This Blog Is Not for Children

Well Derrick Rose is Hurt again...

2015-02-24T20:40:00.002-08:00

Didn't take long now did it.

Break out the internet doctors!

Cooking Sous Vide

2014-05-24T09:43:00.001-07:00

More videos with the Sous Vide cooking method. Cooking this way has made things so simple and easy, I love it!

You can get my entire Sous Vide setup here for just under $350

Anova Sous Vide Circulator
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Bucket
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Blow Torch
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Blowtorch Fuel
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Vacuum Sealer and Bags
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So I've been doing a bit of Sous Vide cooking...

2014-03-06T16:53:00.004-08:00

Check out my youtube videos, any questions just post in the comments!

You can get my entire Sous Vide setup here for just under $350

Anova Sous Vide Circulator
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GT753W8/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GT753W8&linkCode=as2&tag=thisblogisnot-20

Bucket
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Blow Torch
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Blowtorch Fuel
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Vacuum Sealer and Bags
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LW73UY/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008LW73UY&linkCode=as2&tag=thisblogisnot-20

Epic Post about the State of Illinois Athletics

2012-02-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Since some dill-hole Admin (Peoriaman, nova, Jms whoever) deleted this on the board in which it was posted.... A guy named Larry Sanders posted this on insideillini, and I have to say, I agree completely with everything he said. I would highly recommend Illini fans from all boards take a read and comment below, or post it on their own board for all I care!

Observations on Bruce from a season-ticket outsider long

First post, long time fan, alumni, and lurker. Not from Champaign, so I actually have a different favorite team, and am therefore an outsider. The Illini are my second favorite team, and I pay close attention, so although I cannot match your fanhood and dedication, I have somewhat of a different perspective than some life-long Illini fans. So, here are a few contrarian thoughts from an outsider who has been lucky enough to have season tickets the last few seasons

(1) Illinois (left to it's own devices) is a national basketball power and Bruce Weber is (most naturally) a mid major coach. Whether or not fans agree with this sentiment, the national basketball fan base agrees largely with this sentiment. Why? Pretty simple: the last time the nation was passionately paying attention to Illinois was the '05 championship run. The Illini were awesome and dominant back then, the nation watched them almost win a championship game. The nation then saw Illinois hire the SIU guy, and the nation hasn't been interested in Illinois basketball ever since. Nationally, Illinois basketball is still considered a high-flying, electric, guard-and-wing-oriented basketball powerhouse. Nationally, Illinois basketball is still Kendall Gill and Deron, and this national brand of Illinois basketball has nothing to do with what most day-to-day Illini fans deal with from their basketball program. Bruce can certainly "hack it" at the high major level, but most naturally, Bruce probably provides his greatest marginal utility as a mid major coach, building community cohesion and cinderella stories, instead of managing the Jereme Richmonds and Jabari Parkers of the world (these two players aren't as different as their images would have you think).

(2) Bruce is respected by almost everyone but feared by very few major powers. Bruce is very, very, very well liked by almost all non-players involved in the program, and also by most players. Bruce's stature in the coaching community is very strong, and in general, from what I can tell, Bruce is such a great guy in the community and otherwise, that he seems to have made himself almost unfireable. If the Illini end up keeping Coach Weber simply because he is a great guy, runs a clean program, and is a pillar of the community: so be it. That's not the worst decision a University can make, and indeed, there is a sort of romanticism and loyalty in sticking by Bruce. Not every school and community can be feared like Kentucky: and oftentimes, the price is not worth it. But let's be real: very few basketball powers fear Coach Weber or the Illini squads he has assembled. If you want to change that, a new head coach is almost certainly necessary.

(3) The players are in the bars far too often. This is true for most any school, but as an outsider who has seen some other high major basketball programs, I honestly believe that Champaign is basically known for "college friendly" bars. We all know the basics: Champaign allows kids under 21-but-over-19 to get into the bars. This "under-21" aspect of Champaign bars is a big sell for the town, commercially, it is a big reason young people like to come to Champaign, and its a big reason why we have so many bars/restaurants.

So where are the basketball players every night? Anyone who goes out sees the players at the bars. Their conduct in the bars is what would be expected of college age students. It's not hard for some people to see the behavior in the bars, and then see the body language on the court, and wonder: are the two connected? Unfortunately, this night life is a well established tradition among Illinois best athletes. I even wrote an email to AD Geunther before he left, and I'll write to Thomas similarly, about the players being in the bars on any given night. RG said he would look into it, but from what I could tell, nothing changed: the players were still out drinking all the time, same bars, same everything. It's hard to blame RG, or the bars, as no one can police the players full time, especially not in a town with under-21 bars. It's really a town decision. If the town wants the team that represents the University to look more aware, more plugged-in, and have better body language: it's easy, the town simply needs to stop prioritizing the access of underage kids to campus bars.

I know-I know, kids will be kids, they will drink in their dorms, we cannot police their lives, etc. But Champaign's commercial love affair with under-21 bars is weighing down the basketball program (this is obvious to an outsider). Champaign cannot have it both ways: cannot use under-21 bars as a way to attract kids to campus, and then be outraged when your most talented youngsters look lost, confused, distracted, unfocused, and hazy on the court: as if they came here to party. I've definitely seen other high-major, powerhouse basketball programs handle the alcohol situation more intelligently. Reap = sow.

(4) Bruce favors less talented players who do what they are told. Bruce plays "mid major" type players who do what they are told over more talented, NBA-type players. Bruce played Jeffrey Jordan over Bertrand, Legion, and others. Bruce played Maniscalco over Head and Bertrand (only injury forced Bruce to play the great Joe Bertrand, who was otherwise buried for years). Bruce played Bill Cole over Jereme, Head, Bertrand, etc. Bruce played the god-awful, national-laughing stock "big man" Mike Tisdale over Meyers and Jereme. Only the most blind Bruce fan would defend these moves, all of which were grounds for national ridicule. Mike Tisdale, for example, is synonymous, nationally, with Illinois mockery. From New York to California, nobody fears the mid major type players (Frazier, Jordan, Maniscalco, Cole, Tisdale, etc) that Bruce relies on, instead, national fans are shocked and amused at how laughably untalented some of Illinois' key players have been.

But Bruce didn't just play Bill Cole, instead, Bruce shoved Cole down the team's throat by pretending that the team wanted Cole as a captain. Bruce doesn't merely err on the side of experience and controlled-play: instead, he suffocates the individualism of his best players, by punishing players who rely on their talents, and rewarding mid major talents who do what they are told.

Jeffrey Jordan is a perfect example of the type of player Bruce illogically relies on: a small, terrible shooter, with a mediocre handle and decent defensive chops, who does exactly what the coach says. Bruce often convinces himself that small players with terrible shots, who nonetheless do exactly what their coach tells them to do, must automatically be point guards.

