Philly, best beer city - I don’t think so…

Check out this article from USAToday. In it, the author talks about Philly being the best beer city and leaves the reader with the impression that this is a new established fact or something. Actually, this claim is based on the incredibly biased belief of one beer drinker named Don Russell, who just happens to live and drink - in Philadelphia. The only other support for Philly’s apparent beer city prowess comes from anonymous “beer aficionados” translation: drunk people the author talked to in Philly pubs.

Now, I don’t want to totally discredit Philly’s beer claims because they do have a nice history and there are some very tasty beers that come from there (Dogfish Head comes to mind). But in a way, this would be no different than me, Packergeeks blogger, declaring that Milwaukee is the best beer city in the country, (which, by the way, it is). It’s funny that Don tried to take a crack at Milwaukee’s reputation because Miller is here - as though that somehow detracts from a city’s credential as a top beer city. Not only is Miller’s presence a supporting credential, but there are many micro-brews that are quality (Sprecher, Lakefront, Milwaukee Ale House, Waterstreet, Delafield) and also craft brews that are doing quite well nationally like Leinies, New Glarus and Capital Brewery (New Glarus and Capital can be thrown in there if the author includes Yuengling for Philly, based on the author’s apparent 75-mile rule).

I just took a look at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival awards and noted that 13 awards were given to Wisconsin breweries (11 of which are Milwaukee Breweries) and 12 to Pennsylvania breweries (no more than 10 of which are Philly Breweries). In fact, after painstaking research, I learned that Wisconsin sits at #3 for most award winning beers from a state. On top is California, which doesn’t count because it’s like it’s own continent and Colorado. Keep in mind that while these states may have more 2007 award winning brews, it is likely that zero or at least very few cities in these states can match Milwaukee’s claim to 11 awards. (Illinois actually sits at #3 and Wisconsin #4 but 4 of the beers credited to Illinois are Pabst products. If not for this FIB-ish theft, Wisconsin would be #3. Also, not sure why Pabst products are credited to Illinois when the Pabst headquarters is in San Antonio and the mailing address on the can is still a Milwaukee P.O.)

Anyway, I think what Don Russell may have meant to say is that Philly is “the most belligerent beer city”.

Golf’s ugly side (but also impressive side)

Came across this interesting story from professional golf. This guy, Tripp Isenhour is a journeyman-type player - off/on the PGA Tour, but mostly plays on the Nationwide Tour.

Anyway, check this out. As someone interested in birds of prey since I was little, I’m bothered that Mr. Isenhour was seemingly so flippant about killing this bird. But at the same time, I have to admit - it is just plain impressive to kill a hawk 75 yards away in around 10 attempts.

The PGA Tour’s motto is “These guys are good”. While there may be no better demonstration of just how good these guys are, my guess is they won’t use this example.

Threats from your local weather guy

Have you noticed that whenever there is some sort of astrological or solar-system-type event coming (eclipses, meteor showers, Haley’s Comet), that your local weather guys change from being the nice, awkward-segue-guys to guilt-tripping threateners, as it were. Example, last night, we were informed not just about a lunar eclipse that was to take place between 9-10pm, but the emphasis of the whole message was that another such event won’t take place until 2010. The rather mole-looking weather guy actually walked toward the camera and turned threateningly serious at the moment he revealed we won’t be able to see this event again until 2010. I found myself meekly walking toward the east side of our house 10 minutes later to stare up into the sky because I found I just could not live with the guilt of missing this event and having to wait another 2 years.

Another old man injury

Today, I was using the roof rake to get some of the 1-2′ of snow off of our roof. I write that as though roof raking is normative behavior for me. Never heard of it before this year. Seems to me that it’s the Wisconsin equivalent of the Sports Hernia injury of a few years back. Suddenly, everyone has a roof rake and the big news story nowadays concerns the hardwares stores that have run out. Like most news stories, it is not a story at all. This is how it goes:

newsperson: “Has there ever been a winter quite like this before?”

hardware store person: “not that I can remember.”

newsperson: “Has it ever reached such a crisis level with regard to roof rake inventory?”

hardware store person: “not that I can remember.”

newsperson: “have you ever seen such a scramble, almost fighting, almost violent, to obtain said roof rake?”

hardware store person: “not that I can remember”.

Anyway, I was out raking the roof with a neighbor’s roof rake when I felt a sudden pull in my right quad. It wouldn’t make any sense if I had somehow injuried it - none. If there was one muscle I wasn’t using to rake the roof, it was my right quad. I tried to put it past me, not think about it, and I succeeded until I went to my neighbor’s house to return the roof rake. I could barely walk over there. I had pulled my quad pulling snow off my roof. As I write hours later, I’m not 100%.

Sadness heading for Buffalo?

Read this article from cnnsi.com.

