White House beer summit recap
The much-anticipated White House beer summit was held yesterday. You can read a report on that here. Some of the highlights:
-Obama went with Bud Light, as had been reported earlier.
-Gates selected Sam Adams Light.
-Crowley had a Blue Moon.
-Biden picked Buckler nonalcoholic.
Obama described the meeting as “friendly” and “thoughtful.” No surprise there. What’s not friendly and thoughtful about beer, right?
From the report:
The men drank from clear glass mugs and munched on peanuts and pretzels served in small silver bowls. Gates and Crowley brought their families to the White House and they toured the East Wing together before they sat down with Obama.
How about some beer in a box?
Who among us hasn’t at one time or another sipped on a little wine from a box? In fact, I can recall some friends back in college whose fridges had nothing but a jar of mayo, a package of sliced ham and box of wine in them. Nothing says “Let’s bring the class of wine down” like wine in a box. But what if we flipped the script, and put beer in a box? Would that bring the class of beer up a level? The Thirsty Beagle says yes indeed! And so I am looking forward to the possible release of MillerCoors “Home Draft.” It’s a 1.5-gallon (16 12-ounce bottles-worth) box of beer. The box will fit in the fridge and stay fresh in the box for 30 days after opening. This sounds like a strong idea to me. Maybe one day you only want 8 ounces of beer? Maybe, like me, you have to worry about your wife opening a beer and only taking two or three sips before letting it get warm and then abandoning it. With the box, problem solved! You can get a few more details by clicking on this audio report from NPR.
Obama has chance for great change; picks Bud Light
It’s the news that’s been dominating the beer world: What kind of beer would President Barack Obama select for his meeting at the White House with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley? Craft brewers waited on pins and needles, hoping the president would perhaps select a micro-brew to highlight an up-
and-coming brewery in the United States. It could have been a truly special moment in American beer history. And why expect less? After all, is Obama not the man behind change you can believe in? So what bold move did the president make? He selected… Bud Light. According to this report, political strategists and marketing experts call the choice of Bud Light “easy” and “non-controversial.”
Said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak: “He’s trying to send a message that he’s an average American and these are two other average Americans. If you complicate that by making an exotic choice, or an import, or too expensive, you can be too cute by half.”
Also from the report:
Anheuser-Busch Cos. President Dave Peacock said the brewer “would be proud if Budweiser, Bud Light or any of our beers are chosen for the White House meeting.”
Julian Green, a spokesman for competing beer-maker MillerCoors, said his company would have preferred the president select Miller Lite.
“But regardless of the pick, it’s good news for our industry that beer will be shared for this light-hearted moment,” Green said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the meeting between the three men will likely be a “very casual affair. There’s no formal agenda other than cold beer.”
I think we can all agree on that point.
Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes: Part 3
Big 12 media days have now come to a close, but The Thirsty Beagle is just getting warmed up. I give you part three of my First Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes. And remember, these are actual quotes from actual coaches:
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder
-”I think they did scissors, rock and paper to determine which of the three of the four were coming.”
Maybe back in the 1920s when you were a kid they called it “Scissors, rock and paper.” Welcome to the new age Billy! Scissors has been demoted to the end of the line.
-”I don’t think there’s a great deal of danger. My doctor says things are on go, says I’m doing OK.”
Recruit: “So coach Snyder, how long do you think you’ll coach this time around?”
Snyder: “Let me call my doctor.”
-”I’ve said so many times, if we can settle the waters, it will have been worth the effort.”
New team slogan: “Kansas State Football: Settling the Waters!”
-”Sharp young guy, handles it quite well. Good person. Enjoy him.”
That’s an order, dammit! Enjoy him!
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach
(On the loss of DE McKinner Dixon) -”I think it will help our team. You know, there is a certain addition by subtraction that exists in football. … So I think it makes us stronger as a team.”
McKinner Dixon permanently ignores Mike Leach on his facebook page.
-”Just a little bit like you telling me the best way to reach the “J” key with your finger or something.”
Those stupid journalists, always trying to correct people’s typing motion.
