What Will the Wizards Do?

Now that Ted Leonsis is the Owner of the Washington Wizards what should we expect from this team? Especially now that they have the #1 pick in the 2010 draft. The Wizards have won the John Wall sweepstakes, but does it make sense to draft him? I’ll get back to that question in a minute. Leonsis bought the Capitals back in 1999 and the team was not that bad. He brought in super stars like Jagr and Robert Lang and had stars like Peter Bondra and Sergei Gonchar on the team. The problem was they never made it far enough. So during the strike year in 2004 Leonsis and his GM George McPhee blew up the team and started building around the young stars like Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin (the teams #1 draft pick in 2004). Ovechkin was the centerpiece and nobody is going to argue that, but the players drafted by the capitals from 2002 until the present also include, Fehr, Schultz, Green, Varlomov, Alzner, Backstrom, and Carlson. All of these players have played major roles in getting the Capitals to where they are now as a team. A team that won the most games of any team in the NHL this season. A team that should be playing for the Eastern Conference Championship right now, still a little bitter. What many Capitals fans may not remember though is that it took 3 years before Leonsis and McPhee built the team that has won the South East Division the last 3 years. So the question is will Leonsis build a championship caliber team out of the draft or will he take the number 1 pick this year and sign somebody in free agency and try to make a run at the playoffs.

Building around the number 1 pick and trying to unload Gilbert Arenas seems like the most likely option. If this is the case I think the Wizards should take John Wall with their pick and build around him. Then hope they can get somebody later in the draft or trade Gilbert for more draft picks. If the Wizards can get two guys out of this draft they could be in a similar situation to Chicago with Rose and Noah. I think it would be a better position because Wall has more upside to Rose. The good news is the Wizards could maybe make a run at the playoffs, but to be honest it would be better if they ended up in the lottery again so they could get another top tier player. The hope is the Wizards do not succeed too fast so that they can build that team. Although if they do, Leonsis has shown that he will spend money on the right veteran players. If this is the way the Wizards go about building a team the Wizards will be Wall’s team, not Gilbert’s.

As I said the other option is the Wizards take Wall or maybe Evan Turner with the first pick. This will depend on how long the Wizards really want to hold on to Gilbert Arenas. Either way Arenas is on this team for another year or two so why not take Wall or Turner and add someone like Chris Bosh and be competitive for a year. Now why would Bosh come to Washington to play? So he doesn’t have to play in Canada anymore where his team is less important than the high school hockey teams. The other hurdle with Bosh is giving him a tempting enough offer to keep him from following Bron-Bron to Chicago, New York, New Jersey or LA. However if Bosh doesn’t want to play in the Nation’s Capitol the Wizards could go after Amar’e Staudemire. Staudemire has found his game from four years ago over the past few months of the season and has been healthy for the first time in those same 4 years. The problem is I don’t see building a team right away as an option unless they get rid of Arenas. The contract Arenas has is worth too much money and the team has to get out from under it before they can spend on a big time free agent.

I still think John Wall is the way to go with the first pick because Gilbert is going to be gone as soon as the team can unload him. One thing I know with Ted Leonsis owning the Wizards now this team will be fun to watch over the next few years.

Oh and cant you see everyone doing the John Wall Dance in DC? Brammer?

Top 10 Movie Sequels

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve had some writers block since my last post. This weekend I went to see Iron Man 2, don’t worry I’m not going to divulge the plot. However I am going to do a top 10 list of the BEST MOVIE SEQUELS. Let’s be honest we love Top 10 Lists, if for nothing more than to disagree with the person who wrote the list. Here are some rules I am going to put out there first.

1. Movie must stand alone. Meaning you don’t have to watch a third movie to finish the plot of the second. This rule takes out movies like Pirates of the Caribbean 2, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, The Bourne Series, both Star Wars Trilogies, etc., because the story being told was really one movie even though it was split into two. The best example Being Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2.
2. It has to be the second movie in the series. This is why greats like Rocky IV when Rocky ended the Cold War and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are not on this list.