As regular Packergeeks readers may know, I like Buffalo and make a habit of picking them in my spread picks due purely to just liking this team. They are a small market team, who plays real football in real weather, they have hearty/faithful fans, they have a history of some serious success (and disappointments), and one of the most (perhaps only) sensible political commentators out there as a fan - Tim Russert. When I read this article, especially the smug quotes by the powers that are in Toronto and Ralph Wilson’s evasive comments re the Bills future in Buffalo, I just got angry that money may be the decisive factor in Buffalo losing their team. While I don’t worry that this will happen to Green Bay (that would spell the likely doom of the NFL if it did), I worry that hard-working fans who shell out $46 a ticket may soon be deprived of something that has become part of the fabric of their culture.

I am trying to figure out just how strongly I feel about this possibility and the only indicator I could come up with is how much money I myself would donate to the Bills for the franchise to continue in Buffalo - I decided $250 (which is a lot coming from a guy who used to strategically buy the first round at the bar when everyone is sober and remembers who bought and then drinks free the rest of the night…just kidding…sort of…well, at least I don’t practice that bit of financial wisdom anymore…).

Please Ralph Wilson, or some new wealthy Buffaloian, as it were, keep the team there.

Have to admit, Packer loss still smarts

I was trolling the internet again this morning for Packer info, which is a daily activity, and I realized that the excitement of stumbling across a good read on the Packers has, oh my, actually decreased. Prior to the loss, I couldn’t possibly have enough info. I would be pumped to read an article about anyone/anything Packers. I’d read about the Quality Control Assistant with great satisfaction. (Though I do wonder, what does the person with this title really do on a football team? Does he stand on the sidelines and just get worked up when Jon Ryan shanks a punt because, despite his best efforts, he’s unable to control the quality of the punt?).

I am realizing more now that not only did the Packers lose a heartbreaker at home, but the season is essentially over. I’m not a big fan of either of the Super Bowl teams so it’s hard to get really excited about it. Now we have that painful gap of time between now and pre-draft speculation (though one could argue that has already begun). This is a time sportswise, in general, that the American male (or in some cases female) suffers greatly. While I am a big PGA Tour fan and have 4 Wisconsin guys I can follow weekly (Stricker, Kelly, Hayes - no relation, Mark Wilson) that only is fun to follow online Thurs and Fri and then watch on Sunday. The rest of the week, I’m left to…I don’t know, actually work.

Anyway, had to get that off my chest. I think I’ll go search for some Mock Drafts or something to help me overcome my despair.

Brett, You Got It Goin’ On

After reading the lunacy below from Mr. Packernet and some similar posts on the JS Online blog, I thought Brett Favre could use a little pick-me-up.  I’ve posted this once before but it really has more meaning after such a stinging defeat.

“I think sometimes you hear what you want to hear.”

Packer Fans, Unhinged

Check out this postgame rant from the guy who runs Packernet.com.

Brett, don’t go away mad, just go away. It is clear you can’t carry a team any longer, you are no Joe Montana, you are no John Elway, you are just a chucker who should have won more championships than you did. I’m done with the Packers and you should be too. Game over. Please do not respond to this entry. In fact, go away and leave me alone. No more to come…

Judging from his bizarre posts today, that was not intended to be as funny as it was. It was for people like this that I decided to make the basic points about Favre that I made here. I won’t waste your time by reprinting here all of his feculent nonsense, but check out these lines for some flavor. He seems to have calmed down a bit at first: “OK, maybe it wasn’t all Favre’s fault…” Wow, that’s a big concession. But then he’s back at it.

“The bottom line is the Packers have so many holes to fill on both sides of the ball that trading Favre and going with Aaron Rodgers just makes the most sense…Losing to Eli Manning at home is huge embarrassment. Right up there with the Michael Vick debacle.”

The Michael Vick debacle? Mmmmmm, right. On the one hand, a Hall of Fame Quarterback who has been the most consistent quarterback in the league for nearly two decades, loses in the NFC Championship game. On the other, a thug who kills dogs for fun. Same thing. No doubt.

The rant continued: “I also have to wonder about the timing of the contract extension for Mike McCarthy as well. Shouldn’t he have been worrying about the Giants last week and not a new contract.”

This is where it helps to know what you’re talking about before you write. McCarthy was worried about the Giants last week and not his contract. In fact, he was so consumed with game preparation and so unconcerned with his contract that after his agent hammered out the details with the Packers, McCarthy set the whole thing aside. Here was the lede in one national newspaper late last week: “Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy has agreed to a five-year deal worth $4 million per season, but said he will not sign the contract until after the season because it could be a distraction.” Ah, details. Why concern yourself with pesky things like facts when you can smack around the coach?

By Monday night, this guy had reached wit’s end…with people who would question his stark mad ravings.

