World Cup Fever

Have you heard about it? Apparently Patrick Sullivan's in the Old City didn't get the notice. I'm no soccer fan but I wanted to take in the USA vs. England match to experience the hype and hopefully see an exciting game at the highest level. King Randall The Insufferable and I decided to meet at a bar to watch the game, and naturally we waited until the last minute to choose our venue. The obvious downtown locations, Soccer Taco and Crown & Goose, were standing room only. I was already in the Old City and Sullivan's was open so I pressed my face to the window and saw a mostly empty bar. Great, problem solved.

It was only a few minutes until match time (kickoff?). The small TV behind the bar was tuned to something else and the large TV above wasn't even turned on. The single patron at the bar paid his tab and left. A soccer-seeking couple entered and left immediately, disappointed by the lack of soccer hooligans I suspect. So there I sat alone until KRTI strolled in. We had the game switched on the small TV. Eventually other patrons arrived and some were actual soccer fans there to watch the game, though not very many. The game was put on the big TV, a few more customers came in and the game turned out to be a dud, at least in my opinion. The USA earned a 1-1 draw on a lucky goal that was muffed by the English goal keeper. Overall it was a good time and the lack of soccer enthusiasm at Sullivan's didn't matter that much at all. The best part of the "experience" was a 4 -5 beer head start on the rest of the day.

Latitude and Attitude

A spate of new food and drink establishments have been opening around town and even more are on the way. This is nothing new as places open and close all the time. Like most people I don’t usually notice these things unless it is a personal favorite or a highly recognized name that draws attention. At least that’s how I used to be. Nowadays I’ve especially been trying to keep track of new bars and restaurants opening in or near downtown and wouldn’t you know I’ve found another one. It didn’t take long for someone to snatch up the vacated World Grotto location that recently closed. Secret, hush-hush sources have revealed to yours truly that the place will become downtown’s finest, upscale sports bar. Yes you heard me right, a sports bar. It’s going to be a few months before they open but I thought I’d put it out there for public consumption just to see what reaction it gets. I’ve been told the name will be Latitude 35, inspired by the marker right in the middle of Market Square, but don’t hold me to that since these things tend to change.

They have some work to do and I plan to visit during the remodeling process and post some updates from time to time. During my visit a couple of weeks ago the GM told me all kinds of ideas and plans they have for the place but to be honest I’d had a few beers too many to remember the details, go figure. Cheers and good luck – now get to work!!

Alcohol > H1N1

You gotta hand it to those Russians, they won’t let a little flu virus stop them from anything.

Russian soccer fans have been told to drink whiskey on their trip to Wales for next month's World Cup qualifier to ward off the H1N1 swine flu virus, the head of the country's supporter association (VOB) said Monday.

"We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whiskey as a form of disinfection," VOB head Alexander Shprygin told Reuters. "That should cure all symptoms of the disease." (Full story here)

That’s the kind of awesome advice I like to hear. I wonder if we’ll hear anything like that as UT football season approaches. Not that it matters, that is my year-round health plan anyway.

Baseball Season = Beer Season

The season has started if you didn’t know already and after about 1 week into the season it’s hard to get too excited about anything yet. It doesn’t matter if your favorite team is first or last in their division because with 162 games in a season there is so much time to let things take shape. And that is one of the things I like about MLB, the season is so damn long and provides hundreds of opportunities to grab some beer and chill out in front of the TV or listen on the radio while you work outside. Attending a live game is even better, be it a road trip to a major ball park or just up the road to see the Smokies.

Beer is essential to baseball enjoyment, though stronger spirits like bourbon or vodka are occasionally appropriate. There is no room for wine in the sport unless you count celebration champagne at the end of the season, or if you’re a woman. Beer is king in baseball for all the right reasons: it is light, cold, refreshing, inexpensive, and allows you to drink through 3-4 hours of mostly dull entertainment. Compared to other major sports I’d guess that beer consumption via baseball out sells all the rest due to the length of the schedule and total number of games played. Of course I don’t have any stats to back this up, I’m just guessing. The point is that from now until the playoffs in October you have over 2,000+ games as an excuse to drink beer. Not that you need an excuse to drink beer anytime, mind you.

