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BeerSlugger.com Getting Social

By: Billy BeerSlugger

We’d like to thank the many BeerSlugger’s out there that support our site and read our crappily written articles.

Being that this is the 22nd century I figured we’d bring BeerSlugger out of the dark ages and allow you guys to use all your little crazy social networks, social bookmarks and all that other bullshit.

So if you’ve got Facebook you can share an article you like by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the post. If you use Digg you can help BeerSlugger.com reach the masses by submitting an article you like by clicking on the dig icon at the bottom of the post. Same goes for Reddit and Yahoo Buzz.

If you are a Technorati user there is an icon on the right column that you can click to make BeerSlugger.com one of your favorite blogs.

We’re not really sure what any of this stuff does but we’ve looked at other blogs and they have the same shit. So in and attempt to be homogeneous and banal we have bowed to the peer pressure, emails and comments and added these features to BeerSlugger.com.

It’s Friday so I’m going to get drunk now. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for logging on.

Sincerely,

William J. BeerSlugger

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The Inside Track with Ace Rothstein: 9/25/09

Last week we went 1-2-1. A couple of breaks and we have a monster week. I still believe we were on the right side of the games but that’s why they call it gambling. On to this week.

Fresno St +17 over Cincinnati

Cincinnati has to come home after a tough game on the West Coast and is laying a big number here. They are 2-8 ATS the past 10 games where they are favored by more then 8 points. This Fresno St team is good
and will look to control the clock by running the ball the whole game. Cincinnati played Hawaii in there Bowl game last year and barely got by them. Fresno St is a better and more balanced team then Hawaii. Fresno St covers and has a chance to pull this out in the 4th Quarter.

Illinois +14 over Ohio St

Arrelious Benn is back and so is Illinois passing game. With 2 weeks off Illinois is going to come in on fire and look to take it to one of the best teams in the Big 10. Looking into the numbers Illinois is 8-2
ATS the past 10 where they are a 10-14 point underdog. Illinois is also 6-2 ATS past 8 games vs Ohio St and 4-1 ATS at Ohio St. Look for a upset.

Tennessee +3 over NY Jets

I think Mark Sanchez stinks! He has managed two alright games but has not faced a defense this good ever. The Jets thought last week was their Super Bowl and it will be hard for them to get up again for this game. Tennessee has Super Bowl aspirations and has started the season 0-2. The Titans are 8-2 ATS the past 10 September road games.

Arizona Cardinals -2 1/2 over Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are coming off a huge Monday night win in the heat of South Florida. Now they must travel to Arizona and play against a great offense. The Colt defense was on the field 80% of the game last week, and will be tired by the second half of this one. And we all know what Kurt Warner does against tired defense’s that aren’t rushing. Cards by a TD.

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Dudes Who Need To Be Fired: NFL Edition

Sports With Bob McFlurry

Here’s My NFL List of 2009 who need to be fired in the sports world whether they deserve it or not:

Head Coaches:

Jack Del Rio: Jacksonville Jaguars

Del Rio has a regular season record of 50-46 with 3 winning seasons in 6 years and two playoff appearances including one playoff win.  That coupled with the dismal season they’re probably going to suffer through will not allow Del Rio to keep his job. Unless David Garrard turns into Peyton Manning that is and Maurice Jones Drew can prove he’s an every down back. Bottom line Jack Del Rio is somewhere else next season.

Marvin Lewis: Cincinnati Bengals

Last year 4-11-1, 2oo7 finished 7-9, 8-8 in 2006 after going 11-5 in 2005. Carson Palmer’s health has to do as much with the loses as much as the defense does but ultimately Lewis is responsible because he was brought in to fix the defense.  He’s only had one winning season from 2003 to 2008 which means after they don’t make the playoffs this year, the experiment is over.

