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Ben Franklin Bridge Run

50centercity
View From The Bridge

By: Billy BeerSlugger

The Ben Franklin Bridge is 9,573 feet long which equates to about a 3.5 mile run up and back from Philly to Camden. If you’re like me right now and are scrambling to lose weight because summer already started, this is a great workout.

The Bridge walkway is open from 6am to 9pm so you can even get a run in after you get home from work.

There is an even mix of hills and declines with the middle span of the bridge being more or less of a straight away.  Along your journey you may encounter other people walking, running or cycling.  Please watch out for them if you are wearing headphones and are blasting music on high, you may just run into a biker.

The Ben Franklin Bridge was originally named the Delaware River Bridge but was later renamed for statesman and Philadelphian, Benjamin Franklin.

When the bridge opened in 1926 it was the deemed the World’s largest Suspension Bridge Span (533 meters) until that distinction was taken away in 1929 with the opening of the Ambassador Bridge.

Originally one lane of the bridge, in each direction, was fitted with Streetcar/Trolley tracks and the anchorages were outfitted as boarding stations.  These stations were never used though since the company owning the Camden Streetcar system ceased operations in 1932.  The streetcar rails were taken up and replaced with another lane for vehicles going in each direction.  Eventually rapid transit tracks were laid on outbound sides of the bridge completed in 1939.  The Bridge Line Subway connected Broadway and City Hall in Camden with 8th and Market in Philadelphia.  The Bridge Line expanded to 16th and Locust in 1952 and began carrying PATCO trains in 1969.

While using pedestrian means to cross the bridge is free, it now costs $4.00 to use the bridge coming from the Camden side into Philadelphia by car.

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Drunk Food: Volcano Hamburger Helper

By: Billy BeerSlugger

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It would be better if this picture wasn't fuzzy

I consider myself a sort of Renaissance man.  Not only can I make a crappy website, do drywall, install ceiling fans and other Man stuff, I can also Cook and do my own Laundry.

On a previous post I promised to give you the recipe for my Macaroni & Cheese, Ground Beef concoction.

So here’s what you need:

1) A box of Macaroni & Cheese. I use the White Cheddar kind.  You will also need the things necessary to make Macaroni & Cheese like Milk and Butter.

2) A pound of Ground Beef.

3) An Onion.

4) A Green Pepper.

5) An 8oz bag of Shredded Cheese of your choosing. I use a 3 cheese medley usually used in tacos.

6) Half a jar of Spaghetti Sauce (12oz).  Your choice but I like to use a Sweeter Sauce.

7) Hot Sauce.

This couldn’t be easier to make:

1) Slice up the Green Pepper and Onion

2) Combine Sliced Green Pepper and Onion with Ground Beef in a frying pan.

3) Cook the Macaroni & Cheese following the directions on the box.

4) Pre-Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

5) Combine Macaroni & Cheese with the Browned Ground Beef, Onions and Green Pepper in a baking dish.

6) Mix in the spaghetti sauce and hot sauce to taste.

7) Add the shredded cheese as desired. I use the whole bag because I eat to deal with my emotions.

8) Bake this bad bear for about 10 minutes.

It feeds 4 people for around $10.  Or if you’re me, you eat half of it and then cry the rest of the night.  It’s not exactly a food for people who are counting calories, but if you’re wasted it may be one of the best meals you’ve ever had.

Of course I do not recommend cooking while drunk.  You may fall asleep like F.X. Galvin and almost burn the house down.

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The Fathers of American Beer

By: Billy BeerSlugger

While two or so of our writers are putting the finishing touches on the final entries in to the Greatest Athlete of All Time Debate, I decided the next series I would focus on would be the Brewers that put American beer on the map.  Men like Adolphus Busch, Frederick Pabst, Frederick Miller, Adolph Coors, D.G. Yuengling and Joseph Schlitz to name a few.

Every week or so I’ll be profiling one of the Great Brewers from America’s infancy.

Next week also look forward to the new BeerSlugger Babe of the Month.

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Indian Pale Ale (IPA)

india-pale-aleBy: Luan Zuccarello

This scene is all too familiar – A group of Yuppies, Douchbags, rich kids, Villanova graduates, or group of upscale dorks that care more about their portfolio then beer – walk into a bar an order the local IPA. Now these guys are 1. Not big drinkers and 2. Trying to impress girls with a different kind of drink – kind of like “Hey I’m cool I drink expensive beer that you never heard of”. I will guarantee 3 things will happen.