3. Rewatchability. Yes I know it is not a real word, thank you let’s move on. If you read Bill Simmons blog you understand what this means. All this means is the movie has to be good enough that you enjoy watching it over and over again. This also means Iron Man and Boondock Saints will not be on the list because it’s too early to tell.

4. Horror Movies don’t count. Let’s be honest with ourselves, there are way too many and its usually the same plot line with different characters because the majority of them died in the first movie.

5. I need to have seen the movie – I will apologize now to everyone who thinks God Father II should be on this list, I hear it is really good. I would like to watch it, if I can borrow the Box Set I will return it to you and hopefully my life will have changed as much as you think it should. If you want to recommend movies not on the list I do read my comments.

Now those rules are not too difficult are they? So here it goes, The Late Show with David Letterman’s Top 10 Movie Sequels. Oops, I mean The Baron’s Top 10 Movie Sequels.

Honorable Mention: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me – This movie was made when Mike Myers was still funny as a non-animated character. This movie has three things that make it so good, 1) Heather Graham in tight clothing, 2) Mini-Me, and 3) Fat Bastard. People still walk around and quote this movie. What hurts this movie the most is Goldmember was not that good and Myers is making a Fourth for some reason. There is also the fall of Myers career, much like the next man on our list.

10) Ghost Busters II – How do you follow up defeating a giant sized Marshmallow Man? By opening the 10th Level of Hell in NYC, bringing Lady Liberty to life and walking it through the streets of Manhattan to defeat Vigo the Carpathian, and bringing back the main cast along with Slimer. This may not be better than the original but it is really close. It’s also good for the family and children of all ages. Slimer if you remember the original was captured and put into the Ghost Chamber. The decided to bring him back for a cameo in the second movie because of the popularity the cartoon series gained in which Slimer was more of a pet that lived at the Ghost Busters station.

9) Beverly Hills Cop II – Eddie Murphy is back as Axel Foley and he’s back on another case in the 90210. This time Foley is welcomed to Beverly Hills to help on a case with Taggart and Rosewood to try and find the people responsible for shooting Captain Bogomil. The Trio of Foley, Taggard, and Rosewood find themselves in some crazy situations throughout the movie that add to the comedy, but we all know that Murphy carried this movie, everything he did in the 80’s turned to gold. It’s too bad this movie probably gets lost on a lot of people because most of us cannot remember the last time he made a good movie.

8) Lethal Weapon 2 – Riggs and Murtaugh are back this time to take down a South African Arms dealer. This movie also introduced Joe Pesci’s character Leo Getz. Remember, “I'm Leo Getz, and whatever you want, Leo gets.” This is also the one where Roger is trapped on his toilet because there’s a bomb attached to it. In the end Rigs and Murtaugh get the bad guys and destroy most of the town, but it is still fun to watch. The comedy of this scene almost makes the movie. Another great Police Comedy and it’s not the last one on this list.

7) Back to the Future II – Marty McFly and Doc Brown are heading to the future this time in the DeLorean, this time it flies. Once it hits 88 mph they are in the year 2015. In this futuristic time not much has changed except skateboards hover and cars fly. I guess we have 5 years before this movie’s perception of the future is disproved, but I don’t think we will see flying cars anytime soon. This is a classic film, I enjoyed the whole series. The movie itself is not complex, but for the mid to early 80’s the special effects weren’t bad. Plus how many of us would drive a DeLorean if given one?

6) Rocky II – I can hear it now, how is Rocky II only number 7? It’s because as good as the second one is, four is better. The story is similar to the original except at the end when Rocky defeats Apollo Creed and utters one of the most famous lines in movie history, “Yo Adrian, I did it!” The thing about the Rocky movies are Stalone makes you believe he is an Average Joe the whole time and you know exactly what his character is going through the whole time. So when he beats Apollo you feel like you have won the Heavy Weight Title.

