Does Rajon Rondo even like playing basketball?

Rondo cracks me up. The kid can ball on the level of the best point guards in the game, has freakishly long arms and big hands, and can do everything except shoot a long jumper. He's an all-around beast that any team would gladly take at the one, and the funniest thing is that he never even cracks a smile. The dude's all business. Just look at this interview - I love the last question: "Do you take it as a compliment that Lebron wants to guard you?" "You can say that if you want to."

Brew Day - Strawberry Hefeweizen

It's a good day for brewing, so I'm brewing up an early summer favorite - Strawberry Hefeweizen. The recipe itself is simple enough:

1.00 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 9.52 %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 47.62 %
4.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 42.86 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 17.6 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat

But the real beauty of this beer is the 10 pounds of strawberries that get added to the beer a few days into fermentation.

Wyeast 3068 is known to kick off a lot of esthers (smells), particularly a compound that smells like bananas. Typically the warmer the fermentation temperature, the more esthers. Also, not adding enough yeast can add to esther production. If this were a normal hefeweizen, I'd like to keep those esthers somewhat under control, but this isn't a normal hefeweizen. I like to kick it old school with this brew and just leave the fermenting beer in a dark, cool corner of my apartment, which is about 65 degrees or so these days. That keeps the beer around 72-74 degrees and keeps those banana esthers popping out. The strawberries get dumped into the same bucket a few days later.

The banana smell really blends nicely with the aroma of the strawberries, and almost gives it a milk-shake like smell. However, the smell is a little misleading, as the beer is actually more tart than sweet. All of the sugar ferments out of the berries during fermentation, and all that's left is a tart fruitiness. Coupled with a high level of carbonation when it comes time for that, this ends up being a very dry beer perfect for warm summer days. I'm excited for it already.

On deck for tomorrow's brew day - Black Gold IPA:

10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.63 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
3.00 oz Cascade [8.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
3.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 50.7 IBU
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 33.8 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (First Wort Hop) Hops 16.9 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Long Overdue

Desperate times call for desperate measures, thus the red solo cup. For those of you not marooned in the waterless world of Massachusetts, I'm drinking like this because of contamination in Boston's water source that recommends not using the water for anything except bathing and fire prevention. In order to avoid creating dishes, I'm using reusable cups. And in order to avoid drinking water, I'm drinking beer.

The beer in question is New England Brewing Company's Gandhi-Bot Double India Pale Ale. Wow, it is a hoppy beer. The can (I love beer in cans) states that it comes in at 85 IBU, but it's a world-class hop bomb to be sure. Lots of piney notes in the nose and it smacks you with dry bitterness in the mouth (who doesn't like getting smacked with bitterness in the mouth). The smell is dank, but the bitterness isn't exactly my bag. I tend to prefer sweeter DIPAs like DogFish Head's 90-minute IPA. At 8.8% ABV, it packs a punch as well, although there is really no noticeable alcohol burn.

There was oodles of hype for this beer on BeerAdvocate, and discussions abounded like this one . So I had to go out and get myself a four-pack when I had the chance. It's good, and worth the buy, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to get it again. However, it does pair real nicely with some NBA, as you can savor one for a long time - at least one half. And that's the real point of this post - THE PLAYOFFS

As I say in the title, this post is long overdue. I was too caught up in the first round to even write about it, but now that it's over I've got some thoughts.

Thought 1:
As always I'll start with the Lakers. They proved to be as schizophrenic as they had been all season, and struggled with the Thunder's athleticism. However, ultimately there's just too much talent on that squad and on the bench (mostly the elevated chair close to the scorer's table) to lose in the first round.

I think the moment that best exemplified the Lakers' true depth was Pau Gasol's tip-in of Kobe's last-second shot in Game 6. Everyone expected that shot to be the last of the game, but Pau - who has superstar talent on his own - was the only one wide awake and he deftly tipped it back in. That bucket caused a sigh of relief across Lakerland, and sent Los Angeles back home to deal with a familiar foe - The Utah Jazz.

Thought 2:
Jerry Sloan is the best coach in the playoffs. The Jazz are rolling even without two of their best players (Memo Okur and AK47), and Deron Williams is proving why he's the best point guard in the playoffs (leading the postseason in assists). Yet for some reason, I'm not afraid as a Lakers fan.

Perhaps it's because Phil Jackson is the second best coach in the playoffs, perhaps its because Derek Fisher has owned D-Will defensively in the playoffs, or perhaps its because LA has home-court advantage and the Jazz only do well with home-court calls (nobody abuses bodies down low like Carlos Boozer, and nobody gets away with it more often). Lakers in 6.

Thought 3:
I hate LeBron James. Seriously. I hate him. I think I may submit a posting to my friends over at The Puppy Kicker about this clown. I've never seen a player milk an injury like LeBron does. Give me a break, I'm not saying he didn't hurt it in Game 5 against the Bulls, but there's no way he was still bothered. The list goes on why he's miserable, but I'll save that rant for later.

Thought 4:
The Spurs are better than we all thought (except Skip Bayless, who picks them every year), and the Hawks are as bad as we thought. The Spurs are self-explanatory, and well, so are the Hawks. This Game 7 (which at the time of this post Atlanta is leading by 20 with 4:27 left in the game) should just be called "The Game to Determine Who Will Lose to the Orlando Magic in Round 2." Seriously, if the ATL can't put away the Bucks without their best center, how will they stop Dwight Howard and his co-stars in Orlando? They won't. No way.

Thought 5:
The East still sucks. The Celtics, Magic and Cavaliers all have a great advantage playing in the East. Not only do they benefit from the regular-season gift of playing the Nets four times (although not exactly a gift for the Celtics, who lost to them in Boston), but they start the first round with essentially a warm-up against the likes of the Dwayne Wades, the Larry Browns, and the Derrick Roses. Stop one player (or coach) and advance. Out of all the teams to benefit from this soft-toss opening round, I expect the Magic to make the most of it, as they had the most time off thanks to this embarrassingly bad Hawks-Bucks series. Health is key to the playoffs, and Orlando has had plenty of time to rest and heal up any bumps or bruises.

Final Thought
The Celtics will beat the Cavaliers. Shockingly enough, they are better coached - although my retarded cat could outcoach Mike Brown. But I bet that the deciding factor will be when the series gets tight, the Cavs will turn into the LeBron Jameses, with every player in red turning to their star to bail them out. Nobody is better at locking down a single player than the Celts in the playoffs (see: 2008 NBA Finals), and it's going to cost them. Celtics in 6.