In Chicago we always take pride in all of the Basketball talent we have. For whatever reasons it seems the basketball talent does not stay in Chicago or the State of Illinois to play college basketball. For years we always had teams from the city or the State playing in the tournament. It’s been years since a team has even made it in the tournament from the state of Illinois. One of the smallest states in America, Rhode Island, has two teams this year. It took Northwestern their first appearance in the tournament in the school’s history to break the drought of teams from Illinois not making it to the tournament.

Some people will say  how can that be?  All the years the school has been around and 2017 they finally make it to the tournament. Northwestern is a school that has higher standards and will not just take anybody. It was never a basketball school. They had some things going well before they hired Doug Collins, former Bulls coach’s, son Chris. Chris took over the program and has turned things around very quickly. Chis Collins, who sat on the Duke bench for years just soaking in all the knowledge from the best basketball coach in the college game, Mike Krzyzewski. Plus all the knowledge from his dad as a NBA coach. Northwestern had some talent there already and then they bring in a smart guy to turn their program around. Actually put their program on the map. That sounds easy. Why can’t all the other schools in the state do the same thing?

DePaul had a run in the early 80’s. They need to build their own arena somewhere downtown to get out of playing at the All State arena which is their biggest problem, not getting the higher talent.They would attract people being in the city and playing downtown. What happen at UIC?  Jimmy Collins had that program on fire but then they flamed out. UIC is a very nice campus. They are still not getting the talent they need to get back on the map. Just trying to find the right man to give the dedication Jimmy Collins did.  Then you had Southern Illinois in the early 200o’s with Bruce Weber, who had that school doing very well in the tournament. Then he moved on to Illinois, the Fighting Illini. Southern Illinois being known as a party school, you think they would get some Chicago talent. Hanging out at the delta house. Chasing women and playing basketball. Keep your grades up and that’s making some great memories happen. Illinois State I think should of made the tournament this year.They got a raw deal. But they had a good run in the late 90’s. My Brother-in-law went there and had a great time there. Western Illinois, it’s been a long time for them. That was a school I went to visit with friends for the weekend. The town was called Macomb. Their Police department was made up of Andy Griffith and Barney Fife. They  kicked us off of campus and out of town in the wee hours of the morning.  I can see why they don’t get basketball talent knocking at their door.

That leaves us with Illinois, the Fighting Illini. They had two final four appearances in my lifetime. The flying Illini in 89 and the great team they had in 2005. I thought they should of won the whole thing both times.They produced NBA players like Deron Williams, James Augustine Dee Brown, and Luther Head. Before that Kenny Battle, Kendall Gill, Macus Liberty. In between the final four appearances, they made it to the tournament multiple times. I thought the John Groce hire was a good one five years ago. He lead a small school, Ohio, to the tournament. He made it to the tournament his first year then nothing ever since. Illinois plans to go out and make a big splash and open their check book to a coach.It could be a big name like the AD did when he hired Lovie Smith as the football coach. The person they hire will need to know how to get the Chicago basketball players to sign on the dotted line and get them to their school. If you can get someone hungry like Chris Collins who is well seasoned and a great recruiter, that is how you get the program on the map again.

I do hope Northwestern does well in the tournament.I hope they will appear every year. I’d like them to go all the way. However if they can get one win or even two that would be huge for their program. I would love to see all the other schools in the state as well get their programs going well again. Automatically people want the big name. I think these schools need to do their homework and find the assistant on the bench of someone’s staff that is hungry and can do the job as the face of your program. I think these schools need to sign more guys from their backyard rather than letting these stars walk out of Chicago to big schools like Duke and Kentucky. I would find the guy that has roots in Chicago. If not I  would have the new coach snag one of these coaches from one of the high schools to be an assistant on the staff to help recruit the Chicago guy. March Madness is awesome watching. The Northwestern story going on this year with the history being there the first time is must see TV. Hopefully this will get the schools in the state and in the city to fix their problems with their programs so we can see like three to four schools every year making it to the tournament. Then hopefully one of them will win the big dance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-14-17 ZEPHYR GOLDEN LAGER

STYLE (LAGER)

BREWED BY: FLOSSMOOR STATION

Last week I was in the mood for a few Choo Choo beers. I headed to the Flossmoor Station brewery, bar and restaurant to indulge. I have been there many times as the list of beers is a train’s length long. They brew the beer on site which wets my whistle every time I indulge in a few pints at the station which is actually right next to a train station. They even have a train above the bar that runs on tracks which is very cool. I have tried almost all of the beers on their list as they cleverly name most of the beers after trains.The beers from their taps is always fresh from the Brewery in the other room. The silver vats so shiny in the dim lighting as it sparkles like silver. Yukon Cornelius would start singing Silver and Gold if he saw the vats and Golden Beer I was drinking.  I will definitely go there again and again and see what beers of theirs stand in my beer list of power rankings.

