LA Times – Ballmer would not rule out changing the logo — and the colors, and perhaps even the nickname itself — when the Clippers move into the new arena. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to really step our identity up another level,” he said.
Whats the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Los Angeles?
Women, weed and weather.
Okay whats the second thing? The grizzly bear flag of course.
I’m from Boston and as much as I love the sports teams, the charmfully parochial attitude, and the 8 month long winters, I never pass up a chance to visit California. (Huntington Beach is where The 300s west coast office will be based in 2025) I’ve also always had a fondness for the California grizzly bear flag because if for no other reason it is a sharp look. You could throw these on a uniform tomorrow and Uni Watch would cum themselves. Actually, hang on a sec….
Without further ado, I introduce the California Monarchs and the below jersey that was custom designed by The 300s.
If you’re a cynic you might say Julian Edelman should find someone his own age, but we don’t choose who we love. Thats exactly what we have brewing here between Edelman and rookie Chase Winovich; bromance. As the great Lupe Fiasco rapped on “Kick Push” oh so many years ago:
Love is what was happening to him now
At 33 years old with a torn ACL, 2 surgeries to fix a broken foot, at least two concussions, a fractured hand, a fractured arm and most recently a busted thumb — I think its safe to say Edelman is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Maybe the veteran receiver sees something in the fun loving free spirit that Chase Winovich (Mattes’ pick for everyone’s soon to be favorite Patriot) seems to be. Maybe Edelman sees himself in Chase. Despite the obsessive work ethic required to make it as a 7th round draft pick in the NFL, Edelman’s always been a quirky, funny dude trapped in the body of a professional athlete/male model.
Or maybe Edelman just remembers how veterans like Wes Welker gave him the cold shoulder (which Brady has done to every young QB ever) when he was coming up and wants to be more of a friend to the rookies.
In any event, Jules’ first love Tom Brady is uber intense and probably not the best guy to goof off with, whereas Chase is a buddy cop pairing for the ages. So I look forward to what kind of cheeky shenanigans these two get into.
We’ve seen guys with wacky socks, we’ve seen basketball players with the Christmas day kicks and even Kyrie’s kicks shouting out literal Kix.
But never have we seen anything quite like this and I cannot ring the Fire Flames Alert any louder than I already have. Remember when guys like JPP started putting all the unnecessary bars in their facemasks like they were fucking Shredder?
It literally got to the point where the NFL had to step in and say alright cut the shit you clowns.
All of that pales in comparison to the sheer originality of a guy shouting out a 24-year-old movie and emblazoning it across his visor. Now its a real shame we won’t be able to see this in an actual NFL game because they’ll fine you for wearing the wrong color shoe laces. So hopefully we see more fire attire like this across NFL training camps this summer and if not I hope Vince McMahon and the XFL are taking note…
It’s National Chicken Wing Day and we’re celebrating the holiday here at The 300s. If you’re celebrating the holiday today, too, here are some topics of debate that may come up at your get together, and my take on each one:
Hooters vs. Buffalo Wild Wings It’s Hooters and it’s not even close. Buffalo Wild Wings continually promises an experience it never delivers on. When you actually want to watch a game at B-Dubs it’s a madhouse. When it’s busy the service is slow. When it’s dead at lunch the service is slow. What keeps me coming back is a pretty good draft selection and some pretty good deals on drafts, not the wings or the service.
I don’t mean to sound like an old man, but I’m at @BWWings and I hate the new menu. Not the the food on the menu. I mean the physical menu itself. Borderline unreadable in this lighting. pic.twitter.com/DfrSpjCOPU
Hooters on the other hand doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. Unapologetically campy, Hooters consistently delivers great wings and ice-cold beers. Their breaded wings are the best in the business.
Bone-in vs. Boneless Unless I’m at Hooters, I’m going with boneless. If wings are the main course, sure, I’ll go with bone-in. But if they’re an appetizer, or if I have other plans that evening, boneless it is. You’ll never catch me eating bone-in wings at a ballpark. Bone-in wings are so messy I borderline feel like I need a shower after eating them. I don’t wanna look like Costanza out there.
