It’s Saturday morning and rain is battering my living room windows as I type this. It’s a wet, wet day and the MemphisWeather.net radar indicates that we are going to get rained on for a while. The weather is going to positively suck for the next week. The polar vortex is making a comeback and MWN forecasts lows in the mid-teens for Wednesday.
There’s a Groupon going on that gamers might want to check out: $10 for a one-month subscription to Loot Crate. I mention this because my “DAWG” John D subscribes to a service like Loot Crate (can’t remember if it’s that one or a similar one) and has been talking in recent weeks about how much he loves it. Every month you get what John D describes as “a gift box for nerds,” filled with video games, T-shirts, and gamer-inspired toys and gear. It’s like getting a birthday present in the mail every month. They won’t tell you in advance what will be in the box, but they will give you hints, often a theme like “Villains” or “Galactic.”
What an exciting fourth quarter in the Alamo Bowl yesterday. With just over 6 minutes left, Pitt was leading Houston 34-13, and I made a comment on Facebook that maybe the Cougars should just give up sports altogether, citing the bowl game and the basketball team’s bad loss to Memphis earlier in the week. Then the Cougars scored a touchdown, made a beautiful onside kick and got the ball back, another touchdown, another onside kick, another touchdown and a two-point conversion to take a 35-34 lead with just under a minute left. They kicked it off again, this time not an onside kick, and Pitt couldn’t do anything with it in the time remaining. The last five minutes of the game will likely go into every coach’s video library to teach how to do onside kicks, and also as a lesson to never give up.
The Tigers take on Tulane at 3 this afternoon in FedExForum. Avery Woodson has really been finding his groove as a 3-point specialist lately and I hope the trend continues today.
A buddy of mine was asking earlier this week about strategy for drinking 200 beers at the Flying Saucer to get his plate. It may be of interest to others, so I’ll share it on the blog: The Value Drinking Index which I invented and named for my friend Gary “Mr. Value Drinking” Smith who has 24 plates at the Saucer. If you look at the beer menu, or on the chalkboard for just-landed beers, you’ll see three facts about each beer: alcohol content, number of ounces, and price. Here’s the formula:
VDI = alcohol content * number of ounces / price
To get the most bang for your buck, drink beers that have a VDI of 15 or higher. There’s a just-landed beer that is 8.9% alcohol, comes in a 15-ounce glass, and costs $6. That’s a VDI of 22.25, indicating that this beer is an excellent value. Unfortunately most of the time, I don’t practice what I preach. My beer of choice at the Saucer is Modelo Especial, at 4.4% alcohol in a 16-ounce glass for $5.50. That’s a VDI of only 12.8, indicating that I am not value drinking when I drink my Mexibeer, I do better when I drink PBR at Bardog, Silly Goose, and Blind Bear, getting 16 ounces of 4.74% beer for $3, for a VDI of just over 25.
The VDI can help you discover value beers that don’t look like value beers. Let’s say there’s an $18 beer at the Saucer, one you would normally dismiss as too damn expensive. But let’s say it’s a 15% ABV beer in a 22-ounce bottle. Its VDI is 18.33, indicating that despite the price it is indeed a value-drinking beer.
One more tip that is specific to the Saucer: Save draft beers for Mondays. Most of them are $3 specials for Pint Nite, causing their VDIs to soar that day of the week. For example, my Modelo Especial becomes a value beer on Monday, its VDI raised to nearly 23 1/2. The other days of the week, work on bottled beers unless there’s just nothing left you like with a 15+ VDI.
Oh, there is one more rule: Drink what you like. That supersedes VDI at the end of the day. I mean, if you buy a $3 bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 at CeCe’s Liquors around the corner from where I live, you’re getting a VDI of 145, but would you really want to drink it? Save that stuff for the bums.
Time to hit Publish and walk in the rain to Panda’s bar at Bardog. At least it’s warm enough to wear shorts. Hopefully a great weekend lies ahead.