The Las Vegas Blog Post

Introducing the first-ever Sportygrrl Las Vegas awards. A ceremony that chronicles our wonderful stay in the real city that never sleeps.

Best place in Las Vegas to get anything you could ever want on your burger from lobster meat to black truffles to fried egg: The Burger Bar (earlier during the awards ceremony, The Burger Bar also won for best selection of imported beers). This restaurant was located in Mandalay Place, not Mandalay Bay which is a little confusing at first, but it is worth the search.

Best place in Las Vegas to see a re-creation of King Tut's Tomb: The King Tut Museum located inside the Luxor Casino. This award could also be re-named: Best place to visit once you have realized you are lost inside the Luxor and can't find your way out of the casino area.

Best place in Las Vegas to watch Beer Pong after midnight: O'Sheas Casino. They actually advertise the authentic beer pong tables they have in the back of the casino. This place resembles a bar from 1982 more than a casino, which is part of it's charm.

Best place in Las Vegas to use a public bathroom: The Venetian. On our long trek down the strip at 3 a.m., it was nice to know you could stop inside a public bathroom with gold trim and private rooms to take a pee break.

Best place in Las Vegas to sit in front of a firepit and eat chicken wings: The Peppermill Fireside Lounge (earlier in the awards ceremony, The Peppermill also won for best $18 drink, which was named The Scorpion). This whole experience was amazing. It was definitely our favorite spot on the strip as we spent a couple hours at the bar and then moved down to the firepit to eat dinner. This is vintage old school Vegas! The wings here were also really good. I gave them a 4.0 out of 5.0 on my wing rating scale.

Best place in Las Vegas to play slots at 5 a.m.: Slots A Fun. Sure...it's dingy and a little scary, but you won't get the real feel of this place during daylight hours. We were quickly sold on the yard-long daiquiri and tacky slot machine themes.

Best place in Las Vegas to eat lunch when you are hungover: The Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood. They have everything here combining every nationality you can think of including a middle eastern selection. The food was extremely good for a lunch buffet and perfect for a "morning after meal".

Best place in Las Vegas to experience an atomic bomb being detonated: The Atomic Testing Museum. This hands-on museum is located right off the strip and was a great late afternoon activitiy. The museum includes movies, war propaganda galore and many pictures of Miss Atomic Bomb 1957. The best part about this museum is that it shows a very accurate reflection of how crazy people were during the Cold War.

Best view in Las Vegas: The Foundation Room at the top of Mandalay Bay. The Foundation Room is a private club affiliated with the House of Blues and located on the top floor of Mandalay Bay. We were able to get in because my cousin was kind enough to pull a few strings and get our name on the guest list. This place really did make us feel like royalty with the velvet ropes, elevator greeters and an unbelievable view of the strip. They do open this place up to the public on Monday evenings and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits Las Vegas.

Best view of Las Vegas from the middle of the strip: The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Resort and Casino (earlier in the awards ceremony this also won as the most french thing you can do in Las Vegas). Sure, it's a little cheesy to go up a fake Eiffel Tower, but we had a coupon from our Players Club Book, which makes it so much more legitimate. What really made this vertical venture worthwhile was viewing the watershow at The Bellagio from above.

Best place to spend two hours in the desert viewing three acres of old Las Vegas signs: The Neon Boneyard. Like Las Vegas? Like history? Like neon? Like getting sunburnt as you walk around looking at old Las Vegas signs? Then this is the place for you! It all came together for me when the tour guide said: "In 1929 neon was patented, and in 1931 gambling was legalized in Nevada." These two events led us through decades of tacky neon signs that eventually ended up at this somewhat secretive Las Vegas escape. If you are going to take this tour, you have to book it in advance.

Best Place in Vegas to get a 99 cent margarita: Our Hotel, Bill's Gambling Hall and Casino. This was way too convenient. The margarita bar was located right by the door, so you ALWAYS passed by it.

Best place to get a cheap microbrew: Ellis Island Casino and Brewery. This place was a pleasant surprise, and a favorite spot for locals. It's an older casino, located two blocks behind the strip with a microbrewery right inside the casino. The best part was that all their brews were only $1 no matter which one you ordered.

Best place to drink a beer under the World's Largest Pint Glass: Hennessey's Tavern. Before entering the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas we stopped inside this little Irish pub to grab some dinner. Luckily for us, Tuesday was Burger night, so we got a free meal. Located above Hennessey's is the largest pint glass in the world, which also happens to be a club called Brass The Lounge. Its a good pit stop as you walk around Downtown.

Best place in Las Vegas to drink out of a plastic football while watching a crazy light show: The Fremont Street Experience. If you haven't seen this light show or been involved with this experience, it is hard to describe. Every hour, the biggest light show in the world goes off for five minutes and completely captivates everyone who watches it. We debated going downtown, but I am so glad we did it.

Best place to gain five pounds and lose a lot of money: Las Vegas!

People try to describe Las Vegas to you before you go, but there is only so much you can do to prepare for this experience. If you have been there, then you know what I am talking about. If you haven't made the trip, then I highly advise you do it at least once.

A Small Taste Of Vegas And A Foreign Dose Of Wings

While the "Las Vegas Blog Post" has yet to be finished, I did want to direct you to a very small sample of pictures, that I uploaded last night. If you click this link, you can catch a glimpse of our four-day trip keeping in mind there are still hundreds of pictures yet to be loaded. You should be able to click on the individual pictures to enlarge them and see the caption.

In the meantime, I read this story yesterday about a hockey player from Czechoslovakia who was hospitalized in Buffalo after a traumatic incident during a game. The player was critically injured, but as he recovered in Buffalo, his one request was to eat authentic Buffalo Wings. Stories like this just warm my heart! My favorite quote from the story was from the doctor: "He asked if he could eat Buffalo chicken wings," Noor (the doctor) said. "So we let him." This quote reminded me of the famous words uttered by Marie Antoinette, instead of letting them eat cake, she should have said: "Let them eat wings!"

The Morning I Got Trumped By Chelsea Clinton

I arrived back at work today after four days in Las Vegas. As I walked into my building I saw a band and balloons hung all over the inside of my building. I assumed this was my "Welcome Back Michele" reception until I saw all the cops. Thinking back on what I had done the last four days, this made me a little nervous. Actually none of this has anything to do with me. When I walked into my office, my boss informed me that Chelsea Clinton is speaking inside our office building today about thirty feet away from me. I wanted to tell everyone about my trip, but I guess this is a much cooler story than my adventures in Sin City. First Vegas and now the former first daughter: this has been quite a week! If I wasn't such an unlucky gambler (as I found out firsthand over the past couple days), I might actually consider playing the lottery.

Reason #138 That I Am Excited To Go To Vegas...

...Big Elvis performs at our hotel everyday from 3 pm to 6 pm for free.

In about 48 hours, my plane will be touching down in seventy degree-weather to spend a care-free vacation in Sin City. I am looking forward to reporting back to the Blog at the end of next week to catch you up on all the fun.

Closer Than You Might Think

After a successful year for the Cleveland Browns, it looks like they may still be a couple years away from contending for the AFC championship and the Super Bowl...or are they? After the New York Giants won yesterday, I went back and found a statistic I remembered reading a couple weeks ago from Peter King, journalist for Sports Illustrated that showed the Browns might not be that far off from becoming a serious contender. Here is the difference between the Cleveland Browns and World Champion New York Giants: The Browns were 7-1 at home and 3-5 on the road in the regular season. The Giants were 7-1 on the road and 3-5 at home.

Both teams finished the regular season with an identical record of 10-6, but because the AFC is an overall tougher division (and a serious choke job at Cincinnati), the Browns lost out on making the playoffs. This statistic might mean very little to you, but when you are a Cleveland sports fan, anything positive that you can read into (and I am really reading into this) means a lot.