-”So you don’t want the hands to separate until they’re ready to throw. Elbow stays high. Then they separate here, and it turns out pretty good.”
Leach reveals secret to string of prolific quarterbacks: Just keep your elbow high. It’s really just that easy.
-”And you don’t have anything to look forward to with regard to me and piercing, believe me.”
And that’s for the best.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins
-”Talked to Tim Brando out there this morning a little bit.”
Easy, name dropper. And really, are we supposed to fall apart with excitement over Tim Freaking Brando?
-”Had the greatest semester in the history of Colorado football academically in the spring.”
Greatest. Semester. Ever. Get fired up Buff fans!
-”I think trying to establish this culture of excellence with class is really starting to take place.”
I’m Ron Burgandy. You stay classy Colorado.
-”If you’re not a high-standard guy, you’re a low-standard guy. I just don’t get that.”
What’s to get? Either you’ve got standards or you don’t. Not rocket science.
-”I do think there’s going to be a couple people hanging in the shadows that will help us out a lot.”
I thought college coaches knew they’re supposed to steer clear of those shadowy figures.
Texas coach Mack Brown
-”I mean, you all know about as much as we do.”
Mack: “Did I just say that out loud? Crap.”
-”If we had played better at Tech and won the game, we’d have been better in the conference championship game.”
Better than who? OU? Is that a challenge? I smell a controversy!
-”We need to learn from that and move on, quit talking about the system and just go play.”
But before we play, can I do a couple radio shows to plead our case?
All right people, that brings an end to the First Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes. I hope you enjoyed the first-rate analysis and stellar insight. Now we can get ready for the games. Only one month, six days, 22 hours and eight minutes until kickoff of OSU-Georgia!
Part 2: First Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes
Day two of the Big 12 Football Media Days is in the books, and The Thirsty Beagle is in the books with part two of the Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes. Yesterday we had Nebraska, OSU, Texas A&M and Iowa State. Today’s installment features Missouri, Baylor, OU and Kansas. Here we go!
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel
-”First of all, sorry I’m late.”
Don’t players get kicked off teams for showing up late to too many meetings? Or at least have to run stadium steps? Way to set a good example, coach.
-”Well, first of all, I’m not really into young. I’m not into inexperienced.
Thanks coach, for the TMI. I think some things don’t need to be shared at football media days.
-”Because I think our kids really worked really, really hard.”
Do you really, really, really feel that way?
Baylor coach Art Briles
-”Thoughts on the upcoming season and what else? (Moderator: “Summer.”) Just whatever? Summer. OK.”
Don’t take this too seriously Art.
-”Personally, summer doesn’t hardly exist in the football world.”
Doesn’t that really mean it does exist?
-”Upcoming season, what we have to do is take the little bit of momentum that we felt like we finished up with last year.”
Hey, we’re Baylor. At this point, we’ll take a little bit of momentum. That’s a big step for us!
-”You’re conservatively dressed today for your standards. I’ll give you that. You usually throw a little silk at me.”
Give it up to Art Briles: Not afraid to call out someone for wearing shirts that peaked in popularity in 1992. Plus, maybe that can be a new catch phrase for when Baylor’s getting beat. “Art Briles is getting a little silk thrown at him.”
-”And then we have the chance to have a really solid defense, which you must have, you must have to win our division.”
Whoa there, Art! Win your division? I don’t think Baylor’s move to the MEAC is complete yet.
-”Jason, without argument, is the number one offensive lineman in North America.
Plain and simple, there’s no one better than Jason in Canada or Mexico.
-”Because your dreams, your hopes, your desires, your aspirations, your goals can be accomplished in Waco, Texas.
Look, anyone who’s been to Waco, Texas, knows that statement is just fantastic hyperbole. I’m pretty sure you can’t do any of that in Waco.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops
-”It’s been a great summer, I guess, for me personally.”
Bob Stoops: Not quite exactly sure how his summer went. I guess.
-”But we had a good spring, winter and spring leading up to the summer.”
I always thought Stoops had the refs on the take, but now I know why OU always wins so many games: Stoops has found a way to wrangle the space-time continuum to give his team two springs of practice before each season.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino
-”I said, he’s small. He’s really small. But I like him. And if we can get him, let’s get him. Let’s squeeze him a little bit.”