Peanut Gallery

Atlanta Braves, yeah I pull for these guys, they’re my team for better or worse. Screw the Boston Red Sox. Fuck the New York Yankees. The Cincinnati Reds are for tossers and sheep shaggers.

Knoxville Ice Bears PLAYOFFS TONIGHT

Semi-Final Playoff vs. Huntsville Havoc

Series Tied 2-2: This is the deciding game

Game time: 7:30

Admission: $5

Dollar Days: $1 snacks and soft drinks

We'll be taking a group of drunkards over to the Civic Auditorium to support the 2 time defending champion Ice Bears. As usual we will frontload to get a strong buzz going before we head over to raise hell. Hey, we missed all the regular season but hopefully we'll make up for it tonight.

POY Update

Well well well. Here we are almost through the first quarter of the year season and it looks like Tag Berauscht has all but wrapped up 2 months for the Prick of the Year Contest. It seems that he is hell bent on reclaiming his title from 2007 and is off to a good start. The manual labor he subjected us to last month almost broke my back and knees, but not my spirit (to drink). Now the cockayus lets the entire Ice Bears regular season pass by without arranging a single group outing for us to attend. I cry foul! Hockey games are one of our best outings to drink as a group and shout profane insults for everyone to hear how obscene we are. C'mon man, don't be such a dick - that offense is worth at least 10,000 prick points.

Monday Hangover

We already know that the Vols shat the bed on Saturday. We watched with anxiety and angst as they almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, which would have put us in a position to possibly have a decent season since Florida and Georgia both decided to lay down. A win would have really put us right back in the thick of things, even with our inept QB. And now it appears ole Phil is opening up the competition - only 4 games into the season too late. Great.

To make the weekend of sports worse, my NFL team got their asses handed to them by Brett Favre. So much for that 2-0 start. Way to let an ancient QB who has been in the league a million years reach another milestone with an inferior team. Not to mention those terrible uniforms of the real Titans.

All this suckeration and disappointment tends to make me think something good is about to happen. Things can't stay so shitty for this long. Something great is just around the corner. A new dawn after a long, dark, scary night. What we need is a new bar to rise up from the ashes and shake this town up:

Shit. Goddamnyouhawkeyesforeverclosingyourfuckingdoors!!!

Professional Drinker?

Reds Pitcher Kent Mercker on his future: "I'm starting my new profession -turning vodka into urine."

That is the best quote of the year so far from a professional athlete. Apparently Mercker is nearing the end of his long career in baseball and the quote is a reply to an 8 page letter to potential free agents. From the Dayton Daily News:

KENT MERCKER, who hasn’t pitched early June due to a bad back, was handed an envelope in the clubhouse and he quickly ripped it open, scanned the thick multi-paged letter and tossed it into the trash.

“Talk about a waste eight pages of paper,” he said. “It was addressed to: ‘All potential free agents.’ “

Mercker will be a free agent, but as he said, “What kind of market is out there for me?” Then he paused and said, “Well, hey. I’m left-handed, I’m 40 and I’m well-rested.”

Mercker has tried to play long toss and throw off the mound, “But my back is not working.” Most likely he is headed for retirement and said, “I’m starting my new profession — turning vodka into urine.”

Source: Dayton Daily News

5 Day Weekend

Man this is awesome. Slept in today for the first time in a loooong time and I feel better already. I had some vacation time accumulated that I needed to use so I thought why not make it an extended holiday weekend. Not that I have a single plan to do anything special, but I do plan on watching a shitload of college football and the U.S. Open on my kick-ass TV. And drinking. Of course drinking! I just hope my keg holds up through the weekend, we'll see. I may have to add a bottle of fine bourbon (or more) for the occasion.

So I noticed the SEC will be featured heavily on TV all weekend. I think we have South Carolina and Vanderbilt playing tonight, none on Friday, the regular Saturday lineup, then Kentucky on Sunday and the Vols play prime time Monday night. Awesome!

