Missing Links: Calipari Meets His Former Pupil

Okay, Okay. I understand no one watches college basketball until Jan. 1 except for the diehards. Really, I think it’s the most exciting part of the year next to March Madness. You have the opportunity to see upsets like VMI over Kentucky. (VMI has one of the most innovative offenses in the game. If I have time later today, I’ll post my interview with coach Duggar Baucome from last year. He explains his philosophy for building VMI’s program.) Anyway, this is the first college basketball post of the season and it’s about Memphis’ John Calipari facing his former assistant Derek Kellogg.

Missing Links: Fair Grounds Season Starts Early

I started reading Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” this week for the second or third time. I read it in college for a seminar on the author and in high school. I had forgotten there is a chapter devoted entirely to horse racing in Paris. His enthusiasm makes you want to drive to New Orleans for the opening of the racing season at the Fair Grounds.

Horsemen happy with early Fair Grounds start [Times-Picayune]

Missing Links: Is Beer Recession Proof?

Beer distributor Bob Mack says maybe.

Quote of the Day: Vonnegut on Veterans Day

Before anything else, I’d like to say happy birthday to my mother. She shares a birthday with the late Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut famously wrote about Veterans' Day in his book “Breakfast of Champions.”

“I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Missing Links: The Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge

When I was younger, I couldn’t do a pull up to save my life. It was pretty embarrassing. I haven’t tried in a while, but I bet I’m still not very good.

I thought you all might find this chart disconcerting, but perhaps a little inspiring.

Tennis: The Masters Not in Augusta

The tennis season is finally coming to a close. It is, by far, the longest of any sport. Only the Shell World of Golf series is harder to follow.

Before we say goodbye for a few months, I guess most of you said goodbye after the US Open, the top eight in the world, minus Rafael Nadal, play one last tournament to decide it all: the Masters Cup. The round-robin event divides the top eight into two groups, gold and red, and then each player must play the other three in the group.

The Red Group is Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Giles Simon. The Gold Group is Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro.

Djokovic is usually pretty good at oddly formatted events like the Masters Cup, so I’l ...

Missing Links: Terrapin on CNN

Terrapin, the best small brewery in the Southeast, was featured on CNN last week as a small business success. Here is a link to the video.

(HT: Dustin)

Missing Links: Yuengling in Georgia

Two days ago I was in Kroger and nearly bumped into a high stack of 12 packs in the middle of the beer aisle. To my astonishment this tower of beer was Yuengling. I have always thought it was odd that you could find Yuengling, the tastiest cheap lager on the market, in all the states surrounding Georgia but not in the Peach State. According to bringyuenglingtogeorgia.com, nearly 2000 people petitioned Yuengling Brewing to distribute their delicious beer in Georgia. The campaign was successful and the first 12 packs hit stores in the Atlanta area last week. Yes!

Petition to Bring the Best Beer in America to Georgia [Bring Yuengling to Georgia]
...

What’s Brewing: An Interview with Hugh Sisson, founder of Clipper City Brewing

It is an exciting time for craft-beer drinkers in the Southeast. The market is expanding faster than anywhere else in the country and Southeast brewers are experimenting with a variety of styles and ingredients, making myriad tasty beers. Every month we’ll feature a craft brewery or brewpub in the Southeast and chat with the brewmaster about his or her craft. If you have any suggestions (a brewery or brewpub in the Southeast), please email Jamie by clicking here.

In August, we talked with Brian “Spike” Buckowski a ...

Missing Links: Southeast Last in Binge Drinking

I find this hard to believe but the 12 state area we considered the Southeast ranks last in "percentage of adults engaging in binge drinking." They obviously weren't outside Neyland Stadium before the Alabama-Tennessee game a couple weeks ago. Fans were binge drinking at 7 a.m. I call shaninigans.

How the states stack up on drinking [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]