Last weekend I went with one of my favorites at the train yard, the Zephyr Golden Lager. This beer is made from German malts and hops along with German yeast. Germany knows how to make great beers. As you can see the color was golden like a beach at sunset. Smells sweet and a hint of fruitiness. The taste was refreshing and  went down smooth as it reminds me of a blonde ale. You know the blondes like to have fun and this beer can keep things fun all night long. Not much of bitterness in this beer as well as it goes down so easy you can lose track of how many you had in one sitting.

The Flossmoor Station has awesome food as well. The menu has lots of variety. I went with the Burrito. They call this the Burrito that ate Flossmoor.They are very clever with the names at this place. You can choose what meat you want inside the burrito, I went with spicy beef. The Burrito is hard to pick up so you have to use the tools of the trade to eat it. The combo with the Mexican food and the Zephyr golden lager was perfection. Heavy food and a lighter beer seem to work.

I knew it was going to be very hard to knock out the Pin Ball from Two Brothers, which has been number one for three weeks. But the Zephyr Golden Lager now has the top spot on the BEER LIST.

THE BEER LIST POWER RANKINGS

RANKING       DATE               BEER                                              STYLE               BREWERY NAME

#1.                     3-14-17           ZEPHYR GOLDEN LAGER        LAGER           FLOSSMOOR STATION

#2.                     2-27-17           PIN BALL                    AMERICAN PALE ALE    TWO BROTHERS

#3.                    3-5-17               ZYWEIEC                           EURO PALE ALE          ZYWIEC BREWERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEN WATCHING BEER BOTTLE FOOTBALL ON THE BAR YOU KNOW YOUR NIGHT IS COMING TO A END. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DRANK ONE OF THE TEAMS’ QUARTER BACK.

NEXT TIME YOU WATCH A GAME ON THE TV AND NEED THAT CHILI A LITTLE SPICIER.

SIDS SAUCE IS ALWAYS JOHNNY ON THE SPOT AND OH’ JOHNNY THAT’S HOT

I WOULD DRESS UP LIKE A TRAMP JUST TO HAVE SID SAUCE IMPROVE MY CHILI.

I do like the progress the Bears have been making so far in free agency. First step, you released Jay Cutler which is about time. That should have been done  years ago. The Bears were holding on to Cutler like it was an old girlfriend you dated for years. The one you hoped would change.You held on to because she had all the flashes of being the right one.  However it kept biting you in the ass. You knew you should not poke the bee hive but you did and you got stung. It happens to everyone. You keep making excuses, but you know deep down it’s time to throw the person back in the water. Maybe with a pair of cement shoes and end for good.

The second step, the Bears went out and got somebody younger. It seems that’s how it always goes. In with the new and out with the old. They were able to land Mike Glennon, the former Buccaneer. Since the league is watered down without many great quarter backs you have to settle for door number two and overpay.It might be drinking lite beer for awhile until they tap another barrel of craft beer.The NFL has a shortage supply of good arms and good arms are high in demand.The Bears indeed over paid for Glennon’s services. However it’s only a three year deal. I think Glennon is a very talented quarterback. These are the Bears – everything they touch turns into stone or just crumbles. If the Packers signed him they would have found gold. You could have went cheaper and tried to resign Hoyer. Then drafted a QB and he would be your bridge quarterback. Glennon might be a bridge quarterback or he could be the one to lead the Bears back to the playoffs. I like taking the risk on this guy because he has seasoning and played in 20 games. Plus he stood on the sidelines watching. I think he is hungry for a permanent starting gig.

However you still have more work to do on the quarterback position. Signing Glennon allows you to use that first pick in this April’s draft on something the team needs like a stud on defense or on the offensive line. Step three,  I think the Bears still need to draft a quarterback.  They could probably get someone talented in the second round or even the third round. They need to develop a quarterback. Sometimes I think the Bears should draft all quarterbacks until they get it right. Texas state Patrick Mahomes could be there at number two. He might be a gamble. Some say he could be a sleeper as well. Maybe they need to do a little thinking outside the box. But find the best available quarter back in round two.