Amongst all the sport viewing on the telly there are some social circles I plan to visit. A friend of the authors (and longtime bartender at a favorite spot) is moving out of town with his pregnant girlfriend and I plan to attend their sendoff party on Friday night. Plus another close friend just had a new baby this week and they are having people over to visit throughout the weekend so I want to drop by there at some point. What's with all the baby mess?

Not to forget Boomsday, everybody and their aunt loves some Boomsday fireworks!! I won't be attending the street party but may take in the fireworks display if I'm upright and sober enough. Should be a great 5 days of fun if I don't kill my liver or get sensory overload with all the sports. Shit, I almost forgot - I'm supposed to check out the Sunsphere Skybox, or whatever the hell they call it. Damn, I've got to get busy. We'll see if I can recall any of it next week...

Weekend Predictions

Things that will happen this weekend:

Drinking Knoxville:

• Every author of this blog will get drunk at least twice (some of us on the same day)
• Scarlett O'Harlot will encounter some "drama" in her social life, okay no surprise there
• King Randall the Insufferable will not contribute to the blog, he already forgot his password
• Lord von Lord will talk a bunch of shit, no one will listen or care
• Tag Berauscht will piss-off his girlfriend no matter what he does, again no surprise
• Yours truly will drink at a bar I've never been to in Knoxville (it isn't easy to find one)

Sports:

• UT football coach Phil Fulmer will be "excited" about the upcoming season
• Team USA Basketball team will crush Russia in Sunday warm up
• Ken Griffey, Jr. and Manny Ramirez will homer for their new teams
• Rafa Nadal will win in Cincy and become the new world #1 tennis player
• The NFL Hall of Fame game this Sunday (Colts v. Redskins) will suck. But it is NFL football, sorta

Bailey's Sports Grill

It's time for another bar review. This week: Bailey's Sports Grill. I have to admit it has been a while since I've been to this long-running Knoxville establishment. Located smack-dab in the heart of west Knoxville, it is a bit out of range for frequent visits by yours truly. However it has stood the test of time and has gotten on quite well without my patronage for this long.
This most recent visit happened to be during lunch while I was running some errands and decided I'd stop in to watch Wimbledon on the big screen. I sat at the bar as usual and ordered the first decent draft I recognized amongst the macro-brews, a Sierra-Nevada Pale Ale. The place was kinda empty, but it was lunchtime and the place is huge so it can be deceiving. There were some obvious regulars at the bar and numerous pool tables having a good time. The staff seemed to know every customer except me, but were very courteous & friendly nonetheless and treated me well.

I ordered one of my all-time favorite meals that I use as a measuring stick for all pubs and bars across the country: fish & chips.

It is a simple meal that is surprisingly hard to find done well. Most places take the easy route using frozen, pre-battered fish planks, standard fries and serve with creamy coleslaw and tartar sauce. Bailey's was much better and may be considered my new favorite place for fish & chips in Knoxville. These are Newcastle Brown hand-battered fillets that you can tell are freshly made. There were 3 large pieces of fish, the "chips" were pretty standard but cooked well (meaning crisp) and the slaw wasn't too creamy but sorta bland. Overall it was a great meal that I strongly recommend. Did I mention the staff was friendly? The bartender, manager, another staffer, and the line cook came by to see how my meal was - impressive.

Maybe the only complaint I would mention is the pricey beer at $4.25 a pint. I guess the recent climb in oil prices has trickled down to everything. I've heard there is a soon-to-be shortage of wheat and hops that will raise prices even more in the very near future, so get ready. Now would be a good time to visit our friends at http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/ to catch up on some bar hand signals. Bonus points for anyone who recognizes this one:

I assume Bailey's still fills up for happy hour, evenings, and weekends much more than lunchtime. It has large TVs (not trannys) everywhere with all varieties of sports showing constantly, the aforementioned pool tables, darts, and other bar games. Plus it is 21+ only so all the smokers know they can light up! As a non-smoker I sometimes enjoy the nostalgic smell of beer and cigarettes like I remember from every bar while growing up. If I lived closer I'm sure I would go there more often. As it is I will continue to visit when I can, which averages out to about once every 1.5 years. Hopefully everyone else out there can keep it going 'til my next visit - so drink up!!