putting on a clinic, netting a hat trick in 22 minutes and looking like he was Michael Jordan in a pickup game against a bunch of high school kids.

Until US Soccer switches to a system like the Europeans with a feeder program that stresses fundamentals rather than winning, changes the league structure to allow for relegations and promotions, and allows teams to be competitive and sign European and Latin American players in their prime (as opposed to washed up “stars” like Beckham and Henry), we will never be able to compete consistently on either a club level or international level with the rest of the world.

Mariners Win! Mariners Win!

By Blaidd Drwg

The Mariners finally showed some signs of life today by beating the Yankees 9-2. It must be an embarrassing day to be a Yankees fan, not only losing to a team that hadn’t won a game since before the All Star break, but giving up 9 runs to the worst offense of the last 50 years in the process.

Sadly, this won’t even be the lead story on Sportscenter, since Ervin Santana had to go out and throw a no-hitter. It was a strange game – Santana allowed only 2 base runners, the leadoff hitter who reached on an error, stole second, was moved over to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead and an 8th inning walk. The Indians also managed to commit 5 errors in the game leading to the wonderful final line of 1 – 0 – 5.

Also pushing the Mariners off the lead will be the impending trade of Carlos Beltran to the Giants and the trade of Edwin Jackson to the Cardinals by way of the Blue Jays.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program already in progress