hogan873

All the talk of pale ales reminded me of a couple of my favorites. Two American Pale Ales from Three Floyds top my list: Alpha King and the seasonal Zombie Dust. Speaking of Three Floyds, Gumballhead is one of my all time favorites. Going back to the Blue Moon conversation, I remember drinking it in the mid-90s, and not many people had tried it. It, along with berrs such as Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale really got the microbrew trend going. I'm still a Blue Moon fan, especially on tap, but there are better Belgian whites out there.

I was at the Tap House this past weekend and tried the Moody Tongue Steeped Emperor's Saison. Excellent brew. Very smooth with great flavor. I usually try several different beers when I'm there, but I stuck with it all evening.

Robertson's breaking ball is nasty. The last couple he threw were totally unhittable, but the batter couldn't lay off. Duke looked pretty good, too. It's early, but Flowers doesn't look bad at all. Maybe having a back-up who could easily slip into a starting role helps, or maybe he's just getting better each year. He could be a .250ish hitter with 15-20 HRs, and that would be fine.

- Samardzija signs an extension during the season - Abreu has a BA over .390 at the All Star Break - Garcia ends up batting over .270 and belts out 20 HRs - Beckham is DFA'd in June - Flowers and his magic glasses hit .260 with 22 HRs - Danks is traded in July, and the Sox acquire Buehrle in a separate trade - Ventura wears a cowboy hat to a game Joe West is umpiring and is ejected before the first pitch - Hawk is suspended for three games after going on a tirade about a bad call - Bill Melton steps in for Hawk and repeatedly calls Rodon "Mothra"

Very nice. But it was a bit sad to see that Beckham has a spot.

88-74. Second place in the division and a wild card berth.

I believe he'll be over on all three. I don't see him tiring as much in the second half, which will increase his power numbers. My guess will be .310/39/125.

American Crime premiere was pretty solid. Hopefully it maintains the intensity.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2015 -> 01:21 PM) Pretty sure he looks like Maggs. Dammit, you're right. I don't know why I remembered it as Cabrera.

I wouldn't be suprised to see Beckham be the starting 2B, but I'd like to see Sanchez. He did a decent job there last year, and it would be nice to see how he can handle it full time. Besides, we can hear Hawk talk about how he LOOKS like Miguel Cabrera but doesn't HIT like him.

So he quit chewing tobacco, which means he's probably moody. Hard to imagine Conor even more grumpy than he already is.

My first instinct was to say no way, but as I think about it more I could see it being a decent idea. I'm probably in the minority, but I think spring training is too long. However, I couldn't very well argue to start the season early because of weather concerns...unless they somehow worked the schedule to where the first week+ is played in warm areas and/or domes. I also understand the reasoning for the long spring training. Baseball being played until damn near November is a recipe for disaster, especially if the World Series ended up being the Sox vs. the Mets (or similar cold climate areas). That's certainly a pro for shortening the season by a week. I also have an issue with the limited number of teams that make the playoffs. Along with the long season, some teams are essentially eliminated in July. I'd like to see a better playoff system, but to do that, you'd have to shorten the season (by more than 8 games). Adding the second WC team was a good start, though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 10:10 AM) Anyone else still with 12 Monkey's or Vikings? Nice Debut for Vikings I am totally sold on 12 monkey's after the 5 or 6 episodes we are into it. My wife and I love 12 Monkeys. I'm really surprised by how well done it is. They do a great job with the time travel aspect.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 20, 2015 -> 07:56 AM) I feel sorry for folks with this mindset. Don't watch Jaws! Or The Graduate! They look dated!!!! The fact that they didn't rely on special effects that much for Jaws actually helped it be even more terrifying. The suspense throughout the movie could have been ruined by too much focus on a perfect looking shark.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 20, 2015 -> 10:16 AM) I know they have offered him less, but I believe this is the target his people are aiming at. Well, that's discouraging. I don't see the Sox offering him that much, nor would I want them to. $28MM a year would be too much.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 19, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) ^Pretty much that. I guess you could compare it to that new NBC show called like "Allegiance" or something, although I refuse to watch that show because I feel like they are trying to capitalize off The American's success. Pitts forgot to mention that the family lives next to a guy who is an agent with the FBI, and they have befriended him. So it has the Breaking Bad element of two characters are close friends (Walt and Hank), but yet the one is unknowingly chasing after the other person at work. It's a really good show. The only negative about the show is that about 25% of the show's dialogue is in Russian, so you have to read subtitles, and the main characters have so many different disguises and personas that it can be a little hard to follow who they are pretending to be with whom. That is a very important part of the show. Now that you mention it, the scenario does resemble the Walt/Hank situation.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Feb 19, 2015 -> 12:35 AM) What exactly is this show about? What would you compare it to? I don't know what I would compare it to. But it takes place in the '80s when the US was still engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The show centers on a couple who are Soviet spies living in the US and have been for years. They're completely Americanized (at least to everyone else's viewpoint). They have a couple kids and run a travel agency...by day. They work covertly for the Soviet Union, running missions, turning people against the US, etc. There's a lot more to it, but that's the general idea. One of the best shows on TV.