A Nice Leather Vase

Last week my co-worker asked me why my blog was titled: "So Now What". For those of you who never read my first post, I will tell you what I told her: These are the words I said after the Super Bowl ended in 2005. The day after the Super Bowl is a hard one for me. It means I will have to wait seven more months until I see another snap again. Hello my name is Michele and I am addicted to football. However today is also the three year anniversary of my blog. This anniversary is more like Thanksgiving than the Fourth of July. It doesn't always fall on the same date, but it is always the Monday after the Super Bowl. I was looking on-line to see what gift to give my blog for this three year anniversary. The traditional gift for three years is leather and the modern gift is crystal, so I am torn.

In other news, the Super Bowl last night was incredible, and I made the most of the event, which happens to be one of my favorite days of the year. We had my brother Mark over and the three of us all agreed the party was the perfect size. I found out last night that Mark and I have the same theories on Super Bowl party size, and creating the perfect environment in which to watch the game. Hello my name is Michele and I am addicted to football. If you saw the food we put out, you probably would have thought there were ten people there, not to mention the amount of beer that was consumed. We put out homemade spinach dip, a jalapeno cheese ball, shrimp cocktail, salsa and chips and this recipe for chicken legs, which turned out to be the perfect Super Bowl snack. The only problem with cooking these chicken legs is that they make the house really smokey, which obviously takes away from the perfect Super Bowl environment.

Obama/Edwards '08

Be the first person on your block to get an Obama/Edwards '08 bumper sticker. With Edwards dropping out of the race today, this seems to be a likely match. After Edwards' decision to end his candidacy came out this afternoon, Obama had this to say:

"John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn't popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who's up and who's down, he made a nation focus again on who matters - the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington."

Let me translate that paragraph into: " I want to thank John Edwards for dropping out of the race right before Super Tuesday (February 5th), so that I can receive his votes over Hillary Clinton. The least I can do to pay him back for this is name him my running mate in the Fall."

If you are planning on printing these bumper stickers up, please consider that two years ago, I declared the Browns would finish the season 13-3 after starting the season 0-3.

A Wing In Any Other Time Zone Is Still A Wing

I realize I haven't written in a long time, but I have been really busy planning a trip to Vegas (12 days and counting) and a trip to Ireland (116 days and counting). The amount of work you have to put into your own customized trip to another country (other than Canada), is more than I ever imagined. We have just finished booking six places to stay in five different cities along with car rentals and flights around Ireland. On top of this, we are still working on the Vegas trip as we try to get the most for our money while we are in Sin City for four days. Through all of this, you can imagine I have already done research on the most important thing in both Las Vegas and Dublin: Wings! I am going to the Peppermill in Las Vegas for recommended wings, and we will be doing the same when we go to the Elephant and Castle in Dublin for wings. It might be a different time zone, but I still have to eat my wings.

I Will Be On Tour This Year

Last Saturday I signed up for the World Beer Tour at the Winking Lizard, and after one day, I can tell this is going to be a life-changing event. When you sign up for this tour, the restaurant gives you one year to drink 100 unique imported beers. For more information on the tour check out the link above. From what I have experienced during my first day on the tour is that it makes you feel like you are always on vacation because you are constantly ordering things you wouldnt normally drink. That part alone makes whoever created this tour a marketing genius. My favorite part, however, is that you have a swipe card to track what beers you have already consumed and which ones still need to be consumed. I have never felt like such a classy beer drinker.

Not only am I doing the beer tour at the Winking Lizard, I also feel like I am actually going on a world tour this year. Last week we finalized plans to go to Ireland and Northern Ireland to travel the countryside from May 24th to June 5th. More plans will follow regarding this trip, but I have never been more excited to plan anything in my whole life. Speaking of planning, I wonder if the Winking Lizard has any plans to expand to Dublin, so I can still continue the beer tour while I am there. Ironically Guinness is one of the beers you have to drink on the beer tour at the Winking Lizard. I should get used to it now because I am sure to have my fill of it during my trip to the mother land.

Word Of The Day

I have come up with a new word. This new word is: Resolutioners. Please see my definition and story below:

resolutioners \REZ-O-lush; IN-erz\, Noun: people who make a resolution after New Years to lose weight and then go to the gym only to annoy the hell out of the people who have been there for months.

I went to the gym yesterday and was surrounded by "resolutioners." They were using my normal machines or at least attempting to use these machines while I had to stand by patiently waiting for them to figure out they didn't like that machine. Once I was able to get on and begin my work out, they would interrupt me, and ask me how the machine next to me works. Who interrupts someone who is in the middle of a workout, sweating and listening to music on their earphones? At first I just gave quick instructions, but then as this woman next to me began to look like she might hurt herself, I actually stopped working out to show her in more detail. After a minute, she walked away anyway. Luckily I found this article from 2004 that did research on the average length of New Years Resolutions. The results were that most people didn't follow through for more than 17 days. I am hoping this still appplies to this year, or I might just let more people get hurt on the machines I use.

Free Stadium Mustard When You Meet Your Deductible

Two years ago my brother and I had a contest to see who could name the most sports stadiums that aren't named after corporations. (Yes we can make a competition out of anything.) The first stadium we both mentioned was Jacobs Field-the field our very own Cleveland Indians play on every summer. Next time we become sports dorks and decide to have this competition, Jacobs Field will no longer be on that list.

Sadly, Jacobs Field is now going to be called Progressive Field. When I first heard this I really hoped it had something to do with the changing political landscape in Cleveland. This was not the case. Peter Jacobs, Cleveland's richest man and the founder of Progressive Insurance, has bought the naming rights to Jacobs Field. Jacobs, who has his name on half the builings on the East side of the city, has now decided to move downtown. The whole thing is a little depressing like most sell-outs, and is enough to make me want to leave the country. Luckily, I got my passport yesterday, which makes that possible.

Happy National Championship Day

You may think everyone in Ohio graduated from Ohio State tonight. When the Buckeyes play tonight in the BCS Championship Game, everyone in the state will be wearing their scarlet and grey while watching the game. With all the pride in the state, you would think all these people actually graduated from Ohio State. As a matter of fact, I don't know one person who graduated from Ohio State. Not to say people don't graduate from there, I am sure they do, but I just have never met an Ohio State graduate. However everyone I know owns something that says Ohio State on it. It always makes me think back to when I would tell people I went to Ohio University (located in beautiful Athens, Ohio), and everyone thought it was in Columbus. It is on days like this, that people forget there are actually other schools in Ohio that play sports. In fact, last year Ohio University played in THE historic GMAC Bowl, yet nobody seems to remember that-not even this Ohio alum who had to double check on-line to make sure that was the correct bowl game. Hmmm...maybe I did spend four years in Columbus going to school.

Whatever Happens In Vegas...Will Definitely Be Posted On This Blog!

My maiden voyage to Las Vegas will be in February as we booked a three-day, three-night excursion to Sin City yesterday. Using the friendly services of Expedia, we were able to get exactly what we wanted with flights and a stay right on the strip at Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon. I know many of the people who read my blog have been to Vegas so please send along your best advice to my e-mail address: mrl21@hotmail.com.

One funny sidenote of using expedia is that we were checking flights for both Akron and Cleveland when we accidentally put in Akron to Cleveland. Can you believe the flight was more expensive than Akron to Las Vegas? Not to mention there were two layovers. Apparently there are no direct flights from Akron to Cleveland and you have a layover in Detroit and Pittsuburgh, though my guess was that the layovers were in Stow and Brecksville which seemed to make more sense geographically.

Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Pride Won Out Over Money...Barely!

Early Sunday it became obvious that my father and I were going to lose in our fantasy football league (the league with the big payout). Actually lose is too nice of a word-we got crushed. I still had one chance left to make it into a championship game in my other league (the league with the small payout, but a lot of pride was at stake). It came down to the last minute of the Monday Night Football Game, but I won my semi-final game in my other league (the pride league) by ONE point to make it to the championship game. If you read this previous blog entry, you would know my leagues and my teams came down to pride or money last weekend. Obviously pride won out, except for one small thing: I still have a championship game to play, and I have to play it against my Julie, the Fantasy Football First-Timer. Let me say one more thing: Her team is good, really really good. Yesterday my co-worker, and blog-reader Bill said the following thing: "It would really suck to lose to your significant other in something that you really loved, and something they were only doing to entertain you." That pretty much sums up what I am feeling right now. Thanks for the insight Bill!

