Are You Kidding Me? Expansion?

If you're like me you already saw this on ESPN... If you're not and you're a fan of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, then you need to see this. Sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard. What is it they always say? If it isn't broke don't fix it?

Blue Hills and Me

The best part of this blog thing that I'm finding is that it isn't necessary to be objective. The newspaper world, and certainly the academic world, stress objectivity (or at least an appearance of objectivity), but here I'm free to be as biased and one-sided as I want. I can root for my friends, and I can openly boo my enemies (I hope Duke and West Virginia somehow both lose).
Knowing full well that I am about as subjective as I can be on the subject, I'd like to take a moment to thank Andris Veidis - the brewer at Blue Hills Brewery for hooking me up with a growler of their tasty spring marzen lager (see photo). It is a surprisingly good beer that fits perfectly with the miserable springs we have here in Boston. It is still cold and wet out, and the smooth caramel malt backbone provides sustenance to deal with it. However, baseball season is a weekend away, and with it comes promises of sunshine and warmer temperatures. Blue Hills matches this budding optimism with a note of citrusy-grassy hops in the nose and in the mouth. By far my favorite spring beer, and I'm a much bigger fan of it than I am of Sam Adams' Noble Pils.

I've got to be honest and admit that I'm a friend of Andris, and that I got this growler on the barter system rather than the capital system. I met him a year or so ago when I was working on a From the Source on his nascent brewery, and as we chatted he essentially made it clear that he would welcome any help he could get from a homebrewer. So once or twice a week last summer I would head down on brewdays, or sometimes on filter days, and lend a hand in exchange for beer and experience. I no longer have free mornings, so working there has become impossible, but we still keep in touch and trade beer. For example, I traded him a six-pack of homebrewed IPA and California Common for this growler.

I figure that any relationship that revolves almost entirely around beer is a good one, and it doesn't hurt that I'm in good with one of Massachusett's up-and-coming breweries. For those who aren't in the know yet, you should definitely check out Blue Hills. They have tastings every Friday at the brewery in Canton. And if you've got homebrew, bring that too.

Tennessee vs. Michigan State Running Diary (first half)

With apologies to Bill Simmons for stealing his diary format, here are my thoughts that come from watching Tennessee vs. Michigan State, starting about halfway through the first half when I decided to hop on the blogspot.

10:24 - I was just reading on BeerAdvocate a few posts from a man from Tennessee who was proclaiming his newfound love for ALES. He used all caps each time. I don't know why that's funny to me, and I don't know why that's in this blog.

9:25 - I can't tell if all of these steals are great defense or really sloppy offense. That's what I love about this tournament is how readily these kids throw their bodies into the game. Many of them know that this is the last game they'll play in College, perhaps at all, and it shows.

9:15 - great shot of Tom Izzo squatting on the sidelines. He is quietly making a name for himself as one of the greatest basketball coaches in the history of the college game. As I type this CBS posts his curriculum vitae on the screen. Maybe it's not so quiet.

9:00 - #4 for Ten. is a big boy. He just crushed a Sparty defender for an easy layup.

Commercial break - During this Ochocinco shoe commercial, I can't help but ponder something completely unrelated - I'm loving the tournament this year. Another thought, why am I watching this on my laptop in my room instead of in the living room on the television? I think this counts as doing homework...

6:34 - J.P. Prince just threw down another filthy alley oop, followed by a nice shot by Raymar Morgan for Mich. St. Great back and forth game, I wonder how the Spartans would fare if Lucas were healthy.

6:04 - Michigan State takes the lead 33-32 off a pair of free throws by Lucious. Another great thing about this tournament is some kid like Lucious stepping up big time on the big stage to fill in for an injured star like Lucas.

5:06 - I hate the term "big baby." I hate Glen Davis and his man boobs, and I don't understand why it gets tossed around so frequently in college basketball. It's stupid... Tenn up 34-33.

4:20 - Bruce Pearl may be the sweatiest coach in the history of both sweating and coaching. But he is keeping it under wraps today, makes me wonder what antipersperant he's using.

Commercial break again - Bud light autotune commercial kills me. Only good beer commercial to come out of the superbowl this year.

3:12 - another great steal by Gomes, this is good defense. Of course Green answers right back for Mich. St.

1:48 - Raymar Morgan finishes a second-shot opportunity to tie the game at 37. He's super talented.

1:21 - Goins gets away with a blatant carry and gets rewarded for it with a trip for the free throw line where he puts Tenn up by two - 39-37.

1:06 - Lucias also carries with no call, I don't think the refs no that rule.

Commercial break - if I never have to see another Southwest.com bags fly free commercial, I'll be fine with that.

0:41 - Tennessee scores quickly on an easy layup after a badly missed shot from Mich. St. How does Mich State answer? with another missed three (this time badly) and by teeing up a shot for Williams to swat into the fifth row. Nothing "baby" about that man. No sir.

0:01.7 - a great play to end the half with Michigan state getting a layup on an in-bounds play. I'm so glad I'm intimately familiar with all these players because the announcers didn't bother saying who made the play... and with that it's halftime and Michigan State is down by a couple. That does it for me, I'm going to prep for my interview with Good People's Jason Malone for my BeerAdvocate story.

Cheers.

Good People Brewing

Basically I'm spending my day today waiting for Jason Malone, the brewer at Good People Brewing Co. to shoot me a call so we can get an interview going. His little seven-barrel brewery out of Birmingham Ala. is the subject of my next From The Source article for BeerAdvocate Magazine. As I'm waiting, I'm periodically reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and formulating a recipe for my next homebrew.

I was fortunate enough to get some 20-odd pounds of 2-row grain from my buddy Andris at Blue Hills Brewery the other day when I brought by some of my California Common and an IPA for trade. I'm not sure what I will brew, as I traded some of my labor for a few ounces of hops, but didn't measure them out and grabbed far fewer than the six ounces I wanted to use for another IPA. This leaves me in a slight predicament, as I will now head to the brewshop out in Cambridge for some extra hops (and some more yeast, as I don't trust the sludge that I've had in my fridge for a couple of months), but if I'm going to the brewshop I might as well add in some specialty grains as well. And since I'm going to add in specialty grains, I'm thinking I might as well brew that porter I have been wanting to brew lately.

I suppose these are all good dilemmas to have. While I wait for Mr. Malone to call me, I'll settle down with Michigan St. vs. Tennessee. This tournament is proving to be fantastic this year.

Cheers