(5) Bruce is poor at coaching and evaluating point guards, but his whole system depends on the point guard
The over-reliance on Chester was inexcusable and brutal. Playing Jeffrey Jordan was pathetic: playing him as much as Bruce did was intolerable. Sitting Dmitri was an awful decision, and in general, Bruce's handling of McCamey was a disaster. Failing to teach any of our talented combo guards (Head, Bertrand, Paul, Richardson) how to be a 4-assist-per-night, competent point guard was a huge failure. Maniscalco was a waste of a scholarship, and so is next year's recruit, PG Michael Orris. Chester, Jordan, Maniscalco, and Orris all have one thing in common: they would all fit in very well at SIU. These four "point guards" are not really point guards. None of them pass well or can run an offense. None of them put up big assist numbers, none of them are lethal or even dangerous on the break. Instead, the fake "point guards" are simply mid-major talents who will do what Bruce tells them to do with the ball.

Maybe at the mid major level, that's all you have to do: get a "coach-on-the-floor" type to run a cerebral offense, creating some good shots. But as a national basketball powerhouse, Illinois cannot continue to run a point-guard reliant motion offense with these mid-major "floor generals" pretending to be point guards. Dmitri was a perfect litmus test for Bruce: Dmitri is a perfect example of the type of modern, high D-I point guard that Bruce is going to have to coach up in order for his system to work. Instead, Bruce chose to consider Dmitri as more of a combo guard, just as Bruce considers all of his guards (minus Abrams) to be. In reality, modern american high school guards are almost all combo guards, and the very few super elite pure point guards, like PG Ennis in 2015, are not coming to Illinois right now. Bruce will probably consider James a combo guard by the time James gets here. Bruce is the anti-D'Antoni: Bruce shows very little ability to turn near-point guards into dynamic point guards.

And yet, many Illinois fans enthusiastically remember some of Bruce's worst point guards, like Chester Frazier, a good players and great leaders! Many Illini fans lament Frazier's injury, confusedly thinking that the Illni would have achieved a deep run with a healthy Frazier. This is "homer" nonsense. Illinois was dead in the water playing Chester Frazier. The national basketball fan base knew Chester Frazier was a lousy player, and regardless of what a great guy he was, or how much "grit" he had or whatever: the national fan base was correct. Frazier was not good enough to lead a national powerhouse, because he couldn't shoot or pass. Frazier is a heck of a lot better than I've ever dreamed of being, but the standard for a national powerhouse is extremely high, and Chester came up far short (regularly). Bruce is too "mid major" for Illinois, in that Bruce can create a bunch of feel good stories about high-character, gritty leaders, and Bruce can overachieve with an untalented team by focusing on execution and determination: but Bruce is almost comically unfit for coaching high D-I, NBA type talent.

Similarly Tracy Abrams is not good (yet). I think Abrams will be a good college guard as a junior and senior, but he is brutal as a freshman: the stage is just too big, the competition too good. And even more obviously, Tracy Abrams is not a pure point: he is simply small and does what Bruce tells him, so we pretend Tracy is a point guard. In reality, Tracy is a score-first combo guard, just like DJ, BP, Bertrand, Head, Dmitri, James and most every other talented guard in america.

Currently, Tracy is (currently) an awful shooter, and he makes mistakes on both ends of the floor regularly. His most costly mistakes are his frequent turnovers during transition offense: very costly, high-leverage mistakes. His size is an extreme disadvantage, despite his ability to battle down low. Abrams size is preventing him from winning battles on the perimeter. More importantly, Abrams is not (yet) a point guard: he plays more than 20 minutes, but he averages only 2 assists per game and doesn't really run the offense. Looking beyond assists, Tracy does very few things that point guards do, because he cannot penetrate or get the defense to take him all that seriously. It's not a coincidence that Tracy scores best in our losses, teams are winning by letting Tracy carry our offense. Currently, his floor awareness and vision are poor. Tracy is a very poor distributor in transition, and struggles with turnovers. His penetration skills are, at present, non-existent, because he is not strong enough to hold on to the ball in the lane, and he doesn't yet have an effective jump stop. There isn't a single polished or well-developed aspect to Tracy's game, except his obedience to Bruce. Nevertheless, Bruce keeps force-feeding Tracy huge amounts of minutes, and Tracy keeps getting blown out of the water on the court. Tracy is single-handedly putting his team behind the eight ball: just watch him on defense, where he gets abused regularly. Yet Bruce still punishes the team by playing Tracy, just so Bruce can win his peeing-contest with Meyers and the other NBA-type talented players about "how the game is supposed to be played." God forbid Bruce would simply play our four best players and a power forward: Meyers, Bertrand, BP, DJ, and either Griffey/Shaw/Egwu/Henry as the power forward. We'd get more assisted baskets and points out of that lineup, than any lineup where the incredibly inefficient Tracy Abrams is on the ball.

I understand why fans and Bruce like Tracy: he is a young, hard working, heads-up, leader, with legit high major upside. He plays the right way. He is not a gunner, nor is he selfish in other ways. Plus, his coach is bashing everyone on the team other than Tracy, and that makes it much easier for an embattled fan base to love Tracy, especially coming off of his career game against Purdue. Tracy shows a ton of heart: going up strong for offensive rebounds, getting on the floor for loose balls, never any quit. He is impressive inside for a guard. It is easy to see that, someday, Tracy will be able to shoot, and he might develop some floor general savvy. But right now, he can't shoot, can't pass, and despite his "grit" and his determination, Tracy is not even as good on defense as the mercurial DJ. Tracy is a legit top-100 talent, a high major basketball player, and a class act. But national basketball powers like Illinois do not trust their seasons to "point guards" who average two assists per game. Kentucky, Ohio State, Michigan State, Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Connecticut, Georgetown, etc: none of these teams would be starting Tracy Abrams, and most of these teams would not even play a freshman Abrams in their rotation. Illinois doesn't lack elite talent (Meyers, Bertrand, Paul), but instead, Illinois is regularly weighed down by Bruce's lineup decisions.

(6) Bruce hurt Jereme's development, and it matters

.Now please, before you pile on Jereme, hear me out. Yes, Jereme made three very big mistakes: (1) got into legal trouble; (2) punched BP; and (3) skipped NBA workouts. All three were big mistakes, but let's not overblow the legal situation, since Jereme is simply on probation on a gun registration issue, and all other charges were dropped.

The BP fight and the NBA flameout were clearly related to Bruce, although they were both still Jereme's fault. With MickyD All Americans like Jereme Richmond, any failure is necessarily the fault of both the player and the coach. Illinois cannot afford to fail to develop a star like Jereme Richmond: AAU coaches notice, high school coaches notice, players notice, World Wide Wes notices, everyone notices. Bruce hurt Jereme's college career by playing Bill Freakin Cole over an All-American, even when Jereme was behaving and buying in early in the season. Such a ridiculous move by Bruce cost Illinois a huge amount of respect nationally, and put a huge number of people in Jereme's ear, saying negative things about Bruce and about an Illinois team that obviously was not going to be elite without Jereme.