Blue Cheese vs. Ranch Gotta go with blue cheese dressing. The tangier dressing better compliments most wing flavors, and the thick and chunky variety is just more satisfying than ranch dressing. Don’t get me wrong I’d eat ranch dressing on anything, but the added flavors and spices of ranch dressing don’t always pair well with wing flavors.
Best Wings From a Non-Wings Establishment Boneless habanero wings at TGI Friday’s. TGI Friday’s has its own issues delivering on the experience it promises, but its boneless habanero wings are better than anything offered a B-Dubs.
Best Non-Buffalo Wing Sauce The Gold Fever sauce at the Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub. The Gold Fever Wings at the Ninety Nine are right up there with the Fridays’ habanero wings as some of the best at a non-wings restaurant. It’s a shame that this place doesn’t exist outside of New England / New York (yet). For those outside the region, think of a mustard/barbecue sauce.
Coat those bad boys in some thick blue cheese dressing and your set. Wash ’em down with some $2 Bud Selects like your Vincent Chase and it’s 2009.
Yahoo! has more info on what wing deals are out there today.
What other topics will you be debating today? Let me know on Twitter @The300sBigZ
— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) July 28, 2019
Just an A+ flip out by Trevor Bauer who lost his shit and decided to just launch the ball OVER the center field wall before getting yanked. Part of me loves how much he cares about losing and another part of me wants to rip him for being a gigantic baby. I remember one time in my softball league we were playing this team of jacked, roided out 5’8″ dudes and we were really taking them to the shed. Well after a long night of getting their doors blown off this one guy strikes out and proceeds to scream at the top of his lungs and literally fires his bat into the woods. It was like watching a train wreck, it was superb.
The only thing funnier than Bauer’s meltdown was Terry Francona’s reaction.
Never seen Terry Francona this angry at one of his players in a game. This after Trevor Bauer threw a ball over the CF fence from the pitcher’s mound in frustration)
Pretty easy to read Tito’s lips saying, “What the f—- is wrong with you?” to Bauer
For a guy like Francona, who has been around baseball his entire life and has seen it all, over to have a genuine reaction like that was laugh out loud funny. This is a guy who publicly defended Mark Bellhorn for 6 months straight so needless to say you don’t normally get this honest of a response from a major league manager.
ProFootballTalk – “They’re going to get a lot of work,” Rivers said, via the Los Angeles Times. “It certainly is a deep position for us, and those guys all love to play and work hard. We love Melvin, but we’re going to go with what we’ve got. It’s a pretty dang good group.”
I know what I’m about to say is not a popular opinion in the upper right-hand quadrant of the United States. I know we had quite the little rivalry with the formerly San Diego Chargers in the mid-to-late 2000’s. LT even talked some shit about our professionalism, giving way to a decent amount of New England hatred for the greatest back of our time, and maybe ever. I also know we don’t take kindly to cocky, fiery athletes that are not our own. It’s a contraction we own and even feed off of.
But I fucking love Phillip Rivers.
From his uber passionate style of play to his toughness – I believe it was the 06′ AFC title game he played with a torn ACL – to his weird ass hobby of having a thousand kids to him being the most underrated quarterback ever in my opinion. I just fuckin love the guy.
Most of all I love that Phillip can talk. That. Shit. Whether it’s about an opponent or someone in his organization. Man woman or child. Directly, or in this case, in the style of a passive aggressive brick, he is the best to do it of his generation. He reminds me A TON of Josh Beckett in this way. I’m good, this is the way I feel, so fuck you. That’s it.
And so here we are. Phillip Rivers has had a very successful individual and, for the most part, team-related career with countless teammates playing a role. That includes the best of the best and the just ok of backfield-mates. So do you think for one second he’s going to just let it slide that some hotshot RB is going to hold out and not let the guy know that Ol’ Papa Rivs considers him 1000% replaceable? Naht Toooooday. Not in this lifetime.
I actually can imagine this was the last thing Melvin Gordon had to consider before he decided to hold out. “There is no going back with Phillip. Him and his 23 kids are going to have my ass.” And he was right. He was always right.
The hardest part of digesting this whole situation is deciding what is the funniest aspect. It’s one of two:
1.) That you KNEW Phillip Rivers was going to speak on it, and even knowing so, it didn’t take away from how magical what he said was. He fucking delivered in spades.
