ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 09:50 AM) Yep, I refuse to go to the west loop location. The original is still the best. The original is actually closed now due to lease issues. They opened a temporary location on Armitage and they're supposedly renovating a new permanent location. Nice tangent!

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 21, 2015 -> 02:31 PM) yeah, whatever, I know cemitas puebla is the cool answer but xoco's was better the time I had it. Have not been to the fulton market cemitas puebla, I refuse to entertain when logan square/HP restaurants go to west loop. They stole Urban Belly and Wasabi's one did not look better. I like Xoco, but the Atomica is probably the best fast food item I've ever had. Admittedly I didn't try the milanesa at Xoco. If it makes you feel any better, I always went to the HP location on North Ave. Never been to the West Loop one, though that's more out of laziness than anything (it's slightly more than a mile from work, a little farther than I want to walk for lunch considering I also have to walk back).

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 20, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) Yeah or Xoco may make more sense for lower cost. Their milanesa is so good. I think I like it better than Cemitas Puebla. Xoco is legit and definitely a better choice in terms of price/crowds. Not sure I can agree with the second part though...

Apu approves!

QUOTE (danman31 @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 12:47 AM) They bailed on the run game way too early. Jackson can't have 10 carries and Thorson 35 pass attempts in a game you trail by 6 points at halftime. I should have said it on here, but you could tell in the earlier wins that Thorson wasn't needed in them and when Northwestern was in a tough spot and needed him to win a game for them he wasn't capable of it. I'm not calling for backups, but Thorson just sucks. The playcalling is frustrating. I'd give Justin the ball 25 times every game. The problem with that is recently they run it twice and get to 3rd and 6 and they still have to throw it (or run, short pass to the RB for 3rd and 6). There has been very little room to run the last two weeks. It doesn't help that they can't run the option because Thorson always pitches too early and makes the back try to beat three guys just to get back to the line of scrimmage. They should probably work in a bunch of read options to take advantage of Thorson's mobility and make defenses think. It worked for Colter!

As the resident NU fan, I feel like I need to make a statement as well... Northwestern was supposed to be mediocre to poor this year. Their D returned a lot of their depth chart, but also lost a couple of major playmakers (Campbell and Ariguzo were the main ones, also some LB and DL depth). The offense was nearly a complete question mark with a RS freshman QB (albeit one of their better recruits in a while) and inexperienced and/or bad players returning on the line and in the receiving core. Most fans I talked to had them around 5 wins before the season. Well, they already have 5 wins, and not against completely s*** competition either. Obviously the last two games have been ugly, but those are also the toughest games left on the schedule. At Wisconsin is the only game that looks scary at this point, and I'm not really sure how good they are. The others are @ NEB, vs PSU, vs PUR and ILL at Soldier Field. Their defense is still decent as long as their opponent doesn't start on NU's side of the field constantly. They just need to stop being complete f***ups on offense and get some punts that go farther than 35 yards. I would assume Jackson will be much more involved against more manageable competition, which should keep them in games more. Bottom line is even if they go 2-3 the rest of the way, they'll have exceeded nearly every reasonable expectation.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 1, 2015 -> 12:50 PM) It was April. It was on the Score and the post was liked 25,000 times. Got some decent ad revenue out of that. I am glad I focused my time on things other than that stupid website and OOTP and began to kick ass in my career. Nearly as productive was that time I posted a random Kate Upton pic in the comments section to distract people and we started getting google hits on "Kate Upton naked".

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 3, 2015 -> 03:09 PM) I've been playing Diamond Dynasty recently and I've finally built a pretty decent team. With the new roster updates, I was able to nab Puig, Rizzo, Shields, and Kipnis. My lineup: 1. Hamilton 2. Reyes 3. Puig 4. Rizzo 5. Bautista 6. Machado 7. Kipnis 8. Lucroy 9. Archer I had fun with the actual collecting, but that mode gets really repetitive. They need to add something else to vary things a bit. Mine is something like this... 1) Gordon 2) Pollock 3) Braun/Dickerson Platoon 4) Abreu 5) Martinez/occasionally Upton 6) Frazier 7) Vogt/Norris platton 8) Crawford I got basically all of those guys pretty cheap and put most of my assets into my rotation. I've got Seaver, Harvey, Kluber, Cole and Keuchel/DeGrom (should have grabbed Grienke before he jumped to a diamond).

