Who’s the last guy this franchise had with an attitude like this? My mind heads instantly to Greg Vaughn. Vaughn spent one season here, hit 45 homers, drove in 118 and scored 104, and somehow only finished 4th in the MVP balloting. That was 22 years ago.
There is no question that the Reds need Nick Castellanos beyond this year. He’s practically irreplaceable. Who you gonna run out to RF in his place? Aquino? Child, please.
Enjoy him while you can, hope he stays. Duende is not easily found, or replaced.
Now, then . . .
Lookitup, young’un.
AP : Washington Nationals vice president Bob Boone has informed the team that he will resign instead of complying with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all non-uniformed employees, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Boone, 73, has been with the organization since 2005 and serves as a senior adviser to general manager Mike Rizzo.
More: Paul Daugherty: In the college football landscape, follow the money
And this, from the terrific Yahoo! columnist Dan Wetzel, on the NFL’s silliness:
Teams consider everything — everything — when it comes time to decide who to put on the roster. Ability, talent, potential, height, weight, age, speed, salary, intelligence, social skills, leadership, experience, attitude, maturity and on and on and on. Just to get into the league players go through a veritable cattle call known as the scouting combine.
Further, the league is obsessed with analytics. There isn’t an aspect to football that hasn’t been studied, quantified and driven into the ground by data. Franchises have entire divisions to figure out how the odds change between going for it on fourth-and-3 and fourth-and-3 (and 2 inches).
Yet teams aren’t supposed to care if a player is at a greater risk of missing games? And they are supposed to be oblivious to vaccinated/unvaccinated statistics? Come on.
Come on, indeed.
I NEVER BELIEVED GAMBLING WAS A SICKNESS until I met Art Schlichter. Some 30 years ago, I did a weekly radio show with Schlichter at the old WSAI. He’d take unscheduled breaks to go out in the hall and call his bookie. He scammed lots of people out of lots of money. Ironically, he was a good talk-show host, partly because he researched topics for gambling purposes.
He was paroled from prison yesterday, over objections from Ohio prosecutors. Yahoo:
“My advice to anyone coming upon Mr. Schlichter is that they not engage in any business transactions or any purchases or any other transactions that would involve giving him any money,” Franklin County prosecutor Ron O’Brien said, according to the Indianapolis Star. “[He] is a career criminal engaged in fraud as a career. He just cannot help himself. He will do this the rest of his life.”
There is no bigger cautionary tale for zealous gamblers than this guy.
AND NOW. . .
FunMaster Brien sips and cycles.
I am a huge fan of cycling on the bike trail. I try to get out there every weekend. This Saturday there is even more incentive than usual to go for a ride because two of my favorite breweries are joining forces for a fun afternoon of biking.
Fifty West and Cartridge breweries are both situated along the Loveland bike trail and starting at 11 AM they will function as anchor points for their Sip Trip event. You can start at either brewery, grab a passport, and bike along the trail, eventually arriving at the opposite location. This journey is roughly twenty miles, and will require stops at Cappy’s Wine & Spirits in Loveland as well as the newly opened Miamiville Trailyard. If you acquire a stamp in your passport at all four locations, you will receive $1 off pints at each place plus a custom water bottle to commemorate the day.
The breweries also worked together on the new Sip Trip Kolsch, which sounds like a very fine reward after completing these miles. So get out there and have some fun. Hopefully this will become an annual tradition. Tickets are unnecessary – just bring your bike and your unbridled enthusiasm.
I can vouch for all three stops. Cartridge is an especially impressive setting.
Imbiber Dave takes on Indy, one cocktail at a time.
Had a great meeting with some wonderful people again in Indy this week. We share so many of the same restaurants, from The Eagle to Bakersfield. I’d like to suggest that we open a Cincinnati branch of the Union 50 restaurant brand. We had an awesome meal that culminated in one of the best lamb shanks I’ve ever had.
But of course we need to talk about the libations. I’ve been swept up in the Mezcal Old Fashioned craze. The Gilded Gent was a slightly spicy riff on a Oaxacan Old Fashioned with Mezcal Vago. This was superb, with a ton of citrus, light smoke from the Mezcal that almost takes on a scotch like character, and an amazing lightness due to the egg in the cocktail. So this was like an old fashioned and whiskey sour in one.
Once we went down this cocktail path, there was no turning back. It was time for an improved whiskey cocktail. This is a twist on a Sazarac made with Luxardo cherry liquor, and is served in a glass sprayed with an absinthe mister. I always like using a fortified whiskey since it mellows against the sweetness of the other spirits.
It was awesome to see Rhinegeist on every menu, and they’ve even collaborated with Sun King several times in the past. Although I didn’t make it back there this time, I’ll plan to have a more beer centered adventure the next time I’m in town.
Cheers!
cincybeerguydave@gmail.com
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . A little schmaltzy, sure, but I’m not ashamed of loving this tune. I’ll get a new Man Card soon.
