Grateful Gooner

Giants 31 – 26 Patriots

// August 31st, 2006 // No Comments » // New York Giants

Another game with no national TV coverage, so this post game report comes once again from the the pros from Giants.com:

The Giants gave their fans who believe in omens a present last night when they concluded their preseason with a 31-16 victory over the New England Patriots.

The triumph completed a perfect 4-0 preseason for the defending NFC East champions. The last time the Giants were unbeaten in preseason play was 1990 – which is also the last time they won the Super Bowl. This Giants team will begin its quest to reach Super Bowl XXI in Miami a week from Sunday when they host the Indianapolis Colts.

“It’s good to get the preseason over with and try to get started on the real season and get started on our goals – our quest to get to Miami this year,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said.

For now, the Giants will enjoy their perfect summer and the exploits of several individual players. At the top of that list is second-year running back Brandon Jacobs, who ran wild all night. Jacobs rushed for 130 yards on 15 carries and touchdowns on runs of 57 and two yards. The bruising 6-4, 264-pound back not only ran over defenders, he ran around them and sped past them.

“He (was) phenomenal,” Tiki Barber said of Jacobs. “He got an opportunity, because I knew I wasn’t going to play a lot. He was prepared to take the entire load and he showed that he is capable. A couple people criticized him by saying he was only playing against second teamers before. A lot of that of that first half was against their first-team defense and he excelled I feel good about him being my backup.”

Rookie running back James Sims scored a touchdown on a three-yard run and Tim Hasselbeck threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Darcy Johnson in the fourth quarter. Jay Feely kicked a 29-yard field goal and also had a 51-yard attempt blocked.

For the Patroits, Heath Evans scored a touchdown and rookie Stephen Gostkowski kicked field goals of 29, 54 and 25 yard

Happy Birthday Dad!

// August 30th, 2006 // No Comments » // Adventure

Have a great day!

“Modern Times” – Bob Dylan

// August 29th, 2006 // No Comments » // Music

Picked up the latest release by Bob Dylan – his 44th – over lunch today. I’ve just finished listening to it a third time. I have to say, it ranks up there with some of Zimmy’s best material. The album starts out with “Thunder On The Mountain”, a rollicking six minutes that harkens back to Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. That feeling is present in three other tracks: “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”, “Someday Baby”, and “The Levee’s Gonna Break.”

“When The Deal Goes Down” is a waltz in the most traditional sense, while “Spirit On The Water” is an out and out love song, and “Beyond The Horizon” recalls classic country. “Nettie Moore” is the only song on the album that hints at Bob’s beginnings, sounding very much like an old folk song. “Ain’t Talkin’”, the final track, tempers what through the first nine tracks has been a relatively upbeat and positive tone throughout the album. “Ain’t Talkin’” is this Modern Time’s “Desolation Row.”

My favorite track on the album, “Workingman’s Blues #2″, is the “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” of this album, and the only other track that comes close to “Ain’t Talkin’” in terms of pure lyrical power. That’s not to say that the other tracks are lacking -they’re not, it’s just that “Talkin’” and “Blues” are just that good.

Maybe in the not too distant future, we’ll look back and find that the trifecta of Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft and Modern Times ranks right up there with that of Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde, but until then, I’ll take this latest installement for what it is; a masterpiece from a true American legend.

5/5

A Treat at Dogfish Head

// August 28th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Adventure

Had dinner on Saturday night at Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, DE. I’ve had many of Dogfish’s brews, including both the 60 and 90 minute IPAs, along with others such as Raison D’Etre, Aprihop, Punkin Ale, World Wide Stout, and, most recently, thanks to a birthday present from Debi, the Zwaanend’ale. Having only been to the brew pub several years ago, I’ve never had any of the “brew pub exclusives”, and so, I took advantage of the situation on Saturday night.

The first of these exclusives that I tried was the “Red & White”. Dogfish’s site describes it as:

‘White’ beer in a ‘red’ barrel.