Kansas recruiting pitch: “You come to Lawrence, we’re gonna squeeze you a little bit. What? That sounds creepy? Forget we said that.”
-”As I said earlier today, the quarterback is the chauffeur. If you don’t have a chauffeur, the car doesn’t move.”
You live a sheltered life, Mark Mangino. Ever heard of hopping in and driving the car yourself?
-”For us to really get where we want this program to be, we have to start winning against teams that are considered the elite teams in the league and beat them, you know, from time to time.”
Way to aim high coach. So how often do you need to beat the elite teams? Once every four games? One out of eight? You know, just from time to time should do the trick.
-”Any of you guys know where the buffet line starts?”
OK, I made that one up. It’s a shameful dig, I know. But that’s a totally reasonable quote, right?
All right, I’ll be back tomorrow with part three. Mack Brown. Mike Leach. Dan Hawkins. “Go play intramurals, brother!” Need I say more?
1st Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes
Welcome to The Thirsty Beagle’s First Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes. Here, I will provide some actual quotes from coaches at Big 12 media days, and provide the type of expert analysis you can only get at TTB. Let’s get this thing started!
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini
-”We’re going to play good defense in Nebraska.”
But we’re going to give up a ton of points when we play on the road.
-”Zac Lee came out in the spring.”
Umm, coach, I don’t think he’s even told his parents yet.
-”First of all, I love our running backs.”
Don’t you think the rest of the team will be a little jealous?
-”I think everybody talks about all the yards that Bradford put up, for instance, at Texas last year.”
Nebraska will be in over their head against Texas when they discover they didn’t game plan for Colt McCoy.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy
-”We have a terrific home schedule of eight home games.”
The Cowboys decided not to play all those road games on their home schedule this year.
-”Obviously, we start out at home, and we play a number of them at home for you.”
For me? Coach, you shouldn’t have!
-”You go on the road, and I think that every coach hopes that that happens.”
Because that usually means you still have a job.
“I don’t think there’s any question he understands defensive football.”
You don’t think? Or are you sure about it? Because that’ s a pretty big difference.
“It’s been interesting our players have played very well.”
It has been interesting, because Gundy really thought they would play terribly.
Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman
-”They’ve had a great winter program, summer, and now — also in the springtime.”
No wonder Texas A&M’s been struggling, their seasonal calendar is way out of whack.
-”As far as this upcoming season is concerned, I feel like we’ve had a very profitable off-season.”
On-field results have been spotty at best, but season tickets sales are going strong!
-”I think the biggest improvement I’ve seen is in the most important room on campus in my mind, is our locker room.”
Finally! Someone admits going to the classroom is not important for college football players!
-”No matter what you did in high school, it doesn’t matter anything anymore.”
Good thing he’s not coaching the players up on grammar and sentence structure.
Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads
-”My vision is developing a championship program and developing a team of winning football. … That vision takes place one day at a time and one season at a time and certainly has no win-loss expectations that are placed upon it.”
Just a tip: Playing winning football usually requires, you know, having more wins than losses. So maybe you should set some parameters for a win-loss record.
-”We’re worried about August 4th, our start of training camp, and the preparation for North Dakota State.”
Team’s new slogan: “Iowa State Football 2009: Let’s not lose to North Dakota State.”
“Iowa State is a job that — falling in love with the bricks and the mortar, as I say, I think is awfully important.”
You better find something to love when you’re 2-10 and one of those wins is against North Dakota State. Or not.
So there you have it. Check back in tomorrow for day two of The Thirsty Beagle’s First Annual Way-Out-of-Context Big 12 Quotes.
