Can't hold onto Summer Forever

September is coming to an end. The leaves here are starting to change. Football is in high gear. Baseball is getting their playoffs set. The weather is getting cooler. Flues and colds are going around. Life goes on, the world keeps turning and the seasons change.

It was a good month for my writing. I wrote a lot of articles on beer and my football rankings which are doing better this year. The blog is going in full force. The question now is what will October bring?

Well there will be the weekly football rankings and I will probably snag an article or two to write about. I am working on a new writing venture, but no details yet. I have a lot of volunteer work and events lined up next month. I am also going to a concert. So, there are few things I can blog or write about.

Stick around and see what the blog has in store for Fall. If nothing else there is still some summer beer left to enjoy!

My New Rankings and Tim Tebow

With a weekend full of upsets my rankings were rearranged. First with the Old Ball Coach getting his South Carolina Gamecocks to upset Mississippi on Thursday. They continued on Saturday with Penn State getting shocked by Iowa, California getting crushed by Oregon, Stanford beating Washington, and South Florida besting Florida State.

My rankings can be found here.

Of course Tim Tebow suffered a concussion, don't worry Coach says he will play against LSU. Arguments could be made on either side for keeping Tim Tebow in the game late in the 3rd quarter against Kentucky. However, the safety and well being of the player should come first in deciding to play him against LSU. If Tim is not medically cleared he should not play. Yes the Gators might lose if Tim Tebow doesn't play in Baton Rouge. The Gators might lose if he does play. The Gators could win without Tim Tebow, though LSU likely would be favored. My point is a line needs to be drawn, a persons health now and the future, is more important than a win, a SEC Championship or a National Title.

All About Beer

This blog is for any beer drinker who stumbles across my blog. Recently, I have been writing quite a few articles on different kinds of beers. I enjoy a nice cold beer now and then. Feel free to check these articles out. If I missed your favorite let me know. I am up to trying new beers.



The first beer article I wrote was about "Top Five Mexican Beers." Corona is on my list. However Sol, Dos Equis, Negra Modelo, and more.



The second one is "My Top 10 Pale Ales" includes great Pale Ales from Troegs, Sierra Nevada, Three Floyds Brewery, Deschutes Brewing, Flying Fish Brewery, and Fordham Brewing to name a few.



The third is "My Top 10 Ales" included ales from Troegs, Samuel Adams, Samuel Smith, Fordham , Anchor, Newcastle, Deschutes, and Three Floyds.

My beer articled didn't stop there! My fourth article was "Top 10 Amber Ales" which included selections brewed by Deschutes, Troegs, Bear Republic, Cameron's, Alaskan Brewery, Full Sail Brewery, and Full sail Brewery. Some of the brewery names and beers in these articles have some pretty interesting names.

Covering beers from everywhere. My next article was on China's Top Beers. Snow Beer, Tsingtao, and Yanjing Beer are discussed.

My sixth article came back to the United States where I discussed "The Best Beers from Oregon". Deschutes, Full Sail, Widmer Brothers and Rogue are discussed.

And finally, just in time for Oktoberfest. I wrote an article called "My Top 5 Beers for Oktoberfest." Most are German here. I did include sam Adams due to its ease of availability. However, I did include Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Ayinger and Wolnzacher Marzens.

Cheers! I hope you enjoy these articles.

Latest College Rankings

As my wife would say who is not an avid sports fan "let me guess there was an upset." Well, like every week there is one, or two or three. Notable upsets this year, in week one BYU over Oklahoma. In week two, the Houston Cougars over Oklahoma State was a pretty big upset.

Week three had plenty. The Washington Huskies over USC, FSU over SMU, and Oregon over Utah. Who will be weeks four upset or upsets? I don't know. If I did I would be moving to Las Vegas. Oh well, that is part of the fun of college football. Unless it is one of your favorite teams that gets upset or you are in Vegas betting on that can't lose game.

These upsets are mking it harder to come up with My College Rankings. I did them anyway, you can check them out here. Don't worry they will change again next week.

Just Peter and Paul

It has been a tragic week for celebrities with Patrick Swayze passing away and now Mary Travers passed away. Mary Travers was a member of the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary. The group famous for Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", Pete Seegers "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and covers of "Lemon Tree" and "If I had A Hammer." There most successfull song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" will be the song I will remember them through.

It was a song I probably wore the vinyl out on the LP. Back from the days a turntable was a way of listening not a musical instrument. She was 72, which now a days sames to be a life cut somewhat short. However it isn't 57 like Swayze. Nor, was it 27 like so many other musicians in the past. This week Cancer claimed two celebrities.

When will there be a cure? When will cancer be a forgotten disease?

Football!