John Fox: Carolina Panthers

In the mid-2000’s John Fox’ Carolina Panthers were the sexy pick to make the Super Bowl pretty much every preseason. He’s had 3 winning seasons in 7 years and at least has a winning regular season record (63-49). The Panthers went to the Super Bowl in 2003 when their offensive line was all juiced up on steroids and HGH and went to the NFC Championship game in 2005. They also lost last year in the first round of the playoffs to eventual NFC champion Arizona Cardinals.  All things considered, even with a winning record in the regular season and a 5-3 record in post season play, John Fox should be fired after this year when the Panthers don’t make the playoffs or lose in the first round again.

Quarterbacks:

Jason Campbell: Washington Redskins

I think the Jason Campbell experiment is just about over. For all his athleticism he’ll never be a good QB in the league. The Redskins severely overpaid to get the 25th pick in the 2005 draft, giving up a 1st, 3rd and 4th round pick to acquire him. He had a good completion percentage last year but didn’t have the TD’s or yards to show for it and he couldn’t carry the team on his back during Clinton Portis’ annual end of season production halt. He’s a game manager and he’s efficient but he’s never going to be a great QB. Though he’d be a good backup somewhere.

Matt Hasselback : Seattle Seahawks

It’s time for Seattle to find a QB of the future and fast. This guy is more injury prone than a elderly hypochondriac living in a run down nursing home.  He’s good when healthy but he hasn’t been healthy since their Super Bowl run and Matt’s age is starting to catch up with his prematurely receding hairline.

Jake Delhomme: Carolina Panthers

He’s been serviceable for years and a leader on the field but are the Panthers ever going to win a Championship with this guy. The expectations are usually high for this team and even with a great ground game and great defense he’s never going to get it done.  This guy could fuck up a wet dream.

Ownership:

Al Davis: Oakland Raiders

Al needs to go away and I think most of Oakland wishes this would happen. He needs to retire and hand the keys off to someone who isn’t senile.  The drafts have been putrid and you change coaches every year. You can’t win that way and it’s very evident. I’m not sure this guy could field a competitive Fantasy Football team let alone a real one.

Daniel Snyder: Washington Redskins

I’m actually fine with D. Snyder captaining that ship down in Washington because the Eagles play them twice a year.  Keep spending a kabillion dollars on free-agents that don’t pan out and let down some the best fans in the NFL on an annual basis.  The only way this can be fixed is if Snyder takes a back seat and gives total control over to a guy like Bill Cowher, Bill Parcells, Mike Shannahan or some other proven winner. I think his ego is too big for that though.

Everybody In The Front Office: Detroit Lions

It was a step in the right direction sending Matt Millen back to the broadcast booth but I hope they cleaned the rest of the house and not just the attic. It’s easy to pick on the Lions for their ineptitude but there’s a reason for that.  Starting in 2003 they drafted Charles Rogers, Roy Williams, Kevin Jones and Mike Williams in the first round. All of these can be considered busts in one form or another and none are even on the Lions roster. In 2006 they finally drafted someone on the defensive side of the ball and then went right back to drafting Wr’s the next year with Calvin Johnson. Johnson may work out but 1 out of 4 ain’t is bad. Again in 2009 they took offensive players in Matthew Stafford and Brandon Pettigrew (TE) in the first round. It’s a wonder their defense is suspect, you can’t develop defensive players if you don’t draft any. Ernie Sims remains the only 1st round draft pick to be spent on a defensive side of the ball in the 2000’s.

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Mackenzie Phillips Was Banging Her Dad

Credit: Kristin Barlowe; Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images
Credit: Kristin Barlowe; Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images

By: Billy BeerSlugger

So news came out within the last couple days about how Mackenzie Phillips of 80’s Soap Opera fame and her father of 70’s band Momma’s and the Poppa’s were involved in an incestuous relationship for over ten years. She is going on Oprah to discuss the ordeal and has a book coming out shortly.  The first thing that comes to my mind is why ugly ass Mackenzie Phillips and not her way better looking sister Chyna Phillips of early 90’s group Wilson Phillips.  Only a truly sick and twisted individual would bang his less good looking daughter.