Illinois is not Kentucky (yet, or right now): Illinois cannot afford to sit All-Americans. The All Americans will tolerate sitting behind Terrence Jones, but not behind Bill Cole. Jereme has a huge number of friends on the AAU circles and the MickyD circles: none of them could be pleased to see Jereme sit behind "Captain" Cole. Bruce killed the pro-player image that Jerrence has worked so hard to create. Bruce's handling of Jereme was unprecedented really. No player as good as Jereme was sitting at any other school in the country, unless that school was super-elite above Illinois (Kentucky, Cuse, etc) or unless the player did something terrible (double secret probation, etc), In Jereme's case, he hadn't done anything wrong, there was no serious talent ahead of him, and his team was not good enough to accomplish anything impressive with Jereme on the bench. Therefore, it was obvious, for the good of the team, Jereme needed to play. We desperately needed his rebounding last season, and Jereme knew this, and so did the team. We also needed Meyers to play more last season (but that is another story). But Bruce made a huge fuss about playing Bill Cole and pretending that Bill Cole had earned being a captian. Bruce made the team go through the whole mid-season captain vote charade, which was essentially an anti-Jereme move. At times, it seemed that Bruce would play the team manager over Jereme just to "prove a point."

McCamey and BP got dragged into this Bruce-Jereme mess, because they are leaders who wanted to win. At first, being good team players, McCamey and BP sided with Bruce against Jereme. BP and McCamey figured that they better stick by their coach, as good leaders are supposed to. But this simply created a huge rift in the lockerroom, because Bruce was wrong, but BP and McCamey had Bruce's back against Jereme's complaints. When Bruce started benching McCamey, and McCamey still wouldn't back Jereme's complaints about Bruce's style, Jereme got even more upset. Jereme and Dmitri got in each other's face in the lockerroom, BP interceded, Jereme threw a punch, and that was that. Jereme hadn't done anything wrong up to that point: but after months of having Bruce diminish Jereme's career and his professional dreams: Jereme snapped like an immature kid. It's Jereme's fault for being immature, but locker room scuffles happen all of the time. Jereme shouldn't have skipped his workouts, and his off-the-court issue appears alarming: but by and large, Jereme's record isn't anything worse than many other 20-year-olds, including some kids we are currently recruiting. Illinois fans cannot have it both ways: you cannot pretend Jereme was a monster, destined to failure, simply because the team turned against him and he got a gun charge, but then pretend Frank Williams and all the others were saints during their playing days. Jereme was not destined to failure here, and he hadn't done anything off the court to warrant his lack of playing time on the court. A house divided falls, and as much as many fans would like to pretend Jereme was not an important part of our program: he was, big time, nationally. So is Meyers. If these talents hate Bruce, not even Jerrence can deliver the talent. If Jereme were still on this team, playing power forward and leading the team in rebounds; getting out on transition; guarding the combo forwards that have dominated Illinois, and pushing BP/Bertrand/DJ into a more crowded guard rotation: Illinois would be at top 10 team, with two projected first round picks (Meyers and Jereme). Instead, Illinois is looking up to Northwestern, and Bruce is saying that he wished he had Robbie Hummel.

(7) Bruce's habit of speaking honestly about his players caught up with him.
Regardless of how you interpret Dee's tweets, Bruce has a history of speaking with honest constructive criticism about his former players. I actually don't blame Bruce for this at all, even with Jereme, Bruce is simply offering his honest opinion. Bruce is so refreshingly honest. The only reason I know how much I disagree with Bruce, is because he is so frank and honest. But Bruce, regrettably, has a mid major mentality about how the game should be played, so his comments aren't always popular with NBA types talents. Bruce's comments about his players have cost Bruce an important fan or two. Unfortunately, I think Bruce ends up critiquing some of his most talented players because of they might not work as hard, or might not demonstrate the same focus and discipline, as some of Bruce's mid major kids do. I don't blame Bruce for being honest , and I am sure his observations have a basis in truth, but a college basketball coach at an elite national program cannot constantly bash the work ethic of his NBA talent. Such a coach cannot continue to bring in elite talent.

(8) Bruce's motion offense is the anti-thesis of intelligent coaching. To be fair, let me first admit that Bruce is an outstanding defensive coach. Bruce's defense is usually excellent, and is always at least sound. But I've never seen a high major basketball coach run such a predictable, crippling, coaching scheme as Bruce's "Motion" offense. Bruce's Motion offense takes forever to execute, and comically, suffers from an extreme lack of deliberate and timely movement. Meyers is so slow to set up on offense, that the Illini Motion offense lacks interior movement for about the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. Bruce's refusal to play a power forward also limits our ability to create effective interior movement within the motion offense. Instead, the Illini offense is usually dead-in-the-water, passes around the perimeter, until Meyers is set up and receives a touch. Meyers is such a potent player with the ball, and he reads defenses so calmly, that Meyers (and Bertrand) almost always gains an advantage on the defense simply by touching the ball. But Bruce doesn't run the offense through Meyers, instead Bruce relies way, way, way too much on his "point guard" Abrams.

Usually this first 10 seconds is spent pounding the rock at the top of the key, with a couple of passes to the 45-degree spot on the wing. Changing the point guard doesn't matter, whether its Frazier, Dmitri, Sammy, or Tracy, pounding the rock for 10 seconds at the top of the key is a constant. It is extremely rare for any Illinois player to take advantage of any opportunity within the first 15 seconds on the shot clock.

I really hate watching Illinois-v-Purdue, because Matt Painter can predict Bruce's offense better than the Illinois point guards. Purdue simply teaches its wing defenders to anticipate the lazy Illinois passes in the predictable motion offense. Purdue knows that when Illinois wings come to get the ball from the top of the key, Illinois wings are supposed to only extend out to the 45-degree point on the wing. So Painter's guards are always jumping passes to the 45-degree spot on the wing: and they end up getting 4-8 steals and fast breaks every game, just by sitting on these lazy wing passes. Similarly, whenever Illinois gets into an important game, the opposing coach is able to pick apart our predictable offensive scheme with confidence and precision. Is there a more predictable high major offense in the country? I do not believe so. Of all the high major teams, only Illinois constantly pounds the rock up top for 10 seconds and then makes telegraphed passes to the 45-degree spot on the wing: that's why the team almost never gets to the line. This is systemic, it's the coach: year after year Illinois fails to get to the line. The ineffective offense has nothing to do with toughness or passion or grit or anything.

(9) Bruce has had a lot of help from Self and Jerrence
I don't think anyone nationally doubts that the 2005 Illinois team was one of the great teams of all time. That team was simply too fun for the national audience to hate on. If anything, I bet the national audience is willing to overrate the Dee-Deron team, because the "Flying Illini" is a fun, easy, brand name to get into. The 2005 Illini team is one of the most marketable, most loved, brand name college basketball teams. It is identifiable: the 2005 squad had star power and it was unique. Bruce deserves and receives a great deal of credit for this accomplishment, but very few great coaches would have failed to capitalize on that success. The market has spoken: the basketball world just doesn't believe in Bruce enough to reward him for the 2005 success with similar talent.