5) Bad Boys II – This movie was on the other day and yes, I started watching it and sat through it till the end. The sad part is I own it on DVD and even though it’s in a box in storage right now I still would’ve watched the TV version. Martin Lawrence (Marcus) and Will Smith (Mike) are great together. The first movie was really good but I think the second might be better. Marcus and Mike are trying to take down drug runners from Cuba during this movie. There are some really good chase scenes in this movie, starting with the chase through Miami where Mike is driving his Ferrari after a semi truck that is chasing Marcus’s sister. They destroy half the city in this chase. A little side note but I love how two cops can destroy a city and all they get is a stern yelling at by their superiors in a movie. The last chase, Mike, Marcus and his sister steal a Hummer as they are chased through Cuba on their way to Guantanamo. This chase by far surpasses the chase at the end of the first Bad Boys. We also learned that rubbing our ears and saying, “Woooosaaaa,” will calm us down.

4) Die Hard2: Die Harder – Back before John McLane became somewhat of a Super Hero he was just a cop with bad luck. McLane found himself in another situation over the Christmas holidays when he waits for his wife at Washington Dulles International Airport. McLane battles mercenaries who are trying to free an international criminal before his trial. The suspense thickens when McLane finds out his wife is still circling the airport waiting to land. McLane always gets into the craziest of situations and this film is no different, but at the end he saves the day and saves his wife. The Die Hard Series also gave us one of the more memorable movie quotes, “Yippie-Kai-yay Mother F***er.”

3) Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom – This film is the reason the MPAA needed to create an intermediate rating between G and R. Along with Gremlins the violence was too much for the G rating so the creation of the PG-13 rating followed after complaints that Temple of Doom was given a G rating. The first movie distributed with the PG-13 rating was Red Dawn in 1984. Indiana Jones is one of the best characters written for the big screen. The movies are a little out there, but fun and exciting from start to finish. The little Asian boy in this movie, Short Round, was hilarious too.

2) The Dark Knight – This is how you write a sequel to a comic book hero movie. Many will argue that Superman II or Spiderman 2 was the first to write a good sequel, but I couldn’t disagree more. I like both of those movies, but Superman II was a terrible story. Outside of the Superman battling General Zod it was pretty lame. Superman gave up his powers for most of the movie, how can that make for a good movie? Spiderman 2 was good, but Spiderman is sometimes over the top cheesy. The Dark Knight set the bar high, until Iron Man 2 this weekend I have not seen a Sequel that balanced the story with the action to make for a full experience while watching the movie. It also helps that the Joker was such a phenomenal character. In my opinion Heath Ledger played the most convincing Joker I’ve ever seen. I loved Jack as the Joker, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Heath’s. The deeper side of the film that looked at the characters themselves was amazing. The Joker and Batman are very similar with the difference being Batman has a code of ethics and Joker does not. Then there was the transformation of Harry to Two-Face showing how easy it would be for Batman to become the Joker. It was hard not to put this movie at the top of the list, but when you read what made it you should understand.

1) Terminator 2: Judgment Day – T2 set the bar high for action movie sequels. If you ask me this move was far superior to every other movie in the Terminator series. Terminator: Salvation was good and surpassed expectations, but is that really an accomplishment after Terminator 3? In T2 the T800 (Arnold) comes back to protect John Conner from the T1000. At the beginning of the movie you have a hard time believing that the T800 can do anything against the T1000. The T1000 cannot be destroyed. It isn’t until the end that the T1000 falls into the vat of molten steel. The T800 follows him into the vat hoping to destroy all evidence of the robots in an effort to save humanity. The movie starts with a great chase scene and ends with a great battle. There is action and suspense throughout the film. This series also provided us with another memorable line from movie history, “I’ll be back.”

I know there are going to be disagreements with this list so I look forward to hearing them. I highly recommend going to see Iron Man 2 if you have not already.

Fan Heartbreak

Growing up a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, Phillies, and 76ers, one thing I have learned to deal with is disappointing sports teams. It was so bad that the city thought its sports teams were all cursed. The Curse of William Penn is what they called it. You see after the 76ers won the title in 1983 the city of Philadelphia built its first Skyscraper that was taller than the statue of William Penn. The Sixers, Eagles, Flyers, and College Basketball teams had winning teams throughout the years but they never claimed a championship. It got so bad that people talked about the Curse causing Smarty Jones to lose the Triple Crown in horse racing.

