Tuesday Grab Bag: Snubbed by the NCAA

Pour a quick one out for the women's volleyball team, who got straight hosed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.  The team who finished 5th in the toughest conference in America, beat six top-25 opponents, and who finished the year on a roll by winning five of their last six was left on the side of the road by a committee who seemed (unsurprisingly) over-impressed by RPI.  Consider that three teams that finished below them in the Pac-12 standings made the dance, and understand how royally they were screwed.

I especially feel bad for seniors Alexis Austin and Nicole Edelman.  They deserved to go out with another trip to the tournament, not the heartbreak of a truly indefensible snub.  For that, I have only one word for the committee:

--

Today in the bag, I'm talking the hoops win over Northern Colorado, the end of the football season, and an uncomfortable anniversary.

Click below for the bag...

Tuesday Grab Bag: Golf!

Is there anything more American than Single-A baseball? As I found out recently, there really isn't.  In a setting such as a small farming community on a weekend evening, the old edifice of what once was still shines bright, and hearkens back to the Satuday Evening Post version of our collective zeitgeist.

Earlier this month, while on vacation in California's Central Valley, I devoted a significant amount of time to the pursuit of this quiet slice of Americana, and found it refreshing and vibrant.  Catching games in Modesto and Visalia (the Nuts and Rawhide, respectively), I became enamored by the encroaching smallness of the game I have always experienced on the grand stage. There was an earnest pride in these towns for the collections of never-will-be's assigned to their care; no shame or reservation under the knowledge that the players in front of them are decidedly minor league.  Glitz and glamour put aside, the interstitial moments were honest, with the advertising for local airport service to Sacramento, or the local farming family who had been sponsoring the team for years.  The cynical aspect of baseball was gone, replaced by something wholesome, organic.  No stream of stats, no monotonous bloviating from the color guy -- the big business of baseball made farm-to-table.

The scene in Visalia

There's something unique to truly cherish about baseball's minor league system.  Certainly, my love and passion for the game played a big part in my experience, and your mileage may vary, but I can't recommend small-town baseball enough.  Tiny, intimate stadiums offer cheap prices on beer and tickets.  The local boy scout troop carries the flag out to center field for the anthem. Players you can relate two (Visalia's shortstop wears the same cleats I do!) replace the preening mega-stars of the bigs.  If you're a real baseball fan, make some time for it the next time you're out and about. You won't regret it.

--

Today in the bag, I'm talking a renewed rivalry, the British Open, and the Gold Cup.

Click below for the bag...

Friday Beer Post: The Cullen-Harrison Act

This past Wednesday marked the 77th Anniversary of the Cullen-Harrison Act. WTF is the Cullen-Harrison Act, you ask? Cullen-Harrison legalized the sale of 3.2% (Interestingly, common thought beer in the United States. While that may not sound like something to celebrate, you have to remember that in 1933 Prohibition (BOOOOO) was still in effect.

(The cover of the Cincinnati Post celebrating the return of beer)

On January 16, 1919, the legislatures of Utah, North Carolina and Nebraska became the 34th, 35th, and 36th states to ratify the 18th Amendment, passing the threshold required by the Constitution. (I'd like to give a nod to Connecticut and Rhode Island for being the only states to reject Prohibition. Huzzah!) 13 days later, Prohibition became law of the land, and a year later the Nation's taps ran dry.

The Amendment, which was a reaction to the Progressive Era and the Temperance Movement intended to "improve society," was a national codification of an increasingly fervent series of state-wide movements. For all the high-minded ideals which spawned the 18th Amendment, for the most part all the country received was a higher incidence of organized crime and a serious need for a drink. When the Great Depression arrived at the end of the decade, with it's falling stock prices and brokers, there finally began a strong movement to repeal what temperance hath wrought.

(I didn't want to touch your sober-ass lips anyways)

FDR, when running for his 1st term, promised repeal of the 18th Amendment (it was a plank of the Democratic Party's platform that year). 3 weeks after his election, FDR began to make good on that progress when Cullen-Harrison landed on his desk. (He had previously sent a message to congress requesting the legislation.) He was more than happy to sign it into law, and the Act took effect on April 7th, 1933. It was the first governmental crack at Prohibition. While it left it up to the individual states weather or not to enact the provisions, the Act allowed for the brewing and sale of the nation's first legal beer since 1920.

(The man loved his booze, making probably the worst martinis in the history of the world.)

Today, 3.2% beer (derisively called "near-beer") is mostly a joke amongst serious beer drinkers. Personally, I refer to it as "Super market piss." But 77 years ago, I would've hailed it's arrival as a glorious sign of the end of Prohibition. Beer in any form is better than no beer at all, of course.

Happy Friday!