Not only did Bruce have the benefit of "Self's players," but he also got a ton of help recruiting from Jerrence. Bruce deserves credit for the outstanding assistant coaches that Bruce has retained. Still, it is worth mentioning that, without Self or Jerrence, Bruce has a very shaky, if not downright awful, recruiting record.

Many Illini fans might be thinking, "well we should give Bruce a chance to see if he can land Hamilton and/or Parker," but the reality is that Jerrence is more relevant to these recruiting battles than Bruce is. For reasons discussed above, Bruce may be hurting Illinois's chance of landing elite talent, perhaps even Hamilton/Parker. It's hard to imagine that even our commits, like Hill or James, sit around watching the Motion offense struggle to score 40 points, and say to themselves, "yea, that's why I want to play for the Flying Illini, it's Coach Weber or bust for me."

(10) Bruce doubles down on his mistakes
From Bruce's post-Purdue discussions, it's obvious that he still doesn't understand why he is losing. Bruce says he works too hard, cares too much, is too honest, and hasn't sat his talented players enough. Although Bruce is too honest for his own good at times, these "admissions" are not really constructive self-critiques, but instead, this is simply Bruce doubling down on his own mistakes. Bruce needs to play the talented NBA types who have committed to the University of Illinois, instead of forcing square pegs into the round holes of his terrible motion offense. But instead, Bruce obviously feels that he should have even more peeing-contests with his talented players, so that by sitting, Brandon Paul and Meyers Leonhard learn how brilliant the motion offense is. Bruce has butchered this season by overly relying on the woefully ineffective Tracy Abrams, and by refusing to play a power forward. If Bruce learned from his mistakes, he would say, "We need to get Meyers more touches and shots, we need Joe to run more of the offense, we need our shooters to make shots, and we've got to find a power forward today." Instead, Bruce praises Tracy (which is simply an indirect way for Bruce to praise Bruce), and then blames his combo guard Brandon Paul for not being "touch enough" when forced to play power forward. Hey Bruce, BP is not a power forward, neither is Bertrand. Both BP and Bertrand are more natural point guards than they are power forwards, and both would be better at the point than Abrams. Defenses respond to Bertrand and BP, but they do not respond or rotate to anything Abrams does, because Abrams is not a threat.

Bruce is correct that he has been playing the Bill Coles of the world because he has been "coaching not to lose." The elite coaches play their young talent, take a few regular season losses, and then reap the rewards during March: when the talented youths prove their worth. In contrast, Bruce benches Jereme all season long, leading Jereme to scuffle with BP, and then Jereme gets held out against Kansas: all so Bruce can prove a point with Captian Cole. Jereme is just one important example of how Bruce does not naturally interact well with high D-I talent and doubles down on his mistakes.

(11) The Illini fan base has tough decisions
First, let me apologize: no one should tolerate a comparison to Notre Dame. The Illini fan base is awesome, and I only make this comparison because I respect Illinois a great deal. Sometimes fan bases hold their programs back, in some weird ways, because the fan base has an obscure definition of success. For example, Indiana firing Bob Knight because they misunderstood how the nation looked at Indiana (as nothing) and Bobby Knight (as a legend). Similarly, Michigan ran out Lloyd Carr simply because they were embarrassed about a losing streak to OSU that most of the country didn't even know about. Big Ten fans couldn't imagine that the nation wasn't aware of Carr's losing streak, but for the most part, national fans and especially recruits were not aware. Classically and hilariously, Notre Dame has almost no ability to sanely analyze any of their coaches, because the Notre Dame fanbase is obsessed with details, streaks, records, and local embarrassments that the national audience does not even notice. I feel that the Illinois fan base, while being outstanding in most regards, does have a somewhat obscure definition of success, and that this creates challenges for the program.

Is Illinois an academic powerhouse like Northwestern? A two-sport powerhouse like Ohio State and Michigan? A basketball school like Indiana? Or is Illinois something else: a unique combination? It's kind of hard to say, both for the fan base, and for the administration. One thing we can all feel confident and proud of, is that it appears that Illinois is a relatively clean program. When competing against OSU, Michigan, etc., it is important to remember that, if we demand a clean program, we are starting off behind the eight ball in a very serious way. So what is Illinois, what defines our success? Are we more likely to produce the next Red Grange, or the next Deron Williams? How do we reward our leaders for simply avoiding the embarrassment that Penn State and Ohio State regularly deal with? These are all hard questions for a fan base or administration to answer, and Illinois's lack of a clear identity can invite instability. Many schools have a much clearer definitions of success. Illinois is in the tough position of trying to be the best, clean, two way sports program in an academic conference. This is a lofty, yet achievable goal, requiring the fan base to simultaneously aim high and be patient: which is a riddle of contradictions.

Would an illegal recruiting contribution have brought Anthony Davis, and national dominance, to Illinois? It sure seems so. Might Bruce actually be a better coach than Coach Calipari? Could very well be. Is Bruce's main failure, compared to the "elite coaches," simply his inability to win over World Wide Wes and the other Don Kings of college basketball? Perhaps it is unfair to demand elite performance out of Bruce Weber's program (and I am not being sarcastic). A clean program is very "mid major," after all. Is it really a criticism to say that Bruce might simply be too "mid major" for Illinois? I suppose it depends on how the fan base defines success. The Illinois fan base has some questions to answer as far as how this sports program ought to achieve success. It is illogical to anticipate that Ohio State, Nebraska, and Michigan will play fair, so how does Illinois accomplish its goals? I am obviously not advocating that Illinois cheat to level the playing field, I am suggesting that we ought to have diminished expectations for football, and that Illinois also has to stop emphasizing "character" if they want to remain a national basketball powerhouse. Perhaps Illinois has to petition the Big 10 to reform some of it's misbehaving institutions, before Illinois has a chance to achieve our version of success (clean, high level, two way sports dominance). Perhaps there are more systemic issues than the head coach.

I will say this: Beckman better be pretty darn good, because Illinois had a reasonable degree of success with Zook. Zook and Weber are very similar, and my personal opinion, is that the Illini fan base is crazy for running out Zook, and is partially crazy for clinging to Weber. While I don't think either Zook or Weber are great coaches, Zook was a great fit for the football program, which has a much lower stature nationally than the basketball program. Please let me repeat and clarify, I don't think Zook is a good football coach, but I also don't think Illinois is a great football program: so the clean program (harder in football), the number and prominence of NFL players, the huge-but-sporadic wins, the Rose bowl, and the impressive coaching staff that Zook had put together met my criteria for success. I feel that the Illinois fan base is somewhat confused and disoriented regarding Zook and Weber, as if the pressures inherently involved with competing year-in, year-out with cheating pro-sports factories like Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan had thrown Illinois a bit off course.