In 1993 when the Phillies made it to the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the city places a giant Phillies ball cap on William Penn’s statue, in an attempt to get him to end the curse on the town. It didn’t work; Joe Carter will forever be hated in the City of Brotherly Love. In 2001 Allen Iverson led the Sixers to the NBA Championship game against the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. Philadelphia wanted this championship bad; Kobe was one of their own, who now played for the much hated Lakers. Iverson led the team to a game once victory over a Lakers team that had not lost a playoff game yet. All of a sudden Sixers fans believed it was possible. Four games later, the Lakers had won the championship and the Sixers haven’t been close to the championship since. In 2004 the Eagles finally make it past the NFC Championship game and into the Super Bowl, only to lose to the New England Patriots by a field goal. At this point in my life I figured I’d die before my teams ever won a championship. I mean the only championships I’ve seen anyone win was from two of my favorite NASCAR drivers, Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005) and Terry Labonte (1996). I also got to see the University of Michigan win a share of the National Championship in football in 1997.


It wasn’t until the fall of 2009 when my beloved Phillies made it back to the World Series, 19 years since they had won there only World Series in 125 plus years, only after they became the first team to lose 20,000 games, and only after Comcast bought the tallest building in the city and put a miniature statue of William Penn on top of it did they finally win the World Series in one of the oddest World Series I can remember. Game 5 took three days to finish if that tells you anything. When they won I was in complete shock, I didn’t even know how to react, my heart was racing and when the last strike was called I just fell to the ground and stared at the TV in disbelief. My roommate at the time, a lifelong Cubs fan shook my hand and told me he hoped to feel what I was feeling one day. I remember everyone calling and texting me to congratulate me as though I played for the team. I didn’t play for them, but any real sports fan knows that you put a lot of yourself into your teams, when they lose it hurts and when they win on the grandest of stages you are overwhelmed with joy and excitement.

I tell you this to preface how I felt last night after watching my beloved Washington Capitals lose a game 7 in the first round of the playoffs. Ok I know your first question is how is the Baron a Caps fan if he is a fan of the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers? Why isn’t he a Flyers fan? The main reason is I didn’t follow hockey when I lived in New Jersey, just across the river from Philly. Sure I followed the Flyers a little when I moved because it reminded me of where I grew up, but I never had an attachment to them. When the league went on strike in 2005 I didn’t care, because I didn’t have an interest in the NHL. After the strike the local team had just drafted a player who only comes along every 20 years or so, Alexander Ovechkin. Ovie was just fun to watch play, and the more I watched the more I started checking up on the Capitals, at some point I dove in as a fan of the team. The funny part is Ovie isn’t even my favorite player on the team anymore, its Mike Green. Well last night the Caps, for the third straight year gave us hope and ripped our hearts out and let the Montreal Canadiens skate right over them. The Capitals had the highest scoring offense in the NHL this season, they had the best record in the NHL, they had one of the top scoring power play units (got one goal from them this series), and lost to the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference after take a 3-1 lead in the series. Sure two years ago they had the excuse of being young and the loss gave them great playoff experience, and last year it was they met a better team in Pittsburgh, but this year there were no excuses, they were just plain beat by an inferior team. After the game I was pissed, because I got way to into the game and let myself believe this was a road bump, but we would win game 7 and go on to win the Stanley Cup. The Caps are the team in DC that’s supposed to be good that lives up to their expectations. But just like all my teams from Philly and I think the DC sports fan would agree, we are all left disappointed after last night’s game. Bill Simmons from ESPN even tweeted last night that Washington had surpassed Seattle as the most depressing sports town. Seattle has a bad football team, a bad baseball team, and some rich guy from Oklahoma stole their basketball team that’s how bad it was there. Now people think DC has surpassed them. At this point the only thing I can say is “here’s to next year,” but Cubs fans have been saying that for 102 years.

