I remember when I was a wee lad, Dennis Farina was on Old Style beer commercials. Old Style brewed beer in the midwest only. Places out West and places out East never had Old Style. It was very popular in Chicago. I remember my cousin from New York taking a few cases of Old Style back to New York because he loved the beer. Dennis Farina would do commercials for Old Style and Old Style Classic draft, which I thought was good, but it did not last long. Farina would say in commercials “Old Style is our beer and you can’t have it.”

He would even mention New York and LA saying “It’s our beer and you can’t have it.”

If you were going to give New York something, what would that be? Some might say ‘Please take my wife, leave the dog.” Chicago has been giving New York junk. However, New York seems to take it.Maybe New York teams are from the only city that takes Chicago’s washed up athletes. The last few years we traded the schizo, Brandon Marshall, to the Jets. Maybe we only got back a used clipboard, but we got rid of some toxic waste in the locker room. Then Matt Forte who you hate to see go.He is an outstanding person, played hard and put up some great numbers as well. Did he do better than Howard this year for the Bears? I do believe the Bears got extremely lucky on that. They avoid paying an older player big money in his declining years. Then the Jets picked him up. My buddy would say REAL NICE.

My favorite is the trade between the Knicks and the Bulls. To get rid of Derrick Rose was like Christmas. Rose had some great years. Injuries happened and Oh my God the way he had his playing schedule towards the end of his Bulls days was priceless. His posse would tell John Paxson and the coach when he could play. He would play Tuesday, skip Thursday’s game and play Saturday, only to skip Sunday. Then he had two years left on his contract. At the media day he was telling the world he was not making enough money to support his family. He makes millions of dollars and has a shoe deal worth a lot. He says this on media day while every other superstar across the league is talking about the team and their chances for this year. They traded him and that contract, and got some players back. Nothing special, but now you plant the Rose at the garden in New York. Now they want to cut him. Then the Knicks signed Joakim Noah, whose hustle I loved. I like him as a person as well, as he did things around the city to help. Thought team first. But he was on his last leg. He was like a car with three flat tires. Yet the Knicks picked him up and gave him big money to play. He is hurt again. Same injury he had with the Bulls a few years ago.

Maybe the Jets need a Quarterback. We have the biggest jalopy in town named Jay Cutler. I love to see the Cutler model behind center with his old pals. Maybe the Jets will get the whole band back together and sign former Bear and Pat, Marty Bennett. I can see the Chicago reunion happening in the 2017 season. The fun will be had in the city that does not sleep. You gotta love a city that helps you out. We get to keep our beer, you can have our crappy overpriced players and that’s REAL NICE .

The Chicago Bears still have not worked out a long term deal with their star wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. Last year they franchise tagged him and he played under a one year contract. Since they have no deal with him they will have to franchise tag him again or let him walk. If the Bears choose to franchise tag him and not work out a long term deal, they will have to pay him for one year like one of the top wide-outs in the league. He could be getting 17.5 million for a guy that has injury problems. He has only played in 11 games over the last two seasons.

Do the Bears need to be paying that kind of money to one player when you have so many holes to fill on that roster For that kind of cheddar you probably could sign three or four guys to fill some of your problem areas. Not that receiver is your strongest position. The great Kevin White, two years on the team, has only played four games. Caught 19 balls, but under 200 yards. My Grandmother could tackle him. Then “Rock hands” Josh Bellamy can get open. Wide Open and he gets the perfect pass and just has the dropsies. In the movie Animal house at the end where they say what everyone went on to be after college, for D-Day they say whereabouts unknown.  That is Marquess Wilson. Plays a game a year and whereabouts are unknown. Eddie Royal, one of Cutler’s guys, maybe if he pays the Bears you can keep him. I do like Cameron Meredith. He’s looking like he can be a pretty decent option grabbing 66 balls for 888 yards and four touchdowns last year. The wide receiver  position, any way you look at it, is weak and teams will just double cover Jeffery and take him out of his game.