Step four add a cheap young veteran if you can. If Glennon does not work out or gets hurt I don’t want to throw the rookie out there to the wolves in week two. Then ruin his confidence for the rest of his career. The 49ers have already improved their quarterback position just by signing two X-Bears, Hoyer and Barkley. That’s better than the guy that does not stand for the National anthem or whoever else they had. I thing the former Jacksonville Jaguar. The 49ers could draft a young quarterback as well and they would have that position on the rise. It’s good to have a good back up plan just in case it does not work with Glennon. With only having Sid Luckman and Jim McMahon as the two best quarterbacks in franchise history you have to stack up at that position.  I know Cutler has a lot of the Bears passing records. But that means squat in my book. If Sid was in a pass happy era he would have tripled his passing numbers. Jim McMahon won a Superbowl, enough said.

 

SECOND PIZZA ENTRY (SPECIALTY)

FLO & SANTOS SOUTH LOOP PIZZA & PIEROGI

1310 S. Wabash Chicago

My friend told me you must go to Flo and Santos and try the pizza. He even went on to make some bold statements saying it’s better then a few of the top places local by us.  The man lives across the street from me and we have done some adventures eating and drinking. Mostly drinking.  Escaping out of work early to go stock up on Zombie Dust for the weekend. Well, while we are there we go in and indulge on a few pints of the Zombie dust. We went to Three Floyds. Tap beer from the brewery is like pizza right out of the oven. He told me I was going to like Flo & Santos and he was right.

Flo & Santos is a pub with the pizza and is a Polish American Restaurant. I will have to go here a few times because the menu has many things on there to make your taste buds salivate. If you do not like the Polish food then they have the pizza and other choices for the picky eaters. The beer menu is huge as well. They razzle you with a list of tap beers then they dazzle you with a list of bottles. The first time being there I figure we get something Polish and the man across the street said get the pizza.The Flo’s Polish satiates my taste buds immediately with her specialty pizza. This is the first time in my life I had try this combo of ingredients on a pizza. The specialty pizzas are lots of fun because it’s all about multiple ingredients that send your taste buds out of this world. The Flo’s Polish features Polska kielbasa, sauerkraut, and apple wood smoked bacon.

I know what you might be thinking with this combo. However this combo was delightful. I will tell you Bo knows football. Bo even knows baseball. However Flo knows the pizza. This combo worked well. All the ingredients and the cheese formed to the crust gave you ataste of heaven. The meats blended together and gave everything a nice juicy taste.The sauce was savory. The crust was crispy like a cracker.

I had two pints of the Polish beer called Zywiec on tap with the pizza. I thank my buddy across the street, a very wise man for giving me the 411 on Flo’s and Santos. I will be going back to try some of the other options on the menu as well as another pizza choice. The Flo’s Polish will be the top pizza on my specialty pizza power rankings.

 

 

March 9,2017, something surreal happened in Chicago. People are coming out of the wood work. Mobs and mobs of people are gathering in the streets.  It is not St. Patrick’s day. The crowds are larger then Bourbon Street. Everyone has smiles on their faces. People are high-fiving each other. We have not seen this amount of people gathered in downtown Chicago since the MCRIB came back.  It’s a cloudy day but you would think the sun is out. People are singing and dancing.  People look like they are celebrating their freedom as If they were incarcerated for years. Maybe eight long painful years to be exact. It might even be bigger than freedom. People are pouring champagne all over each other. This is bigger than sliced bread.

People will remember the day when they heard the news that the Bears released Jay Cutler. It will be like 9/11 you always remember the day and where you were when the planes hit the World Trade Center. That was a sad day in America. But March 9,2017 will be the day Cutler will stop holding our football team hostage.They will remember where they were when they heard the news. People are throwing confetti, ringing bells and banging pots and pans as if the Black Hawks won another cup.I see fireworks going off in the distance. Holy Moly I cant believe it myself finally  the day has arrived. Cutler walks out of town a playoff virgin like the way he came to town.

Actually he did play in a few playoff game with the Bears.However just because you date a girl does not mean you’re going to lose your virginity. Plus he got hurt in one of those games as he broke a nail.

My brother who goes by the name Moonracer in his circle, texted me “It’s like the Christmas when we were kids and we got those drum sets with the picture of the Quaker on the side of them.”

Fathers all around Chicagoland are hoping now they can answer the question their sons ask them all the time as they have no answer.

d

NOW THE CHICAGO BEARS AND THEIR FANS HAVE

Now They need a young Jedi to step in and take the Bears to the Super bowl to fight the Evil Empire, the Patriots, led by Darth Brady.