The good news is tomorrow I am travelling to Richmond for a weekend of NASCAR with friends, that will most certainly put me in a better mood and after that there’s baseball season and my Phillies to get me through till September.

Cornucopia of Manliness

This weekend I was down at a friend’s River house for a Man Weekend. Every so often guys get together to do Manly things, tell Locker Room stories, drink beer, smoke cigars and let loose in a way we can’t at work or in a relationship. As a single guy I am able to act this way more often then maybe some of my friends who are married or in serious relationships, because women still have some type of expectation of how men should behave. Like I said, I’m not currently in a relationship so I could be completely wrong on that point so let me know in the comments section. Either way it was nice to do things MEN enjoy doing with other MEN this weekend. There was the use of man tools which include our brains, shovels, power sprayers, etc. There were adventures on the open sea this weekend, which was a great conclusion to the weekend. Oh and did I mention there was alcohol and cigars. We even dealt with an irrational woman who couldn’t garden because our music was too loud, she couldn’t handle the BOOM, BOOM. But we are Virginia Gentlemen so we turned the music down and didn’t let it ruin the weekend. Why do I bring this up, especially after my earlier post on Man Nights, well why not talk about Manly Things, basically I had few ideas, I couldn’t get an entire blog out of so this is a cornucopia of manliness.

There is one thing that every man needs, and that is a Man Cave. It doesn’t really matter what is in his Man Cave as long as he has one. Sometimes men need to go some place to kick back and not be bothered, this is what keeps our stress levels low, it helps us live longer healthier lives. I have no statistics to back this up, but it sounds good doesn’t it. Men need a place where they can go and just be men. For some men, this may just be the garage, but in colder climates this may not be ideal in the winter months. For others it’s the basement or a room in the basement. It can really be anywhere. I worked with a guy who built a shed in his back yard. Kenny put a pool table, some bar signs, a TV (that he hooked to his satellite dish), a stereo, some benches, and a space heater (like the ones you see on construction sites in the winter). It was a place where we could get as loud as we want and drink and have a good time. No matter where this room is located it goes back to the days when we were boys and had our tree forts with signs on the door that read, “No Girlz Allowed.” For more information on Man Room's check out some of the Tool Man's ideas.

Man Movies, I’m sure I will leave some off, but you are free to add them to the comments. Any movie that involves The Duke is manly. John Wayne was the definition of manliness when he was alive. He towered over other men and made the horses he rode look small. I read once that Wayne would only drink his tequila with ice chips he got from an iceberg in Alaska, that’s just baller. Jay-Z wishes he thought of that. Some movies that stick out to me as Man Movies are Super Troopers, Scarface, Boondock Saints, The Hangover (although the longevity of this movie has not been proven yet), Blazing Saddles, Rambo, The Godfather, and many others. But things these movies have are crude humor and/or violence, they also have quotability. The man movie is becoming a dying breed though, it’s hard to find a movie that doesn’t have a ridiculous love story in the middle of it to attract female viewers.

The final topic is cooking, now I’m sure you are thinking wait cooking’s not manly, that’s women’s work. Well I’m not talking about cooking dinner or baking cakes, I’m talking about grilling. Men feel at home behind a grill, whether it be grilling up hot dogs and burger or slow cooking brisket. Have you been on the seasoning/marinades isle at the grocery store, its not small. It’s also the only place where women get lost in a store. They think teriyaki and bbq sauce is all they need to cook. Men can walk down that isle and find many different flavors to try, and others will make their own at home. Plus men love to eat.

So if you have your own ideas or disagree, let me know and post it in the comments.

The Baron Visits the Midwest Part II

Originally I was going to write one post about my trip to the Midwest, but I was telling two very different stories, so here is Part II of The Baron Visits the Midwest.

