With sports and the viewing thereof is the accompanying libations and repasts. While much could be written on the merits of ballpark nachos or hot dogs (Fenway Franks, Dodger Dogs, etc.) this article focuses strictly on enhancing your sporting diet from the world of adult beverages, specifically your choice of beers.

...First let me preface this with the disclaimer that I am not advocating drinking to excess. You need to exercise personal responsibility and if you're not of legal drinking age, you need to wait until you are. Where I've linked to brewery sites, I've directed only to their homepage without circumventing any "over 21" messages...

Now, onto my scheduled conversation... Yes, this important beverage, libation if you will, is an integral part of a balanced sporting diet. No sporting event is complete without one. Yet, so few have actually progressed beyond the ball park $6 Coors Light or Budwieser. My mission here is to expand the discussion. Look, if you're buying 2 ball park beverages, you'll be far ahead buying one simple six pack of each of the following. My dear reader, you shan't go wrong with a bit of experimentation in your life and a bit of love for the most important sporting beverage going.

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As it turned out, the good folks of Red Sox Nation needn't have had so much angst as we came down to the end of the season. The Sox wrapped up the AL East and the best record - go figure that one...with 96 wins. This will tell you how close the AL was this year though - the Indians finish with the same record, but lose the tie breaker (head to head) and the Angels (AL West Champs) and Yankees (Wild Card) finish with the same record (94 wins). No one else was really close.

Not so with the NL. The Mets, one of the sources of RSN angst, were booted from the postseason on the last day, squandering the 7 game lead they had with, what?, 2 weeks to play losing big time to the Marlins while the Phillies won their game. The NL races were all a little tighter, to the point that there'll be a 1 game play off between the Rox and Padres (I just can't write their nickname out...sorry folks). Of the division winners, only Arizona (sans Randy Johnson) finished with 90 wins. That my friends, is mediocrity at work. Don't give me parity folks, that's simple mediocrity.

In four weeks time, we'll be talking about an NL World Champion, can't you see it?

I remember the 1978 one game play off between the Red Sox and Yankees (yes, that's the year of the Sox collapse, to which I am now happy to report, the Mets are now the biggest chokers) was played as regular season game 163 (Interestingly enough, Jim Rice set the Red Sox record for number of games played in a season that year with...yes, you guessed it, 163), so I reckon - and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong - this will be game 163 allowing the opportunity for either San Diego or Colorado to reach 90 wins.

The Sox had the opportunity to decide when they would next play - they took short rest to play the Angels, presumably because their pitching staff is lined up and to throw a little less time to the Angels to more properly set theirs and to allow Cleveland's starters to get lined up for New York...

Oooh, rally day tomorrow. I'm all for playoff baseball, but folks, it's the ALDS...Division Series. A round that had just come into existence when last they won the AL East...and were swept by the Tribe. Can we wait on the rallies for a bit?

I spent some time this evening watching an ESPN presentation on Roberto Clemente. If you get the chance to catch it, I would recommend it.

Take good care.  See you next time.

Over the years, there have been changes to the rules of the game of baseball to enhance run productivity and to address other conditions within the game. There have been new teams and new ballparks added to the mix. We're all familiar with the hints, allegations, and things left unsaid surrounding chemical enhancement of players. Baseball has integrated, and indeed expanded its recruiting scope outside the US. Descriptive statistics of the game have been altered and in some cases newly created. It is clear that baseball in the 21^st Century looks very different from the game played at the turn of the 20^th Century. What often gets overlooked is the structure of the game itself when comparing statistics across the ages.

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A recent study found that in 1% of calls made by home plate umpires between 2004 and 2006 were affected by race. The study, reported by MSNBC suggests that umpires were more likely to call strikes when the pitcher was of their race and balls when the pitcher is of another race. 71% of major league pitchers and 87% of umpires are white. According to the original article, Asian pitchers are particularly affected by this bias as there are no Asian umpires.   What that 1% of...

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Major League Baseball requires the home team to have 90 new baseballs on hand for each game, and according to several sources, between five and six dozen balls are used during the course of a game.

What many people do not know, though, is that those game baseballs are never right out of the box, clean and glossy. Every baseball used in a major league baseball game is treated with something called "Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud," it is the only foreign substance used on a major league baseball. The reason so many balls and that one particular brand of rubbing mud are used has an interesting story.

Read the whole article at Associated Content

We all expect the gift shop when we go to an amusement park - both big and small. What you don't expect is to take a trip to a war zone and be met with a similar tourist trap.

Since 1953, the DMZ has become the world's most heavily armed border in the world. And as if the idea of touring a legitimate front line of an international conflict doesn't require enough suspension of disbelief, the idea of a gift shop commemorating that tour makes this the most astoundingly weird gift shop on the planet. The gift shop is utterly symbolic of the oddity that is the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or "DMZ". Tourists take pictures with North Korean soldiers. Each side in the conflict has their own competing villages designed to demonstrate the benefits of their side of the border. Nothing is out of bounds for competition, right down to the competition for which side has the largest flagpole or heaviest flag.

Read the entire article at Associated Content.

Knowing the Yankees had already won today - in extra innings again - and watching the Sox give the game back to the Devil Hens, I was feeling particularly foul and started putting fingers to keyboard on a Black Sabbath parody. No sooner had I put the finishing touches on it, Jason Varitek led off the 9th with a long home run off Al Reyes to tie the game at 6. No sooner had I opened this window to start my entry, I learned that Kansas City - The Royals!! - beat Detroit this evening to bring...