Yeah! My fantasy team won their opening match up. A big part of this was Drew Brees! Also thanks to Tom Brady in the last 2:30 minutes or so of the Monday night game. Wow! What a dome back by New England against Buffalo. It looked like the Bills were going to win for sure! Of course my bench did good! Who new Heap would score more fantasy points then Whitten or Owens at Tight End. I guess I should have used Clayton from Dallas as one of my starting wide outs. My running backs are a big weakness. Willie Parker only had one point. Johnson of Kansas City didn't do to well for me. Oh, well it is nice to get a victory.

In the college ranks, there should be a good game on Thursday night as Georgia Tech travels to Miami. My new rankings for this week have been published and they can be seen here.

Dancing in Heaven

The AP is posting actor Patrick Swayze has passed away from cancer. One more celebrity lost this year. He passed away from cancer at the age of 57. Swayze is most rembered for his role in the movie "Dirty Dancing." His second biggest role would probably be in the movie "Ghost" starring opposite Demi Moore. He also starred in several other movies.

I will remember him best from his Saturday Night Life skit with Chris Farley. In the SNL Patrick Swayze and the heavy set Chris Farley are trying out to become a Chippendale dancer.

He battled pancreatic cancer for 20 months. He supposedly died peacefully according to reports. At least he died peacefully and he won't have to suffer.

9.11

The last two years I have wrote about 9/11 this year I do the same. I was a guest speaker in Silver Spring, Maryland today for an organization for whom I volunteered. I know today was a day of in service, but I had signed up to do this speak not based on that. I do a lot off volunteering, which means I get to be apart of some very worthwhile organizations.

I am rambling though. On 9.11 I was working a short distance from the pentagon where a plane had crashed. I had some car problems and I had taken the day off. So, I missed the chaos. I was living in Hagerstown, Maryland at the time. In reality I was probably about half way between the Pentagon and where the other plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. The thing about 9.11 for me that will always stay on my mind was the god awful stench in the air in the predawn hours of 9.12. That stench was the stench from the crash. I worked closed enough to smell it.

I started this blog about me volunteering. Volunteers are among the heroes of 9/11. Citizens volunteered to give blood. Firefighters tried to rescue people and put out fires. Police tried to rescue people. I am sure I am missing other organizations. I want to thank everyone who volunteered for their efforts on that day. I hope everyone remembers 9.11 and it is never forgotten. Feel free to search my other blogs about 9.11

My Latest College Football Rankings Are Up

I have to say I really enjoyed ESPN360.com this extended weekend. I was able to watch a lot of football due to it. I watch Georgia at Oklahoma State. I watched Charleston Southern at Florida. Parts of the Maryland at California game. Then I just finished watching the thrilling Miami at FSU game. Yes football is back and I got to watch some games. Anybody know where I can watch some NFL games online let me know as am sure I will be online following my fantasy team.

Anyway I have my second college football rankings of the season published. You can see the rankings here. The teams moved around quite a bit compared to my first rankings. Oklahoma falling to BYU. The outcomes of the Virginia Tech-Alabama game, and the scares Ohio State and Iowa were some of the reasons. In just a couple of days week 2 will start with Georgia Tech and Clemson on tap for Thursday.

The NFL kicks off Thursday as well with the Tennessee Titans visiting the Super Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. I am ready for some football.

Beau Torbert Wrap Up

Beau Torbert was named player of the week for the final week of the American Association season. Here is a link to the article. Beau batted .400 for the week. Congratulations to Beau on the award and the strong finish.

Beau finished 3rd in the league in batting hitting .346 and second in the league with a .538 slugging percentage. The Sioux Falls Canaries finished 40-56 for the season. Beau played in 65 games. Beau led the team in batting average, slugging, triples and home runs.

Torbert batted .346 with 12 home runs 60 runs driven in and scored 35 runs. I will try to keep everyone posted with Beau news in the off season.

Football Starts Tonight

The college football season starts tonight! I am getting ready for the NFL season which starts next week. Last night the Fantasy League which I play on had their draft. So, I am ready to kick things off...

College football has Utah State at #19 Utah(15 in my rankings) and #16 Oregon(18 my rankings) at #14 Boise State(17 in my rankings). Sounds like a great way to get the season started with more games coming up!

The fantasy league I play on is run by a college sports reporter who interned at XM sports. I think I have pretty good team. My teams strength is quarterback, the league plays 2 and I have Drew Brees and Tom Brady as my starters. I also added Chad Pennington for my bench. Oh, well I will review more of my fantasy league as we get closer to the regular season kickoff.

Talking about the NFL, the NFL has a bunch of preseason games on tap tonight. It is also a slow night in baseball, so enjoy.