The second stop on my trip to the Midwest my mother and I traveled to Munster, IN, which is on the boarder of Illinois and a suburb of Chicago. I used to spend my summers in Munster growing up as a child. I would meet my cousin Jeff out there and we would spend two weeks with my Dad's Parents. We always had a lot of fun. The other day I tried to find my Grandparents old house, I made it to within a couple blocks before I decided to use the GPS. I found it and it still looks the same, I even found the house that used to have a For Sale sign in it forever because two people were murdered inside of it. I sat in my car across from the old house for a minute and all the memories I had of that house came flooding back. I remembered climbing the tree in the backyard with Jeff and my grandfather getting upset when we broke a branch or two along the way. I really wanted to walk around to the backyard and see if the old tree was still there. We used to set up the slip and slide in the back yard and play for hours. I remember my grandmother marking our height every summer along with my brother, sister, and other two cousins, I wonder if she replaced the paneling in the garage. One summer my grandfather let us work with him in his shop in the basement and we built wooden cars. The wheels were so out of alignment they wouldn’t move, but I still have those cars in a box somewhere because it was a lot of fun and it was the first time I was able to use power tools. My grandmother had picked up old bikes at garage sales so we had something to ride around on for the time we were at her house. My cousin and I would take them out in the street and get going as fast as we could and slam on the brakes to see who could leave the longest skid mark on the road. My grandfather would get upset because we would wear straight through the tires. Those bikes were great because all you had to do was slam the pedals backwards and it would engage the brake. Jeff and I used to play home run derby in the driveway, until my grandfather thought we were throwing the ball too hard and didn’t want us ruining the garage door.

Christmas's we would spend sleeping on air mattresses with all of our cousins in anticipation of Santa coming in the morning. There was a light in the basement that had a chain link wrapped around the chord and it was dangling in my face one night we were sleeping down there. I took the chord and laid it on the electrical outlet on the wall. I guess the plug wasn’t all the way in, because when the chord slipped off it sparked and everyone ran upstairs thinking a fire had started. There were all of the Christmas mornings spent in the living room opening gifts for hours; the stories that could be told from those mornings could fill a book. The last real memory was the winter my grandfather passed away, I was 11 years old and I remember my cousins, my brother, my sister, and I all had a huge snowball fight in the front yard, we went out front and started rolling huge snowballs and staked them next to each other to form fort walls. We filled in the gaps between to solidify the fort against stray snowballs. Then we started making snowballs to throw at each other and gathering them behind the fort walls. Before we started we split into teams of 3, so now we lay behind our forts ready to wage war on our family members. It was a blast, it was so much fun that 18 years later its one of the few memories I still have of this week.

The lady who lives in the house now was out front and I almost stopped to talk to her and tell her why I was driving down her cul-de-sac, but I decided the memories I had from that house were probably better then what I’d see if she let me see the place now, especially with a home improvement van parked in the driveway. So as I left I drove the circle we used to ride our bikes to the Little Store with my Grandma to get the paper every day. We were allowed to get a pack of baseball cards or candy each day. The old store is still there too. It’s surprising because a lot of things here are not still there, it’s been 15 years since I spent a summer here, and the mini golf/go kart place is closed with weeds growing over the track. It was surreal, because not only did that property look small to me, like how could this hold a go kart track and an 18 hole mini golf course, but the track itself was much smaller then I remembered. I told my Grandma about my exploration that afternoon and she said the place had trouble with the clientele it attracted. She also jokingly said they no longer had her money to pay the bills, we would go 3 or 4 times when we stayed with her.

The other night I asked my Grandma if we could go to Miner Dunn, it’s a Diner we used to go to every summer to get burgers and orange sorbet for dessert. She said it’s not worth going because the buns are stale and the burgers are not that good anymore. We ended up not going, and I’m a little disappointed, it would’ve been neat to go and see for myself if it had changed any.