IMO, Illinois fans ought to have been thrilled with the 6-0 start, which they were, and they should have tolerated the 0-6 finish, which they didn't. Both the hot start and the cold finish were insanely easy to predict, as almost every Illinois fan could foresee a hot start during the easy schedule and a cold finish against the Big 10 cheating football factories. All along, it was obvious that Illinois wouldn't win the national championship, and almost certainly would fail to win the Big 10, but that they had a great chance of making some national noise with the eary easy schedule. Mission accomplished, 6-0, and Illinois was making national headlines. People in California and New York knew that Illinois was in the National Championship picture. This was as good as it was going to get, to expect any more was unreasonable. To expect wins against the football factories was unreasonable, even with a relatively forgiving Big 10 schedule this year. Who cares about how embarrassing it was to finish 0-6: the nation wasn't paying attention. Whether it was 0-6, 1-5, 2-4, or 3-3, the nation would not care. A 9-3 Illinois team is not all that different, nationally, than a 6-6 Illinois team: especially if they start out the same. Zook brought Illinois some national respect and a ton of local embarrassment: the fan base should have endured the local embarrassment. Under Zook, Illinois has been pumping out out NFL talent year-after-year. The only way Illinois can embarrass itself nationally, in football, is by failing to put together exciting streaks and by failing to produce NFL talent: Zook did both. No one nationally cares about whether the team "looked better" against UCLA than Minnesota. No one nationally cares about the details, the minor ups and downs, of Illinois football.

But the whole nation knew Illinois was relevant, for the national championship, last season. That is a huge success. Consider this (insulting) analogy: how did Rutgers finish their season during that one season when they were in the BSC title game picture? No Illinois fan will be able to say exactly how Rutgers finished. If Rutgers laid down, quit on their coach, and lost to D-II Villanova by 25, you guys wouldn't have heard of it. The national audience only remembers two things about that one special Rutgers year: (1) they were in the national title picture early on; (2) they had NFL talent, namely, Ray Rice. Similarly, that is how the nation looks at recent Illini football teams: Zook's teams were occasionally relevant, even nationally, with NFL talent. It doesn't matter that Illinois finished poorly when no one was watching. Hopefully Beckman is great, but it is going to be hard to beat the coaching staff Zook put together, the NFL talent he was pulling in, and the semi-regular national relevance he was creating, all while battling OSU, Michigan, Penn State and the others cheaters left-and-right.

In the exact same way, Illinois fans ought to be careful not to misjudge Weber and the goals of the basketball program. Do we want more Bill Coles, or more Jereme Richmonds? For my money, I'd ditch Bruce, load up on Jeremes, and live up to Illinois's natural status as a basketball powerhouse. But reasonable minds might differ.

A "Free" Groupon, Daily Deal Type Thing

2011-11-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and enjoy saving money, here's a cool site that I just heard about called Scoutmob .

Basically, Its a daily deal just like Groupon, for most major cities, and instead of buying the coupon, you just print it and take it over there. So no more buying and forgetting and expiring! Woooo! Progress!

I love America!

Soon enough, I shall start to blog about beer and whatever else interests me. But for now I have been so busy with life, that I don't have the energy to blog!

This Video is the Fuckin Truth

2011-07-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

A Good Mother Fuckin Song

2011-07-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Been neglecting this blog quite a bit, I guess my pent up rage has subsided thanks to the miracle cure of expressive writing. Thanks blogger! So anyway, its the summer, its hot, and I really don't feel like doin shit except chillin out and listening to some good ass music. So here's a tune I bet you haven't heard before that is really damn good. Enjoy!

The song is called "I can't go to sleep" by the Wu Tang Clan, featuring Isaac Hayes

Reflections of My City

2011-07-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

Feeling artsy fartsy today, not so typey wipey

Wacky Weather!

2011-07-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here's just a couple of photos I took from my balcony of the crazy weather we've been having here lately

Enjoy :)

Seriously be Careful This 4th of July!

2011-06-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously people... If all else fails, just drop the fucking firework!

And try to avoid rednecks, they seem to have issues...

You thought your local Park District's fireworks are safe? THINK AGAIN FOOLS!

And don't drink and drive!

God Bless America

Beer Review (I might have a problem)

2011-06-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Samuel Smith's India Ale

Just when I thought beer couldn't get any better, I go out and randomly pick up something like this to try.

Holy shit fuck! While most things from England suck and lack taste, this beer is not like any India Ale I have ever had before. I'm not quite sure what the difference is between an India Ale and an India Pale ale, but there is "India Ale" on the bottle as well as a huge yellow IPA on the label... So I am quite confused but that is typical of most british cultural things. Make shit as fucking retarded and confusing as possible and say you're better and more cultured than the person that doesn't "get it".

My guess was going to be that India Ales aren't as hoppy because this ale is one friggin crazy smooth beer with not a lot of hoppy taste to it at all. It actually smells really good and not hoppy at all. So a little history about the beer...

Supposedly this beer is made at the oldest beer brewery in Yorkshire England, which is sorta cool I guess. Here's a map for you ignorant Americans... Hint (its the big yellow blob)

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this brewery (yeah piss off i'm lazy today!)...

The smallest of the three modern-day Tadcaster breweries, Sam Smith's is one of the few remaining British breweries to employ the traditional Yorkshire Square system in the production of its beers.

Brewing water for ales and stouts is still drawn from the original 85 foot well, sunk when the site was established in 1758, and the yeast used in the fermentation process is of a strain that has been used continuously since approximately 1900 - one of the oldest unchanged strains in the country.

In keeping with this rich sense of history and tradition, the brewery keeps a small team of dapple-grey Shire Horses. Far from being simply show horses, these gentle giants are among the last active dray horses in the world. They deliver beer around the town of Tadcaster five days a week.

Also of note, Shire Horses is one of the largest breeds of horse in the world... Look at this shit! This is one of the smaller ones, the guy in the video said he has one that is 19 hands (or 6'4" at the shoulder) tall!

Anyway enough about how this shit is made... the beer itself is a beautiful coppery reddish brown color as you can see...

The smell is something heavenly. Its fruity and crisp but smells exactly like how a damn good ale should.

The flavor is also pretty amazing. Like I said before, most IPA's are hoppy as hell but this is more of a smooth tasting beer. My wife liked it and she usually hates IPA's.

So to end today's lesson on beer and history and England and all sorts of other important piss, I'm going to say that this beer is deserving of a 9/10 thumbs up!

Happy Monday!

MMMmmmm... Hot and Juicy

2011-06-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

I was in Vegas over the Weekend and happened to come across something so amazing, so delicious I had to share it with you. Hot and Juicy, at first thought it might sound like a titty bar, or perhaps a fruit soup place, but its just a peel and eat seafood place.

Here's how it works.