Red & White is a 12% abv Belgian-style Wit beer (hence the ‘white’). It was brewed with the rinds of over 60 tangelos and freshly ground coriander.

Traditionally, Wit is a pale golden wheat beer. It is tart and refreshing. This style of ale is thick with yeast sediment and has a high level of carbon dioxide. Wheat and barley malt make up the base of this tasty beer. Because Wit is unfiltered, it’s no surprise that it bares some resemblance to German HefeWiesse. The greatest different between Wit and its German cousin is the addition of spices, classically coriander and bitter Curacao orange peel.

At the Rehoboth brewpub, Mike & Kati (our crack brewing team) mixed things up a bit (shocker!), in our Dogfish version of this classic style we added our Off-Centered approach&

* Ours is a Wit Wine because has 12% Alcohol by Volume.
* We ground coriander ourselves, minutes before added it to the kettle, to maximum the potent aroma compounds in this exotic spice.
* We peeled over 70 Tangelos and Clementines by hand and used their rinds to flavor this brew.
* Hallertau and Sterling Hops accentuate both the spice and the fruit with 35 International Bittering Units.
* After fermentation, this delicious ale gained a slightly rosy hue from aging 2 months in 4 year old Washington State Pinot Noir French Oak Barrels (hence, the Red!).

I felt this beer was a bit harsh in taste. Now, I love spicier stuff like La Chouffe, and hoppy stuff like Victory’s Hop Whallop, but for some reason, I just wasn’t digging on this beer.

To my surprise, the opposite was true of its’ cousin “Black & Blue”. This beer was different than beers I usually like – it was fruity! However, it was an excellent beer. Dogfish describe it as:

Black and Blue

A Belgian-y thingy dosed with black and blueberries day after day during primary fermentation. The dark fruit is comlemented by spicy Hallertau & Sterling hops.

Black & Blue is golden Belgian Ale made with over 300 lbs of fresh blackberries and blueberries. With a deep purple full body and a long-lasting lacy pink head, this ale is both attractive and delicious! It is tart and fruity, like our brewers! The subtle bitterness of Hallertau and Saaz hops shines through the fruit forward flavor and sets the palate aglow. (30 IBUs). Weighing in at 12% ABV this tasty brew has smooth but noticeable alcohol warmth. Belgium yeast gives this brew a characteristically dry spicy finish. The beautiful interplay of fruit, spice, and alcohol is complimented by a soft malt profile, and a high level of carbonation.

I went with the 90 Minute IPA to go along with my buffalo chicken pizza for dinner, and topped everything off with Dogfish Head Beach Beer, which is the excellent in-house birch beer

Sherri started off with the Punkin, which she absolutely loved – having two before ending up with the 90 as well.

Favorite beer of the night – the Black & Blue. Too bad I couldn’t get it growlered!

Man City 1 – 0 Arsenal

// August 27th, 2006 // No Comments » // Arsenal FC

Well, they got it out of the way early. Another pathetic display in Lancashire sees Arsenal lose their first match of the season, this time to a Manchester City team that, at kickoff, was 20th in the league.

It was another frustrating match in that the Gunners maintained a massive 70% advantage in possession, but again did not take their chances.

So, 17th place heading into the international break. I have to tell you – I think FIFA needs to get their heads’ out of their asses. The season’s just started and now we have the team splitting up for 10 days or so. Moronic.

Giants 13 – 7 Jets

// August 26th, 2006 // No Comments » // New York Giants

No national TV coverage of this one last night, so I’ll let the the pros from Giants.com tell you what happened:

The Giants will get no style points for their performance in Friday night’s preseason game against the Jets. But more importantly, the starting defense allowed no opponent points for the second week in a row. The result was a 13-7 victory and their first 3-0 preseason start since 1995. Brandon Jacobs scored a touchdown for the third week in a row and Jay Feely kicked field goals of 39 and 34 yards for the Giants.