That Thompson deal is silly to me. He's not close to a max caliber player and can't really play more than about 25 minutes for them. Why not just wait for an offer sheet and match it? I doubt anyone else offers more than 4-50. I know the cap is going up, but they can't afford to throw away any bit of flexibility. On the plus side, they're over the cap anyways, which means 90% of the damage is to Gilbert's wallet. He seems like kinda a dick anyways, so whatever. Pretty sure Thompson also has the same agent as LeBron, so it will keep him happy.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 08:15 PM) He has a 40 inch vert with a huge wingspan. He crosses dudes up with quickness. Harden is a pretty good comparison though. Manu as well. Like I said, I take raw testing numbers with a grain of salt because it's not a game setting. Guys have as much time and space as they want, which is why OJ Mayo can test better than Russell Westbrook. I like his skills and think he's going to at least be an above average starter. My question isn't so much if he's going to stick, but whether he's going to average 16-4-4 or 25-5-6.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 07:59 PM) Zoom. What about Russell doesn't appear to be athletic. He tested pretty well. His game pace is what deceives people. Being the entire OSU team offensively hurt him bad against quality opponents but he's still going to be turnover prone for a few years in the NBA. He's not quite a polished PG yet. Unless draft express is lying to me, Russell didn't do the athletic testing at the combine. I take those with a grain of salt anyways. It's more than he's not a guy that's regularly going to finish above the rim or blow past people purely on speed. He relies on craft more than athleticism. It's worked for guys like Harden and Curry, but I'm not a smart enough evaluator to know how well things will work for Russell.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 07:48 PM) PG- Dragic SG- Wade SF- Deng PF- Bosh C- Whiteside That's the 2nd best lineup in the East, if it happens. It looks good on paper if everything goes right (kind of like the Bulls last year, though probably more upside). They also don't have much depth, which is an issue considering Wade will miss at least 20 games we don't know how Whiteside will handle 30 MPG for an entire season.

I haven't watched nearly as much college basketball as usual, but a few random comments... -I think you have to take Towns #1. Okafor is a phenomenal scorer down low, but is limited in other areas. I don't even think his rebounding is that great, at least on the defensive end. He just kind of stands there most of the time. -You gotta love Russell's skills, but I'm not sure if he's athletic enough to be a star. An interesting thing I found a while ago watching draft express videos is the huge disparity in his stats based on quality of opponent. I believe his TS% was like 64 against teams below .500 and 53 against teams above .500. I like him, not sure if I love him. -I don't really get the Justice Winslow love. Yeah, he's a nice athlete, but he never really jumped out at me when I watched Duke. If he blows up, it will probably take a few years like Jimmy Buckets. -It would have been interesting to see where Mudiay would have gone if he had played in college. I think he might be a steal. -Several interesting bigs after 10. I'm not sure they'll turn into anything, but guys like Myles Turner, Trey Lyles and Bobby Portis at least look like lottery picks.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 06:59 PM) Nerlens/Okafor will be deadly next year. Sixers could make the playoffs (yeah, i know, the east) just off those two. They would need to get a few NBA-caliber guards first.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 2, 2015 -> 09:36 AM) The Beer shop is serving exit strategy's beer now. They also have flights now. Outstanding.

QUOTE (scs787 @ May 31, 2015 -> 04:31 PM) Correct me when I'm wrong.... Hypothetically they trade Taj for a pick, that moves them to roughly 55mill of a 67mill cap. At that point assuming the timing is right, they could then sign Green/Wes first, then sign Butler, and then still use the MLE? The short answer: no. The long answer... 1) You can't use the MLE if you use cap space to sign free agents. It's one or the other, not both. 2) They would only be able to do a Taj deal like that if the team receiving him is far enough under the cap to absorb his entire salary. If not, trade salary matching rules apply and the discussion gets a lot more annoying. That's a fairly limited pool of teams to draw from. 3) That $57 million figure isn't totally accurate because of cap holds. You need to be able to field a full roster with a minimum of 13 players and pay your draft picks. That $57 million assumes Jimmy at his $3 million option and is only for 9 players. Near as I can tell on a quick search, Jimmy's cap hold is actually $5 million unless something is signed. There's also a hold of around $1 million for their first round pick, plus the minimum salary times 3 more spots (I believe it's around $1 million total for that). If you add those, you basically have the same thing as the MLE. You also have to renounce the Bird rights for any other free agents to clear their cap holds (the most relevant being Dunleavy).

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 31, 2015 -> 03:34 PM) According to Cowley, Taj was furious about Thibs being fired. If so, I'd imagine Taj will be traded, which I kind of figured anyway. If you can trade Taj and get Jimmy told hold off on offer sheets for a few days, M. Gasol actually is semi-possible I believe. The math doesn't work out on that. You would need to create at least $17 million of space for Marc (I'm too lazy to look up the exact number, but I'm pretty sure it's over that). Taj only makes $8.5 million.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 31, 2015 -> 03:29 PM) With the looming cap explosion, you have to wonder if a guy like Mathews might go for a one-year MLE deal to rebuild his value coming into the more favorable FA year Given the history of guys with his injury, I'd take as much guaranteed money as I can if I were him. Most people with Achilles tears are never the same. If someone offers him something like 4-45, that'd be my pick. Who knows what the market is though.