It’s kind of hilarious how things work in the publishing world. You have celebrities that do fucked up shit and then write a book about it. You have politician’s that do fucked up shit and write a book about it. You have regular people who do fucked up shit, get famous for doing the fucked up shit and then write a book about it. It’s a system that rewards bad behavior with book deals and the general public eats this stuff up like the last slice of pizza on a drunken Friday night after the bars close.

Oh, but don’t forget the talk show tour de’ sympathie and or shame while hawking the book. The absolute pinnacle of this charade being the Oprah show and the obligatory, “…how did that make you feel” question (queue Crocodile Tears!).

Seriously though, what does that say about the person that buys this book?  You already know the jist, she was banging her dad for like 10 years.  Or does this sick person want to know all the gross details like when it started, what positions they liked or if she came during sex. It’s like an incestuous romance novel but set in real life. I’m going to venture to guess that 98% of the people that buy this book are women who have deep seeded daddy issues and may actually be Jillin’ Off while reading the juicy parts.

I think this just proves that people will do absolutely anything for money.  Banged your dad for 10 years, write a book about it.  Started banging dudes and got caught while you were the governor, write a book about it. Sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder while Governor and get caught, write a book about it. Bet on Baseball while you’re a manager, get caught, deny it for 20 years then admit to it in a book you wrote about it.

Granted some stories are more compelling than others and while sex definitely sells in our culture you may have to cut off the book deal for people who bang their dad for 10 years and then want to make money off the story.

note: Jillin’ Off is a slang term for female masturbation.

I could have also used:

Hee-Haw with wrinkled Mee-Maw

Muffin Buffin’

Polishing the Pearl

Two Finger Taco Tango

Beat the Beaver

Riding the Unicycle

Play the Clitar

Double Clicking the Mouse

or Fucking Without Complications

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Valley Swim Club Racism

By: Billy BeerSlugger

You may have heard this story about a group of 60 kids from a day camp in Philadelphia which was bussed to the Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley PA only to be told not to come back a day later after an emergency board meeting by the swim club.

The story is all over the news and reached national levels even moving Actor/Director Tyler Perry of the Tyler Perry movies to pay for a 3 day stay in Disneyland. There’s no denying that the kids in the day camp are primarily black and that the clientele in the swim club is primarily white. There’s where the story comes from; the sensationalism of racism.

Now the swimming club says they had legitimate crowd concerns which may or may not be true. One of the campers,  Dymire Baylor, commented, saying, “I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child.” Two other campers reported strange comments, prompting one to ask, “Am I too black to go into the pool?”.

Well you might just chalk that up to what Obama might call being a “typical white person“. As in there is an inherent reaction to white people that’s “been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way and that’s just the nature of race in our society”.  (And he’s right we do have to break through it).

But I digress, the issue here is that the summer camp paid $1,900 to have the 60 kids go to the pool every Monday for 90 minutes for the duration of the summer. I did some math and it essentially breaks down to $2.64 per visit. Now the swim club supposedly received multiple complaints from members leading to the emergency board meeting that terminated the Day Camp membership. I think the economics of this decision are pretty easy. A swimming membership for the summer for one person can range from $300 to $350 in the area for a single person and a family of four can be around $600 – $650. So from an economics standpoint if you lose 5.5 singular memberships or 3 family’s of four due to the kids being there the swim club takes a bit of a bath.  Not to mention dealing with the other “typical white” people who don’t relinquish their membership but complain constantly.

This is all conjecture but I’m thinking from a economical and “dealing with bullshit” standpoint, you say let’s give the kids back their money, keep our “typical white” members happy that are our bread and butter. You cite crowd concerns/safety and that’s your alibi.  Seems to work for me except maybe the alibi wasn’t airtight and you didn’t count on the national news coverage on your ass and the racist label hung over your Swim Club sign.

There really was no winning angle to be played here. Either lose money and reputation with your members and let the kids stay the summer or refund the money and take whatever the parents, media and Tyler Perry throw at you. It’s sad but the real wrong move was to invite the group at all.  Every private swim club board in America has now been served up a lesson in how not to get into a Public Relations nightmare and possibly a $50,000 fine; don’t go out of your way to try and do a good deed and give some underprivileged youngsters a place to swim. So in effect what may seem like a win against racism and anti-civil rights actually just made it ten times harder to get underprivileged kids into nicer private swim clubs. It’s a double edged sword but it looks like the kids are at least going to get $50,000 minus lawyer fees.  Hopefully it all goes right to a college education fund, I could get my Michael Phelps on with that scenario. Of course that’s not going to happen.

