Beer and football XI — week five (bye)

The game: Broncos at Patriots Unscheduled bye The beer: Simpler Times Lager The knockout: Cowboys win, 37–34 The commentary: In other words, the coronavirus defeated hubris and covered the spread by a mile. Simpler times are fading fast. Maybe the Pats and Titans should face off every week and pull in other teams (the Falcons?) […]

Beer and football XI — week four

The game: Patriots at Chiefs The beer: Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue Pale Ale The result: Loss, 26–10 The knockout: Rams win, 17–9 The commentary: At what point did a slow-news Thursday turn the corner? It’s as if my throwaway observation that Trump “might drop dead just for the ratings” challenged his team to declare “Ratings? […]

Beer and football XI — week three

The game: Raiders at Patriots The beer: True North Black Is Beautiful Imperial Stout The result: Win, 36–20 The knockout: Colts win, 36–7 The commentary: “It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise.” […]

Beer and football XI — week two

The game: Patriots at Seahawks The beer: Night Shift Whirlpool Pale Ale The result: Loss, 35–30 The knockout: Titans win, 33–30 The commentary: Undefeated season? I won’t rule it out! Meet the new boss, folks, because this is the team’s most impressive season-opening win-streak in years, as Cam Newton distributes regret evenly across half the […]

You gotta have fear in your heart

Welcome back to May, dear friend and reader! Is this better? Are you again comfortable? Are you even there? Welcome, also, to another round of Remember When? as I parse my own archives. Last year’s Volume 10 was that in spades, compiling a Best of Me on the way to six thousand more words. I […]