The World's Best Wings? I Think Not!

Last week I took a new way to work as to avoid the crazy freeway traffic that occurs before you get downtown. As I took my new route, I found a Cleats Bar and Grille at the bottom of a big hill behind the freeway with a huge sign overlooking the parking lot that said: "Home of the Worlds Best Wings". I felt like Columbus discovering America for the first time, though discovering a place that advertises "Worlds Best Wings" might be an even better feeling.

Obviously it wasn't long before we headed over there for dinner as it was only 5 minutes away, and just to remind you, they advertised "Home of the Worlds Best Wings" outside on a huge sign. We got there and were excited it wasn't wing night, so we could taste the real deal and not get stuck with the skimpy wing night wings. We were pleasantly surprised that you could get a wing platter: 30 wings with choice of five different sauces. We were sold on the platter right away. We were also sold on the Great Lakes Christmas Ale, but that is a different blog entry. We chose our five sauces: hot garlic, samurai (teriyaki), memphis belle, cajun and sweet heat. When the wings came out they were all loaded on one big platter with a bunch of fries thrown in the middle. I felt my arteries tighten up as the waitress sat down our dinner in front of us. (Keep in mind this is a place that advertises an 11-pound sandwich on their menu called the Garbage Dumpster, so you know these wings are bound to be extra-healthy!)

As for the wings, I only liked the hot garlic and cajun dry rub wings. The other three were way too sweet and not spicy enough for me. On top of only liking the two sauces, I had two wings break on me, which is an automatic deduction in my rankings. Overall, the wings had good size but could have been sauced better. It looked like they just threw sauce on top of the wings on the way out of the kitchen, so only half the wing had sauce on it. I walked away underwhelmed by the whole experience. I give the wings served at Cleats three wings out of five wings. Also, if you don't think the name Cleats sounds like a romantic place to get wings, you shouldn't judge this wing place by the athletic shoes hanging outside on their big bright neon sign. Underneath the exterior of a very casual sports bar, with minimal formalities and a bathroom that looks like it is only half-completed, they also offer this deal: A Deluxe Chicken Dinner on their menu with 24 wings and a bottle of Dom Perignon for just $150.00. Now that's a classy romantic wing joint!

'Tis The Season

It's that time of year again. I am making last-minute preparations, checking my lists twice and planning parties. Of course I can only be talking about one thing: Fantasy Football Playoffs have begun. This year I was in two leagues for the first time, and this year I am lucky enough to have made it to the semi-finals in both my leagues. As much fun and excitement that it has been to be in two leagues at one time, it has also been quite a headache: twice as much research and twice as many decisions. I know! My life is so hard! The most stressful thing (if you can call anything with the word "fantasy" in it stressful) is that many weeks I face players in one league that I have on my team in another league. I will be facing this very situation this weekend. My father and I have a chance to win a lot of money with Adrian Peterson, Edgerrin James and Joey Galloway this weekend in our semi-final game. In my other league, my opponent has these same players and the opportunity to win bragging rights in Cleveland for the next year. I am torn on money versus pride this week. Talk about stressful. I would rather try to find a parking space at the mall on Christmas Eve. Speaking of Christmas...isn't that coming up sometime soon as well?

The Browns Score! CRASH!

Yesterday my brother Mark was the responsible one. You may want to read that last sentence again before I go on. Ok...now that you are all caught up, Mark is the responsible one. This is because he was the only one able to drive home yesterday after we spent four hours at the Blue Moose Eatery watching every football game possible on the NFL ticket. We left the bar before the Browns game was over even though it looked like they had the game won. However on the drive home and two onside kicks later by the Jets, the game was still not over. It was at this point that I got out of my car and watched Mark park my car ahead of his car on the street. Unfortunately, it was also at this point that Jamal Lewis scored the game-winning touchdown for the Browns. As my brother listened to Jim Donovan's excited voice do play-by-play on the score, he accidentally slammed his foot on the gas and backed up into his own car. At this point his alarm starts going off on his car. While there was very minimal damage for either car, it did create quite a commotion. I guess that was just Mark's way of celebrating. Let me reiterate, he is the responsible one in this story.

The Amazingly Cold Casting Call

On Tuesday my sister and I waited for four hours out in twenty degree weather for our chance to get an audition for The Amazing Race reality show. Let me just say, it took me almost 24 hours to regain full feeling in my extremities, but it was worth it. After doing a quasi-Amazing Race adventure in Dave and Busters, we were chosen to do a video that would be sent to the casting offices of the show. I will keep everyone updated. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Amazing (Blog) Race

Tomorrow at this time, my sister and I will be auditioning for The Amazing Race, which is one of our favorite shows. If things go well, at this time next year, you will be watching us adventure across the globe. As always, I will keep you updated.

I Have The NFL Network And I Bet You Don't!

There is a huge uproar in the sports world today regarding the NFL Network and tonight's Packers/Cowboys game. If you are like most people in this country, you won't be able to watch one of the biggest games of the season. To go into the logistics of why the cable companies won't purchase the NFL network you may want to read this article. Obviously it comes down to money, though that doesnt really help the millions of people who won't be able to catch this game tonight. Fortunately I am not one of those people. I have the NFL Network.

I actually stumbled upon the NFL Network a few months ago by accident before I even moved in with Julie. There I was flipping through her channels and there it was, and I just kept saying: "You have the NFL Network? You have the NFL Network? YOU HAVE THE NFL NETWORK!!" As you can see I was extremely happy, though trying to explain the importance of this find to someone who never really watched sports before I came along was a bit tough. I tried to explain that there would be games on that would not be shown on regular television this football season, and what a beautiful thing it would be once the season started. Each day after I found the channel, I would go to it just to make sure it was still there. Now my patience has paid off. On Thanksgiving day when people were coming down from their Turkey and football high of watching TWO games, I switched on the NFL network to catch the Colts play the Falcons that night for my THIRD game of the day. Tonight I am obviously going to catch the Packers/Cowboys game, and then hopefully in week 17, I am going to watch the Patriots make history against the Giants as they try and go undefeated.

I actually thought I was going to have to miss the game tonight because of a really cool event at Cleveland Public Theatre, but then I realized we weren't going until Friday. When I thought I was missing this game, Julie said we could TiVo it. However I said: "No way! You can't TiVo a game on the NFL Network!" I might as well just be watching highlights with the common folk who have cable. No, if I am watching a game on the NFL Network I want to be watching it live, so I can call people and tease them about the game. Julie really does have a lot to learn about football, but it last she has the NFL Network and now that I am all moved it, so do I!

Moving Thoughts...

As I stood there this weekend with my hands full of boxes and furniture, I stared at my emptying apartment and thought the following things: 1) Why didn't I make the back room my bedroom 2) Why didn't I open up the living room more 3) Why didn't I put my couch in the other corner of my living room 4) Is it too late to pull all of the stuff out of the truck just to see how that would have looked. The answer to that last one by the looks on my helpers faces would have been a resounding "YES!' by the way.

The Seven-Day Wagon

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday weekend. My weekend was packed full of wonderful Thanksgiving food, moving furniture, the best wings I have ever had in Cleveland, traveling to Detroit to see a concert and of course Sunday football events.

A day after stuffing ourselves with Turkey and stuffing, we worked up another appetite from moving furniture and decided to get wings at the Winking Lizard in Independence. These were the best wings I have ever had at any Winking Lizard. I always recommend that you DONT get their wings on wing night and we were happy to go there on a Friday night with no wing specials in sight. The wings were big, juicy and piping hot covered in our favorite sacues: hot garlic and cajun. They recieved 4.5 wings out of 5 on my scale. I don't know if this is truly the case or not but there was a great football game on the television and the beer tasted extra good on this day, so perhaps the beer and football also made the wings taste better. Speaking of beer...

