The Friday Chris Sanders' Edition

In honor of my 1st official blog follower I have decided to title each Friday blog "The Friday Chris Sanders' Edition" and include a jam of the day in celebration of the end of the week. So with out further adieu the jam:

I don't know why but I love this song, probably something about jamming out to the hip-hop harmonica. You'll probably find yourself humming this song sometime today.

I made my way with a buddy of mine to Taco Mac last night for their weekly Pint Night and to watch the Vols play.

For those unfortunate enough to be unfamiliar with Taco Mac it's a local Atlanta sports bar with a huge beer selection of both draft and bottled beer as well as deliciously good wings and your other usual pub grub. Each month they profile three beers and on Thursday’s they give away a pint glass with the purchase of the beer of the month. This month with St. Patrick's Day around the corner they are profiling Harp, Smithwick's, and Guinness. Another great customer incentive program that Taco Mac runs is a beer-drinker’s loyalty program called Brewniversity, formerly known as The Passport Club. Basically what happens is that you get a card much like a credit card that tracks the beers that your drink. You receive one credit for each beer you drink and are receive rewards when you reach certain numbers of beers consumed. You only get credit for a beer once so it forces you to try a whole variety of beers to increase your number.The main level you want to reach is 125 beers when you get a 20 ounce draft at the pint price as well as your name engraved on a plaque. Whenever I go to Taco Mac I always get beers that aren't on my list so yesterday I got a Harp, so that I could get the free pint glass, which I've had on numerous occasions but apparently never at Taco Mac. I used to be a huge fan of Harp but as my tastes have changed its sorta fallen on my list. It's okay, but tastes much better when mixed with a Guinness in what is known as a Half & Half. So I had a Harp and after that followed it up with a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA which was awesome. I've had the 60 Minute IPA before but never the 90 and I'd highly recommend it for any fans of IPA's. I've been told that there is a 120 Minute IPA which wasn't available at the Taco Mac location that I was at but I'll definitely get it if I can ever find it. I'm a huge fan of IPA and noticed yesterday on my beer list, which is at 40 now, that I've had every single draft IPA except one that is offered at the Taco Mac Johns Creek location. I guess I'll have to branch out a bit and try some other types.

Aside from the Pint Night the other reason for wanting to go to Taco Mac was to watch the Tennessee vs South Carolina basketball game. I said at the start of the season,  even before the pre-season loss to D-II Indianapolis, that I thought we'd beat some teams we shouldn't this year and then turn around and lose to some teams that we should have defeated. I was guardedly optimists after the Vols defeated Villanova to win the pre-season NIT and then Pittsburgh to start the season 7-0. Unfortunately my pre-season prediction was correct when we followed up the Pittsburgh victory with back to back to back losses to Oakland, Charlotte, and Southern Cal.

Going into yesterdays game against USCe (South Carolina/USCeast) I thought they Vols were playing in a must win game against fellow cellar dwellers in the east. They came out playing like a team on a mission with Scotty Hopson, the Fresh Prince of Tennessee, pacing the Vols early. Going into halftime the Vols were up 40-23 and I thought we had put the Gamecocks away. Unfortunately I was wrong as the 2nd half was almost an exact opposite of the 1st with USCe scoring 46 points in the 2nd. Fortunately the Vols were able to hold on for the win 73-69, with Scotty Hopson and freshman Tobias Harris scoring 49 of the Vols 73.The win puts the Vols at 18-12 (8-7 SEC) with one game to go Sunday against Kentucky. The game is at home, which is good news for the Vols, because Kentucky has struggled on the road in SEC play. For the Vols to get anything better than the 5th seed in the East they will need to win Sunday and have both Vanderbilt and Georgia lose. If that scenario plays out then the Vols would land in the 2nd seed and have a 1st round bye. Certainly anything could happen but if I was a betting man I'd wager on Tennessee being the 5th seed and playing the loser of the Arkansas/Ole Miss game. Anything could certainly happen with this Tennessee team, heck they beat Pittsburgh at a "neutral site" and lost at home to Oakland. I think this team will make the tournament, but I really think they need to win at least one game in the SEC tourney to make it a sure thing. I'm no bracketologist and haven't listened too closely to what the talking heads are saying in regards to seeing but I'd think the 8/9 game, only time will tell. 


Hope you guys enjoyed my first real blog post after the previous one basically having me talk about what I'd eventually be talking about.