You have a menu with a few different choices of seafood which you order by the POUND. Snow Crab, Blue Crab, Dungeness Crab, King Crab, Shrimp, and Craw-fish (and maybe some other shit but I forget what). Then you have a choice of 3 sauces. Juicy Cajun, garlic butter, lemon pepper or the Hot n Juicy Special, which is a combo of all three, and all at varying levels of spicyness (mild to extra-spicy).

I chose 1lb of Shrimp with the Hot & Juicy special sauce, spicy and 1lb of Snow crab with the same sauce.

Before I go any further, let me add that they give you a plastic bib which I must say is a necessity unless you enjoy hotsauce colored splashes all over your clothes. Also there is no silverware, just a plastic disposable tablecloth and a roll of paper towels.

So now here comes my food. Much to my surprise its served in a plastic bag...

So I ask my friends, well how in the hell do I eat this? They say dump it on the table and start eating! So ok...

About 45 minutes later with my hands completely wreaking of hotsauce and garlic and and my belly full as hell... here's the aftermath...

Well the flavor was fantastic, food was cooked to perfection, the theme terrific, the waitresses pretty attractive, and the price? About $35 with tax & tip for 2lbs of seafood and 2 beers. That's fantastic!

Honestly I'm thinking about opening one up here in Chicago that's how much I loved this place!

This food is not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but what you get which is a fun dining experience that doesn't kill your wallet... it gets my highest rating ever of 10/10 thumbs up! *gets an extra point for having the 'happy ending' Asian massage parlor right next door.

Beer Review Time!

2011-06-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

When Isn't it time for a beer review?

Man this is great, I am so pumped for my upcoming weekend vacation that I just have to pre-party a bit this week to make the week go by faster!

So uh yeah, had a few beers, some good, some great.

First one I had was called Allagash Dubel

So Allagash Beers are made in Portland Maine, USA. I actually know someone who moved to Maine and I was like, dude I'm never going to visit your ass in fucking Maine, what the hell is there to do when its not snowing or Noreastering there?

Well I know that if I ever go back to the most Northern state in the US, I'm going to visit this brewery!

I have had their Trippel Ale (what the fuck is up with the spelling!) and it was a godly awesome belgian blonde beer. Fucking loved it and I have a 4 pack chillin in my fridge right now that I will verbally jizz on the internets about it probably next week. I have also had their White Ale which is pretty good as well (not jizzworthy, to note).

So anyway on to the Dubbel. My wife summed it up in one word. "Smooth". I have to agree, this beer is not like a Belgian blonde at all. No fruity overtones here. Mostly just a smooth malty carmely beer that is awesome as hell. Would HIGHLY reccomend this beer, especially since its a fantastically powerful 7% ABV. I really can't describe how good this beer is, as it is sort of a unique taste, but I can assure you there is almost no hint of hops and it is a very smooth ale that will get you fuuuuucked up!

If you see it, you must try it!

It deserves a very robust rating of 9/10 thumbs up and at 8.99 a 4 pack isn't a ridiculous ripoff.

The other beer I am going to wax poetic about, I am actually currently drinking (which might explain my poor grammar and spelling ability at the moment).

It is called Stone IPA and this microbrew is made in "North County" San Diego, CA, USA!

So these Cali hippie fuckers can really brew some hoppy shit.

There is an obvious gargoyle theme going on on the bottle here and actually a short tale on the back of the painted bottle (love them), It explains that their Stone Gargoyle "wards off modern day evil spirits such as chemical preservatives, additives, and adjuncts." They go on to talk about how their stuff is all natural and organic and all sorts of hippie bullshit... well here's the verdict...

I LIKE!

This beer is a lot like the super hoppy Hop Wollop from Victory. You pop the top off one of these and it smells like a fucking garden of hops explodes in your face. It smells so fresh, so hoppy, its a smell to behold if you like hops. The taste is clean but mega hoppy bitter, this is a VERY hoppy beer which I like on occasion, but it makes it tough to drink more than 2 or 3 of these... Which is a good thing since this beer clocks in at 6.9% ABV and I would be shitfaced if I had 3 of these anyway.

A score for this beer is hard to determine, as I can guarantee this beer isn't for everyone... but I guess I'm probably one of the few who actually reads this blog so I'm going to go out there and give this beer a 8.5/10 thumbs up. Yeah seriously, its pretty rad for an IPA.

Hilarious Picture #1

2011-06-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is one of them.

Mark Cuban, Maverick's owner in case you were wondering...

Back, Catching Up and Better Than Ever

2011-06-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

So OK I was totally devastated that the Bulls lost that series vs. the Heat, but hey they totally overachieved this year and I am very happy about that. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that they would win 62 games and make it to the conference finals I would have said, pass me that bong! So now that I really have nothing to watch on TV and my social schedule has slowed down a bit I plan on blogging more again.

I guess I could start it off with one of my favorite topics. Beer! Now I have some beers currently cooling in the fridge so I can't talk about them yet but don't worry I'll get to that soon enough! I just want to talk about a few different beers I have had over the last few weeks. Ones that I can remember anyways.

Lagunitas IPA - fuckin nice beer, so smooth for an IPA, its really great that they are distributing this pretty much everywhere in Chicago now. This beer and Victoria are going to be my go to beers at cheezy Naperville chain restaurants for hopefully the next decade or so. 8.5/10

Lagunitas Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale - God dammit such a good beer, so fresh and flavorful (in a good way) for an ale. Its not that shitty bitter english ale, its more of a slightly hoppy, fresh medium dark ale like Michael Sheas but way better, hard to explain... you just have to try it! You can mostly find it in hipster bars in Bucktown. 9/10. Only because it loses a half point for having to go to hipsterville to find it!

Victory Hop Devil - Pretty good IPA but nothing special. 7.5/10 At least its more affordable than most craft beers, and chilled at the local Binnys

Victory Hop Wallop - Found this one in a Scottish bar in West town, now I really like hoppy beer and this really is a punch your tongue with sour and bitter and hoppy amazingness type beer. I mean this shit if you smell it before you drink it, and you like hops it will make your fuckin mouth water like crazy. 9/10 but I can guarantee that this beer is not for everyone.

Now while we're on the topic of Victory beers, I have one that I really don't like. I don't know if it was a bad batch or what but Victory Prima Pilsner Sucked! Hard! It looked like piss, tasted really bland and at the same time sour and it gave me a really stuffy nose and bad allergies after I drank it! This happened on two different occasions of drinking so I know this was the cause! I was blowing my nose like crazy and well it pretty much killed my buzz so basically, fuck this beer! 4/10! Definitely not a victory for my taste or my septum!

Yeah that beer sucked ass, but thankfully I had one of these in my fridge to wash the ass taste out of my mouth with. Delirium Tremens (Latin for "the shakes")! Yes the worlds best beer of 1997 (aka the best year ever!) I happened to have a bottle in my fridge. Only thing thats annoying about the beer is that the foil is really sticky so that's a half a point off an otherwise very good score. 9/10 due to its amazing belgian blonde taste. And yes those are my salt and pepper shakers next to the bottle. Fucking hilarious right?