 

Football free agency is like Christmas. You hope and pray that Santa delivers you a great quarterback. Some years you settle for socks and get like a special teams guy who was a UPS driver a few weeks back. You remember what happened last year with your team. Especially if your team is missing a lot of pieces. You have to trust Santa Clause who is your team’s general manager and his elves the scouts to find players that fit your team philosophy and needs. Sometimes you wish you could get a Home Depot gift card, but this gift card will allow you to pick what player you want on the team. I will write about some free agent signing over the next few weeks and give you my opinion on the situation.

“Crazy Joe Davola” aka Brandon Marshall was cut by the Jets and now he signs with the other New York team. Now the Giants have three great receivers. I’m not a fan of Brandon Marshall, but he is a very productive receiver that has been with crappy quarterbacks his entire career. Eli Manning will be the best quarterback to throw to him. Will Odell Beckham invite Marshall on the annual boat trip? Both Odell and Brandon are attention seekers which should be interesting. Could be a soap opera. However with Brandon Marshall, Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepard – wow you better have some good defensive backs to stop that Giant attack.

No more Marty Bennett in New England.They traded a fourth round draft pick to Indianapolis for their tight end, Dwayne Allen. Allen is another big target the Pats can use in their passing attack. Plus you get a guy that does not have a huge ego like Marty Bennett who would eventually poison the locker room.

The 49ers have been very busy. They signed Washington Redskin wide receiver Pierre Garcon. Will The Redskins send the 49ers Cousins as well? The Niner’s did sign Brian Hoyer to a two year deal. The former Bear last year, reunites with his former coach in Cleveland, Kyle Shanahan. Will the 49ers add another quarterback in free agency or in the draft? Hoyer would be a good back up or bridge quarter back for a younger player.

The Buffalo Bills fixed a boo boo. Instead of paying Tyrod Taylor a guaranteed 30.75 million dollars, both sides have worked out a deal to restructure his contract. This way they could sign some free agents to fix some holes they have on their roster. Tyrod is only 27 years old and has two years under his belt. He can get better. Since sexy Rexy is gone, maybe the new coaching staff can improve Taylor. Taylor does not make a lot of mistakes. Which if McDermott can improve the defense that Rex ruined, that will help wins some games for the Bills as well.Taylor is a mobile quarterback which can cause problems for defenses. I would like to see Taylor be able to throw the ball down the field instead of a lot of the short stuff he does most of the time. The Bills have Cardale Jones, former Ohio State quarterback as well. He was not very impressive in 2016 but did get some experience. Like to see the Bills get a veteran quarter back as well to help mentor both their young QB’S.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

The Bears have so far been quiet.

The whole division has been quiet so far except the Lions.

Lions improve their offensive line by signing offensive lineman Ricky Wagner, former Baltimore Raven. That’s a smart move by the lions to keep Stafford off the carpet. It should help the Lions’ running game as well.

I’m curious to see what the Vikings and the Packers will do? Who will start at QB for the Vikings if Teddy Bridgewater comes back and is  healthy? Green Bay Packers seem to be short a few pieces every year from getting to the Superbowl. Like Agent 86 would say in get Smart, missed it by that much as he holds his two fingers showing how close they were. They never go crazy in the free agent market. Sure they will dabble here and there. They need to fix weaknesses if they can find the right person or persons in free agency and get themselves up Hamburger hill to the Superbowl.

 

In this corner weighing in at 230 lbs is former Houston Texan, former Miami Dolphin, Adrian Foster. The opponent hails from North America weighing anywhere from 65 to 130 lbs with 37 kills, all other animals the WOLF.

I looked up the definition of Crazy: which means mentally deranged, especially as manifested in a wild or aggressive way.

Synonyms for Crazy:  mad, insane and lunatic

Maybe Adrian Foster is football crazy for what’s going on inside his mind. He has played 8 seasons in the NFL rushing for 6,527 yards. He had another 2,346 yards receiving. He even had 68 Touch downs in 80 games he played. I believe all this went down because he was wearing a helmet. In Football you rack up a lot of hits to the head that can cause all kinds of craziness. He now is retired from the game and has this fantasy about fighting a wolf. He ranted and raved that he could fight a wolf with his bare hands and win. Wolves do not have any thumbs and that was his big reason he could win. He says he would go for the neck as that is the weak spot on the animal.