My doctor put me on a prescription where I can not drink at all. I have not started taking it yet. I just picked it up last night and now I have to decide on a seven-day window where I will not want to drink or the opportunity will not present itself (ahem). I have two friends with birthdays this week and an open bar on Friday night after a play I am attending. Saturday and Sunday is football. Hmmm...this could be a tough decision. I wonder if I can double up on dosage and just take it for 3.5 days. This reminds me of my friend Mindy trying to decide on a good time to get pregnant. Obviously the holidays will never work and the summer is a bad time to stop drinking. I always have to remind her that it is impossible to go through the whole process in less than four months. Though if anyone can do it, it is definitely Mindy.

Pub Crawl Slideshow

I was told some people were unable to see the pics I tried to post last week from my pub crawl. I decided to go ahead and add the slide show so that you could see all the revelry up close. Enjoy and have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

X-Mas Aled Up (Pub Crawl Blog)

Yesterday my sister came up with a saying to describe my whole weekend. To be "X-Mas Aled Up" is a term she coined after seeing the effects on a person after having one of these beers. Every fall Great Lakes Brewing Company makes their infamous Christmas Ale and releases it for only four months a year. I can only assume this is for safety reasons. This beer does crazy things to people. It's not a normal beer. It's like a super beer.

People run out to get this beer like it's a drug and usually regret it the next day. I have been able to hold myself to only two a night in most situations and usually this is too many. On my pub crawl this past weekend, I waited until my fifth bar out of nine to have my one and only Christmas Ale, and even this was not a good idea. As I look back, it was at this bar where things started going a little awry or shall I say blurry. The next day I tempted fate and drank another one, which led to me hitting my head on my couch (see picture).

As for the pub crawl: I don't think I have ever had so much fun with friends and family. As you can see from the pictures at this link, it was a good time for everybody-even people who didn't know me. By the end we just handed the extra t-shirts out and people all around Ohio City knew my name. I am now looking forward to my "Getting Acquainted with Old Brooklyn" Pub Crawl, but I think I will wait til the Spring so I am not tempted by the Christmas Ale!

The Curse Of Cleveland Is Over

Just in case fans of Clevleand have not heard yet, the curse is over. We finally won the big one! This past Sunday on the Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef," Michael Symon, owner of two Cleveland restaurants, Lola and Lolita won the battle to become the next Iron Chef on "Iron Chef America." If you don't watch the Food Network or have never heard of Iron Chef America, this may mean very little to you. However, if you like Cleveland as much as I do, you have to at least appreciate the prominence this brings to the city.

Most people who live downtown know that Symon owns two of the coolest eating joints around. Origianally located in Tremont, Lola is now located downtown and Lolita has taken the Tremont location. While the food is phenomonal at both these locations, Lolita has one of the coolest happy hours around. Where else can you get happy hour prices from 10 pm until close on Friday AND Saturday nights that include items from the award-winning menu and drink specials. This weekend I went to the Food and Wine show in Cleveland and Symon was listed under "local celebrity chef." Next year when I go to this show, I will be excited to see his name under "national celebrity chef." Now if only the Browns can win the big one, and by that I mean...beating the Steelers!

Come One, Come All...

...To my Ohio City Pub Crawl. Join me this Saturday as I bar hop through Ohio City for the last time before moving to Old Brooklyn (that's Cleveland not Parma by the way). We will be leaving the Old Angle at 6:30 pm and stopping at seven or eight bars (weather permitting) before coming back to the Old Angle to finish the night. There will also be t-shirts designed by Tim for a very small price to wear along the way to make it worth your while. I hope to see you there!

Who Jokes About Wings?

Today as I was talking to my father on the phone, I told him I was about to take my Wingmaster exam. He completely thought I was joking. He thought I made the whole wingmaster title and site up. After completing the exam and receving this response just a few short minutes ago, I can assure all of my readers this sight and my exam are no joke:

Sportygrrl,

Thank you for your swift response, I am happy to report that you were the first person to get 9 out of 10 correct and if you check the site, TheWingmasters.com has bestowed the supreme status of Wingmaster upon you - Congratulations!!!

We are very impressed with your answers; the only one you got incorrect was a tricky question. We know you are extremely deserving of this title because you got the one question that almost everyone gets wrong correct; the average size of a chicken wing. This is not an easy question and you must eat and know wings to answer it correctly because it is not noted anywhere. We arrived at the answer based on a review and measuring of 250 wings over a two week period, at various locations.

What's also impressive is that you were right on with the wing sauce question, and you took the proper approach to looking at the question - this was our other trick question. Great job and welcome to the League of Wingmasters...

Who's joking now? Ok, ok... it IS a little funny.

Breaking News!

This just in from every major news source in the world: "Keeping slim is one of the best ways of preventing cancer, as is avoiding excessive amounts of red meat and wine, a landmark study has revealed." On Wednesday when this study was announced, I couldn't get away from it. It was on every major news website, and as I worked out that night, it was on almost every television at the gym. Is this really huge news? Who didn't know this? Was there someone out there trying to beat cancer by binge drinking, eating a lot of steak and not exercising, and if so...has that been working? I think my favorite finding of this earth-shattering study is this: "If people must drink, the report said, they should limit their intake to two units a day for a man or one for a woman. A unit is a half pint of beer or a small glass of wine." A half-pint of beer for a woman? Can you actually go to a bar and order a half-pint? I just hope this finding doesn't create longer lines at my gym. Though on the other hand, it might create shorter lines at the bar.

In related news, we tried a new wing place this week called Roosters. We spotted this restaurant last weekend driving through Parma, and vowed to return as they advertised wings on their big bright sign. This was an interesting place because it was a sports bar, but it was really really bright and seemed more family-oriented than anything. The wings were huge, BUT they were breaded and I don't like breaded wings because they take away the crispiness. We ordered extra hot (which they call Donkey for some reason), garlic and teriyaki. The hot wings were unimpressive, but the garlic was very good as was the teriyaki. If you can get past the breading, the wings were fresh, juicy and very filling, but if your claim to fame is wings and you can't make a good hot sauce, I cant possibly award you more than 3.5 wings out of 5. I highly recommend these wings with a good half pint of your favorite beer.

It's Been A Long Two Weeks

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of fun (except the part where the Indians choked to the Red Sox). My birthday week was filled with fun adventures including the opportunity to meet one of my favorite writers, comedians and actresses, Amy Sedaris. A couple days later I went on my birthday goal bike ride from my house to my friend's house in Chagrin Falls (20 miles), and then spent the rest of the day at the Winking Lizard in Bedford, which is a lot more fun than it might sound. Apparently at the Winking Lizard you get a free birthday shot called "The Blowjob" which creates for good photo opportunities, but the taste was too sweet for me. We also taste tested the new wing sauces (spicy seasme and garlic parmesean) they are offering which got a four out of five wings ranking from me.

On my actual birthday we went to Niagara Falls. Before heading to Canada, we stopped in Buffalo for some recommended wings at Gabriel's Gate that were really good (four out of five wings). We had an amazing time in Niagara Falls and got a beautiful room overlooking the Falls at the Marriott. It was a great trip, but Canada is just so damn expensive that it makes it hard to go there anymore. Remember when the American dollar was actually worth something?

Halloween was this past weekend and I decided to do it up this year. I went as Captain Cock Block (Julie went as Q-Bert). For those of you that don't know what a cock block is, here is the definition according to Urban Dictionary: "An act of ill etiquette in which a male is speaking to one female in a group of females, and the alpha female creates a disruptive environment" Now just imagine that in human form, or just check out the slideshow below.

The Difference Between 31 and 32 is 40!

I was able to reach my goal of losing forty pounds by my birthday! Complete details of the best birthday weekend ever will follow later in the week!