The Baron Visits the Midwest

I’m sitting in a Panera Bread just outside of Chicago typing this because my Grandmother doesn’t have wireless. I packed my laptop for this weekend thinking I’d be able to use it, forgetting that some people haven’t joined us in the wireless age. The good news is she does have a high definition television. I’m sitting in a Panera because this weekend in Michigan, my mom's sister was throwing my sister a bridal shower. Julie couldn't attend because of work so I got to drive my mom halfway across the country. We left Virginia after 2 days of 90+ degree weather so I thought shorts would be appropriate, until we entered Ohio when we hit a freezing rain storm which quickly turned into snow. We drove in and out of snow for about 90 minutes. People at the rest areas were looking at me weird thinking, why is this guy in shorts. I was looking at them weird...because they were from Ohio. By 5pm we made it to my older brother's house just outside of South Bend, Indiana. South Bend is home to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, although lately I think they would lose a fight to their mothers. I jokingly tweeted this week that I hoped to see Jimmy Clausen so I could have my turn at punching him in the face; however he was not in town.

Now since I feel that I need to write about something manly to make up for writing this post in Panera I'm going to write about Guy's Night. Friday night at my brother's house is Guys Night. I'm going to go into more detail about guy’s night to balance out the fact that I am writing this at Panera Bread, but hey when you need free Wi-Fi it’s the first place I think of going. So back to Guys Night. My brother, Keith, started by frying some wings for us to eat, man they were good. Then we went down to the basement where Keith has set up a smoking corner and cut into our first cigars of the night and poured a few drinks. Now the smoking lounge is pretty sweet, Keith set his house up to have negative energy so that the air inside would blow outside and put in a fan in the basement to suck out all of the smoke. I was surprised by how well it worked when the next morning the house didn’t have that stale smell of smoke in it. My brother and his friend Tim are really into Cuban cigars lately, so that’s all we smoked. I know the first time I had a Cuban it laid me out. I was a little worried about how these were going to affect me, plus add in the fact my brother and me both had a beer and a glass of bourbon in front of us at all times of the night. No little brother wants to get punked out by his older brother, I had to hang or I'd never hear the end of it. We smoked through two cigars before the fourth guy, Chuck showed up and we decided to play some poker. Poker didn’t go so well for me, I lost $10. But during poker I had another 3 Cuban cigars; I had 5 different makes of Cubans, all with a different taste. Normally if I have a couple of the cigars you can buy more easily in the States I'm feeling rough the next day. The Cubans were smoother and didn’t hang around the next day, I liked that. Needless to say, it was a fun night. I'm not sure of all the beer I had that night, but I know we cracked a bottle of Dark Lord's Ale from Three Floyd's Brewing Company; I'm going by there after I finish this. I also had their Robert the Bruce, which is Scottish ale, both are really good.

Today in Chicago its opening day for the Chicago Cubs, which also brings back memories of going to Wrigley Field and watching the Cubs play as a child. I’ve always wanted to return to Wrigley Field as an adult of legal drinking age so I could fully enjoy the experience, I’d love to watch a game from the bleachers.

Well I am off to the Brewery; I need to get me some Robert the Bruce Ale. Maybe they'll have a tasting and I can write about that later.


I finished this post on Monday, but I ran out of time and Panera cut my internet connection. So I did make it to Three Floyd’s Brewing Company. I sat down at the bar and was greeted by a very friendly bartender named Dave. I told him that my brother had instructed me to go to this place and drink some beer. Dave started my out with their flagship beer, Alpha King, it was one of the better pale ales I’ve drank, but I’m not a fan. I followed that with Pride and Joy, it’s an American Style Ale, and I thought this was a little better then the Alpha King. I followed that by the Dreadnaught Ale, which was my favorite of the three ales I drank. I bought two bombers of this beer. Dave also gave me a sample of a Barrel Aged Popskull, which is a beer that Three Floyd’s worked with Dogfish head to create. The Popskull was barrel aged in Woodford Reserve Oak Barrels for a year. This beer smelled and tasted of bourbon and it was smooth. I tried to buy some of this, but you can only drink this beer there. It is worth the trip, it was the best beer I sampled. However if you don’t want to drive to Munster, IN, you can drive to one of the Dogfish Head pubs and they may also have some left. I also sampled another barrel aged beer called Alpha Clause; they brew this during the holidays. Dave finished me off with a Baltic Porter called Topless Wych. It had a very chocolaty taste to it, a lot like a breakfast stout does. I bought a growler of this beer. Anyways Three Floyd’s is worth the trip, it is located in Munster, IN off of Calumet Ave, when you see the Munster Water Tower, drive towards it.