Besides, who will be throwing Alshon Jeffery the ball? Cutler is on the trading block like they are going to get a bag of used footballs for him. The Bears will probably end up releasing him as every Chicagoan will be dancing in the streets.It will be like all those war torn countries when they are burning flags and shooting off AK 47’s. Then you always see one of the teenagers wearing a old football jersey. Like an old hand me down that’s colors are fading. In a few years ISIS will have enough Cutler jerseys to cover the whole operation. Will they mortgage the whole farm for the New England quarterback? Bears dealings are like selling the cow for some beans. If they do get Jimmy Garoppolo, I rather invest the money you give Jeffery into the offensive line to keep Jimmy standing after 16 games. If they draft a young guy and go with a bridge quarterback, what does paying Jeffery do for you? By the time the Bears get the boat dug up from the bottom of Lake Michigan, Jeffery will be too old. I hate getting rid of someone you drafted, especially when they are talented. The Bears are not in win mode next year. If they were, I would get Romo and keep Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery will go on to a team and collect a big payday that the Bears can not afford right now.

2/27/17 #1. PINBALL (TWO BROTHERS BREWING COMPANY)

Style (American Pale Ale)

First time I have had the Pinball, which is relatively still new. I had four pints over the weekend at one of my many watering holes I go to. The menu said the beer was just tapped. It was a great pour. I wish my phone had more charge at the time to take a picture. It was magical as it lit up my taste buds like the lights on a pinball machine. It was hoppy with sweet aromas. Small amount of bitterness. It had that tropical fruity taste that made my taste buds explode. I will have to stock up when I see it at stores.

I went to Deja Brew in Oak Lawn, Illinois. They have many craft beers on tap. They have great food as well. I had the Buffalo Chicken wrap with ranch dressing and a side of their hot chips which were all delightful.

SPACE STATION MIDDLE FINGER (2-26-17)

3 FLOYDS BREWING CORP

3 Floyds will probably get a lot of their beers in as best label of the week. Three Floyds beers will also have a lot of their beers appear on the BEER LIST of top beers to indulge in. Having a Space station giving the middle finger in the label is brilliant in my book.

The Chicago White Sox will be retiring Mark Buehrle’s number this summer. Will the down arrow logo of Guaranteed Rate stadium be pointing up on that wonderful afternoon on the South side of Chicago? It will be pointing up at ten other Sox greats to have had their numbers retired along with Jackie Robinson’s which is league wide. Some people will say this is just a way to get the news off the current team which is in a rebuild. First, last year’s shenanigans of “bring your son to work” day with Adam Laroche who quickly retired during spring training. Then Edward Scissorhands, Chris Sale, cutting the old retro jerseys up before game time. The rebuild began after the season when they traded Sale and Eaton for lots of prospects. The two people that were the ones that spoke against management. Maybe we need to bring someone back from the past to remember the good ole days instead of the dark cloud over the down arrow on 35th and Shields.

People will say that other White Sox greats should have their jersey retired before a Mark Buehrle. Well, I can agree with that somewhat. However this team won the World Series in 2005 and that was breaking a 88 year drought. They have only been to one post-season after that. The fans have seen the Cubs on the North side win a World Series last year. Plus the Cubs are built for the long haul and could end up winning another one down the road with a young nucleus in place. The history of the White Sox is like Haley’s comet – they come around with a talented team every 17 years or so and they are still not Guaranteed a rate to win the World Series.

If you look at Mark Buehrle’s numbers I think he deserves his jersey retired. For one, he was a World Series hero. He won two games in the playoffs. He came in and got a save in game three of the 2005 World Series. His life time record is 214-160 which 161-119 were with the Sox. This guy was like Brett Favre as his rubber arm allowed him never to miss a start. Eleven straight seasons of 200 innings pitched, 30 starts, and double figure wins.He probably could have pitched another year or two, but he retired. He ranks 4th in the franchise in strikeouts starts and quality starts. He was sixth in wins as well. Yeah, probably some Sox pitchers definitely have done better. Let’s not forget the no hitter. Only 15 of them were thrown before he did his in 2007. Then let’s talk about the perfect game in 2009 against the Rays. He pitched like he was from the old school of baseball. No pitch count needed for him.He pitched 27 complete games for the Sox as well. He rested your bull pen almost every fifth day he went out to the bump.

