Friday Beer Post: Gameday Beer-o-the-week - Spring Game Edition

The Spring Game offers me a unique opportunity to tailgate in April, and I've dusted off this old trope to celebrate. Let's be honest, with tailgates it's not always top quality that you're looking for. To steal a phrase from the heinous beer terrorists at Budweiser, you want "drinkability." (or what a real beer connoisseur calls "a session beer") So, be warned, these may not be "the best" beers around. But, in the words of Dave Chappelle as Samuel L. Jackson "IT'LL GET YOU DRUNK!"

Spring football is a chore, and it's always a 50/50 prop if I'll actually go.  I'm sorry, but anyone who's obsessed enough to actually care about spring football, who's not directly involved with a team, needs to get their head examined.  The inside game of guys trying to make the move up the depth chart just isn't exciting enough to get my heart beating.  Sure, there's the added spice of a new coaching staff, but what're we really going to learn from tomorrows event? 

Seriously, what's the damn point for me as a fan?  Show up and maybe see us injure ourselves while playing... ourselves.  Who are we?  The Buffaloes!  And who are we gonna beat?  The Buffaloes!  It's the football equivalent of masturbation, and not something that should be shown in public.

However, beer is being served; I'M TOTALLY IN! 

It's time to dust off the beer pong table, find all the pieces to farmer's golf, and make a mad dash to the store for some lighter fluid because tailgating is back on the agenda!  I may not stay for much of the game, but I definitely going to enjoy springtime in Colorado with good friends, a few beers, and a brat if offered the opportunity.

For the Spring Game I wanted to choose a seasonal local brew, possibly with a frivolity and light-hearted character that lends itself to the decidedly un-serious nature of the event.  With that in mind, I'm naming Great Divide's Colette Farmhouse Ale as this week's Tailgate beer-o-the-week.

With Colette we're talking Belgian yeast flavors here, as the style was created in the region.  It's a little cloudy after the pour and has a lot of fruity, zesty flavors to cut through the bready/banana flavors that all Belgian's tend to have.  It's definitely drinkable, but, as it has 7.3% abv, I wouldn't suggest drinking too many.  It also has a suitably alluring farm girl, with pitchfork, on the label.  Colette would kick the shit out any Miller Lite girl who got in her way, and I'm totally cool with that.

Happy Friday!  Go Buffs, Beat Ourselves!

Quick Post: Burks NBA decision chatter

There was a bunch of chatter both in the papers and on the twitter yesterday about Alec Burks setting a deadline of April 20th to make his NBA draft decision, and that there will be no "declare, but don't hire an agent" route.  He continues to state that his mind isn't made up and that it is a tough decision.  It's always hard to take that next step in life, to leave what's familiar, but I continue to feel that the realistic chance that he decides to stay at CU is close to 0%.

He also mentioned what I've been assuming for months, that the impending NBA lockout won't affect his decision.  That makes total sense to me; even with the lockout, first round contracts are slotted and guaranteed  (I don't think that slotting system will change during CBA negotiations) so there is relatively low risk even if the season gets washed out; it'll just be a delay on the eventual payday.  On the flip side, should Burks stay an extra year, he'd be contending with an enlarged draft pool next season. (ESPN's Chad Ford has a great evolving in/out list) Considering that he's one of the few viable NBA talents at his position, it may in fact be slightly advantageous for him to jump early, get a higher draft spot, and wait a few months for the cash to flow.

From my perspective he should go, take the eventual payday, and rep CU.  I'm not going to argue if he wants to stay another year, as I'd love 15+ more opportunities to see him play, but I think it would cost him lottery pick status.

Quick Post: Tulo's walkup song

The famous quote from Bull Durham is: "If you believe you're playing well because you're getting laid, or because you're not getting laid, or because you wear women's underwear, then you are! And you should know that!"

I guess that line of reasoning would have to extend to walk-up songs.  The subject of Tulo's walk-up song is apparently very important to Tulo, having immediately replaced some random, fan-chosen, pop crap for some other random pop-crap the minute he hit a rough patch, but do grown-ass reporters really have to talk about this shit?  This reminds me of last year when people, including Ozzie Guillen, started fretting over Gordon Beckham's walk-up song when he wasn't hitting. 

I could care less.  If a hitter thinks that's what keeping him from mashing, I guess that's fine, but please, let's not talk about it; it just makes everyone seem stupid.

That said, for the record my walk-up song would either be "Dying Breed" by Five Finger Death Punch, "Big Ego's" by Dr Dre, or "Dog Eat Dog" by AC/DC.

Enough to make a basketball fan cry

The headlines may read that UCONN won a national title last night, beating the Butler Bulldogs en route to Huskies coach Jim Calhoun's 3rd championship, but the story in my eyes was them doing so in the worst single game of basketball I've ever seen.  94 combined points (good for lowest combined title game score in 61 years), Butler shooting 18.8% from the field (worst ever in a title game), and UCONN shooting 1-11 from 3 (worst ever from a winner).