Birthday Card Rating System

This birthday card from my sister and Julie gets five wings out of five wings:

Dear Mom and Dad:

Greetings from Cleveland! I hope the weather is lovely for your month-long vacation in South Carolina. It's great that you have all this free time to travel now. However after sitting on the beach for almost a month, you need to come home and cheer on the Indians. Not sure if you have heard or not, but they are one game away from the World Series. I know you are having a great time as you never answer your phones anymore when I try to call you, but you are missing a lot of excitement back home in Cleveland! (You may not answer my calls, but I at least know you read my blog.)

First Time Fantasy Footballer Part 2

In just under seven weeks, the first time fantasy footballer has gone from asking me what the position abbreviations are in football (QB, WR, RB, etc...) to sending me this message this morning: "Calvin Johnson is dead weight. I am going to pick up somebody else." On top of that she has more wins than me this season in our fantasy football league. As a matter of fact, the three last place teams in my league are the ones who I thought would have the most wins, and we have a combined record of 3-14-1. We are losing to people who don't know how the game is scored, and don't take people out on bye weeks. Last week I lost to the woman in first place, who hasn't made a roster change all year and only had six players playing in the game compared to my ten players. Now that's embarrassing. If this continues, I may have to step down as commissioner of this fantasy football league and let someone who doesn't know anything about football take over the reins.

Moose Wings

A friend recommended The Blue Moose Eatery in Parma for their wings. Once she said they had 41 different flavors to choose from, I was there. Though that advertising is false because three of the flavors were crossed off of the menu, so technically they only had 38 flavors to choose from. I like to make sure my readers get the true story!

The Blue Moose Eatery is a huge huge bar. There is a gigantic outside bar which looks like something right out of a Spring Break disaster story, and then the inside is like two sports bars put together. On this particular day, three hours after the Buckeyes had played and three hours before the Indians game, we were two of only five people in the place, so we knew the wings should at least be fresh. We ordered their top three recommended sauces: Triv Taco Tonka, Southern Belle and Billy Bob Cajun, and then we went with the default Hot Buffalo just to see how spicy it was. While the Southern Belle was not my favorite, it definitely had the most flavor. I preferred the Billy Bob Cajun because of the heat. The waitress who gave us excellent service, and I don't think that was just because we were the only ones eating there, seemed disppointed that we didn't like the Triv Taco Tonka as much as everyone else. It was a good sauce, but not good enough to be number one..for us at least. I think we are pickier than most palates in Parma.

Overall I give this place three wings out of five. Even though there were a lot of sauce choices, there wasn't a lot of sauce on the wings, which were inconsistently sized. However outside of the wings, the service was great and the bar was an awesome place to catch a game. After this rating, I am now officially a black belt on The Wingmasters site. They e-mailed me today to let me know my t-shirt is on the way.

All I Need In Life Is Free Alcohol And A Good Bike Trail

What a great weekend! We spent Friday night on a quest for free alcohol and were not disappointed. We went to the grand opening of an alternative bookstore near Ohio City called Suspect Thoughts that was serving free wine and cheese. After welcoming the new owners to Cleveland and sharing in some fine spirits, we were off to the Art Walk in Tremont. Asterisk Gallery was our destination because they were having an art opening for Arabella Proffer. We got there so late, they were already out of wine, but the owner of Asterisk, Dana DePew let us tap into his personal stash of Natural Light. Talk about a classy art opening when you get to pose in front of the art with your Natural Light in a can (Tim and I pictured). We finished the evening at The Flying Monkey, where they had the nerve to charge us for drinks, though I was able to talk Dana into giving me his swanky jacket because I loved it that much, so I was still able to score more free stuff.

The weekend turned out to be incredible. The Browns won, the Indians took a game from Boston, my fantasy football teams won, I became a wingmaster black belt, and my sister introduced us to a really beautiful biking trail in Boston Mills. My sister, Julie and I biked through Boston Mills into Hudson and turned around in Stow to complete an 18-mile biking trip. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the Summit County MetroParks served free wine. (Pictured is my sister and I posing on the trail)

The Wingmaster Cometh

I have stumbled upon a website that is going to change my life. The page is called TheWingmasters.com, and the purpose of the page is to bring together people who rate wings. Individuals go through what is called Wing Kwon Do training to become an official wingmaster on this site. You earn different points for different ratings and recommendations, and eventually climb your way up to the wingmaster level. Along the way you earn different colored belts as you acquire more points. I am currently halfway to becoming a wingmaster and have a blue belt. On this site, they rate their wings on a scale of five wings; therefore I will be changing the structure of my wing ratings to be based on a five wings to keep everything consistent in my ratings. I do believe I have now found my true calling in life. Mom and Dad if you are reading this, I can't imagine how proud you must be!

Not Only Was He White, He Was Also Chubby

As you many know by now there was a school shooting in Cleveland yesterday approximately one mile from my job. When I first heard about the shootings, I couldn't get over the fact that this shooting took place in an urban high school. These kinds of school shootings don't happen in the big city. They happen in the rich suburbs. With all the footage shown, one was made to believe that the shooter was black, which shocked the hell out of me because these kind of shootings aren't done by black kids. They are done by crazy white kids. As I watched more and more footage, I still was in shock...until this morning when Julie sent me these pictures and I saw that he was indeed a white student. A very messed up kid if you read over this page and believe that it is really him, though apparently that is not his real picture. I know it's not his real picture becasuse of this future pulitzer prize-winning journalism that gave me more insight into this kid's mind courtesy of cleveland.com: "Asa, who was 14-years-old and is known to have argued with fellow students over religion, was a chubby teen."

Finally! Biking, Camping and Rafting Pictures

In 1492, The Swoosh Was Invented

As a government employee, I get Columbus Day off. While having the day off is great, I have a sense of social responsibility, and I have always felt a little guilty celebrating this holiday. However, now that Nike has come up with a pair of shoes designed specifically for Native Americans, I can breathe easier tomorrow as I sleep in. Thanks Nike!

Witness The Backlash

In case you haven't heard, Lebron James wore a New York Yankees hat to last night's playoff game between the Cleveland Indians and the Yankees. I do believe my love affair with this man is over. His cockiness has exceeded all bounds especially when it comes to supporting the people and town that support him. The more I think about it, the more infuriated I get about the whole thing. This might blow over by the CAVS first game on November 15, but it feels like this Cleveland sports fan has been slapped in the face. When someone brought it up this morning in my office, I promptly got up and ripped down my LeBron poster, balled it up and threw it away (pictured).

Ahhh...Civilization

We made it back to civilization yesterday after four days in the woods of Pennsylvania. All told we biked almost 20 miles along the Youghiogeny River and then whitewater rafted 8 miles through the river. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Our campsite (pictured) was secluded which was nice, but that also meant we walked miles and miles in that timespan UP to the bathrooms. Pictures are on their way and we got some great ones. Along with the recreational adventures, we had wings at the Falls City Pub after rafting that got a four wing out of four wing rating.

The Falls City Pub was one of the reasons we chose the rafting company Wilderness Voyageurs. We saw the company was located right next to the pub online before we made our reservations. After spending five hours rafting on Saturday we headed to the pub for some much needed food and beverages of the adult variety to share with some of our new friends, including our river guide (pictured). While the pub looked like a hole in the wall when you walked in, they only had top shelf liquor and any kind of beer you can imagine inlcuding some from Cleveland's Great Lakes Brewery. Those rafters know how to drink. And Cook! We ordered the house wings and they were crispy yet juicy. The sauce had so much flavor: sweet, spicy and tangy all in one. The people we were dining with got the garlic butter and hot wings, which were also exceptional. Perhpas it was the endorphins from rafting, but these were the best wings I have had in a long time.

Other than wings, we also cooked at our campsite. Along with the obligatory hot dog meal, we changed things up a little bit. We took porterhouse steak which we marninated in a pear champagne vinagrette with gorgonzola and garlic. We served it up with potatoes covered in mushrooms and onions sauteed in a garlic butter. On Friday we made turkey breast we had marinated in buffalo hot sauce along with vegetables and baked potato. We also scrambled up omlettes and made nachos over the fire. We worked hard to spoil ourselves including an air mattress that we had to manually pump using a foot pump because we had no electricity. That process took over an hour, but was worth it considering how cold and hard the ground was each morning. Overall it was a wonderful trip, but I was ready to come home and take a hot shower and lie in a warm bed. I didn't catch the Browns game on television, but thanks to my satellite radio, I was able to catch most of the action. I felt just like the early pioneers most of the time minus the wings, air mattress and satellite radio. They must have really had it rough without those things!