2.) This is probably a solvable situation and that means Gordon is going to have to come back into that locker room, look Rivers in the eyes, and either say absolutely nothing or maybe even apologize. That’s his team kid.
So hate me if you want, o readers. I’ll be a Phillip Rivers guy as long as he’s slangin balls with the weirdest motion this side of Nantucket and cussing out anyone and everyone he sees fit. He’s just #goodforforball.
-Joey B
I am in a full blown tailspin of nostalgia today after hearing songs I haven’t heard in years. 1999 had some BANGERS from the wildly popular bands like Blink-182 to the groups people don’t like to admit they actually enjoy like Limp Bizkit to the one hit wonders like LIT. It was an awesome year for angsty kids. Lets take a look at SPIN’s 69 best songs of 1999 as I pick out the best songs I liked the most from the list.
1999 was a simpler time and was the absolute height of music videos. Record labels and it’s artists poured a shit ton of time and money into making these 4-minute movies so we’ve got highly produced vids to go with each song. Enjoy wasting the next 20 minutes of your day with me.
It probably helps that all of these songs came out in my most formative years, but a ton of them were also featured in the video games I played endlessly so these songs are burned into my brain. Featured at No. 34 on this list, remember Powerman 5000’s “When Worlds Collide”? No? How about now?
No. 65 – Smashmouth – “All Star”
Smashmouth really is peak 90s as they were poppy and bubbly, but still sang/rap about getting blackout drunk. All Star was a mega hit before becoming a legitimate meme after being featured on the Shrek soundtrack. Also, shoutout to Dane Cook making an apperance in the All Star video as he was the King of the early 2000s when he was a comedy god.
No. 30 – Sugar Ray – “Someday”
I’m still beyond jealous that Papa Giorgio has seen Sugar Ray in concert not once, but multiple times and has even received a high five from Mark McGrath.
No. 29 – Kid Rock – “Cowboy”
Before Lil Nas X made rapping about cowboys and country cool again, Kid Rock invented the entire style. Never forget the pioneer that Robert Richie was in the 90s.
No. 26 – Creed – “Higher”
Surprise of the century is that Scott Stapp is still touring. I saw he
No. 25 – Limp Bizkit – “Nookie”
I vividly remember how big of a deal it was when “Nookie” beat out the Backstreet Boys for the No. 1 spot on TRL. Holy shit do I feel old having just written that sentence.
No. 24 – The Offspring – “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
These guys vanished into thin air, but not after dominating MTV and becoming the soundtrack for basically every movie made in the late 90s/early 2000s like American Pie 2, Orange County, The New Guy, Tomcats, Idle Hands, Varsity Blues, and The Faculty. I challenge you to show me a better run from that era because you can’t.
No. 20 – Santana feat. Rob Thomas – “Smooth”
20 years later and this song still fucks.
No 18. – Beastie Boys – “Alive”
I feel like this will wind up being one of those groups that I opine about the older I get and the more I start to despise the popular music of today because the Beastie Boys changed the damn game.
“While it’s not as flashy or seminal as singles like “Intergalactic” or “Sabotage,” the understated majesty of “Alive,” from their two-CD anthology, showcases the consistent brilliance of the crew as talented MCs, feeding off each other like they share one brain.”
No. 16 – Sugar Ray – “Every Morning”
Absolute kings of 1999.
No. 15 – Blink-182 – “What’s My Age Again?”
So Papa Giorgio and I actually saw Blink twice in the span of a week back in senior year of college and its one of the few bands that I would ever do that. These guys have 20+ years of hits to pull from and I mean this in the best way, but it feels like you’re back in high school any time you throw them on. Unlike just about every artist on this list Blink has found their stride with excellent new music to ride out the second act of their career. They even remade the same goddamn video with a slight twist.
No. 14 – Korn – “Freak on a Leash”
Korn was a clear line of demarcation between kids in high school. Freak on a Leash was a banger, but it was definitely the single that crossed over because I was never a huge Korn guy until I heard this single. Even better though is the Korn rap crossover with Dem Franchise Boyz on “Coming Undone With It” because the early 2000s were a breeding ground for mashups that in theory sound like an abomination, yet somehow work.