First, Wolves travel in packs so it would be very hard to get a one on one match up against the animal. One wolf can take down a half ton Bison or an Ox. Wolves have upper body strength that they use to take down their prey. Plus, their teeth are sharp like knives or the John Rambo knife in First Blood. The wolf would be gnawing and chewing on your flesh as it would bite right through the bones. The wolf would have Foster stew out of Adrian. The wolf  would chew him down to the bone and clean it’s teeth with his fingers.

I’ve heard of retiring and maybe getting cabin fever. He’s probably asking himself what now? The football chapter of his life is over.What shall he do now?  He’s still a young guy and does not have to do what a typical guy  does when they retire. Going fishing, making bird houses, doing some crossword puzzles, going to play bingo sounds great to me. Marshawn Lynch, another former NFL retired running back, went backpacking in Europe. He has the money to travel if he wants to. Just pick the right country to travel to so you can get a flight back with Trump’s travel ban list going on.

I can see why so many younger guys play a few years and get out of the sport after a few years. Earn a million and get out so you can have a healthy life. After so many plays, so many years, and so many hits, you get crazy after you’re done with the game. He could just be talking shenanigans like my mum would say. With so many suicides from former players it makes you think. These players are like some boxers after they are done fighting in the ring, they are not working with a full deck. They might have not been working with a full deck for years. When you start losing too many kings and queens, you start thinking you can jack a wolf.

BEER LABEL ART OF THE WEEK

HOPTIMUS (IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE) 3-7-17

The New Albanian Brewing Company

I love this label because it looks like a robotic Donkey Kong. With the name Hoptimus, it reminds me of Optimus Prime from the Transformers. I like all the gears on the label as well. This is my new number one for best art on a label.

Two cool beer labels submitted so far in beer label art of the week.

THE LABEL RANKINGS

RANKED          NAME OF BEER                                    SUBMITTED

#1                        Hoptimus Imperial Pale ale                 3-7-17

#2.                      Space Station Middle Finger                2-26-17

 

That damn song is already being played to make my ears bleed. Go Cubs Go. I’ve heard it being played at a local parish function. The Cubs already brain washing the youth. Maybe that’s how Hitler got the whole country of Germany to say “Hail Hitler.” He had to have spiked the water. Can you imagine if people had to hail Trump? The civil war part two would take place. The song is back spring training is here. Now the Cubs are getting geared up to defend their World Series title as no drought here no longer. Will they repeat?

In baseball and even in any sport, it is very hard to repeat. In Cub land they have a loaded roster once again and they might be able to repeat. Right now everything is hunky dory but as we know championships do cost money. Right now the Cubs core, the position players, are locked up for a few years. What about their pitching though? Do they have any big pitching prospects ready to come up to the major league level? Jon Lester and John Lackey are aging. Then you have the man, Jake Arrieta. Some will say he is the Cubs number one, Some will say Lester is your number one. Jake Arrieta’s contract runs out after this season. His agent is Scott Boras and you know he will want a few Brinks trucks for Jake, especially if he has another great season this year.

Jake Arrieta came over from Baltimore. It’s like the Cubs gave the beans to the Orioles and they sent the cow back to Chicago. Jake has won the Cy Young in 2015. In 2016, he had two no hitters. He won the silver slugger as he was the top hitting pitcher. He was also a gold glove finalist last season as well. All of that and he is only 31 years old. Will Boras want to get him a similar deal to what Max Scherzer got from the Washington Nationals? That was seven years at 210 million. Could he still be pitching effectively at 38 years old when the contract runs out? Theo, Jed and company will have to make some big decisions next off season.

The Cubs have plenty of money – look what they invested in Heyward. He was horrible last year. However you don’t want to go down the same road when you overpay all those guys like Soreno and Aramis Ramirez. It took awhile to get out of those back loaded contracts and you had to pay teams to take them off your roster. Having one big contract that the player sucks is OK, having two it gets to be really hard. Plus you have to think about your core, they will need to be paid and they will want big money at Menards. Jake seems like he runs out of gas towards the end of season anyways. Some say he’s on or was on some kind of steroid that suddenly made him so dominating, especially in 2015. Now he reminds me of the Russian boxer in Rocky. Once Rock got a solid punch in to make him bleed he fell apart. I think teams had found that if you rattle Arrieta, he will fall. Let the buyer be aware that it might be OK to pass on Arrieta after this season. Especially the kind of money he will demand. I do not see him up for the long haul of his career.