No Sporting Chance

It is the spring of my sporting discontent. The Atlanta Hawks got swept in the postseason for the second year in a row by LeBron & Company, and my rebuilding Braves are buried in last place. In fact, as mid-May approached the baseball club had the seventh most wins… ON ITS HOME FIELD!

To top off the sporting depression, my favorite player and fellow alum, Tim Duncan, may have just played the last game of his stellar 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs…

You might say that I’m carrying a lot of emotional sports baggage:

• My college football team hasn’t had a winning season since I became a father. (My oldest daughter turns 8 in the fall.)

• The Diamond Deacs, my alma mater’s baseball team, haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 2007 despite our coach – no lie – donating a kidney to one of his players. Come on, karma!

• My basketball program, which produced the likes of Duncan and Chris Paul, has gone 75-115 (.395) since 2010 when it fired a coach with a .663 winning percentage.

Hmm, maybe this is the reason my wife let me get a kegerator?!?

I take solace in my daughters’ smiles, long walks (no, not on short piers!) and the occasional relaxed round of golf. And when things seem too bleak, I tell myself: At least I didn’t have a North Carolina Tar Heel April!

They got a name for the winners in the world

I want a name when I lose

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide

Call me Deacon Blues.

— Steely Dan

 

Great Moments in Guzzling

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Boston Beer-Helmet Party!

(aka my bachelor party at Fenway Park)

bleeveblog

#1

In honor of St. Patrick’s past and the March Madness gatherings to come, here are some top moments in guzzling:

#5 A fraternity brother and I (seems right to start with this stage in life) won the “Beer & Pizza” contest at Sigma Chi’s Derby Days — a proud accomplishment made all the sweeter by the fact that Hank and I were by far the smallest contestants in the timed competition.

#4 On senior trip in Daytona, Fla., in 1992, a high school friend quite vehemently defended his supply of “Georgia beer.” Ya see, it was believed (but I’m not sure ever confirmed) that a Georgia Busch Light had higher alcohol by volume than the same from the Sunshine State.

#3 My wife’s aunt thoroughly enjoyed our wedding reception, so much so that she grabbed a whole bottle of wine on her way out of the venue. When stopped…

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