Self-Service Wings

Let me just say before I begin this wing rating entry that the whole ranking thing is starting to catch on. The other day my sister and her Julie called me to tell me they had given a 4-wing rating to some bread pudding they ate at Sushi Rock. Feel free to use the rating system for any and all things.

On Monday we traveled to Bedford, Ohio to eat at the Wing House. A student of mine told me they were known for their wings. With a name like that, it's hard to believe, but I bought her story anyway. When we found the place on Miles Road we noticed it was right next to the Crazy Horse Strip Club, so automatically the ambiance of the place got 4 wings. Upon entering we were told everythng is self-serve, meaning that you walk up to the bar and order and you walk up to the window and order your food. When I first heard this, I was hoping we could also pour our own drinks, but that didn't seem like an option after I asked the bartender.

We walked up to the window and ordered: hot, hot garlic, cajun dry and kung fu, which was essentially teriyaki, but the name sold us. The wings came out quickly and they were hot and juicy. The hot and hot garlic werent very spicy, but they had a lot of flavor. The cajun dry were really good, though one of them did break in half, and Julie said that should be an automatic half wing deducation. I agree as well. The teriyaki was really good, but not the best I have had. There was plenty of celery, but the blue cheese had a mayonnaise taste to it, so I passed on that. Overall, with the ambiance, the ability to self-serv, the freshness of almost all the wings, along with the old married men dancing with the younger women at the pool table, I will have to give this experience a rating of three wings out of four and that includes the half wing deduction for the broken wing.

I know it's only Wednesday, but I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am off to go camping, biking and whitewater rafting in Southwestern Pennsylvania for three days. I will be back just in time for kickoff on Sunday.

This Is How I Roll

Sunday was so beautiful outside it would have been a sin to stay in all day watching football and drinking beer. Instead of doing my normal Sunday routine, Julie and I headed out on a 25-mile biking adventure through Lakewood, Rocky River, North Olmstead, Strongsville, Middleburg Heights and Parma. Part of the plan was to stop at the Nature Center in North Olmsted, because it is along our route, and I have heard great things about the view. On this particular day the center was hosting a settlers celebration/fall festival, so along with the view we also got to enjoy banjo music and fresh apple cider made right before our eyes. As we headed through Strongsville we stopped and enjoyed the picnic we had packed before finishing the final leg of our trip through Parma. We got home just in time for the Browns game AND THEN I was able to watch football and drink beer. I have included pictures to show how beautiful these trails are throughout the West and South side of Cleveland.

Why I Love Weekends By Sportygrrl

I was going to blog today about how it would be hard to top the greatness that was last weekend. I then realized I have been so busy this week that I am yet to blog about last weekend. In a nutshell, I had an incredible time with Roz on Friday night, woke up Saturday and went to my nephew's football game, spent an insane amount of time and money at Trader Joes, met my sister and Julie for drinks at the Wine Bar in Ohio City, then we attended the party of the year in Cleveland compliments of Mindy, woke up early on Sunday and made baby back ribs while watching the Browns play an incredible game of football, and capped off the weekend on Sunday Evening when my father and I broke the record for most points scored in one week in our fantasy football league.

As for the event on Saturday night, it would be a tragic if I didn't describe it in more detail. Every year, Cleveland Public Theatre throws a party called Pandemonium, which is the perfect name for this event. It is an evening of on-going comedy, music and theatrical events spread all over the campus of this west-side theatre. It also includes food from restaurants all over Clevleand and an open bar. Most people pay $100 to get in, which is why it is called a benefit, however we are lucky enough to have Mindy let us come to events like this for free. Even if I can't get in next year for free, I am going anyway. It is easily worth the price of admission.

As you can see, it will be hard to top last weekend, but this weekend is shaping up to be a lot of fun as well. I am heading to the Indians game tonight as they are about to clinch the Central Divsion. Tomorrow after biking we are going to a clambake before heading to the Roller Derby Championship bout. It's hard to say what could end up happening after Roller Derby, it's usually an adventure. On Sunday, I am going to TiVO the football games, so we can bike all of our favorite metropark bike paths before the nice weather is over. We are going to start on the Lakewood trail off of Detroit Road, head into Strongsville and then take on the Parma trail which will be about a 25-mile bike ride by the time we are finished. Yes, you read that right...I am recording football to go biking on Sunday.

Next weekend we are going on a 3-day camping/biking/canoeing trip, so both of these weekends could get trumped. Yes, you read that right...I am going camping. Wow, my life has really changed.

Goodbye Frye!

Early reports this morning from my friend Staci, a very reliable source, say that the Browns have traded quarterback Charlie Frye to the Seattle Seahawks for a sixth round pick. Keep in mind she told me this two hours before it was reported on cleveland.com. Apparently I have contacts that rival Deepthroat from the Watergate Era.

My only question now is: Why does he get to leave? After his performance on Sunday he should be made to stay here and watch every game this season just like the rest of us. After playing the worst game of his life, he is now on a playoff team. The only logical reason I could think of is that because he is from Ohio, they found the farthest destination they possibly could as punishment.

First-Time Fantasy Footballer

Julie is playing fantasy football for the first time. Actually she is watching football for the first time, so it is a lot for her to take in. I find her questions endearing, and will blog them as they come up throughout the season.

September 9, 2007:
"Do they get extra points for end-zone dances?"

Bike The Trail, Ride The Rail

I didn't come up with that title on my own. All the credit goes to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. This company lets you bike the towpath and then you can jump on the train for $2 and head back in the direction in which you came. This is exactly what we did on Saturday when we headed south to Peninsula and parked at the Winking Lizard (foreshadowing), so that we could jump on the towpath. From there we biked north over 15 miles to Independence and paid our two dollars to jump on the train and head back to Peninsula. It was the coolest trail we have ever biked on, but it was also the hardest trail because it was a dirt path.

After biking and being dropped off right back at the Winking Lizard we had to have wings. The Winking Lizard in Peninsula has an interesting exterior because it has held on to the origianl sign showing there used to be a nite club in that spot. We ordered a dozen spicy garlic and a dozen caribbean wings. All the wings were the largest we have gotten at any restaurant and the spicy garlic were juicy and spicy, however the caribbean wings were lacking in sauce. Overall I would give the wings three wings out of four. Unfortunately two of our wings broke, which usually means that wings aren't very fresh. In this case, the new advertising in Peninsula could be: bike the trail, ride the rail and eat wings that are stale.

It's Hard To Be A Browns Fan

Sunday started out great. It was the first week of football, so how could it not be great? My dad showed up so we could head up to the Browns game. Before the game we were going to go to the Old Angle, but it was closed. We ended up just buying sandwiches at the store and went back to my place to wait for our taxi. After an hour, the taxi never showed up. We decided to start walking toward the stadium about five minutes before kickoff. After walking over a mile, which included my ticket falling out of my pocket on Superior Bridge, we finally flagged down a taxi and got to our seat halfway through the first quarter. This was just in time to watch the Steelers crush the Browns. We left at the end of the third quarter with the game well over, but the weather was just starting up. My brother Bob was nice enough to give us a ride home, but he was parked about a mile away. This is when the rain started. By the time we got to the car, we were drenched. It was a rough opening day for me, but my fantasy team has a great chance to win. That will probably be my last Browns game of the season. I like my fantasy world much better!

Father Of The Year Award

The father of the year award goes to my brother David, who gave up his home opener Browns-Steelers tickets to go to his son's sporting event. His love for his son is my gain. I will be at the game instead of him. I am so excited for football season starting as you can tell from my picture, where I opened a bottle of champagne during the first game of the season last night.