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This Guy and That Guy’s Cooking Corner – Shrimp Scampi

Fucking Delicious
Fucking Delicious

Ingredients

• 1 pound penne pasta

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 pound medium uncooked shrimp, peeled, and deveined

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning

• 1 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes cut in half

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 cup white wine (the rest can be given to Mrs. Wineslugger)

• 1/3 cup clam juice

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm – el dente. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the shrimp turn pink and are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

Add the sun dried tomatoes, 1/4 cup basil, 1/4 cup parsley, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine, clam juice, and heavy cream. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the cooked shrimp, the cooked pasta, and the remaining herbs. Toss together until all ingredients are coated.

Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve immediately.

Great date night idea. You can give your Wineslugger the rest of the wine which pairs perfectly with the meal and you can enjoy a nice summer ale (Sam Adams Summer or Sierra Nevada Summer) or a crisp refreshing beer such as a Warsteiner.

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Warsteiner – Not your ordinary brewery

warsteinerBy: Luan Zuccarello

Warsteiner has been brewing beer since 1753, and is the largest private brewery in Germany. Located right outside of Warstein Germany and in the Rhine Valley, this brewery remained unscathed during the bombings of WWII. The owner Albert Cramer has used the company’s success and good fortune to start a competitive hot air ballooning league in Germany.

I don’t know about you but I would love to see Hammacher and Schlemmer chugging Das Boot and racing hot air balloons. Their Flagship Beer is the Warsteiner Premium Verum and is a pilsner style that is exported to over 60 countries. With an alcohol content of 4.8% it makes for a refreshing and delicious session beer. I have had the privilege to taste more beers in the Warsteiner catalogue and not one of them disappoints.

I tried their Oktoberfest recently, and was quite surprised that is was so light and crisp. Stay tuned for our ROK-toberfest countdown of the top 10 beers of autumn.

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The Foodery – Northern Liberites

The 2nd Street Establishment
The 2nd Street Establishment

By: Billy BeerSlugger

The Foodery is really a beer store that also has a deli. Though when I say beer store, we’re talking about six packs and more so singles of the best beer you can find in Philly. There’s 10 or so coolers that have some of the finest imported beer from Belgium, Germany, England and anywhere else that makes stuff worth drinking.

You can sit down and have a beer and a sandwich there, it’s not a bar but they will give you glassware.  And I believe it’s open until 10pm which is crucial for those for a halftime beer run on a Monday Night Football game or a Tuesday night when you’ve just had a really bad day.

So overall, one of the best selections of beer I’ve ever seen in one place. The bad part is that most of the single beers there run $4.50+.  Yes imported beer is a little more expensive but it’s more or less a 300% markup for single beers. I walked out of there with a $20 dollar sixpack last week. If I was smart I would have went to the beer store earlier in the day and had at least 18 more beers but such is life sometimes.

Overall though you can’t really knock the price given the selection and trendy 2nd street location in Northern liberties. Maybe the City has a tax on single beer?

Another great thing is that I didn’t see any Budweiser or Coors there. Kudos to you friends. Viva le Beer!

837 north 2nd street (2nd & poplar)
(215) 238-6077
philadelphia, pennsylvania 19123
hours: sun-thurs 10:00am to 10:00pm
fri-sat 10:00am to 12:00am

They also have a location at:

324 south 10th street (10th & pine)
(215) 928-1111
philadelphia, pennsylvania 19107
hours: everyday 9:00am to 12:00am

I wish I had frequented that establishment a little more when I was living near Broad and Spruce St.