Hey, look, another missed shot in the paint.

 Woof. 

This wasn't good defense as some would have you believe, this was two under-talented squads, exhausted from having played 6 games in 3 weeks, being seemingly unable to hit an open bunny layup.  Yes they were playing hard, but playing hard doesn't mean two teams combine to score under 100.  Time and time again I found myself saying "they can't screw this up," yet there the two teams would be, flailing about like they had just discovered this whole "basketball thing."   They knew this was a game for the national title, right?

U-G-L-Y, you aint got no alibi: you're ugly... you're ugly.

Butler was especially pathetic; their beautiful carriage turning back into a rotting-ass pumpkin in front of the whole nation.  Before Matt Howard put back a seemingly easy offensive rebound with 6:15 remaining in the second half, the Bulldogs had yet to score a basket in the paint.  They finished to shoot 3-31 from inside the arc (that's 9.7%).  High-school teams, playing in the same stage, could've shot on accident better than that.  Besides the fact that no one has ever shot this poorly in a title game, teams haven't shot nearly this bad since the '40s.  I'm not even sure they had invented the jump-shot back when Washington St and Wisconsin combined to shoot in the low 20%s in 1941.  Are you kidding me?  This was a team in our national final?  Normally I would feel bad for kids who lay an egg this bad, but shit was that painful to watch.  For 40 minutes of play I learned to hate the game of basketball, and it's all Butler's fault.

Hand UCONN the trophy, and lets never, ever, talk of that game again.

I have never been less convinced that the winner of the NCAA Tournament was the best team in college basketball.  A win is a win, however.

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Site-News note: With the end of basketball season, and the impending end of spring football, comes the long wait til fall for relevant Buffs news.  Unlike last year, I will continue to update my blog through the Summer, just a lot less frequently.  Every week I will have up a Monday Grab Bag and a Friday Beer Post, but Tuesday-Thursday will only feature sporadic updates as warranted.

Additionally, over the coming months I'll be putting together a series of longer wrapups and previews of Buffs basketball.  I'll be looking at the season that was, the players that are leaving, the team going forward, and what we can expect from the offseason.. In addition, I'll be covering the opening of the new practice facility, the future of Alec Burks, and the evolving 2011 and 2012 recruiting classes. 

I hope you'll stick with me.  Go Buffs!

Quick Post: Burks writeup on NBA.com

While super-sophmore Alec Burks hasn't officially declared himself for the NBA draft, most everyone else is going about things as if he has.  NBA.com included him in their writeup of the SG position for the upcoming NBA draft.  There's nothing too shocking in the piece (GM's love his athleticism, rebounding, and potential; are worried about his shot and defense) but they do list him as their best option in a soft SG class.

Money quote: "But we draft on talent, and he's very talented. He'll have the ball and he'll break you down. In space, he's (tough) ... great upside if he's willing to work. Something tells me (the work ethic) is not off the charts because he hasn't worked on his body at all. But the holes in his game are fixable."

Monday Grab Bag: Hey, look, baseball!

WOOHOO, baseball is back, and with it nearly 24 hours of nice weather!  This week in the bag I'll touch on both the Rox and the Sox opening weekends, a little spring football, and one of the Utah schools (not who you would think) trying to pick a fight.

Click below for the bag...

Friday Beer Post: Final Four of Beer Madness and some sad news

After 3 weeks, the semi-finals and finals of beer madness are open for voting over at DRAFT Magazine.  3 of my final four from last week made the cut!  I certainly did better with beer than I did with my NCAA bracket!  The 3 I nailed were Moose Drool from Big Sky Brewing, Dead Guy Ale from Rogue, and Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale.  Much to my chagrin Alaskan's Smoked Porter didn't make it; it was usurped by Old Rasputin Imperial Stout from North Coast Brewing.

Voting for the final round is open, so get to votin'!  My picks are Dead Guy Ale to face off against Sublimely Self-Righteous, with Stone's demonic Black IPA coming out on top. 

My pick to win it all.

Happy Friday!
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In some sad news, Chicago's own Goose Island announced that it was selling out to Anheuser-Bush this week.  Goose Island, one of the older craft breweries in the nation, sold it's soul to the brewing devil for $38.8 million.  The decision seems to have been made because of inability to meet demand.  John Hall, founder of the 23 year old company, will stay on as CEO.

At the bottom of the article, there's a brief mention that GI becomes the 5th brewery in the top-20 craft breweries to sell-out in the past year.  I understand the difficulties in meeting demand and continuing to grow your business, but does it have to end this way for some of the biggest names in the craft industry?

For my palate, selling out to the big-3 only drags you down into the corporate jizz-pool of tasteless swill.  Sure, more people will now be exposed to your product, but at what cost to the quality and ingenuity of your brand?  There's something special in the provincial nature that some of the best breweries in the country have to offer, or the truly limited, and daring, quality a rebellious brew holds.  Corporate beer makes for lousy beer in my estimation.  Just saying, but maybe mass-distribution isn't the answer.