No. 12 – Kid Rock – “Bawitdaba”
If you had the Kid Rock CD in middle school you were definitely already rolling blunts before you could drive. Dope song though.
No. 9 – Foo Fighters – “Learn to Fly”
Full disclosure, Foo Fighters is my favorite band of all time so I stan for Dave Grohl. Hell I had them on the Must Play List at my wedding. So I’m glad to see this song so high up on the list. If you haven’t seen the video of them playing this live alongside a thousand people simultaneously, stop whatever you’re doing and watch it right now. Incredible.
No. 8 – Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Scar Tissue”
I don’t know why, but the SPIN description of this song hit the nail right on the head.
“As with many great Chi Peps tunes, Frusciante provides a cover for all of the band’s worst instincts here: His guitar and background vocals manage to make Anthony Kiedis’ lyrical gibberish ring true and forlorn, transforming the track into a classic of late ’90s rock ballads.”
No. 7 – Lit – “My Own Worst Enemy”
I vividly remember the teenage, probably drunk, camp counselors blaring this on the bus every goddamn day at Summer Camp when I was a kid, which is probably why its worked its way into my brain and never left.
No. 5 – Fatboy Slim – “Praise You”
Not my favorite song to be honest, but you’re lying if you don’t *taste* 1999 when you hear this song.
No. 4 – Len – “Steal My Sunshine”
Another cringeworthy level of 90s nostalgia, this song was a massive hit in 1999, but probably wouldn’t get played anywhere other than Soundcloud if released today. Also, this video always creeped me out because the Canadian brother-sister duo just seemed a little too close. Even the front man didn’t love the album, but this song popped.“Some of it’s terrible. A lot of it’s terrible,” Marc said about Bum Rush, but hit single “Steal My Sunshine” was huge with fans and critics alike.
No. 3 – Eminem – “My Name Is”
Hi kids, do you like violence?
Massive Eminem fan here so shoutout to Marshall for making No. 3 on the ALT ROCK list as a rapper from Detroit. That my friends is what they call crossing over and I’m not talking about that shitty TV show where John Edward conned grieving people into believing he was talking to their dead relatives. But I digress, this along with The Real Slim Shady is when Eminem exploded onto the scene as the angry yet funny white guy who could rap better than anyone I’d ever heard. The Real Slim Shady video that doesn’t even try to hide the fact that its ripping on Tom Green, another MTV darling in 1999, probably didn’t hurt either.
No. 2 – Blink-182 – “All the Small Things”
I’ve already said my piece on Blink, but aside from the actual music these guys just knew how to make a video that would get played all day on TRL. This looks incredibly dated now, but it was massive at the time because it poked fun at the way too serious slo-mo boy band videos of the era.
No. 1 – Fiona Apple – “Fast As You Can”
Fiona Apple is the soundtrack for any movie scene where the main characters are strung out doing heroine, not the No. 1 alt-rock song of 1999. I reject this.
Anyways, you’re welcome for this trip down memory lane now excuse me while I go grab my chain wallet and slip into my JNCO jeans.
Time to mix it up! I’ve come at you with beer from the place that pays my bills and three different cocktails. Now it’s time to break into a category that many my age don’t know much about, but often enjoy when presented with quality bottles: WINE. When I first started in the alcohol industry 8 years ago, I knew very little about wine. Basically just these four things:
There are two types: red and white
Bad wine is what my parents drink
I’m not bougie enough to drink good wine
SLAP THE BAG!
Working in a small wine shop that only had 5 customers a shift and next to no stocking or other tasks to do, I started reading about it. I was enthralled; learning about wine enables you to learn all about different cultures, eating traditions and flavors, climate, geography, and so much more. As I took all this in I realized that when it comes to wine, the more you know, the less you know.
This can be exciting, but it can also be overwhelming and intimidating, especially when you’re not getting paid to know about the stuff. This is the mindset a lot of drinkers have when it comes to wine. They like some things they’ve had, hated others, and are not adventurous or wealthy enough to just take random stabs at bottles on the shelf and hope they work out. I wrote about this previously in one of my etiquette blogs, but this is why finding a retailer you can trust is a wonderful thing.
Here‘s an easy-to-understand wine tasting notepad to help you better describe what you’re tasting.
