Yuengling Arrives in Ohio, Coack K wins #903, and My Roundball Season Begins

After I finished my blog posting yesterday, I received an e-mail telling me of a cancellation of a Friday basketball scrimmage, due to one of the schools football teams still involved in the playoffs....lucky for me that happened, because as I cleaned up my calender, I noticed that I had a scrimmage at Spencerville on the schedule for last night....one I that had slipped my mind, due to the trip to Wisconsin, and other things rolling around in my aging brain....so, with the scrimmage gone on Friday, at least I made it to my first of the year, last night.

7 of us worked the two gym floors as Spencerville hosted Lima Bath....I stayed on the JV side, and worked a combination of 2 man and 3 man mechanics for six 10 minute quarters....and, after a decent workout, getting my sea legs back, I headed out....avoiding the moving White Tail Deer through the St Marys River region along Ohio 197, I arrived home without incident around 8pm.

Yuengling Come To the Buckeye State____

I've been a beer drinker since I turned 18, back in 1967, late in my Senior Year at Celina High School....sometimes heavy, sometimes I would go months without a beer.  For most of those nearly 45 years I drank what was available....in my youth it was Pabst Blue Ribbon and that skunk pee out of Detroit called Strohs...while in the Air Force, it was either the local favorites, such as Ballentine while at Dover, Delaware, and Genesee and Utica Club, while in upstate New York.   In Vietnam it was whatever was available on the loading docks at Nha Trang or the NCO Club in Saigon/Tan Son Nhut.  I Finally settled for Miller Lite a dozen years ago, when I first tried to lose weight via the "Adkins" Diet, and until five years ago, I was pretty well satisfied with downing that.  Frankly during the summer months, after working a baseball game or double header, I still prefer to sit on the back steps or front porch, and down a few while smoking a good cigar.  Of late however, I finally learned to enjoy good dark brews...yes they have more calories and more carbs, but the taste, alcohol content, and the fact you can drink much less to satisfy, makes them more appealing....Yes!! I've become a Beer Snob!

I particularly like Stout Beer, especially Irish, and dark porters or black lagers...and on occasion I like a draft mix of dark and lager while sitting at the sport pubs or Buffalo Wild Wings.  However, seldom can you get those in a bottle or can...last February while in West Virginia for son Hal's wedding, I discovered that the oldest in the USA eastern brewery, Yuengling had done just that...mixed a good tasting, low cost Black and Tan brew, called simply "Original Black and Tan".  But I only got a case, and that was gone soon enough....so with the news that Yuengling was coming to Ohio, western Ohio no less, I was looking forward to making reacquaints with this low cost dark brew....and yesterday, I finally got my chance.

Yuengling and it's various flavors finally has arrived in my neck of the woods....much like Coors of the 60s and 70s, things always seem to taste better when you can't have them, isn't that the way of most things in life?  Once they are available, the thrill is gone.  Yuengling Lager is a decent tasting beer...but IMO nothing out of the ordinary...for the most part, when I want a lager beer, I will stick with the lower calorie, lower carbohydrate brews, like Miller Lite...but as for Dark Beers..."Black and Tan" has a place in my refrigerator...at less than $11 for a 12 pack of long necks, as compared to most stout and black lager 6 packs costing between $9 and $10, I will be keeping a supply of this brew on hand.  In fact I downed 4 when done with basketball last night as I sat down in the recliner with remote to watch both the Duke and Ohio State games.

Coach K reaches 903 wins____

Anybody who reads this blog on regular occasions knows I have been a Duke Basketball fan for many years.  Since the early days of coach Mike Krzyzewski, "Coach K" for short, because nobody could pronounce his name the way it is spelled.  I like the way he coaches his teams, I like the fact that they are students, and let's face it...being a white guy myself, I like to watch a team with some white boys do well.....nothing racist about it, but let's face the facts, I have a hard time rooting for a bunch of inner city guys that I have nothing in common with.  If that makes me a "racist or bigot" then so be it....must be why I read Thomas Sowell and would like to see Allen West be our next President.  Anyway back to the Coach K saga....

Last night he went into the game with Michigan State at New York's Madison Square Garden, needing a win to top his former coach and mentor, Bobby Knight's record of 902 wins....in typical Duke Blue Devil style, almost blowing a 19 point lead late in the game, Coach K and Company held on for a 74-69 win.  The 6th ranked Devils are now 3-0, and can concentrate on improving their relatively young team...meanwhile down south of Celina in Columbus, oldest son Sam was broadcasting the play-by-play of the 3rd ranked Buckeyes against the 7th ranked Florida Gators.  In a game, looking much like the Duke/MSU contest, Ohio State held on late for a hard fought victory.  Sam was working the game on the Scarlet and Gray student network, I'm not sure how he manages to stay above a 3.3 GPA in Actuarial Science, officiate high school sports, and work for OSU and the Big Ten Network, but early on in his senior year, he has been able to handle that situation quite well.

With the Friday cancellation, I have no scrimmages until Saturday morning at Delphos Jefferson....then am off until the Girls regular season tips off, for me, on November 28th, with the boys season following in short order.

back later>>>>

Photos-Yuengling has come to Ohio...featuring my favorite out of that old brewery, "Original Black and Tan"...My roundball officiating kicked off last night with a Varsity/JV boys scrimmage at Spencerville, it's going to be a busy 4 months....Coach K of Duke breaks the win record with 903 as the Blue Devils take down Michigan State...and Ohio State beats the Florida Gators for the 2nd straight year.