YELLOW KNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORY – What’s a guy to do in the middle of July who doesn’t follow baseball? The weather has been absolutely beautiful over an early summer span without a heat spell to speak of, and is keeping things copasetic… despite the sports void. Morning coffee on the patio and early evening cold brews keep the lips wet while watching the grass grow and even a jaunt to Newport, Rhode Island for several days are making for this “summer of Cheese”– so far.
I watched the FIFA World Cup last Sunday in a Newport watering hole called Celtica. A great place to watch a sporting event (even soccer), it boasts about seven flat panel screens to watch a game with smaller screens set in what can only be described as two mini living rooms, complete with small leather sofa chairs and a wooden chest of a coffee table. Our company was able to secure one of the plush areas and the Celtica makes a very good Bloody Mary, which is hard to find these days, if you ask me. The only bummer of the event was the German victory but what a find of an establishment. I’ll be heading to this place when the Boston Bruins make their Stanley Cup run next spring to be among friends of the Spoked B.
Roger Clemens not withstanding, everything apparently is bigger in Texas as the Texas Longhorns supposedly tried to lure Nick Saban away from Alabammie with a $100 Million offer to become the football coach. That kind of scratch could buy a lot of talent across the country to “study” at the university. What even possessed me to check out the MLB standings I don’t know. but among the parity in both leagues is the stench coming from the Lone Star state’s American League duo of the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. Both teams rank (get it?) in the bottom two of all of baseball at a combined thirty-five games under .500 and are 19 1/2 and 21 games out of first place, respectively. When does Cowboys training camp open and might they be destined for the same fate? The answers are July 24th and yes.
The 2014 NFL Hall of Fame class is solid not spectacular. It’s hard to argue with all but one of the names and that player is former Bills WR Andre Reed. Not to bore you with numbers but this guy was a move-the-chains, possession receiver and lacked true home run play capability, was never a perennial 1,000 yard guy who wasn’t a big touchdown producer, either. The Bills teams which annually fell short in the Super Bowls and Playoffs were Thurman Thomas‘s teams on offense first and foremost. Jim Kelly was a nice QB and the same argument applies to him as well. It’s just another case of a HOF transitioning from great players to those who are very good. But not even this debate gets under my skin during the “Summer of Cheese.”
Tune is tomorrow for a mad who bathes in Marie’s Blue Cheese, DJ Eberle.
