Casual Friday at Beer Thirty

Somewhat inspired by this post by PWD as well as Hale's update on the Georgia Theater rebuilding, here's a beer review. A very amateur beer review.

I've always been known as the cheap beer guy, aka beer whore. But lately I've been making an effort to enjoy some higher quality brews. My hands down favorite so far is Sweetwater's Dank Tank. But the last time I was at my alcohol dealer, he was out. Perhaps seeing the look of desperation on my face, he quickly suggested a new beer by Terrapin.

The Athens brewery has teamed up with the Georgia Trust to help fund the rebuilding project for Athens' greatest theater. They are producing four separate beers (or Sessions) and a portion of the proceeds from all sales goes to the rebuilding project.

So far they've only released the first session The Iron Tankard with Session Two scheduled to be on shelves soon. The Iron Tankard was a very flavorful brew with more malt than hops. I thought it was just good at first, but it definitely got better the more it sat in my glass. Although it didn't sit there long. I expect I will like Session Two, a belgian dubbel entitled Double Feature even more.


All brews are 22oz bottles in a decorative and historical box. The first session was over 9% ABV, so your enjoyment should be greatly enhanced. And one box in each production contains a golden ticket that allows the beer drinker a lifetime pass to the renovated Georgia Theater. So tell Willy Wonka to shove his chocolate, and grab a Terrapin Georgia Theater Session. 

Trivial Update - I Walk the Line

#ThursdaysRTrivial ep. 43 coming up right after this PSA: Beware of prodigal sons wearing urranjah and sporting overalls. If seen, please call 1-800-FOUND A DOUCHE. Thx!


#ThursdaysRTrivial episode 43 "How Tough Are You?" It's time for the Twitter Twivia Show that's fought tougher men, but can't remember when. Pulling a question from Bernie's iPod...REPLY back your answer for a chance at a fabulous prize. According to the legend of a boy named Sue, what two things did Daddy leave "Ma and me" when he left home?

I've been on a Johnny Cash run for a couple months. I don't usually make a habit of drawing inspiration from such tortured souls, but the Man in Black is special. And I also rarely enjoy remakes, but two of my favorite Cash songs are remakes, Kristofferson's Sunday Morning Coming Down and Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus. In fact I never really liked Depeche Mode although I remember the original song being a hit. But Cash's version is incredibly soulful. Amazingly simple, but powerful. Perhaps it's Cash's tortured history that makes it that way, I don't know.


Just a great song by a real artist.


That all has nothing to do with Georgia Athletics, but it's my damn trivia show...and it's the long hard drag between the first of April and the heat of August two-a-days. So it played out this way...

Tracey hit him hard right between the eyes

and he went down but to my surprise

Scott come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear

But Angie busted a chair right across his teeth 

and we all crashed through the wall and into the street

Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer. 

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men (and women)

but I really can't remember when

Scott kicked like a mule and Tracey bit like a crocodile.

I heard Angie laugh and then I heard her cuss,

Tracey went for her gun and Scott pulled his first,

then stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

Congrats to Scott for tweeting in first. I hope you make good use of the knee length black coat. Meanwhile the ladies both get a handful of fresh picked flowers from outside of the Starkville City Jail. 


I hear the train a comin'. So let that lonesome whistle blow your blues away and have a great weekend.

Derek's Picking a Fight...I hear Herschel's Ready

In Atlanta yesterday for a HillBilly Hoedown, Derek Dooley painted the town urranjah. Then everyone enjoyed some Rocky Mountain oysters and used their revisionist history books to strike the KiffyBaby era from their collective mindset.

All kidding aside, this is only the beginning of the Dooley Nightmare. We knew this was coming. And we know it's only gonna get worse. With any luck the kid with the hair will soon be found clutching his childhood picture of him an Uga II as he sleeps and promptly be ushered out of Knutsville. Likely amid the usual chaos of 200+ Deliverance extra wannabes jumping atop burning Sertas. Cuz when the one-toothed wonders say they're going to the mattresses, we know they mean bidness.

As for Lil Derek's comments (you can read the lowlights on Weiszer's blog), it seems like his mouth is up for writing some big checks. I hear MMA bouts pay pretty well.

"My next opponent, we don't know who that is.  Whoever gives me an opportunity to fight then, I'm going to thank them as well." - Herschel Walker

Mett's Next Huddle

So where does Zach Mettenberger end up? I know I said this chapter was closed, but I only bring it up again because there appears a decent chance we'll see him in Sanford Stadium again. Albeit on the north sideline.

Cincinnati and Louisville are at the front of the line. And they are the two schools with visits set up, at least according to Kelin's website. By my estimation (and limited means of research) both schools would have a rising senior at QB when Mett was first eligible to play in the 2011 season. Although Mett would stand about a half a foot taller than Zach Collaros. But if that becomes an issue for Zach's decision making process, it also appears he has plenty of interest from elsewhere. Even in the SEC East.