Oh and anyone looking for a good time at a brewery, later this month Three Floyd's will be hosting Dark Lord's Day, when they will release there Dark Lord beer, which is a Russian Style Imperial Stout. I have it on good authority its there best yet. It should be around 15%abv. Its also been voted the #1 beer in the world for 2010. Suck on that Sexual Chocolate (Foothills Brewery).

The End of an Era in Philly...

The end of an era happened this Easter for the Philadelphia Eagles and their fans. Donovan McNabb, the Eagles franchise quarterback for the last decade (1999-2009) has ended. The Kevin Kolb era is about to begin. I’m sad that McNabb has left the Eagles, more than most Eagles fans. McNabb has been my favorite Eagle and I really wanted him to be the QB to lead the team to a Super Bowl victory, now I might have to watch him lift the Lombardi Trophy for a team in the Eagles division. McNabb came into Philly and wasn’t what I would call a fan favorite, he was booed at the draft, because fans wanted Ricky Williams, looking back its still the right decision. I however was excited, because I remember watching a Syracuse – Michigan game in 98. I remember Michigan not being able to stop McNabb and thinking man I hate this guy, he led Syracuse to a 38-28 win over Michigan that day. Obviously by 1999 I was a fan, it was the first decent quarterback the team had since Randal Cunningham. Watching McNabb play and run all over teams was exciting. In Philly people became accustomed to winning seasons and by 2001 McNabb was giving them what they wanted and the team played in four consecutive NFC Championships, in 2004 the Eagles finally won one and went to the Super Bowl. Say what you will about McNabb’s performance in that game, but they wouldn’t have been there without him. The Eagles have put together a couple good seasons since but McNabb’s injuries have slowed the team down and his game. Now when McNabb escapes a rush it’s more because of his experience in the game then because he can outrun the defense, still exciting, but for different reasons.

Donovan’s inability to win the Super Bowl is the only thing hurting his resume at the moment. As an Eagle though he is the career leader in wins, pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, and touchdowns. A lot of this is because under Andy Read, Philadelphia was pass happy and their running game were screen passes to Brian Westbrook. The Eagles were one of the top 5 teams of the last decade behind the Patriots and Colts, based on wins and a lot of that is owed to McNabb. Some of McNabb’s NFL records include Least Intercepted QB per pass attempt of all time (4588-96), second best TD to INT ratio of all time (209-96) behind Tom Brady, one of six NFL QB’s of all time to have over 25,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards, and currently the third highest winning percentage among active QB’s (.647) behind Manning and Brady.

Now the Eagles have traded McNabb to the Redskins and the Eagles will have to play him twice a year. I really wish McNabb went out of the division so I could still hope for him to have success, but I won’t be able to do that now. I’m going to put my McNabb jersey in the closet where it will sit with my Dawkins Jersey for eternity. Players like McNabb, Dawkins, Runyon, Westbrook, Trotter, and others who were the reason of so much success over the last decade are now gone. There is a new age in Philadelphia, a team of somewhat unknowns and young stars that hope to pick up where McNabb and the other Veterans left off, guys like DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek, LeSean McCoy, Jason Avant, Stewart Bradley, Trent Cole, Jeremy Maclin, and leading them on the field on Sundays will be Kevin Kolb. This new team will be able to grow together and maybe with a year or two of consistency win a championship or two.

It is a sad day as an Eagles fan, but the future looks bright and I bid farewell to my favorite player, because now you’re playing for the Redskins and no matter how much I want McNabb to succeed, I cannot root for the Skins. This trade hurts even more being an Eagles fan living in DC. So Skins fans consider yourself lucky, you have a QB now. I'm really going to miss watching Donovan play and the way he looked like he was having fun everytime he stepped on the field.