Lieberth Go Fish

As I was going out tonight, I went down to Mark's apartment to check in with him. The following conversation took place:
Mark: "Do you have any toilet paper?"
Me: "Damn! I was hoping you did."
Mark: "Damn!"

After spending a couple hours out with Mindy, and then me chilling out at home, Mark and I had the following text messaging conversation, because apparently at this point, we are too lazy to actually walk stairs:
Me: "I've got beer, what do you have?"
Mark: "Booze and toilet paper."
Me: "Nice! Wanna share?"
Mark: "Sure."
Me: "Yay!"

Thats how you play Lieberth Go Fish.

The Carnivorous Carnie

I went to the Geauga County Fair on Saturday night and ate like there was no tomorrow. It's amazing what happens to people when they walk through those fair gates with the smell of onion rings, elephant ears, gyros and sausage coming at them. I don't even like sweets and I have tried to give up all fatty foods, but all of that went out the window when that smell hit me. Just to illustrate the gluttony of it all, picture this: I had just finished a gryo, and then was standing in line waiting for a funnel cake as I was sharing "the world's largest corn dog." This was all after I had the wings. Like a moth to light, I can always find wings and I couldn't pass up this opportunity to rate fair wings, which in this case were much better than fair. I ordered up a half dozen hot wings and they did not disappoint. While it is too late for any of you to drive to Burton, Ohio to get these wings at the fair that has now left town, I would highly recommend it if you still could. The wings were crunchy on the outside yet juicy on the inside and perfectly seasoned. They were spicy, fresh and cheap and the best part is that I got them at a fair. I would rank these wings with three and a half wings out of four.

The Summer of Drinking Smart

Back in early June my friend Alison won a free happy hour party at The Garage Bar. Part of the prize included a bunch of free alcohol-related stuff, such as wristbands, t-shirts and a hat. In particular, a Jim Beam racing hat. Because the party was outside and my face was getting burnt, I decided to snag the hat and wear it for the rest of the night, and the rest of the summer for that matter. The best part of the hat is that it has the words: Drink Smart in tiny letters on the side. When I noticed that I declared the Summer of 2007 The Summer of Drinking Smart. As Labor Day approaches I decided to create a slideshow to reflect back on my summer of drinking smart. (Slideshow courtesy of Alison, Julie, Mindy, Roz and anyone else I hung out with in this hat)

Fantasy Football Trumps Wings

Last week I went out for wings and beer to celebrate losing thirty pounds. I love irony like that. Last night, however I decided to make a healthier "wing" to calm my wing craving. I grilled turkey breasts and threw them in a homemade wing sauce I created, which was extra spicy and extra garlicy-better than any sauce I have had eating out and less fattening as well. I still had a beer with them because you can't completely cut yourself off from the whole wing experience. While the "wings" were healthy and the sauce was mouth-watering, they didn't have the full wing crunch that you get with fried things-go figure. I would have to give myself three and a quarter wings out of four for last night's healthy wing dinner.

As many of you may know, I have a certain penchant for fantasy football, and with my draft being tomorrow night, I am getting excited. While eating "wings" last night, Julie asked me how fantasy football works. You can imagine how my eyes lit up when someone actually wanted me to describe one of my favorite passions. As I started talking about the draft process and how everyone chooses their players, I actually pushed my wings aside so I could use my hands to talk. At this point, she said: "Whoa! Fantasy football must be pretty serious if you are pushing your wings aside." For those of you scoring at home: I do love wings (of any variety), but I love fantasy football more.

Public Service Announcement

I got an e-mail with the following DUI checkpoints in Cleveland for the rest of the summer. I have decided to post them because you can never be too careful. The one on Friday, August 31st on West 25th is only a block from my house. I was thinking of bringing a lawn chair and heckling people. Perhaps I will even go to each one and make t-shirts like a concert tour. Nonetheless, drive safely Clevelanders!

Friday, August 24:
1. Mayfield / I-271 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the South Euclid sobriety checkpoint at 4130 Mayfield Road; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. Euclid Ave. - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. on E. 185th at Neff; three police departments will be working the detail.Saturday, August 25--
3. Columbia Road - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at the Olmsted Falls sobriety checkpoint on Columbia Road one mile south of I-480; eight police departments will be working the detail.--
4. Lorain / I-90 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. on Lorain at W. 150th; five police departments will be working the detail.Friday,

Friday, August 31:
1. Royalton Road - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the North Royalton sobriety checkpoint on Royalton Road at Abbey; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. US 42 / SR 3 - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at W. 25th at Franklin; five police departments will be working the detail.

Saturday, September 1:
1. Mayfield Road / I-271 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the Lyndhurst sobriety checkpoint on Mayfield Road.; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. E. 185th / SR 2 / Euclid Ave. - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at the Euclid sobriety checkpoint (location TBD); two police departments will be working the detail.

Lions And Biking And Wings...Oh My!

I did enough on Saturday for three blog entries, but I will try to fit it all in this one entry. I woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning knowing I wanted a new bike. I debated and debated buying a new bike, but it made sense to me to invest in my new hobby. I ended up buying a gorgeous bike at Spin in Lakewood. I even got to test drive it before I bought it. I think I spent more time with this decision than I did when I bought my last car. I took my new bike to the North Coast Inland Trail, which is an old railway that has been paved over for biking. We started the trail in Oberlin and went about 12 miles. The trail is fascinating because some of the railway markers are still standing (see picture with marker and my NEW bike).

After biking, I decided to treat myself to wings for the first time in a month. That's right...I haven't eaten wings in a month. This along with the biking would explain my weight loss this summer. I thought about going to Winking Lizard because I know what I like there, but I have already rated their wings, so I branched out to the Parma Tavern. I was unsure of what to expect from this establishment because I have never been there. The tavern had over ten televisions showing the Browns game with a full house watching the game. I thought it would take awhile to get our wings, but they came out quickly. We ordered the following flavors: Teriyaki, Hot Buffalo, Cajun and Garlic. I was impressed by how fresh the wings tasted, but the sauce was lacking as well as the spice. They did serve the best teriyaki wings I have ever tasted though. Overall the wings had great taste but not enough spice; the blue cheese was watery, but the beer was cheap. Considering all of these things, I would give the Parma Tavern three wings out of four.

Finally I would be remiss if I didn't mention the performance of Brady Quinn against the Detroit Lions. Yes, he played well against scrubs from Detroit in the fourth quarter, but Detroit's starting defense isn't all that good to begin with, so I am taking it all with a grain of salt. It was exciting and this town needs some excitement in a quarterback. I look forward to see what he can do next week against Denver. I also look forward to Bernie Kosar's commentary. He is the worst commentator in the history of sports. The man sounds like he just left a wedding reception with a great open bar. As a matter of fact, I am starting the Bernie Kosar commentating drinking game. It goes like this:

1. Bernie stops mid-sentence: take one drink
2. Bernie mentions the word "quarterback" for no reason at all: take two drinks
3. Bernie acts like he just woke up and just blurts something out: take three drinks
4. Bernie slurs every word in his sentence: All drink!

As you can see, it was a great Saturday, which might explain why I was so tired on Sunday.

Helmet Addendum

I bought a new helmet for my city biking adventures. Yesterday as I was walking through the house, I was wearing my helmet before I got ready to go biking. I went to close my bathroom window and hit my head on the wall, as I always do, but this time there was no pain. There was only the sound of my helmet against the wall. I then decided I should probably wear the helmet full-time. I would feel a lot safer not only biking around downtown Cleveland, but also walking around my apartment in Ohio City.

Bad Religion

Yesterday I participated in an Ohio City Biking Scavenger Hunt. To say I was excited about this event puts it mildly. I have been biking almost 45 miles a week this summer, and on top of that I live in Ohio City, so I thought I had a good chance to win the $100 dollar prize. I even bought a new bike helmet to wear for the event.