Mark Buehrle is also a class act. Great teammate. If I ran a team I would want one or two of him in my rotation. He provided Chicago with a lot of great memories as well. I will drink to number 56 going up with the other greats. I don’t think he will make it to Cooperstown, but you never know. If they keeping avoiding all the steroid junkies, it could happen. Some of them are sliding through the little doggie door though. Most of the summer it will be like old times at the ball park as we will have our own beer guy.  Crowds will be elsewhere. I give up the convenience of the beer guy sitting next to me cracking open some beers with me as the game goes along. I give up my feet stretched over the seat in front of me for one game. June 24th, when Mark Buehrle’s number is retired, we will drive the DeLorean down memory lane and back to the future.

Some people are in search of love. Some people are in search of Spock. My blog is in search of the best Chicago pizza. Why Chicago Pizza? Because by far it’s the best. It might be the best in the World, rumor has it. Besides I do not have enough money to backpack in Europe and hit Italy. Maybe people will donate money for me to travel for pizza,but for now we will stick to Chicago. I will search high and low for the best pizza in Chicago or the Chicagoland area because I will leave no stone unturned.

You might wonder what makes me so qualified to tell you what’s the best pie in town. I am not a food critic nor do I play one on TV. My experience is I eat lots of pizza. I will do my best. I might be wrong. However sometimes I can be right. I divide the rankings into three different categories: Thin crust /regular crust, Specialty pizzas, etc. Some places might be hit more than once. The final category will be pan crust/stuffed/deep dish. Oh boy I’m getting excited and hungry at the same time.

Every place I hit I will tell you my likes and dislikes. I will judge the crust, sauce, cheese and toppings. Too much, too little, or just right… Then the more places I go to, we will rank them in my Pizza Power rankings. We will see which pizza rises to the top and see which pizza sinks to the bottom.

The Wild Shamrock blog will be about politics, religion and how to make toaster cozies. Sorry to disappoint because these subjects will not be talked about. It’s probably been done before, what we will chime in on. It’s probably been beaten to a bloody pulp. The subjects we will talk about are what the whole world talks about when they are out sitting on a bar stool and enjoying  that moment away from the gravel pit.

This blog will discuss sports as the main topic of conversation. I will cover all the major sports and add some college sports into the hopper. Primarily, we will cover Chicago Sports because, well, that’s where I’m from. We will dive into some women’s beach volleyball. Indeed sitting on the bar stool if that’s on one of the many televisions, all eyes will focus on the spike of course. Or maybe not. I might throw in some Lacrosse or The Dude bowling. I even have a local softball team we will cover.

Besides sports we’ll discuss the eternal question: Ginger or Mary Anne? One of the toughest questions you can field off the bar stool. The beers will flow on this blog as we talk about the most important thing that God made and that is BEER. Beer brings out the best sports conversations. It opens the soul so the conversation can flow from zombies to hot sauce and whatever else walks in the door. I will also be in search of Chicago’s best pizza. We will have the Pizza Power rankings. We will have the beer list.Since I should class up the blog, we need art. We will have art. The best looking beer labels. We will discuss Movies for guys that like movies.

Hope you enjoy the Wild Shamrock blog. We are just getting started. We look forward to having a following. We look forward to taking this blog to new heights or going beyond the galaxy to find someone who will enjoy the crazy that will occur. Good crazy, not the crazy eyes. Remember Rome was not built in one day.

Last Call is the name of the softball team I play for. This section of the blog will give the latest updates on Last Call softball. I will have recaps of each game. I will provide stats for each game and the overall yearly stats. I will throw in some history of the team as well as some player profiles. We will always have some pictures to provide as well.

The Last Call team is made up of a ragtag group. The best comparison to this group would be the Dirty Dozen. It’s a group that plays very hard, but does not always get the results you want. They play to have fun, compete and drink beer after the game at the local tavern. This blog will have many stories as well included with the games.