For starters, the above notepad offers some easy-to-use, common flavors to help you describe what you may or may not be tasting. The better you get at picking out flavors, the easier it will be to describe what you like. In addition to these, it’s also important to understand that dry and sweet have very specific meanings relating to the amount of fermentable sugar (referred to as residual sugar, or RS) still left in a bottle once fermentation is over. These terms are used incorrectly more than any other terms in the business, so it’s important to understand what they mean.
RS is completely up to the winemaker, which is why many grapes, such as Riesling, have both dry and sweet examples. To drive this point home, look no further than Sauvignon Blanc, a grape known for some of the greatest examples of white wine across the globe. On the dry side, you have Sancerre, as well as many other bottles from the Loire Valley in France. For sweeter offerings, you can find dessert wines made from Sauv Blanc the world over, most notably from Sauternes. Your perception can also be altered by things like acidity and tannin, which vary drastically across different grapes.
Below are two scales that will help you identify where certain wines fall on the dry-sweet spectrum, although you’ll probably have to zoom in to read the names of the grapes.
Wine Folly is an excellent resource when it comes to wine, offering everything from beginner guides like this to more advanced stuff like determining residual sugar.
Now that we’ve covered some of the basics, I can tell you what I’m drinking: red wine from Italy! Specifically, I’m drinking Scala Ciro, which is made from the grape Gaglioppo. Never heard of it? Don’t feel bad, there are hundreds of indigenous grapes in Italy, and there’s no reason for the average person to know the vast majority of them. However, a lot of them are hidden gems, like this one.
I picked this bottle because I’m having ziti with meatballs for dinner. When picking out a bottle of wine to go with dinner, a good place to start is matching a regional wine with the cuisine of said region. In this case, I’m drinking Italian wine with an Italian meal. Next up, you’ll want to pick flavors that contrast and compliment the dishes being served. I chose this wine because the drying factor of the tannins contrasts the sweetness of the tomato sauce, while the spiciness of the wine compliments the herbal flavors in the sauce. It’s for this reason that chocolate and red wine don’t go together. Both have bitter tannins in them, so when consumed together they just taste overly bitter, even sour.
When pairing with pasta, it also helps to think simply: red wine with red sauce, white wine with white sauce. From there, you can get a little more nuanced with help from your local wine shop employees. This is a good place for aspiring winos to start. If you’d like more wine-related content, feel free to comment!
These Phireside With Phil videos literally make me laugh out loud because they are just absurd. As I wrote a few weeks back, its my new favorite show. For this episode Phil literally brought a candle into the clubhouse in between rounds of The Open for this sit down interview with 3x major champion Padraig Harrington. Mickelson seems like a guy I would love to go on a bender with as Harrington tells a story of Phil just handing out bottles of wine to 18 year olds at dinner one night, on Harrington’s tab no less.
Sneaky hilarious move to put the subtitles up just for Padraig too, just in case people get lost in the brogue.
NBA.com – The Boston Celtics have signed guards Tremont Waters and Max Strus to two-way contracts, and have signed center Tacko Fall and guard Javonte Green, the team announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Update: Tacko Fall was actually an undrafted free agent, not a second round pick. I literally linked to my own blog about this and still got it wrong. Carry on.
I’m doing my best here to not get run over by the hype train that is a second round pick, but simply put Tacko Fall will be must watch TV any time he enters a game. After a solid showing in the Summer League, Danny Ainge saw enough to take a flyer on the kid. For the people that wanted the C’s to just dump Fall I honestly don’t get the rationale. The Celtics are completely devoid of big men with Al Horford taking his talents to Philadelphia so why not see what you have in the biggest man in the NBA? Isn’t this the exact point of 2nd round picks? To throw darts? Sure most of them will be bums, but some of them will turn into diamonds in the rough. Not saying Tacko Fall is going to be the next Nikola Jokic or Draymond Green, but might as well commit the minimal dollars and roster flexibility required to find out.
PLUS the Celtics Marketing Department must be borderline aroused at the possibilities here, as am I.
You know, I would say its the first time The 300s will inevitably make a t-shirt for the last man on the Celtics bench, but come to think of it…..we did the same exact thing last year.
The 300s 