  1. They will not like the beer
  2. They will get so sloppy drunk, annoying and they will pick a fight ultimately referencing their lawyer and a lawsuit.
  3. They have no idea what an IPA is

IPA or India Pale Ale is an ale that is light amber to copper in color, with hoppy, bitter and sometimes malty flavor. IPA’s generally have a higher alcohol by volume content and are popular as microbrews. In the 1700s, there was a lot of trade going on between Great Britian and India. The problem with shipping beer is that it needs to be cold or it will go flat and sour. The long journey from Great Britain to India would result in all of the beer being ruined before it got to its intended destination. Since refrigeration was not yet invented, brewers had only one alternative – hops. High amounts of hops lead to greater fermentation which increases the alcohol content of a beer. Higher alcohol fights off bacteria and leads to a longer shelf life. Thus the name India Pale Ale stuck due to its voyage from Great Britain to India.

Personally I find IPA’s delicious and consider them my favorite style of beer. I understand not everyone likes the intense hop flavor but they should be tried. Brewers get very creative with this style and it leads to some interesting and different flavors. Write in and tell us what your favorite IPA is.

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Lightning

lightning

By: Luan Zuccarello

I was down the shore last weekend and watched one hell of a storm over the ocean. The lightning strikes on the water looked like something out of a Michael Bay movie. OK, maybe I had a couple beers in me and I am over exaggerating a little – but it was still cool. So I started to try and think back to 7th grade science class and to what causes lightning. However I was too interested in little Molly’s short skirt then protons and electrons (although I did get an A on “her”anus). Thank God for Google.

Lightning is a discharge of atmospheric electricity which is triggered when differing charges meet in the cloud. Typically, the bottom of a cloud is negatively charged, and it sends out what is known as a “leader” which seeks a positive charge at the top of the cloud. When these two charges meet a bolt of lightning is born. After the lightning travels to the ground or another cloud, it may strike again several times within a fraction of a second. These re-strikes are so fast that people cannot register them with the naked eye; instead, they appear as a single strike. The air near a lightning strike is hotter than the surface of the sun! The rapid heating and cooling of the air near the lightning channel causes a shock wave that results in thunder.

Here is a fun fact if you catch yourself in a storm with a baby girl. Watch for a strike of lightning then count the seconds until you hear a clap of thunder. Take this number and divide by 5. This will leave you with the number of miles the storm is away. This can provide very useful if you find yourself with a Butterface (everything looks good but her face). Now you can calculate how much longer you have to stare at her before the lights go out. Much easier and better for the girl’s self esteem then the paper bag.


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Lesbians, What’s Up?

Watercolour painting by Achille Devéria
Watercolour painting by Achille Devéria

By: Billy BeerSlugger

So Luan Zuccarello and I were at McGillan’s last night to take advantage of .25 cent wings and $5 pitchers and to watch Antonio Bastardo, in his major league debut, mow down the San Diego Padres.  McGillan’s is one of my favorite bars and the oldest bar in the city of Philadelphia (a post dedicated to McGillans in the future).

So we’re sitting there watching the game after eating our wings, just Muggin’ and Sluggin’ (pouring beer from a pitcher into a mug and downing that beer as fast as possible), when a girl comes up and introduces herself.  She’s about 5’5”, a Philly Police Officer and after a brief introduction mentions she’s “Gay as Shit”.  You might have gathered that because she looked like she could be playing catcher on a girls softball team.

The real reason she came over was to try and get us to go talk to her friend a couple of tables away that she was sitting at.  Now we discussed this and it was somewhat amateur and akin to when Rudy Ruettiger (of movie Rudy fame) had to go out and try to pick up girls for his friend D-Bob, but amusing nonetheless.

There really wasn’t any way we were going to get up and chat with the girl two tables away but I did have a great conversation with the Lesbian.

I asked:

“If you were tied down in a bed and blindfolded, I was completely clean shaven and I went down and ate you out,

1) Would you know it was a man?

2) Would I get you off, considering my skills in the art of Cunnilingus?”

“Great Question”, she replied.  Really didn’t offer up an answer but from the pause she took to think about it I’m pretty sure she went home and had a dream about it last night.

This is something I have just added to my life goals, right under being picked from the studio audience  to compete on the Price is Right, bang a semi-attractive lesbian.

She did come back with the question, “If you were blindfolded and bound and a guy was blowing you would you know it?”  I told her a blow job is a blow job and as long as the guy didn’t act like a faggot about it, it was all the same (please read the sarcasm here).  The lesbian is now laughing her ass off.

This is my standard question to any lesbian I meet in a bar and is a great ice-breaker.  Please share any other lesbian stories or pickup lines you may have.

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Megan Fox

By: Billy BeerSlugger

Ok, it’s 5:30am and I’ve been up all night trying to get this fucking application to deploy properly on the a client’s sever but who gives a fuck about that.  I realize I didn’t post anything yesterday and not that I’m running out of ideas or anything I just don’t have the wherewithal to write something as edgy and cool as a Fall Out Boy Anthem right now.

