Monday's Musing on Sports - Tip Your Cap to Pop

This past motzei shabbos, I turned on my computer and saw that the St Louis Cardinals had won the World Series on Friday night. From all reports, it seems that the final game was anticlimactic as the true drama played out in Thursday night's game six.

Although I was aware of the final score of Thursday night's game and the multiple times that the Cardinals crawled back from the brink of elimination, there was a story that I only first became aware of Saturday night. At the end of Thursday night's game, just after 12:30 Friday morning on the east coast, St. Louis Cardinals Third Baseman David Freese hit a walk off home run. In so doing, the Cardinals earned the right to host a game 7 and the baseball season continued for one more day. However, the call of the home run by Joe Buck made the event ever more special.

There are some announcers who when I hear them speak, even about mundane topics, I am immediately reminded of their signature sports. For many years, Pat Summerall, John Madden (on TV) and Howard David (on the radio) meant football to me. Similarly, Marv Albert and John Davidson (on TV) and Mike "Doc" Emeric (on radio) made me think hockey.

But no sport has announcers like baseball - legends like Tim McCarver, Vin Scully and Mel Allen narrarating This Week in Baseball, were the voices of my childhood, be it TV on a Sunday afternoon or listening under the covers on a school night.

While many sportscasters tried to bridge from one sport to another, quite a few failed miserably and sounded completely out of their element. But there were a precious few who could be at home in many sports such as Al Michaels and the late Jack Buck, who both rank among my all time favorites.

In the late 90s, I became aware that Joe Buck (son of Jack) had begun to call baseball games. While his voice at times can be monotone like, his descriptions of the games, much like his late father are pure magic. I can remember a beer commercial that aired a number of years where Joe Buck is sitting in a bar, talking sports and people come up to him to tell him their memories of sport. The commercial has a sports game audio on in the background and you can hear the late Jack Buck's call of the game. If anyone can find a link to the commercial available online, please email me or post it as a comment.

Which brings me to the end of Thursday night's game. As the game ended on Freese's extra inning home run, Joe Buck intoned the words "we will see you, tomorrow night." This was a tribute to his father's call of the end of the Minnesota Twins - Atlanta Braves game twenty years and one day earlier where he called Kevin Mitchell's home run and announced "and we'll see you, tomorrow night." [For a great video comparing the two calls and mixing father and son, click here - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Video-Buck-8217-s-8216-We-will-see-you-tomor?urn=mlb-wp25699 ]

Many people are lucky enough to go into a profession where their parent or parents have earned a reputation of greatness. Some succeed in the field because of the head start that they received from their parents, while others fail because they cannot live up to the parental legacy. Whether or not Joe Buck will ever be Jack Buck is still in doubt, but his tribute was touching and in the words of Mrs KB - ma'asei avos siman l'banim.

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Sunday Night Suds - Leinenkugel Oktoberfest

As mentioned in the October 9, 2011 SNS which reviewed Shiner's Oktoberfest (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/10/sunday-night-suds-shiner-oktoberfest.html), over the course of the three plus years that I have been blogging KB, I have had the pleasure and/or the privilege or perhaps just the pride to blog on various Oktoberfest beers such as Brooklyn Brewery's in October 2008 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/10/sunday-night-suds-brooklyn-brewery.html); Saranac Brewery's in October 2009 (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-night-suds-saranac-octoberfest.html); New Belgium's Hoptober Golden Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/09/sunday-night-suds-new-belgium-hoptober.html) and Joseph's Brau's Oktoberfest in 2010(http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/10/sunday-night-suds-josephs-brau_31.html).

As the calendar is telling me that October is nearing its conclusion, there is time for just one last Oktoberfest review - Leinenkugel's Marzen Oktoberfest.

The Leinenkugel version of Oktobefest is unlike many other beers of this variety. The beer poured a very light orange with a small amount of foam. The malts in the Oktoberfest were prevalent, but there was very little else to the beer. The beer lacked any whisper of hops and had very little body. I guess that if there was a light version of Oktoberfest, this would qualify, but the brew is not even true to this moniker either. The Leinenkugel Oktoberfest has 170 calories and is 5.1 %abv, so it truly would not qualify as a light beer, but it seems like they just removed the taste from the beer and left the calories and alcohol.

I tried the Leinenkugel Oktoberfest with sushi and (Mrs KB made) Chinese food and the beer was simply not strong enough to stand up to these mild flavors. By this I mean, the alcohol and malt came through the food, but there was no melding of the beer with the various flavors of the food.