I'd like to see him get better at stealing bases. He's got the speed, but he definitely needs to work on better reads and quicker jumps. If he can repeat (or come close to) his performance last year and steal more bases (and get caught a lot less), he'll be in the conversation for one of the top lead-off hitters.

Great episode of Shameless last night. Mickey is one of the best characters on the show...maybe the best.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 08:04 PM) I hope you are all watching the SNL special right now. It's fantastic. That Celebrity Jeopardy is an instant classic. "It was in your mother's handwriting." I nearly pissed myself.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 12:23 AM) As we approach Spring Training, a lot of things are set for the Sox. We know our top 3 starting pitchers. Eaton, Cabrera, Abreu, LaRoche, Garcia, Gillaspie, Ramirez, and Flowers are all pretty set as starters. Robertson is our closer. Wells and Jennings have strengthened our bullpen. Bonafacio is making the team in some capacity. So what hasn't been answered? Here are 10 questions that need to be answered. 1. Who's going to emerge as our starting second baseman? Sanchez, who ended last season there? Micah Johnson, the speedy lefty? Bonafacio, who's probably better in a utility role? Saladino, who's coming off injury? Or even Gordon Beckham, in a bid for the Sox to torture us once again after we thought we were done with him? Gordon Beckham 2. Who is going to stick at backup catcher? Soto? Brantly? Nieto? Kottaras? Kottaras 3. Will Jesse Crain be healthy enough to help us this year? Will Nate Jones? (This is a two-fer.) Crain, yes. Jones, yes but later in the season 4. How will the Sox deploy Carlos Rodon? Will he stay in the minors long enough to give another season of control? When will his major league debut be? Will be in the bullpen, or as a starter? Will he displace Nieto or Danks if he starts? Start in AAA, come up in June as a starter 5. Gillaspie and LaRoche don't hit lefties very well. Who subs for them? Seems like Bonafacio and Beckham are both candidates to platoon with Gillaspie. But what about LaRoche? ? 6. Who is going to be our 4th (or 5th) outfielder (assuming Bonafacio will also sub in the outfield a fair amount). Shuck or maybe Taylor 7. How does the rest of the bullpen shake out behind Robertson and Wells? 8. Will these players all be healthier this year? Adam Eaton? 123 games. Avisail Garcia? 46 games. Jose Abreu? 145 games. Chris Sale? 26 games, 174 innings. Eaton will get hurt at least once, Garcia will be healthy all season, Abreu will rest a little more and stay healthy, Sale will stay healthy 9. Will guys like Matt Davidson and Eric Johnson get their careers back on track to where they can be seen at least as future help, if not being ready to help this year? Davidson will have a much better year and will be a September call-up, Johnson has another rough year 10. Who else are the Sox going to add to help the club in 2015? They'll pick up a veteran SP looking to come back after injury and/or down years Answer all 10, or pick and choose which ones you like, or add some others. Should be an interesting season!

Pretty dark episode of The Walking Dead last night. Solid opening to Better Call Saul. Didn't really watch The Grammys, but I did see AC/DC open the show. That was pretty bad ass. What was even better, though, was Jeff Lynne playing a couple ELO songs.

The Americans: Also, I started watching Black Mirror on Netflix. The episode The Entire History of You was great. Looking forward to watching the rest.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 01:11 PM) Yeah, I'm a big fan, although the Russian embassy stuff always seems to confuse me because it's all in subtitles and they talk so fast that sometimes it's hard to even read all the dialogue before they take it off the screen. My question is, in real life in Russia do they address each other with their first and last names all of the time?

QUOTE (SnB @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 08:05 AM) Did anyone else play something like this? I vaguely remember playing it as a kid, though I think I was too young to fully comprehend it. http://www.amazon.com/Card-Baseball-Exciti.../dp/B0052EROZ8# My son got Strat-O-Matic Baseball for Christmas. It's similar to this one. What's nice about it is that you can make it as basic or as advanced as you want. We've played quite a few games with it, and it turns out to be pretty realistic. The more advanced you play (lefties vs. righties, slealing, etc.), the more realistic it is.