Which is what really bothers me. I would love to see Mett rebound and make amends for Remerton both in the eyes of the law and on the football field. But I don't want to see it at a divisional rival. If the HillBillys and KenYucky are able to make a meal from Coach Richt's scraps...well, that's just wrong. 

And no, I'm not worried about facing Mett. In fact, I wouldn't mind if he ended up at Louisville and played us in '11 and '12. It'd be better than seeing him in urranjah.

Same Coach, New Era...part two

Yesterday we looked at the idea that this is now Coach Richt's football program. Today let's look at recruiting.

The Class of 2011 in the state of Georgia is gonna be a ripe peach. And Coach Richt's staff is doing what they can to make sure that peach comes off the limb red and black.

I remember when Richt was being introduced as the newest head coach at UGA and the emphasis he placed on recruiting. Afterall, he was coming from a school that consistently kicked our tails in recruiting the top kids from the state of Georgia. Richt said we could win championships with the talent within the borders. And that's the renewed emphasis being added this recruiting season.

Talent like Damian Swann, Nic Marshall, Jay Rome, James Vaughters...just to name a few...exactly the type of talent the head guy was referring to back in '01. To grab a few more of these home grown players would make the '11 class a truly special one.

And that seems to be what CMR and staff are targeting. As many as seven coaches in red and black have been reported to make visits to the state's top players recently. At least until the practice was outlawed.

“By the end of next week, our assistant coaches will have been to more than 350 schools in the state of Georgia,” Richt said. “Our coaches are really pounding the state of Georgia. The focus of our staff is to make sure we recruit the state of Georgia first.”

Sending coaches out in large teams to blue-chippers' schools sends a definitive statement...We want you in Athens. And the results are already positive for kids in the state of Georgia that can play some football at the level of the SEC.

Of Georgia's seven 2011 commitments, only North Carolina quarterback Christian LeMay is not from Georgia.

The most immediate impact to this renewed vigor on the trails could obviously be on the defensive side of the ball. Grantham's NFL experience coupled with the chance to compete early will hopefully reverse an ugly trend, a serious drought; a drought that has had Georgia fans thirsty since David Pollack and Thomas Davis left in 2005.

There were 15 players, including three first-round NFL draft picks, from Georgia high schools who were picked in the NFL draft last month, according to Maxpreps.com, but only Rennie Curran (third round) and Reshad Jones (fifth round) played for Georgia.

I won't pretend to know what has happened to recruiting overall the last few years. But on the defensive side the results on National Signing Day were much like those on Saturdays in the fall - some highlights mixed in with a lot of questions. Perhaps after a run of SEC Championship games the staff became too complacent. Maybe their approach was like my golf game...off the green.

Regardless, these days things seem different. Results should hopefully follow. And with any luck, Richt and staff will take Legge's advice...and start piecing together the top class in the nation by simply stating it as the ambition.

It is a bold goal, and one that is subjective anyway, but it would show players that Georgia isn’t scared to be the front runner – a program on the rise.

Indeed. A program on the rise at the start of a new era.

Same Coach, New Era

Coach Richt hasn't changed. But it's a new era in his regime.

Mett plead guilty and got a sweetheart deal. Sure, he paid a hefty price for being a douche in Remerton, as well as playing coy with his coach. Kid lost his seat in Richt's locker room. More on that later. But overall, it seems to me Mett coulda paid a heftier price for acting like the Steelerberger.

In the end, we close the book on the OCHS kid with the Sunday arm...

Meanwhile, Coach Richt has turned a new leaf. For all who thought he jumped the gun on Mett, from my perspective it looks like he played it as well as he could. If he waits until today to kick Mett off the team it would've been the right move. To beat the news to the punch...well, that's even better. Call it preemptive protection. He's protecting his program. The same one he just paid dearly to overhaul.

No coach since the former one who hired Richt has enjoyed the tenure he has. And Dooley spent a quarter century walking the sidelines of Sanford Stadium. Richt is acting as if he wants to match that. After nine seasons he's taken the program we so dearly love to the doorstep of college football's greatest glory. He's reminded us what it's like to be champions. We felt the confetti.

The '09 season was a murderers row for a team designed to be amiable. Instead of spending an off-season spinning that fact into a web of consolation, Richt made some difficult choices. He showed some friends the door. He steadied his ship on a different course. He had felt the confetti too.

And in so doing, Mark Richt has made this program his. It's no longer on loan. The man is fully vested. Donnan hardly got close enough to sniff this rarefied air. Goff was never on the map. Dooley is the only coach in this fan's recollection to have breathed in this deep. And he has the t-shirt circa 1980 to prove it.