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As the summer comes to a close, I've learned a few things about project work, cleaning the yard, etc.  The first thing I've learned is that Finish Carpenters aren't necessarily Scandinavian.  Imagine my surprise when my neighbor looked at my carpentry work and said, "Well, I guess Irish guys aren't finish carpenters."  To which I said, "Of course not, we're Irish."  He shook his head and then said, "well, a man running for his life wouldn't notice." ...

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The glass ensconcing the panic button has officially been broken open. I have my family holding me back from slamming my fist down on the glowing red button, but the surge from the crowd around us is working to my advantage. Like Homer being restrained from a donut, I will not be denied. The button will be pushed. It's glowing red goodness is too much to be resisted....must...press...button... It makes me feel better knowing Lanz is there with the second key to initiate the panic sequence....

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Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the National Foodie League Drive-Thru Game of the week. Earlier in the day we had a stunning development when Alejandro was traded from the 360 Western Ave McDonalds to the Commonwealth Ave McDonalds for Junie and a cashier to be named later. Also, in breaking news, Star Shift Leader Raj bolted the Soliders Field Road McDonalds for the Tremont Street Burger King. Alejandro's dad is reporting a 5% increase and a promotion to Shift Manager. Neither Tremont...

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Well, this was one of the two games I expected the Patriots to lose this year – and this is one of the times I don’t mind being wrong. It was the first time I’ve picked against the Pats and I won’t be doing it again unless something goes dramatically wrong. Pencil me in with a “W” in the Pats for the rest of the year. I came out at the end of last weeks game wondering if the Pats were really that good or the Jets were that bad. I am now firmly on...

Read More "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Video"

Someone Else made me hip to this T-shirt. How cool is that? "Home of the Flaming Moe?" I'm not sure I know how to take that. Those in attendance at Mo's last weekend were confused by the Patriots wearing their home blues at the Meadowlands against the J-E-T-S. I think today I'll wear my alternate jersey - for my 31st Birthday, my dad gave me silver Drew Bledsoe jersey...first time I wore it was at the start of the 2001 season, just in time for Drew to get mauled by Mo Lewis....

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We all know them. The person who wants to join the conversation, but doesn't quite "get" the sporting nuances. I've tried to explain the game of baseball to many people - some of whom pick it up, some of whom do not. "That guy" just doesn't "get it."

Why would I want to watch the last 5 minutes of a football game when our team is up by 20 points? Because.

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This might actually encourage me to check out a Guinness.

No, I'm not talking about the historical event or "non event" as the case might be. I'm not talking about the fact I'm out of peanut butter. I'm not even talking about the fact it may wind up raining on pneumonia-pony's trip to Fenway. I am disappointed in some of the things I've read about the Pats and Belichick. For starters - everyone who reads this knows it - I'm disappointed in Belichick. I'm disappointed that the rules were broken. It casts a pall over the organization...

Read More "The Great Disapointment"

As I suggested yesterday, Belichick is not without a plan and there had to be an end game strategy there for the time if and when the camera was captured. The rule book apparently says that filming is not allowed of coaches and coordinators for use during the game. The defense, then, is that the film was not for use during the game. Okay, point taken. But according to the Boston Globe while NFL guidelines prohibit the use of any video recording device on the field for the use...

Read More ""Beligate" Analysis and a Rant"

Man, I hate having to be intellectually consistent when it means taking to task one of my favorites, but on the other hand I hold these two points to be true: 1) American professional sports are closed corporations, with each team a franchise of the larger corporation. This is tantamount to cheering for the McDonalds on the East bound side of the Massachusetts turnpike to outperform the McDonalds on the West bound side. 2) Professionals do not get to declare success without accountability,...

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One of the benefits of housekeeping is finding those treasures from yesteryear, dusting them off, and enjoying them again. And so it goes, as I've been dusting off my old compact discs, I have found several of those long since forgotten favorites and thus the third of the "More Favorites" series, Compact Discs. The first in the series was Comedy Movies; this is the second in the CD series. It's hard to believe, but CDs have been in mass production now for over 25 years. I remember...

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I have to say, my brain is boiling inside my skull and if I don't relieve some of this pressure, it's gonna get ugly all over the marketplace walls.  This isn't the first such rant, 'tis merely the most recent. Top of the 8th inning, bases loaded, 1 out for the Red Sox. 6-6 tie game with the Baltimore Black Sox - the Orioles are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Negro League Champions - and who strolls up to the plate? Yes, you guessed it - He Who Wears Trot Nixon's #7. As soon as...

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I'm into nuggets, yah...

Man, that's a funny commercial. 

It’s back to work in earnest, this day after Labor Day. I hope and trust everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday. It was a glorious day yesterday here in New England. It was a solid 75 degrees with something close to zero humidity. Made for a wonderful day to sit around doing nothing approximating “labor.” So what’s going on? If I told you there was a game last night between Boston and Toronto that ended 13-10, you might be forgiven in thinking the Boston Patriots...

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Well, since a fortune cookie espousing Sun Tsu has set my mind at ease regarding the Red Sox, I can set my mind to worrying about the Patriots. My plan was to write some smack mouth, trash talk about how if the Pats don't go 14-2 I'll be disappointed and all that. But this post is to call out one of my favorite players. I've been quite vocal calling out Leonard Little, Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Shawne Merriman and JR Smith. All quite easy for me, given I have little to no emotionally invested...

Read More "Rodney Harrison's Mea Culpa"