Leinenkugel Oktoberfest is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, although the product currently in the marketplace does not yet have an OU on the label. If you would like a copy of the LOC please contact me via email.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Leinenkugel Oktoberfest, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/710/5757.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Noach

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Bereishis 9:5, Hashem instructs the world as to laws against murder. In so doing, the Torah writes "V'ach es dimchem l'nafshoseichem edrosh, m'yad kol chaya edreshenu, oom'yad ha'adam, m'yad ish achiv, edrosh es nefesh ha'adam." [The translation of the pasuk into English lessens the meaning of the pasuk as some of the more important words do not translate into English properly, as such I will leave it in the Hebrew for the purpose of this vort].

R' Frand quoted the sefer HaKisav v'Hakabalah to explain a seeming redundancy in the pasuk. He noted that although the sefer was written several hundred years ago, the more things change the more they stay the same.

When reading the pasuk it appears to state twice in the second half of the pasuk that if a man kills another man, Hashem will seek to punish the killer. However on closer inspection, the language of the pasuk changes slightly as it uses both the term ish and adam for man. The author of the sefer explains that it appears to him that there are two types of killing. One person kills because he hates the victim or seeks to benefit from the death of the victim. The second person kills to help the victim, as for example when the victim is suffering with some form of grave physical or mental illness.

Both of the above scenarios are seen in the pasuk. The Torah uses the term "adam" which is the lowest form of man in Hebrew. However the pasuk also states that Hashem will punish an ish (a higher form of man) who kills his brother. The sefer explains that even one who kills his brother to save him from misery or suffering, is viewed as a murderer.

R' Frand then told a personal story about his mother o'h who at the end of her life was suffering with Parkinson's disease and also had a heart condition. When they went to see a cardiologist about putting in a pacemaker, the doctor told them that "he would not do this to his mother." However, R' Frand did not listen to the cardiologist as Judaism favors life over social engineering.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Rex, Norv and Video, or why LH is relevant

An interesting side note to this Sunday's NY Jets - San Diego Chargers game was the press coverage of NY Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan's interaction with San Diego Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner.

Last week, a reporter asked Rex Ryan whether he would have been more successful with the Chargers team than Norv Turner has been. Ryan responded that he would have won a few championships, but this was said in jest. The story made its way back to Turner who remarked something to the effect of - how many championships has Rex won with the Jets?

The "back story" to the dueling media barbs is quite interesting. Ryan had been considered for the San Diego head coaching position before it was given to Turner in 2007. After becoming head coach, Turner took the Chargers to the playoffs three times, but was unable to get his team to the Super Bowl. [Meanwhile, Ryan would wait another two years before getting the Jets job]. This continued a pattern of playoff ineptitude as the Chargers of the 2000s often won their division but never tasted playoff success. Much like previous HC Marty Schottenheimer, the Chargers fans blamed Turner for their team's failure to reach the big game.

Another interesting angle to the story is that Turner and Ryan are good friends and have been for some time. The answer that Rex gave was most likely Rex being Rex, but it apparently opened old wounds for Turner.

When Ryan and Turner met on Sunday prior to the start of the game, Ryan gave Turner a bear hug and the two seemed to have "made up." However, the damage was already done as Ryan's jest had exposed Turner to old criticism.

The Ryan and Turner story made me think of the rhyme we used to sing as children - "loshon harah lamed heh, go to hell the easy way." The Torah's prohibition of loshon harah bars a person from speaking about another, be it positive or negative. Unlike the trite expression - "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it", loshon harah bars all speech about another, except under certain limited circumstances.

Had Ryan simply refused to comment about his friend Norv Turner, the story never would have gotten off the ground. Indeed, under the rules of loshon harah, Ryan should not have given his thoughts about Turner. However, Ryan needed to be funny (or perhaps wanted to deflect attention from his team) and he answered the question in a way which wounded his friend.

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Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed - Vol V

This week's Sunday Night Suds takes a final look at the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed series and reviews the Zeus variety.

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), the August 14, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Simcoe (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/08/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), the September 11, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - East Kent Goldings (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html) and the October 3, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Ahtanum (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/10/belated-sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams.html), one of the best new IPAs introduced during the last few years is the Samuel Adams Latitude 48. The name of the beer draws from the five types of hops used in the brew process which all grow along the 48th latitude within the "hop belt" of the Northern Hemisphere. Earlier this year, Samuel Adams introduced its limited edition Deconstructed Box which features beers brewed with just one of the five hop varieties used in the Latitude 48.