Speaking of Belgian blondes, I also had an Affligem Dubel the other day. Fuckin GREAT SHIT and I actually prefer this to Delirium Tremens! Fantastic sweet and malty beer taste, but not overpowering. Basically this beer is pure amazing. I had it at the Emerald Loop and at $8.50 a beer was well worth it! I would actually go out on a limb and say that this is the first beer I would give a perfect 10/10 to, but that's kind of anticlimatic considering I am always in search of a perfect beer and don't really want to stop writing about it so, just to be a dick, I give this a 9.75/10.

And last but not least I had some Half Acre Daisy Cutter - pretty damn good pale ale. Now I'm not the worlds hugest pale ale fan but this one had an extremely fresh and grassy or fruity/orange taste to it which made me really like it. You know how much I love to smell my beer and this is one of the best smelling beers ever! And it might be one of the best pale ales I've ever had! I will have to have some more of it this summer as with its flavor it is a perfect summer drink on the outdoor space of your choice. 9.25/10

I would imagine that my beer is about the proper drinking temperature now, so I am going to stop now. Check back in later for more content, I swear I will try to update this blog at least 3-4 times a week with random shit!

Sorry Not Much Time to Post Lately

2011-04-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

I will continue soon again I promise!

In the meantime... Watch the BEST team in the NBA (Da BULLS!) dominate the shitty Indiana Pacers!

Here's a video to get you pumped up for Saturday!

One more beer - Southern Tier 2X IPA

2011-04-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so I decided only one more beer review today since I am already way too buzzed from my first 7.0% beer I just tasted/reviewed and well its god damn Friday and I need to relax a bit! My local liquor store had a craft beer sale so I wanted to try something that had a generic looking label but had a good "beer score" but was still relatively affordable. So, since I love India Pale Ale's (IPA's) so freaking much I picked up a DOUBLE India Pale Ale made by Southern Tier Brewing Company, from Lakewood, New York.

Now i'm not exactly sure how a double IPA is crafted, but for a very interesting history lesson on how IPA's are made, and where the style came from click here http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/styles/2_2style.html Damn the internet is awesome isn't it?

Ok here's how the labeling and beer looks, it is very typical of any IPA. Green color labels for hops, some indecipherable bullshit about 4 varieties of hops and 3 types of malts but the important part shows that it has an 8.2% ABV which is pretty strong for most types of beers, except for IPA's.

Take that fancy marketing campaign!

So, I'm sure you are all anxiously waiting for the verdict on this, so here goes nothing!

Looks are like that of most IPA's but this one is a bit lighter and more golden in color, extremely pretty looking beer that is just begging to be drank. Is that grammatically correct and is it gay to think a beer looks pretty? Is beer a man or a woman? Bah, who cares, i'm already solidly buzzed after a few sips of this shit!

The smell of this beer is something to behold. It is like jamming your face into the garden of eden, if the garden of eden was full of masterfully mixed beer spices, hops, fruits, and satan's nectar! (or alcohol for us non baptists)

Well you would imagine something that smells super amazing would also taste amazing, and well this Southern Tier Brewing Co.'s 2XIPA certainly delivers as it is extremely smooth, not too hoppy, and spiced just right. Dangerous, as the high ABV and amazing taste could get you blasted quite quickly if you aren't careful.

For taste, appearance and smell, this beer gets a 9/10. I really can't explain to you how amazing of a beer this really is unless you taste it first hand. There is no fancy marketing campaign for this. It is a craft beer by some guys in extreme southwest New York (seriously look up where Lakewood, NY is, its closer to Detroit than NYC) and they let the product do the talking. I love shit like this, as it is American capitalism in its purest form, battling against the big guys for your hard earned dollars, that is, until Diageo, or Inbev/Budweiser or Miller/Molsen/Coors & Co. buy them out, water it down and charge twice as much as it used to cost...

Overall, since this beer doesn't waste billions of dollars on pointless advertisements that I will skip over on my DVR, the cost/refreshment ratio is very good. I believe I picked up this 6 pack on sale for $8.49 (before the fuck you in the Ass city of Chicago Taxes) and let me tell you, what a spanking good deal. The low cost of this beer easily adds another .5 points to the overall rating so this beer gets one of the highest scores I have ever given in this blog's short life of a 9.5/10. Its not perfect, but god damn its fucking close to as perfect as an IPA can get.
Excellent!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Beer Review Time! - Two Brothers Brewing Co." Cane and Ebel" Red Rye Ale

2011-04-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Ok so to kick off another shitty and gloomy April Friday in Chicago after another long ass week at work, its finally time to do a review one of my wife's favorite beers. The mighty "Cane and Ebel" Red Rye Ale from the Two Brothers Brewing Company.

Located extremely close to where I grew up in scenic Warrenville, IL, this brewery has been on a fucking roll lately. I mean wow this beer is not only unique as hell but tasty and powerful as well. With a 7.0% ABV this stuff will knock you on your ass if you aren't careful, it is so smooth my wife drank a 6 pack by herself once and whoa... let me just say I had some freak-ay sex that night!

Ok, TMI again... so the photo above really makes this beer look like its dark brown or black like a porter but it is actually a really beautiful dark ruby red color. If I had poured this into a pint glass or had a much more well light background you'd be able to see it better, but here's the best I could do.

So, what does a red rye beer smell like?

Well lets just say it smells like rye bread, sugar, alcohol and hops with an emphasis on the alcohol smell. I really like the smell of a high ABV beer, some people don't, but to me... it smells like "a good time waiting to happen" yeah, go ahead and use that quote, I won't trademark that shit because its fuckin' gold I tells ya.

Taste wise, its fantastic! This ale is not too syrupy, not too carbonated, not too hoppy its just fuckin' money is the best way I can explain its taste. The aftertaste leaves a bit to be desired in a sort of sour and hoppy way, but not in a bad way, just in a way that just makes you want to drink more of this stuff.

This beer for the taste and flavor a lone is easily a 9/10, but in this economy price does matter. I do wish it was more affordable because I would buy this much more frequently. If you can find this on special for $9-$10 for a 6 pack, pick this shit up! This beer is usually around $11.50-$13 a six pack which is still worth it compared to buying a shitty Bud Light in a bar for $4.

So overall, this beer gets an excellent rating of 9/10 thumbs up, as it is fairly expensive but totally worth it, and I would highly recommend it if you see it in your local restaurant as the beer will go very well with pretty much any type of food.

Most Excellent!

Beer Review time!

2011-04-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ok well I said that I would review Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale... but to be honest, I really don't remember what it tasted like since I drank it well over a week ago... amazingly powerful stuff though, here's a picture I took way before I drank it...

Really, really, really tasty and strong beer. Was extremely smooth but almost syrup-like on the tongue... would drink again for SURE. I would give it 9/10 thumbs up. Best part about the beer is that I drank it on a week night after a long night of Budweiser binging and since this is such quality stuff I didn't even have a hangover the next day! That in itself is worth a few points.