We got our list of things to find five minutes before we took off and then the race was on. Things started out well as we captured the Franklin Castle on our camera phones, and then we were on our way to Church Street to captue the St. Johns Episcopal Church followed by a bed and breakfast, the Glass Blowing store, a mansion and made our way to Monroe Street to get a picture of the cemetary. We biked quickly back to the finishing point and realized we were the first ones there. As I showed my pictures for proof, I quickly realized my picture of the church didn't save. I immediately jumped back on my bike and went as fast as I could for a mile and a half to get another picture of the church. I made it back completely out of breath and found out that we had finished in second place. Instead of collecting the money prize, I found myself holding a ten dollar gift certificate to a local coffee shop. I was in disbelief. I have since found the humor in the fact that the one picture that didn't save was a picture of a church on a Sunday morning. I wonder if this was a sign that I should get to church more often.

Yum! Crow Tastes Good!

I was mistaken. There is indeed a bed and breakfast in Barberton, Ohio and I was there on Sunday to make sure for myself. Sure...I had to be lured by the smell of Barberton Chicken, but I ended up at the CasaBella Bed and Breakfast that sits right next to the lake. It was a beautiful place and a wonderful getaway spot, but just keep in mind you are getting away to Barberton, and once you are done bowling and eating chicken, there isn't a whole lot left to do.

Just Like Mapquest

Many of you may be aware that Cleveland was flooded yesterday. My direct route home and the route of many other people in the area was filled with water, up to two feet of water in many places. My office let out at 4:30 because the electricity went out in my building, and I was excited to get home early. Normally if I am let out at this time, I get home by 4:45. This is one of the advantages of living downtown. One of the disadvantages of living downtown is that it floods when we get a storm like we got yesterday. Instead of getting home at 4:45, I pulled in my driveway at 6:30. As I sat in traffic, I dialed up my inner Mapquest and came up with the following route.

1. Get on the Shoreway like you normally would to head West toward Lakewood.

2. Sit still in traffic for 40 minutes.

3. Drive on the side of the road to the lane you usually get in to exit onto 2 West.

4. See the exit for 2 West (as pictured) is flooded and head back three lanes to get onto 90 East. 5. Drive through the flooded lane until you get on higher ground.

6. Get on 90 East and call Roz and say “I’m home free!” until you realize that all the exits on 90 East are also flooded, and there is no way to turn around in either direction because of the traffic jam.

7. Jump onto 271 South and get off to go to the bathroom at the McDonalds in Willoughby because of the iced coffee you drank before you left work.

8. Sit in traffic with all the other people who live in the East suburbs.

9. Take the exit for 480 West and head to the State Road exit which puts you Southwest of the city.

10. Get off at State Road and head home.

11. Don’t forget to have a small panic attack every time you are stuck on a bridge or under a bridge because of what happened in Minneapolis yesterday.

Once I got home, I jumped on my bike and went down to Lake Erie, which was quite calm. I can only assume this is because half of it was sitting over on the Shoreway.

Biker's Guilt

I have come up with a new phrase: Biker's Guilt. This is the guilt you have once you realize you are not going to go out biking, even though you probably should because it's a nice day. When I got home from work on Wednesday it was raining. I knew I wouldn't be able to bike, so I instead decided to have a couple beers, which I believe is the healthy alternative to biking. After a couple beers, it cleared up outside. I felt guilt running through my body as I realized there were still two more hours left of daylight. On Thursday, it also rained, but this time I just decided to get ready for bed early and call it a night. Again it cleared up, but I was already in my pajamas, so I was feeling a little less guilt. This is when I got a text message from Tim letting me know he was working out at Edgewater Park. I looked at the clock, looked at his text message, looked at the clock again and then re-read his text message. Within ten minutes I was on my way to Edgewater to go biking. I just didn't think I could handle any more biker's guilt (I was raised Catholic, can you tell?).

Last night as I was biking around I was able to bike over to Wendy Park which is part of Whiskey Island. What an incredible little untapped area in Cleveland. It's hard to find, but it is worth it when you get there. Check out this website for more information on Whiskey Island and Wendy Park. I actually found a way to bike there from my house, and I couldn't be more excited. By the way, excitement always trumps guilt.

Wings With A Healthy Twist

I have decided to start eating healthier. Unfortunately eating healthier includes cutting back on the good stuff. However a Sportygrrl can not live on lean cuisine and light beer alone, so I went to the Winking Lizard (WL) in Independence for Wings. I present to you Wing Ranking System Part 2.

Every Monday and Tuesday, which is how often I used to eat wings, the WL has wing night where the wings go for 35 cents apiece. The bad thing about wing night is that the wings are always overcooked. I ate wings on a non-wing night once and the difference was huge. On non-wing night you get fresh wings with fresh sauce. I actually asked a friend who used to work there why they tasted so much better on non-wing night. She said often times the wings are sitting under a heat lamp or they have to re-cook them. this was exactly how the wings tasted: overcooked and dry. The ironic part is that we had to wait over a half an hour to get wings that were overcooked and barely had any sauce on them, and the sauce is of course the best part of the WL experience. Everyone knows, or at least you do now, that you don't go to WL to eat chicken, you go there to eat the sauce. The wings there aren't all that jumbo and they tend to break, which always disturbs me, but I blame it on the overcooking and not the fact that the wings aren't fresh. If that were the case, I would have a hard time going there, so I must continue to tell myself it is due to overcooking. On this particular venture we ordered five of each of these sauces: spicy garlic, caribbean, cajun and thai. My personal favorite is the spicy garlic, but all of these sauces are great. If had to rank WL on sauce alone, they would get four wings out of four wings. Unfortunately you have to rate the whole meal, and on this particular wing night, I would only give the experience two wings out of four wings. I also think I am giving up on wing night. It is worth the extra quarter per wing to get fresh wings with more sauce. I can afford it now that I am allowing myself only one beer per wing sitting, which is the healthy twist part of the meal.

Quick recap: Winking Lizard wings on wing-night are not good, but the sauce is always good. If you want good chicken you don't go to Winking Lizard, you go to Barberton.

From Richmond To Barberton

This post is dedicated to my Aunt Mary who is nice enough to check my blog all the way from Richomond Virginia. My dad relayed to me that my Aunt Mary will be coming into town to stay at a bed and breakfast in Barberton Ohio, or Cleveland+ as many people now refer to Barberton. If you know anything at all about this area you were probably as surprised as I was when I heard the words bed and breakfast and Barberton in the same sentence. I decided to do a little detective work because I don't actually believe there is a bed and breakfast in Barberton. Keep in mind when you click on Barberton attractions, the only two things listed are Charger Lanes and Magic City Lanes, the two bowling alleys in town. Quite simply, it's an older quiet city, except when my aunt comes into town because at that point it picks up, and the local Sokol Club (no website available) doubles its annual revenue. Actually there are three things to do in Barberton: bowl, drink and eat chicken. If you aren't familiar with Barberton Chicken, I advise you to read this link. While I found a lot on the chicken using my internet detective work, I am still unable to find a bed and breakfast in Barberton. Unless of course you count passing out in a booth at the Sokol Club and then walking to Hopocan Gardens for some chicken as a bed and breakfast. In that case, count me in and let them know I want extra hot sauce.

Have Bike Rack. Will Travel.

Last Thursday we put the bike rack on the back of my car and decided to try some new routes. Our first trip out was to the Erie Canal Towpath that runs from Akron to Cleveland. This path was really fascinating because you follow the canal, which is mostly dried up now, on the same path the mules used to pull the barges. While we had great aspirations for the towpath, it gets really freaking hot in the Ohio sun, so we didn't go the whole way. On Sunday we hit the road again and went to Elyria to ride the North Coast Inland Trail which takes you to Oberlin. While we had great aspirations, it gets really freaking hot in the Ohio sun, and drinking most of the night before at Mindy's pool party didn't help much either, so we turned our dehydrated selves around vowing to return. Eventually I will give up beer and it will cool down, though I guess if I am giving up beer, it will probably be a cold day in hell. That would be a fun bike path too!