For this week's post I sampled the Zeus version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that the Zeus hops grow in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. The label further provides that the Zeus hops "contribute bitterness and an intense, pungent resinous pine flavor." The label further states that brew "leans strongly toward the hop character, but is softened by the malt's sweetness."

I tried the Latitude 48 Zeus on its own in a Samuel Adams tulip glass that I purchased at the Samuel Adams brewery a few years ago. I did not have this with dinner so the review is based solely as a stand alone brew.

The beer poured a rich copper with a fair amount of lacing that coated more than half the glass. The hop flavor was quite intense, even a little too intense for me. I did not find that the hops were balanced by any malts. I guess that you could say that the pine/resin is prominent but since the beer lacks balance it just stays bitter without any redeeming qualities.

In grade school our teachers ingrained the concept - acharon, acharon, chaviv - last is the best. Having tried the Latitude 48 which combined all the hops and the various single hops versions, I can honestly say that this version which I tried last was the poorest effort from Sam Adams. Oh well, even a solid brewery can have a skunky brew once in a while.

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Zeus is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this version of Latitude 48, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/68403.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Monday's Musings on Sports - There's Always A Choice

In the days leading up to tonight's Monday Night Football game, there was an interesting story which broke about Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall. Marshall is a highly talented and yet high strung athlete who essentially forced his way out of Denver due to his antics. Since leaving the Broncos, Marshall has never regained in his All Pro form. This could be in part due to: (1) his having a better quality QB in Denver; (2) Denver being a better run organization than the train wreck Miami Dolphins or (3) Marshall's overall inability to focus on being part of a team.

This season, Marshall had been having what could best be described as (for him) a sub-average season. Plagued by drops and an inability to score when it counts, Marshall became frustrated with the state of the 0-4 Dolphins. As such, Marshall informed a number of reporters that tonight he planned on having a big game for the first quarter and a half and that he intended to do something to get ejected from the game in the second quarter. What Marshall intended to do and why he was planning this was not revealed. However, Marshall was outspoken that something would occur.

[Ed Note - I write this post with the game not yet decided. As such, I am unaware of whether Marshall has or has not followed through on his threat].

Given that Marshall is easily the most talented WR on the Dolphins, one has to wonder whether Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano had a sit down with Marshall to perhaps talk some sense into him. Indeed, Sparano himself is coaching for his job as the Dolphins have been regressing under his watch. I could imagine the conversation going something like - Brandon you don't need to make a spectacle out of yourself just to make a point. If you get thrown out of the game you could be suspended by the NFL without pay. You have a choice to prove your worth on the field instead of being thrown off of it.

The Brandon Marshall saga made me think about a story I heard in a R' Zev Cohen derasha over sukkos. R' Cohen told a story which he heard from a Rabbi who is the brother of R' Paysach Krohn (I can't recall the brother's first name). R' Krohn had been called to go to Israel to talk to a boy who was considering leaving orthodoxy. Together, R' Krohn and the boy went to see R' Grossman. The boy told R' Grossman that he had been having doubts and was considering going off. R' Grossman responded to the boy with the following story:

A number of years prior, R' Grossman had traveled to a city in Israel with his family. After Friday Night dinner, R' Grossman went for a walk with his son. They passed a disco where Israeli boys and girls were dancing. The boy who at the time was 12 became very upset. He said to his father - we need to tell the mayor. R' Grossman tried to dissuade the boy, but was unsuccessful. So at midnight the two went to knock on the door of the mayor's home.

When the mayor eventually came to the door he was quite upset. The boy responded to him - Mr. Mayor there is a fire. The mayor asked where it was and the boy said that there is a spiritual fire. The mayor became enraged and began to berate both R' Grossman and his son until the mayor's wife came downstairs. She recognized R' Grossmam and said to the mayor - don't you know who this is? Its the famous R' Grossman.

The mayor calmed down and began to tell R' Grossman his story. He explained that he had been raised in a frum home and had gone off the path. He had two children, a daughter who married a non-Jewish boy and wanted nothing to do with the mayor. His son went to play soccer overseas and was involved in a serious injury which resulted in an amputation. The son would not speak to the mayor as he was upset that the mayor was not there for the surgery.

The mayor concluded - my siblings have stayed frum and I am envious of the weddings and bar mitzvas they make. I wonder what would have happened if I stayed frum.

R' Grossman then turned to the boy and said - I am a great grandfather with more than a hundred grandchildren - all frum. You have a choice in front of you to follow the path or to chart your own course away from religion. Which end result would you prefer?

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