So I’m gonna go with old faithful, hot chicks.  Now the subject of this post has been dubbed the hottest woman on the planet by some, she stars in the upcoming Transformers 2 and I think signed on to do be the new Wonder Woman, I’m talking about Megan Fox.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Megan Fox fan, but she’s not the hottest girl in the world by far, yea I said it.  The woman needs to eat a cheese steak, American Wiz Wit’ if you know what I mean.  If I got her in bed (non-existent chance) I would be worried I would break her. She’s 5’6” and has got to be all of 100lbs.

I’m all for girls being skinny but not starving themselves.  Hot girls are enough to put up with as it is but they’re extremely bitchy when they’re starving themselves.  You see a guy walking around with a hot girl and you’re like, “Damn I wish that was me”, but you don’t know how much bullshit this guy is going through to keep this girl happy and ward off would be suitors at the same time.  All to get laid and walk around town holding hands with the homecoming queen.

Is it worth it? Yea sometimes it’s worth it, but most of the time you’re asking if you can have your testicles back or rocking a dinner/drinks get together with all the other hot girls and their boyfriends.  She’s going, “Go talk to Jim over there he likes Baseball too”.  You casually stroll over, “So Jim how about that local sports team eh’.”.

Anyway, I’m delirious right now.  Here’s you Tuesday moment of Zen.

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Lebron James: Duke until proven otherwise.

Sports with Bob McFlurry

24 year old Lebron James, King James, just lost the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic.  Now I don’t despise Lebron James but I’ve got a real problem with people crowning Lebron James the Michael Jordan of his era without winning anything.

I’ll agree that he is an ambasador of Basketball, I’ll agree that he is a top 5 player in the league, I’ll agree from sitting behind the visitors bench at a Sixers/Cavs game that Lebron James is a pretty cool individual.

What I can’t do is root for the man.  Not when he’s got a Billion other people rooting for him, not when he’s shaking hands with Jay-Z and not when he’s about to bolt from Cleveland for a Big Market after the coming season.

The guy who is supposed to be the epitome of class and sportsmanship walked off the court tonight without shaking the other teams hands, without congratulating Olympic teammate Dwight Howard on his advance to the Finals and without doing any of the postgame press conferences he so enjoys after a win.

I think lost in this is the win of Patrick Ewing, frontcourt coach for the Magic.  This man delivered on a gaurantee to win the series against defending champion Boston Celtics and now helped coach his most apt pupil to a finals birth over this generations version of Michael Jordan, a feat he could never achieve as a player.

What Lebron James proved to me today is that he could take the Orlando Magic exactly as far as the Sixers took them in the playoffs, 6 games.  He proved to me that he could not get to the NBA Finals with the wealth of talent that was given to him this year.  He proved to me that he may end up to be no better than Allen Iverson given the fact that Iverson took the likes of Tyrone Hill, George Lynch, Aaron McKie and Jumaine Jones to The NBA Final and actually won a game.  To liken each others situation, both had a 4 time Defensive Player of the year on the team and Eric Snow running point. and in both instances Lebron either failed to win a finals game or failed to reach the finals.

Basically until Lebron James is paired with his Scottie Pippen, he is at the mercy of defensive schemes that attack him and only him.  As good as he is and as good as he will be, a team game like Basketball can and will never be won by one person.  The sooner Lebron realizes what Jordan embraced and what Iverson ignored, the closer he will be to the hardware he desires from the NBA.

That may be after this coming season when Lebron is eligible for free-agency.  Or it may seemingly be never, doomed to a career of personal accolades and highlight reels but never the ultimate prize of NBA Champion just like Allen Iverson.

Only time will tell, and at 24, Lebron James (or David Stern) still has time to write his legacy.

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Theories in Linguistics

By: Billy BeerSlugger

Did you ever wonder where some of these slang words that we use nowadays originated?  For instance why would you call your male friend your “Homey”, or why is it when you (as a male) when trying to pick up girls refer to it as “holla’ing”.

Of course I have a theory about this.  At least these two urban slang words.

Homey: The boys, the ones you not only like, but trust. Used in a sentence: “You homeys got my back, right.” (According to the Urban Dictionary).

Do you notice the phonetic similarity to the French word “Homme” (pronounced hohm) and the urban slang word “Homey”?  The French word “Homme” is translated as man.  So you can see how I came to the conclusion that a misguided high-schooler, while in French class, began calling all his boys a mispronounced version of “Homme” (Ho – Me).  Both words are masculine nouns.  You make the connection.

The next word we will look at is “Holla“.  You’ve done it.  You’ve holla’d at a girl at least once in your life. And what exactly are you doing when you “Holla” at a girl.  Basically, you don’t know this girl you’re trying to say hello.  Same thing when you say “Holla Back”.  What you’re trying to articulate is “I’m saying hello to you and I’m asking you to say hello back”.