Also, congratulations to a person I know Matthew Stromer, who won the Shenanigans $500 grand prize for being the funniest comic there! You can watch all sorts of awesome shit he made on his youtube channel, including the shenanigans comedy challenge stuff... http://www.youtube.com/user/mrstromer

I would also recommend hitting up his website http://www.matthewstromer.com and buying lots of his stuff.

I'm going to do some beer reviewing, so over the next few hours or days expect more crazy beer content (or incoherent jibberish).

I'm working on it!

2011-04-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

God dammit how time flies when you aren't feeling motivated.

I promise I will blog again sometime this month. I just really don't have the energy for it at the moment.

in the meantime e-mail your congress people to Repeal H.R. 4541: Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000

Unless of course you like huge companies enjoying not paying taxes enabling themselves with unlimited risk (again) and record high oil prices... in that case... DIE Oil Company CEO asshole!
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h106-4541&tab=summary

also In other news, the Chinese are building an aircraft carrier... which in this photo is one of the most hilariously badly photo shopped pictures I have ever seen (courtesy of zerohedge.com)

I mean gone on.... that red boat crane behind the boat would have to be what, over 1000 feet tall?

A Varyag Soviet carrier is 240 feet tall... which this is a picture of either one they bought from the russians in 1998 and were thinking of converting it to a casino, or just one that they copied...

Holy fick puss Flyig dog

2011-03-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

DOUBLE ALE FORF AEWEOSME OH MY GOD shit i had the capt lock on

So I went to see my friend of a friend DOMINATE THE CHICAGO COMEDY SCENE2 Tonight and gt a litle wasted. Drank some of my favorite 5/10 thumbs up Budweiser beeero tonight and then came home and had some Double down flying double dog double pale double alcohol doulble fuck me up SHIT."

i better reflect on this oozyness tmorrw. Awesome bber tough me and my wiife wer blaswted after about one sip of this 11.5% APB shit.

Its Friday, Beer Review

2011-03-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Another long god damn week is finally over. Fucking shit I hate work sometimes. I'm telling you nothing pleases me more than a nice cold beer (on sale even!) after a long week. Except, ah nevermind... TMI

Tonight I am sampling a beer from the New Holland Brewery from... you guessed it, Holland Michigan! Like a Dutchman could make a beer that doesn't suck. Yeah, right! Amstel sucks, Grolsch sucks, and Heineken makes me fart like a clydesdale! Damn TMI again! Not to ruin the flow I have going on here, but you have to watch this video...

So back to the topic at hand. I am trying the New Holland Mad Hatter India Pale Ale. Who knows why its called that, but there's a super creepy picture of a mad hatter on the label, and another label on the back that doesn't say why it is called Mad Hatter IPA. It does however say that its 5.25% ABV which is fairly average in terms of potency.

Glass is courtesy of you guessed it, Murphy's Pub in Champaign and the beer is your typical brownish reddish color and it is pretty clear beer.

It smells like hops and a faint amount of citrus or malt or some shit like that but to make a long snobby story short, it smells like pretty much any IPA I have had in the past.

The taste however, is smooth going down, not too carbonated, good amount of hops... its weird though its like it tastes great initially, then for just a split second it tastes foul or something, and then it leaves a nice IPA style aftertaste of hoppy goodness.

I could really drink a lot of this shit if it was on sale all the time. Definitely a quality brew. I picked up a 6 pack for 8 bucks, and I think its a pretty good price point there. I believe normally its like 11.49 for a 6 pack.

So the final verdict is 8.5/10 thumbs up which means, if you see it, Try it!

Have any beer recommendations for this weekend?

DO WANT!

2011-03-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

In case you don't know this by now (actually I'm not sure why more than one of you reading this would) I kind of like certain electronic gadgets. I usually don't get much into the latest phone tech however, as I usually buy a phone maybe once every 4 years which in phone years is like what, a century?

So I heard about this interesting new phone coming out, I think yesterday (which I did not know before starting to write this little blog). The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Its basically a blackberry/iphone for useful, productive stuff (like facebooking and fantasy football updates!) aaaaand it has a game pad that will allow you to also play Playstation games on it. I think it might even be able to make a phone call! NEAT-O!

Well here is an amusing commercial for it. Kristen Schaal is pretty hilarious. If you haven't seen her before on the Daily Show, she plays a Christian right winger and is really funny at it. And a certain scene in this commercial had me rolling with laughter...

So without further ado, as Stacey King would say... "ROLL IT!"

AAAAAAH! DO WANT! Brilliant Marketing! Although just one problem. The Xperia Play has been reported to only be available on Verizon. Nooooo! Fuck that shit! Not being allowed to have such an amazing device makes me want it more! Well hopefully Sprint gets a Korean knockoff version eventually, like they always do with their shitty phones.

Have a happy Thursday!
Sincerely,
Your everlasting consumerist chum

This Blog Is Not for Children

Well Derrick Rose is Hurt again...

More Sous Vide Videos!

Cooking Sous Vide

More Sous Vide Videos

So I've been doing a bit of Sous Vide cooking...

Epic Post about the State of Illinois Athletics

Observations on Bruce from a season-ticket outsider long

A "Free" Groupon, Daily Deal Type Thing

This Video is the Fuckin Truth

A Good Mother Fuckin Song

Reflections of My City

Wacky Weather!

Seriously be Careful This 4th of July!

Beer Review (I might have a problem)

MMMmmmm... Hot and Juicy

Beer Review Time!

Hilarious Picture #1

Back, Catching Up and Better Than Ever

Sorry Not Much Time to Post Lately

One more beer - Southern Tier 2X IPA

Beer Review Time! - Two Brothers Brewing Co." Cane and Ebel" Red Rye Ale

Beer Review time!

I'm working on it!

Holy fick puss Flyig dog

Its Friday, Beer Review

DO WANT!

This Blog Is Not for Children

Well Derrick Rose is Hurt again...

More Sous Vide Videos!

Cooking Sous Vide

More Sous Vide Videos

So I've been doing a bit of Sous Vide cooking...

Epic Post about the State of Illinois Athletics

Observations on Bruce from a season-ticket outsider *long*

A "Free" Groupon, Daily Deal Type Thing

This Video is the Fuckin Truth

A Good Mother Fuckin Song

Reflections of My City

Wacky Weather!

Seriously be Careful This 4th of July!

Beer Review (I might have a problem)

MMMmmmm... Hot and Juicy

Beer Review Time!

Hilarious Picture #1

Back, Catching Up and Better Than Ever

Sorry Not Much Time to Post Lately

One more beer - Southern Tier 2X IPA

Beer Review Time! - Two Brothers Brewing Co." Cane and Ebel" Red Rye Ale

Beer Review time!

I'm working on it!

Holy fick puss Flyig dog

Its Friday, Beer Review

DO WANT!

Observations on Bruce from a season-ticket outsider long