The beer: Montauk Session India Pale Ale The commentary: “Bitter? Nah.” A little, actually. We almost missed training camp and that would have been a shame. The Patriots only release the open-to-the-public portion of the schedule a few dates at a time with little notice (shocker) and the lack of joint sessions with another team […]
The game: Patriots vs. Eagles The beer: Collective Arts Stranger Than Fiction Porter The result: Fuuuuuuck The commentary: There I was, chain-drinking bombers with the first setting up a presumed—upon winning—deep dive into socialized literature. Said plans, though, were scrapped early when our defense declared “No more!” So what better time to revisit a Super […]
The beer: Great Divide Hibernation English-Style Old Ale The commentary: An excerpt from the—by god—forthcoming “Don’t gimme no affliction: 25 years of ‘Moonlight on Vermont’ and other bush recordings.” During the summer of 1993, which fell between my freshman and sophomore years of college and would prove to be the final extended stretch of time […]
The game: Jaguars at Patriots The beer: Gun Hill Void of Light Foreign Style Stout The result: Win, 24–20 The commentary: Complacency is a bitch but also a defense mechanism and that’s how a fourth-quarter, two-score deficit keeps the terror-sweat at bay, however barely. You’ve got it good when your six-year-old declares with certainty—in the […]
The game: Titans at Patriots The beer: Mayflower Oatmeal Stout The result: Win, 35–14 The commentary: I would never have read Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry were it not for the Ladies. From the book club’s first meeting—back when the Pats had won a game more than it lost—and nominations were flying […]
Updated: January 1, 2019 Continuing, for some reason, to chronicle every book and short story I’ve read since The Lord of the Rings last spring. Part 1 (2017) | “Selected readings from the Old Lady Book Club” Critical remarks are avoided… Rereads coopt the register mark… “Library Book Club” selections are noted in red to represent the […]
The beer: Maine Mean Old Tom Stout The commentary: In honor of the MBTA refusing to look forward—with excuse-ridden complaints of “last week’s historic tidal surge” delaying and outright canceling countless commuter trains ever since—and also of Commissioner Rico finally paying out, here is the closing set of knockout-pool statistics that interest only me… and […]
The game: Jets at Patriots The beer: Down the Road Wolfgeist Dunkel Lager The result: Win, 26–6; Lions win, 35–11; Jarrod/Dan/Katie/Oren win, 4–53 The commentary: With apologies to Commissioner Rico, we knockout-pool participants who remain after seventeen regular-season weeks of entertainment—Dan, Katie, Asterisk Oren and myself—have copped out and agreed to split the dough four […]
The game: Bills at Patriots The beer: Two Roads Holiday Ale The result: Win, 37–16; Ravens win, 23–16; Ben wins, 5–2–1 The commentary: Completing last week’s poem: Wine before beer… Death, I fear! Wednesday was not so clean, as happens to the best of us in weaker moments. Weak, like Paul and Undefeated Tim trusting […]
The game: Patriots at Steelers The beer: Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale The result: Win, 27–24; Jaguars win, 45–7 The commentary: Survivor’s Jeff Probst, wisest of the wise, laid on the tribal-council empathy last week and—moments before Devon incomprehensibly voted out his lone ally, positioning Ben as his future destroyer instead of a possible swing […]
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