Richt could have made the easier decision back in December. He could've done the same with Mett. Instead, Willie Martinez has a new area code and Zach is unfolding a map. In today's world, there are plenty of idiots and a lunatic fringe that will clamor on and on about how Georgia needs a new coach.

For me, I think we may just have one in the same.

DoucheTeam of the Day

From the peak of the mountain, to the pit of despair. Oh the agony!

h/t Today's Big Thing

I can only imagine what the refs were saying in that brief huddle.

(That white jerseyed team) is a bunch of d-bags.

Yeh, celebrating like that before time had even run out. 

I say the shot is good.

Agree.

Agree! 

Game. Over.

Barnhart Favors Slurban's Sabbatical

I used to absorb everything Tony Barnhart spewed forth. And I still feel like he's one of the best writers of college football in the Southeast. But perhaps he should stick to books.

Mistuh College Football has released his projections for the upcoming season (Georgia predicted to finish 2nd, fwiw). And evidently it's not too early to predict the gayturds numero uno...and that Slurban slithers to the finish line.

Go read it yourself. But here's what struck me as funny:

"Florida’s offense will be very good again."

Okay. Was the gator offense good last season? In a word, yes. Most definitely. But it amazes me how quickly pundits forget how much the unit struggled. After devouring their usual cupcakes in '09, floriDuh's offense did little to claim victories over Tennessee, LSU, Arkansas and Missy State.

Perhaps Barnhart is predicting that with Tebow gone new offensive coordinator Addazio will be settled in more. At times last season, the offense had zero rhythm and even less bite.

But for Corch's team to repeat as SEC East champs, that offense is gonna have to hit the ground running and do its part to account for all of the off season losses, which were mostly on the defensive side of the ball. John Brantley might have an NFL arm...but something tells me it's not going to be the one charged with eye-gouging the SEC ball carriers this fall.

Monday's Meatloaf - Open Bars...always a best option

Pardon the bleary eyes Reader. I'm fresh off a weekend bender of in-law'n. Survived nearly 1000 miles of I-85 and two open bars. So today's main dish is heavy on potholes, Jim, Ginger, crab cake appetizer and Wendy's drive-thru.


In between all that I was able to read up enough to find that should he be our best option, AJ Green will be returning punts this fall. Sure, this was a topic of discussion already. But in a word...ugh.


Seems Coach Richt is not afraid to put the team's best player on the field with 11 enemy missiles aimed directly at him. Okay. But I'm not too ashamed to admit that I just pee'd my chinos a lil just typing that.


That and I can't help but think that AJ won't be our best option back there. With Carlton Thomas...Wooten the Ankle Breaker...Branden Smith...who else am I missing?...Logan Gray...hell, AJ Harmon for God's sake!! Anybody but Green.


Numero Ocho has dazzled Dawg fans for two seasons...despite the fact that he's yet to be healthy for a full fall. CMR is right that he's just as likely to get hurt catching passes in the opponents' secondary. But if he's serious about this...truly serious...I'm going to need a series of open bars to make it through the '10 campaign.

Today's Ingredients

• Expansion. It's become a word synonymous with vomit. At least in my vocabulary.
• The latest upchuck - Kentucky to the Big Ten. All together now...Yeh, right.
• I think the least CMR could do for his basketball counterpart is loan him a pair of Oakleys.
• The Senator takes Tomahawk Nation to task...after the FSU blog decided to wear their ass as a hairpiece.
• In a related note, while the coaches hit the trail, their newest commit Christian LeMay is hitting the keypad of his smartphone, thumbs ablaze. And he also sat down with Chip Towers for a Q&A.
• Speaking of recruiting, HillBillys are pacing themselves...slowly.
• Exile spent the weekend dodging rainstorms and donating money to Churchill Downs. Sounds like it was a great time nonetheless.
• Lastly, with Mother's Day around the corner I'm sure I have a few readers who are still looking for that special gift. I recently got a ring for Mrs. Bernie...one of those just for the heck of it deals. She liked it a lot, and even received an ohhh! and an ahhh! at the wedding this weekend. That my friend is music to a husband's ears.
• Believe me, I hate ordering crap online. Cuz you never know if it's gonna look like crap. Despite my skepticism, I pulled the trigger anyway and couldn't be any happier. So if you want to get the lady a little bling for whatever occasion, a nice deal with a classy look is just a click away.

It's always intrigued me just how crucial music is for a wedding reception. The right energy needs to be applied to the crowd (some good food and beverages help as well of course) to make the occasion go from just plain memorable...to Granny took her shoes off and is bumpin' bootys with Uncle Clyde. 


So finding a band with this song in their repertoire or a DJ with it in his playlist I think is crucial. Cuz the Brothers Johnson just scream Let's get our groove thing on...

I'd crash a wedding just for the chance to slosh my Jim and Ginger around on the dance floor to that tune. In the meantime, here's your napkin Reader. And remember, the bar closes with the band...




Bernie