Saturday update

My Bardog buddy Shrek is a man of strong opinions. One of those opinions is about soccer. “Is soccer even a real sport?” he asked this week. “People run up and down a field for 90 minutes and no one ever scores any points.”

I don’t know that I agree with Shrek, but the draw the USMNT had against England yesterday kind of supports his argument. It was absolutely boring. 0-0 or nil-nil as soccer fans say. Then again, drawing with possibly the best team in the world is a strong accomplishment. USA’s goalkeeper was a badass in that match.

I was a bit surprised yesterday when Bardog turned on the sound for yesterday’s match, a directive I heard came straight from Aldo. Normally his stance is “we’re not a sports bar,” although he’ll make exceptions for truly big games like the Super Bowl. I guess either Aldo is a soccer fan or he was afraid he’d lose business to The Brass Door a short walk away.

Next up: USA vs. Iran Tuesday at 1 PM. I plan to be back at Bardog for that one.

Know what makes me sad? There are going to be a lot of people who say “We’re playing terrorists Tuesday.” When I worked in computer support at the University of Memphis, I had both a boss and an employee I supervised who were Iranian. They were both great to work with. When I taught math at the university, two of my best and funniest students were Iranian. Don’t judge individuals just because their country of origin’s government sucks.

Speaking of the U of M, they rebounded (in both senses of the word) nicely to put away Nebraska 73-61 in the ESPN Events Invitational yesterday. Next up: vs. Stanford in the Tigers’ final game of the Invitational at 10 AM Sunday. Any bars gonna open early for that one? TV will be ESPNU.

As for the Grizzlies, they whooped dat ass on the New Orleans Pelicans last night, 132-111. Next up: A visit to the NY Knicks at 5 PM Sunday.

Today is Small Business Saturday. I recommend

Rain is likely after 3 this afternoon into the evening hours. At least it will be mild for this time of year with highs in the 60s and lows in the 50s.

DJ Bizzle Bluebland plays Wiseacre Downtown tonight at 8.

There’s an acrylic pour painting class today at South Main Artspace Lofts today at 2.

NutRemix, a modern version of the ballet The Nutcracker set on Beale Street, will be performed at the Cannon Center today and tomorrow.

I found a link where you can order that 4-in-1 piecake I had for Thanksgiving (pecan pie, pumpkin pie, spice cake, apple pie). See yesterday’s post for a photo.

Let’s have a little fun. Bardog usually runs 4 specials for Saturday brunch and they’re usually pretty predictable. Let’s see if I can guess today’s specials 3 hours in advance:

  • Blueberry or Strawberry Pancakes
  • Chicken-N-Waffles (spelled EXACTLY that way on the special board)
  • Grilled or Fried Pork Chop
  • Blackened Snapper

(keep in mind these are GUESSES. Over/under is I get 2.5 right.)

That’s it! It’s a rare Saturday when I hit the Publish button before 10 AM. Back tomorrow.