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Total Eclipse of the Heart – Literal Version

This parody video showcases how completely avant garde and ahead of their time that 80’s Music Videos can be. Lots of hidden meaning, metaphors and symbolism out the ass.  If you listen to the regular version which was immortalized in my generation by the movie Old School and a cursing wedding band, you know it’s classic 80’s ballad. However, with this dubbed version of the song on Youtube, the words and visuals mesh so well that I figured you needed to see it.  So here it is for your viewing and listening pleasure.

The video also reminds me of how obsessed our culture is with looks. There’s no way (even with a dynamite voice and flowing locks of teased blonde hair) that Bonnie Tyler gets airplay today. Maybe on the John Tesh radio program but that’s about it.

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Craigslist and Craig Newmark

The Guys Behind The Website
The Guys Behind The Website

By: Billy BeerSlugger

A friend emailed me today about Craigslist with an intriguing article on how it could be fixed and or make it better. While there were some worthy considerations in there about drill down searches, opening up an API for developers and reducing anonymity among posters I would actually argue that Craigslist is not broken and does not need much “fixing”.

The article does touch on the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mantra Craigslist seems to employ at least covering that side of the story.  However, what the author seems not to realize is that Craigslist probably has a plan for most of the things touched on in the article that are supposedly “broken”.

Craig Newmark, for all his quirks, his liberal political leaning and social awkwardness, is a hero of mine.  A man sitting on a billion dollar empire who sneers at people who want to buy it, invest in it or sell advertising on it.  It’s not like he’s broke or anything because it seems like Craigslist made over 100 million last year but Capitalists would argue much more can be made if Craigslist “sells out” and becomes overrun by corporate types and “policy”. Newmark doesn’t seem to want to stand for that and in my eyes that’s admirable. Not only that but Newmark pioneered the means of making money off of free services, something laughable only a decade ago.

You have probably been on Craigslist no doubt. Putting something up for sale, responding to an advertisement or looking for a “Casual Encounter”.  What drew you, me and millions of other people there a month is the “Free” aspect. No more dealing with newspaper fees and deadlines to get your apartment rented, you could now realistically have it rented in 24 hours, for free. Not that Craigslist was the only reason but Newspaper Classified Ad revenue is down 50% from a decade ago.  A shift from paper to digital for the medium and a “free” concept that neither newspapers or the Yellow Pages were willing to accept.

The reason why it works is that there’s so many people on it. It’s also the reason why startups with the Classified mentality will not work, Craigslist has cornered the market in most if not all major American cities. Nothing offered in terms of user interface, searchability or openness of code will ever be able to compete with the numbers Craigslist brings in monthly (the chicken or the egg principle). I for one have never not found a product or service that was on Craigslist that I was looking for.

People will criticize it’s layout, monotone colors and whatever else they can to knock it but you are getting more than you are paying for, which in most cases is nothing.  Remember beggars cannot be choosers and while articles like the aforementioned and this one from wired magazine maybe are trying to just suggest things for the betterment of the site rather than cry that they are not available I would have to think that the Craigslist team knows what they are doing just like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates know what their next moves are.

Craigslist gets 41 million unique visits per month and has a total of 30 employees liken that to Amazon.com and they have 20,000 employees and have less traffic, Ebay less traffic and 16,000 employees. I’m not sure what that tells you except that Craigslist does more with less.

That’s not to say Craigslist doesn’t have problems with spam and the like. Newmark actually prides himself on “breeding the perfect spammer” and that seems to be a pretty full time job for a site that doesn’t require registration or payment for most services. However, opening up Craigslist to an API could be a daunting task for those 30 employees over there in San Francisco.  Not to get it up and running but to keep it running and everyone happy plus have the customer service part (which has never been great at Craigslist) on the up and up. Essentially that means a lot more employees.

Probably what I’m getting at in this post is that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” does still apply in the digital age though Craigslist is not untouchable. It will just probably take another pioneer along the likes of Newmark to topple Craigslist just as Newmark has toppled Newspapers and The Yellow Pages. It won’t be because of fancy graphics or easier searching though, but because of concept. Though it’s going to be hard to top “Free“.

Note: This post was written while listening to The Strokes album Room on Fire