Well guess what the Spanish word for hello is ? “Hola“.  Add another L in the Spanish word “Hola” and you have “Holla“.  Coincedence, I think not.  I think this another case of a misguided high-schooler in Spanish class trying to use a word from a different language to impress people but ultimately mispronouncing the word.

“Holla Suzie”, the young man remarked. He was trying to say “Hello Suzie” in Spanish, the young lady laughed and the phrase stuck.  The rest is history.

Now I could be wrong about this but I’m wasted right now and it makes complete sense to me.  We’ll see when I wake up.

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Greatest Athlete of All Time: Jim Thorpe

jimthorpeBy: Luan Zuccarello

Throughout mankind many questions have been asked over and over again with no right or wrong answer. One of our favorite topics of conversation, especially after a few tall frosty ones, deals with- Who is the greatest Athlete of all-time? So grab your favorite beer and join me on this journey to find the Greatest Athlete of All-Time.

Happy Birthday Jim Thorpe – born May 28th 1888 in Indian Territory (this was land the USA set aside for Native Americans). He was both Native American and European American and was raised in the faith of Roman Catholicism. He attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School where he was a 5 sport athlete and was coached by the famous Pop Warner. Thorpe participated in Track and Field, Football, Lacrosse, Baseball, and Ball Room Dancing – winning the 1912 inter-collegiate ballroom dancing championship.

Track and Field

The story goes – Thorpe had just arrived on Carlisle campus and decided to take a walk by the track. The high jumpers were practicing so Thorpe wanted to have some fun and ran up and out jumped all of them while still wearing street clothes! Jim participated in the 1912 Olympics in both the pentathlon and decathlon and if that wasn’t enough qualified for the high jump and long jump finals…. Michael Phelps who??? That’s 17 events in the manner of days – and this was way before Gatorade, HGH, and Protein Bars. He did it on plain H2O, bananas and orange slices. Thorpe won gold in both the pentathlon and decathlon, and finished 1st in 8 out of the 15 events! That is completely unheard of and a feat that will never be accomplished again.

Football

Jim Thorpe gained nationwide attention while playing for Carlisle. In 1911, he played running back, defensive back, place kicker and punter for a team that went 11-1. They even defeated Harvard (dominant football team back in the day) and he scored every point. The following year he led Carlisle to the National Collegiate Championship and along the way defeated Army. Army was led by future President Dwight Eisenhower who said about Jim “He could do anything better than any player I have ever seen”. Did I mention he was All American in both 1911 and 1912? In 1915, Thorpe signed with the Canton Bulldogs (this was after playing pro baseball for 3 years) for $250 a game – an outrageous paycheck for that time. Before his signing the Bulldogs were averaging 1200 fans a game; 8000 showed up for his debut! The man was a Rock Star! The team won championships in 1916, 1917 and 1919. Thorpe ended the 1919 championship game by kicking a 95 yard punt and pinning the opposing team on the 1 yard line. In 1920 the Canton Bull Dogs were one of the teams that joined the APFA – which would become the NFL two years later. Thorpe was elected the first president or commissioner of the APFA and made the All-NFL team in its first year of inception.

Baseball

Jim Thorpe signed with the New York baseball club in 1913 played in the outfield for 3 seasons. He barnstormed across the US and then the world drawing huge crowds. He became an unofficial ambassador of the game. Thorpe played sporadically until 1922 playing in 289 professional games – he was .252 hitter.
Basketball

In 1926 Jim, decided he would try his hand at basketball. He barnstormed with a Native American team for two years, playing against some of the top Pro teams. This part of his life is not well documented and no stats can be found.

I have provided facts not opinion about the man, the myth, the legend who was Jim Thorpe. The greatest athlete should not be based on one’s opinion of who is more agile or quick. The only way you can measure each one of these athletes against each other is on stats and records. Since when does not winning or individual/team achievement mean squat? The athletes put forth so far are just that – athletes. How can you become the greatest at something and have never won anything? Your athletic prowess should shine and be able to elevate you or your team to be #1. In 1950, an AP poll of 400 sportswriters and broadcasters voted Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century. In addition, on May 27, 1999 the United States House of Representatives passed resolution 198 honoring Jim Thorpe as “America’s athlete of the century”. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and into halls of fame for college football, U.S. Olympic teams, and national track and field competition.

Thorpe’s accomplishments occurred during a period of racism and racial inequality in the United States. When Thorpe won his gold medals, not all Native Americans were even recognized as United States citizens (not until 1924). This man was Bo Jackson before Bo Jackson, he was Jackie Robinson before Jackie Robinson, and he was Michael Phelps before Michael Phelps. I could go on and on but my Fire Water has run out – Case Closed!