Now, though, “retiring” at the end of the season apparently means “taking the summer off”.  That’s not a damn retirement, it’s a summer vacation.  Am I retiring from my job when I take two weeks off for a trip?  What the hell is the world coming to?  The whole situation is a mess  – Favre, did you see what happened when Michael Jordan “retired”?

The End of American Beer?
The other big news lately is further proceedings in international brewing giant InBev’s desire to take over Anheuser-Busch.  Today’s report basically makes it sound like it’s as good as done.  I’m normally all for the free market and unfettered capitalism; hell, the whole globalization thing is currently biting me in the ass, that’s how it goes.  But come on – an arguable American icon is going to become yet another cog in the European machine?  How did this happen?  There should be some things that are off limits.  What has A-B been doing to allow something like this to happen?

What will the NASCAR fans think when they’re beloved Budweiser might as well be a Becks, St. Pauli Girl, or Labatt’s?

Texas is sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk.

I don’t know what to say.  As Michigan State alumni, we should all be ashamed.  

I still have yet to see a bar where you could just break out in a beer pong game and they’d be ok with it.  Maybe they were just being encouraged to play with water, instead? 

We checked this out this past Friday night. Where’s my “4 thumbs up” icons? Moondogs North is just off of US23, on Ironwood, and I think we’ve found our new hangout – it was a blast! We went for dinner, your usual bar food (burgers, sandwiches, some entrees, etc.). There was also an all-you-can-eat fish fry on Fridays, too, that I almost tried out but opted for a patty melt instead. I’m a sucker for those things. Anyway, the food was good, they had pitchers of beer, and it wasn’t crowded at all until later. There was good background music, and then around 10 a live band started up. It was a fun rock band, playing everything from classic rock and blues to newer tunes. Pitchers, while good sized, came in at just under 7 bucks, so its not necessarily a “cheap beer” place, but I’m not sure if any of those actually exist down here. Dorothy, we’re not in East Lansing anymore. We’ll still have to go back again, though. Finally, a fun hangout close to home!

Friday night we decided to meet and have dinner and drinks at this South Bend incarnation of BW3. It’s b-dubs, right? It’s a known factor, like knowing that a McDonalds pretty much anywhere is going to roughly be the same. And same it was. It was almost identical to the BW3 we’ve known and loved in East Lansing. Except for it being virtually empty the whole night on a Friday(!!). Except for last call being at 12:30 and the place closing down at 1am. Except that they had never heard of a Buffalo Bowl. Except for them not having Red Bull and Jager Bombs being made instead with “Full Throttle” engergy drink. Except for the rent-a-cop marshalling us out exactly at 1. Except for Labatt’s Light not being on tap. We’re not that far south, are we? Except for the Buffalo Zoo being apparently a whole lot stronger than normal. Ok, I guess that one’s a good thing, right? They did have some drink specials, and the food was the usual fare.

Don’t get me wrong, it was definitly a good time, and we should defitely go back for a game or something. It just seemed like this BW3 was more of a sportsbar/restaurant where families can go where they serve beer, instead of the local watering hole. Its funny how they managed to even bastardize b-dubs. It still gets my approval, though, and I can’t wait until the next place in my quest for the greatest hangout in the South Bend area!

Nestled in an outlet center between Outback Steakhouse and a Barnes & Noble is Bleachers Pub & Grub. We went on a Friday night to undwind and celebrate after a long week. Bleachers offers two sides of entertainment – the usual bar pool hall on one side, and karaoke on the other. This isn’t your Crunchy’s “ooo, that looks like fun and I’m drunk, lets try singing crappy 80′s songs” karaoke, either. No, this is your “aarrgghh, I’m so angry at the world and I want to get my death metal voice heard at the bar” karaoke. Aside from occasional country or retro song, the vast majority of the music was by regulars whose main talent was screaming and growling into the mic alongside their favority heavy metal song. But the fact that the people get into it so much makes it all worthwile. They come to drink and sing. I’d have to say that the talent level was at least very good.

Prices were very good as well – we had $4 pitchers of Bud Light, and Jager Bombs were apparently $2 each(!). That is based on an order of one pitcher and two bombs and the total coming to 8 bucks, though $2 for a Jager Bomb seems very nice.

All in all it was a fun little hangout, and I had a good time. It’s only about 2 blocks from our place, so that’s good, too. We’ll have to go back, and maybe next time I’ll actually get up and sing!