Well, I messed up. I had a news post ready to go yesterday morning, and I did everything except hit the Publish button. When you get done reading this post, keep scrolling for day-old news.
Save the date: On Saturday, April 18 from 3 to 7 PM, Wiseacre Brewing Co. will hold their annual Taste the Rarity event. Described as a “weird beer fest for weird people,” this festival will have tastings from different breweries, live music, and food trucks. More details to come, but this is known to be one of the best brewery taproom events in the city, so go ahead and mark that date on your calendar. As soon as the link to buy tickets goes live, I will post it.
The Grizzlies got back to their winning ways last night in Detroit. At 21-24, they are still in 8th place in the Western Conference, holding off San Antonio by half a game. The Grizz are back home tomorrow, Sunday, January 26, with a 5 PM game against the Phoenix Suns. Be one of the first 10,000 in attendance and score a free Grizzlies rally flag.
As for Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers, they will host SMU in a Coaches vs. Cancer Game today at FedExForum at 3. They are looking to get back on track after this week’s blowout loss to Tulsa. Another loss and the Tigers will be on the NCAA bubble. The game will be broadcast on CBSSN.
River Time Market & Deli on Court Square has introduced a new sandwich, The Fourth Bluff.
It’s a roast beef sandwich topped with American cheese, pickles, red onion, and lettuce, with Thousand Island dressing. Think of it as a deli version of a Big Mac. I’m gonna have to give that a try next week.
The Yazoo concert series continues tonight in The Lounge in the Basement of 3rd & Court Diner with Outer Ring and Nettie Parr. Enjoy soulful jazz and Yazoo beer specials.
Bleacher Report has an update on the Andre Iguodala trade wars. It’s too bad that Iggy does not want to play for Memphis now that they are emerging as a possible playoff team, but it’s understandable that he wants to chase one more ring.
Yesterday I took advantage of the Silly Goose’s $10 happy hour pizza special to try one more of the new pizzas on the menu. This is the Fungus Amoungus.
This pie is a celebration of all things mushrooms. It’s topped with a mushroom medley, duxelles, bacon, herbs, and truffle oil.
(On a side note, I used the memory helper “there’s a fundus amundus” to remember one of the parts of the stomach in 12th grade AP Biology class.)
Mushrooms are a polarizing pizza topping – maybe not so much as pineapple, but most people either love them or hate them. I love mushrooms on pizza, so this was fine with me. Delicious, probably my third favorite on the menu after the Louisiana Saturday Night and the pesto shrimp pizza. (Sorry, Big Cheese, you’ve been bumped down to fourth.) But DAMN did it ever give me indigestion! I got in bed at 11:30 and it took me until 1 to get to sleep, then I woke up at 3 and still had it. I even felt it a bit when I rolled out of bed this morning, and had to make a Walgreens run for an emergency Mountain Dew to get me feeling better.
Between losing packages and putting mail in the wrong boxes, the U.S. Postal Service found time to create a St. Jude Forever Stamp.
Animal lovers: There’s a lattes for lorises event going on at Tamp & Tap until 3 today.
Royal Rumble predictions
Tomorrow is the Royal Rumble, the second biggest WWE pay-per-view of the year. The highlights of this pay-per-view are 30-man and 30-women battle royals, the winner of each getting a shot at the champion of their choice at WrestleMania. This year is unusual in that the WWE World Champion, Brock Lesnar, has chosen to enter the men’s Rumble at the number 1 spot to prove his dominance.
Men’s Rumble prediction: Drew McIntyre will eliminate Lesnar, turning face (good guy) in the process. However, McIntyre himself will be eliminated. The winner will be Tomasso Ciampa, who will raise the perception of the NXT brand by challenging its champion, Adam Cole, rather than challenging Lesnar or The Fiend, the Raw and Smackdown champions. With Lesnar coming out of the Rumble without a WrestleMania opponent, McIntyre will be built up for a title match.
For the Iron Man of the Rumble, who lasts the longest and scores the most eliminations, my pick is NXT UK champion WALTER.
Women’s Rumble prediction: Ronda Rousey will make a surprise comeback and win the Rumble. The only question is, will she come back as a face or a heel? If she’s a face, she will challenge Smackdown women’s champ Bayley. If a heel, she will challenge Raw champ Becky Lynch.
Universal Title match: The Fiend will beat Daniel Bryan in some nefarious way (lights going out, someone crawling up into the ring through a hole, etc.) Bryan will offer to put his career on the line for one more title match at WrestleMania.
That’s it for now. Keep scrolling to read the Friday news I forgot to publish. Back tomorrow with more.