Beer for Game 7

Let's hope we don't ever see this again
This has been just about the best month and a half of baseball in years. We saw 2 epic September collapses* including a complete retooling of a successful organization, great playoff series, great playoff games and that epic beast of a sucker punch last night. We've moved beyond a Li'l Smokie Sixth Glass to take the edge off the playoffs, we need something celebratory to watch game 7.


*This Boston Red Sox collapse and subsequent management shakeup has intrigued me not in the slightest because beer appears to be the centerpiece. If you don't know, a lot of the problems the Red Sox had in September was because they had absolutely no starting pitching. It has come out that 3 of the Red Sox's star pitchers (I hesitate to use the word star in relation to the eminently punchable John Lackey) spent their time during games they weren't pitching in playing video games and drinking beer.


The Pop Fly Boys had a little piece about the beer drinking with a take that these guys get to play baseball and have the best seats in the house and they should sit there and cheer on their team. Obviously John has never worked in baseball and doesn't understand that no matter how much fun baseball is it's still a job and pitchers have one of the toughest jobs in sports. Sure they only pitch one out of five days, but each starting pitcher is involved in more at bats in a year than any hitter. Their one day of work is more taxing and strenuous than a week of anyone else's on the team. I don't think that them watching the games glued to the bench does much for them on their day to pitch.When you go to work nearly every day for 7 months and spend half that time away from home, screwing around playing grabass is to be expected.


This has spun into an issue where Major League Baseball might ban beer in the clubhouse. This is just stupid and is all because of puritanical views as a society about demon beer. In my mind and some science, a beer is better for an athlete after a game than Gatorade. The way these guys live where they don't get home until midnight or later after a pretty tough stressful game, a beer or 2 after the game is a great way to unwind and get yourself calmed down so you can get to bed to be able to play the next day.


All of this brings me to a great reason to be a Rays fan other than them keeping the Red Sox out of the playoffs the past 2 years. Joe Maddon, manager of the Rays, calls all of this asinine
"I'm not into knee-jerk reactions," the Rays manager told WEEI.com. "If somebody had all of these wonderful thoughts prior to this happening I may be more on board with it, or more empathetic to it. But all of this knee-jerk stuff that occurs in our game absolutely drives me crazy. If you want to be proactive about some thoughts, go ahead, be proactive and I'm all for that. But to say a grown-up can't have a beer after a game? Give me a break. That is, I'm going to use the word, 'asinine,' because it is. Let's bring the Volstead Act back, OK. Let's go right back to prohibition and start legislating everything all over again. All that stuff pretty much annoys me, as you can tell."
The Red Sox didn't lose in September because their big 3 starting pitchers enjoyed a beer during a couple of games, they lost because their pitching broke down completely in September. If something bad happens, and beer is involved, it does not follow that beer caused the bad thing to happen and I get tired of hearing and reading such things. I think the bigger issue would be those guys were drinking Bud Light. Beer had as much to do with the Braves collapse (the fact that the Cardinals are in game 7 of the World Series makes me hate the Braves even more) as it did the Red Sox, none.

Anyway, all that said, we've got a big game to watch tonight and we need a big beer to drink it with. We don't get a game 7 very often and a game 7 after what has been a pretty great season needs to have a celebration feel to it. That beer should be Great Divide Grand Cru.

Grand Cru has a nice 11% ABV that will get you through any tense situations such as a lead off walk, a bases loaded or an Albert Pujols at bat. It's strong enough that you'll drink it nice and slow like a tumbler of whiskey. It's flavorful enough it will keep your taste buds sated. And it gets better the longer it's out of the refrigerator. It might not last all 4 hours of the game, but it will get you close enough you can use some Sixth Glass Li'l Smokies as relief pitchers. That's why Great Divide Grand Cru is the beer for game 7.

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