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.