“I’m sorry. The Packers are great. They have great depth and a great quarterback. The defense is fantastic. I think they could win the next ten Super Bowls. The coaching staff is great, the front office is great. I can’t see any flaws anywhere in the organization. I don’t know what I was thinking. From now on I will shed not one bad word about the greatest team in the league - the Green Bay Packers. Go Pack go! Have a great 2008 season.”

I have gone to Packernet.com for a couple years now because the site aggregates Packers-related news from many sites around the internet. It’s been quite an asset. But I regret that during all of that time I somehow missed the humorous content of his blog. Count me in as a new reader.

UPDATE: Don’t take my word for it on Brett Favre. Here is Greg Jennings on his brief conversation with Favre on retirement. Note especially the last two sentences:

“I said, ‘You going to give me one more year?’ He just giggled,” Jennings said. “I did the same thing last year and he said, ‘We’ll see,’ and he was back. Who knows? Hopefully he’s back but if not, we have to move on. But I’d like to see him back in that locker one more time. I think everybody around here is hoping he comes back. Obviously we accomplished what we accomplished because of him. His leadership is most valuable to this team.”

Non-Packer Fans in Wisconsin: Waaaaah

This is actually a very interesting thread, JS Online readers reacting to this question: “How much time do you think you will have wasted this week talking or reading about the Packers? Go ahead and waste some time by tell us about it here.”

A surprising number of respondents are of the whiny, I’m-sick-of-the-Packers variety. And they’re serious. Take this one, for example.

I, too am not a Packers fan and am really sick of the 24/7 coverage they are getting. They are a bunch of overpaid athletes, who certainly wouldn’t make this big of a deal about our lives. It is really frusterating that I can’t turn on my TV or radio without hearing about what the Packers are doing. I don’t care. I have a family and friends that are much more important than some sports team. Give me real news. I want to know what’s going on in the world. Not if one of the Packers hurt their little toe. Maybe we should all be thinking about what we could do to make our city, state, country, and world better and safer. I am really glad to see though that I am not the only one that feels this way.

- Clare, Milwaukee, WI

Well. Someone needs to get Clare a Pabst or twelve, and maybe a few extra for her houseful of cats. Clare finds it frustrating that she can’t turn on her television without seeing something about the Packers. I dream of having that problem. It’s one of the reasons I constantly think about moving back to Wisconsin. Clare also tells us that she “wants to know what’s going on in the world” — a complaint she registers online. Hmmm. If anyone knows this “Clare,” tell her that there are these things called “websites” on this new thing called the “Internet.” In an instant, she can get lots of news about what’s going on in the world. In fact, if she just types in CNN.com or BBC.com or even FoxNews.com, she can probably find an entire website dedicated to the news of the world without so much of a mention of the Green Bay Packers. One final note. In her complaint about too much Packers, “Clare” begs the local stations to return to their original programming. “Give me real news,” she writes. When was the last time “Clare” watched the local evening news? There is no real news on it. All of this coverage of the Packers has replaced only the ridiculous scare segments that gobble up all of the non-weather minutes of the local news. “How your bed can maim you! Tune in at 10.” “Herpes from your dentist? The citywide epidemic at six.” “Playgrounds or Killing Fields? What parents need to know about their kids and the monkey bars.”

If the local television news covered only the Packers we would all be smarter for it.

Back to your cats, Clare. Back to your cats.

UPDATE: As it happens, I caught some of my local (Baltimore) news tonight.  The greater Baltimore/Washington, DC, area got an inch of snow today and the first report was about the severe dangers associated with snowfall.  The story featured a demonstration of an old lady shoveling snow, in order to show people how to do it without injuring their backs.  “Push, and just shovel it off.  See, I don’t have to lift any of it up.”  Yeah, too bad, they’re not getting this kind of “real news” back in Wisconsin.

Green Bay Packers, Bad Luck?

To paraphrase the old country song, Rudy Giuliani might as well take bad luck because it’s better than no luck at all. At a campaign stop in Florida yesterday, the state where the former New York City mayor is betting his candidacy on a win, Giuliani refused to sign a Green Bay Packer hat given to him by a Packer fan.

Watch the video here.

Memo to Rudy: You already said you would support the Boston Red Sox after your New York Yankees were eliminated, something akin to cheering for Lucifer if you are a Yankee fan. Now, you’re offered a Packer hat to sign and you refuse? In Florida? The Packers are America’s team. If you were to somehow win Florida — less likely now that you may have lost that vote — showing your support for the Packers could have given you a huge boost heading into the February 5, 22-state primary. (It’s entirely possible the Packers will have gotten beaten decisively in the Super Bowl two days earlier, thus driving up the sympathy vote.)

If I’m you, at this point I start campaigning in a Cheesehead to start making amends. It’s your only shot.