QUOTE (scs787 @ May 31, 2015 -> 02:28 PM) It all depends if they're willing to take the MLE(5.4mill). Matthews might considering his coming off injury. I'm sure zoom can figure out a scenario where the Bulls could spend more. The cap's projected at $67 million right now, so the MLE is really their only recourse. They're above $62 million for 8 players, and that doesn't count Jimmy Buckets. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he'll still count at about $3 million from the last option year on his rookie deal. That still doesn't leave anything under the cap since they still need to fill several spots. From there, you get into attempts of dumping someone's salary to a team under the cap, which don't usually go anywhere because they can just sign FA's. Whether they can get one of the guys for the MLE is another question entirely. I would assume they'd get more than that since everyone wants 3 and D guys now, but Mathews' injury is a major wildcard.

Went to Atlas Brewing yesterday. Parking around there is an adventure, but it was worth the trip. The beer was pretty good (I liked the Diversey Pale Ale and Don't Be An Astro IPA the most) and the food was solid as well. As an added bonus, Beermiscuous is just down the street. They have their own parking lot too! I didn't sample any of their taps because we went to the brewery first, but picked up quite a variety pack to go. It wasn't cheap, but they have a very good selection. My 6-pack: Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA Deschutes Freshly Squeezed IPA (most boring selection, thought about getting Ale Syndicate Roes Hill) Victory Kirsch Gose Schneider Weiss Aventinus (that one jacked up the price obviously) Stone Ruination 2.0 Imperial IPA Boulevard Sixth Glass Quad Also fun: they had a sign that said "# of days since someone has asked about Zombie Dust: 1"

A little surprised no one posted this yet... Season 6 casting descriptions Cliffnotes: -Very likely Euron Greyjoy and Randyll Tarly. -3 family members (mother/brother/sister), article speculates that it's the rest of Sam's family. -An ex-soldier turned priest. Septon Maribald? -3 characters that aren't obviously from the books. One is a traveling actress, one is a young priestess, another is a tall warrior of "mixed ethnicity", possibly suggesting a Dornishman or Dothraki. -3 boys, two age 7-8 and one age 12. The descriptions sound like a potential flashback with Robert, Ned and Brandon.

Just got a badge on Untappd for trying 30 different beers in a month! In honor of that achievement, here's the list in declining order of rating (yes, there's more than 30, I don't know why I just got it now)... 5 stars- Three Floyds Zombie Dust, Ommegang Glimmerglass, Ommegang Gnomegang, Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA 4 stars+- Pig Minds Sweep the Leg, Revolution Anti-Hero, Ale Syndicate Van de Velde, Founders Centennial IPA, Revolution Fist City 3.5-4 stars- Lagunitas Waldo's Special Ale, Firestone Walker Easy Jack, Founders Dirty Bastard, Avery White Rascal, Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Bell's Oberon, Pipeworks End Boss, Revolution A Little Crazy, Tyranena Citra Imperial IPA, Metropolitan Krankshaft, Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, Revolution Mean Gene, Victory Prima Pils, Ommegang Three Philosophers w/Cherry 3-3.5 stars- Deschutes Mirror Pond, Figure 8 Snake Pro Double IPA, Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit, Revolution TV Party Rye IPA, Victory Hop Devil, Middle Brow Vitalogy, Penrose Desirous, Deschutes Inversion IPA, Ale Syndicate Municipal IPA, Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale 2-3 stars- Deschutes River Ale, Revolution Cross of Gold, Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA, Illuminated Kallisti

QUOTE (South Sider @ May 20, 2015 -> 12:12 PM) I bought a couple bottles and so far I've had one, poured into a Samuel Smith pint glass. It was decently hopped, and very pleasant. There's always a chance that whomever handled your beer beforehand exposed it to some sunlight, or adverse temperature conditions. But so far, so good. It's possible it was me. It was sitting in the car for a few hours on a hot day. I haven't really had that issue beforeI or since(outside of some impots in green bottles), so I'm not sure if that is what did it. That's why I made sure to point out that I thoroughly enjoyed it on tap.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ May 15, 2015 -> 01:01 PM) I've put way too much thought into this, so I'll ask for opinions. I have to buy beer for a party we're hosting. At least 30 guests with variable drinking levels depending on who shows up. There will likely not be other beer snobs there, but I want stuff I will drink in case I buy too much. I guess another way to word it is I want good beer that will appeal to average drinkers as well as me without going crazy on price. I'm thinking... Bell's Oberon and Two Hearted Ale (probably 12 and 6) Revolution, probably a 6 each of Anti-Hero and Bottom Up (Fist City?) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale maybe? Anyway, I would appreciate suggestions. Unfortunately, I will probably have to buy some light beer even though it goes against my pinciples. Damn it! I bought the stuff for this party at the tasting today and I just realized Allagash White probably would have been a good choice. Oh well, their stuff is expensive anyways.

QUOTE (South Sider @ May 16, 2015 -> 03:15 PM) UNdercover shutdown ale is back! Got a few bottles to try. Will report later on. I've had mixed experiences with it. It's been amazing when i've had it on draft, but a few of my bottles had some unpleasant bitter carmel notes in the aftertaste. It made we wonder if I inadvertently skunked the beer.