Football and beer news, together at last
OK, so they’ve been together for a long time, but that’s not stopping me! So the Big 12 is holding its football media days today, tomorrow and Wednesday in Dallas. The Thirsty Beagle has a question: If a conference holds media days and The Great Tim Tebow doesn’t attend, does anyone really care? Seriously, I once watched Tim Tebow play on television, and my life is truly at least 74 percent better because of it. In fact, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow, and then Tim Tebow and Tim Tebow. OK!!! We all get it! All national and SEC football media love Tim Tebow! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I’m not saying I want Mike Gundy’s hair to catch on fire while he’s at the podium, but let’s all hope something interesting enough happens at Big 12 media days so that every link on ESPN’s football page isn’t about He Who Shall Not Be Named and the near-paralyzing intrigue of the SEC conference.
Meanwhile, in beer news, a lot of interesting stuff is going on:
-President Obama and the police officer and Harvard scholar in the recent arrest controversy might be getting together for a beer at the White House.
-Scottish officials are condemning an 18.2 percent beer, saying the brewers are being irresponsible.
-A Portland, Ore., brewery is fighting a federal government water-quality regulation because it says the move could adversely impact the taste of beer.
-Germans may be tuning out David Hasselhoff, I mean, may be tuning out beer, according to this report. We all know they can’t quit David Hasselhoff.
-And finally, beer sales nosedived during the lead up to July 4, compared to the same period last year. Bad news for beer companies, but good news for you, because “Several industry executives said they predict sharp discounting as the most likely immediate step.”
Beer links
We could all use a good dose of beer news as we head into the weekend, so here are some beer links:
-Workers at a Tampa, Fla., trucking company showed up on a recent morning to find two tractor trailers holding $70,000 worth of beer gone. The cabs of the trucks were later found, but no trailers or beer.
-A model in Malaysia has been sentenced to being whipped with a cane six times after she was seen having a beer in a nightclub. Remind TTB to steer clear of Malaysia.
-Kid Rock’s American Badass Beer debuted last week at concerts in Detroit. The “American-style lager” will apparently be released soon in Texas, and then nationwide next year. I’ll say this: This beer has a pretty lofty name to live up to.
-The beer writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports beer prices are up while the economy is down. The Thirsty Beagle thinks The Oklahoman should have a full-time beer writer, and it should be The Thirsty Beagle.
How long until football season?
Glad you asked. It’s one month, 12 days, 15 hours and 13 minutes until kickoff for OSU-Georgia!
Happy birthday Guinness!
Guinness. It’s dark. It’s frothy. It’s creamy. It’s a beer classic. And this year, the Guinness brewery is celebrating its 250th birthday. Now, Guinness might not be the oldest beer in the world — I think I’ve got a bottle of Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier in my fridge that’s been there for at least 300 years — but Guinness is pretty damn old. The Thirsty Beagle saw a commercial last night advertising this fact, so I decided to pay a tribute to Guinness with a little history report for my readers.
-1725: Arthur Guinness is born.
-1752: Guinness inherits $147 (U.S.) in the will of his godfather.
-1759: Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease for a vacant brewery in Dublin, Ireland, for an initial cost of $147. The brewery starts producing a porter and ale.
-1769: Guinness beer is first shipped to England.
-1775: Arthur Guinness brandishes a pickaxe to fend off local officials who try to block off the river that provides his brewery’s water supply. The dispute is eventually resolved without violence.
-1801: West India Porter is first brewed. The beer is a precursor to modern day Guinness Stout.
-1803: Arthur Guinness dies. His son, Arthur Guinness II, takes over.
-1840: Guinness beer is first sent to New York.
-1862: Guinness’ famous harp label is introduced. It’s registered as a trademark in 1876.
-1914: Fifty percent of all Guinness is sold in the U.S.
-1940: Guinness brewery converts from wooden to metal brewing vessels.
-1963: The last wooden keg is filled at the brewery.
-1985: Guinness is sold in 120 countries.
-2001: The world drinks 2 billion pints of Guinness
-2009: Guinness brewery to celebrate 250th birthday.
You’ll probably see plenty of commercials in the coming months promoting the birthday. If you’ve got time to kill in September, perhaps you can plan to attend the brewery’s birthday party. It’s being called Arthur’s Day, obviously in tribute to the founder, and is planned for Sept. 24 in Dublin.
In the meantime, I think we as beer fans can all agree to raise a pint in honor of the dark, creamy stuff.
