A Maddening Year

I can just tell it’s going to be a maddening year. A week ago, as I sat in the dome with the old PH, and watched Cuse lose to Pitt, I told everyone who would listen that this team could never go anywhere without a good point guard. Josh Wright is too selfish, and too rockheaded, for this team to achieve any real measure of success. OK, so maybe they would get to the tournament; but did they have any chance of surviving beyond the first round? Three times they had played well against ranked opponents, yet each of those times they had, in the end, come up short.

That was a week ago. Since then, Cuse has been on the road, and twice come up with convincing wins. First, they beat Marquette, who followed up the loss with a victory over UConn. And then they went into the rack at Rutgers (I’m not even sure why it’s called the rack.) and came away with their second Big East road win in a week. Each time the defense held the opponent under 60, and each time Eric Devendorf had come of the bench to lead the team in scoring. So maybe I’m wrong; maybe this team can win some close games, some tough conference games; and maybe come year end they can go a couple rounds in the tournament. More likely though, there will be setbacks along the way. Frustrating losses in games they should have won. Who knows?

Let’s look on the bright side for a minute. For the past several weeks, we’ve had either Mookie or Terrence injured, but in the last couple games, both have been playing well. When they’re both active, and contributing, we have a great front line. And even in the Pitt game, which we lost, Mookie played Aaron Gray to a stand-off. So maybe part of the problem was that we didn’t have a healthy front line. Another item – in the last couple games, our foul shooting has been very impressive. Good front line play, good foul shooting – all we need is better play from the point guard, fewer turnovers, and then maybe we’re really getting somewhere.

Enough hoops talk. Let’s turn our attention to a more pressing subject, malt whisky. Danny got another great bottle for the holidays – last year it was Highland Park 25, perhaps the best whisky in the world, and this year it was Macallan 21, Fine Oak. Macallan has two parallel series, one aged in sherry casks, and the other in fine oak. I’ve had the 15 Fine Oak on many occasions at the ChopHouse, and it’s a great whisky, especially for the price, but this 21 was something special. Unbelievably flavorful and so smooth, like velvet, like a baby’s bottom, like sheared beaver (the kind you find on fur coats). Well, you get my point. As much as I liked it, I told Danny I only wanted to taste it on special occasions, because drinking it too often would spoil me – would make expect too much from a glass of malt.

On the home front, where our scotch is much more affordable, we have been drinking Clynelish the past few weeks. I first tasted Clynelish at the very first scotch tasting we ever attended. Somehow, even though we liked it, we lost track of this whisky, and never bought it. I always like to have a basic malt around, something to drink on weekdays – something that’s affordable yet tasty. So I’ve had Glenmorangie 10, Aberlour 10, HP 12, Macallan 12, all the old reliable malts. But not until recently did I have Clynelish for the everyday malt whisky. And now, I’m happy to report that this malt belongs right next to all these other stand-bys in the liquor cabinet. It’s stronger than most, over ninety proof, but with a bit of water, it’s just as smooth, and in ways more flavorful than many of the above. John feels it has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but for me that’s more of a peppery bite, a spicy flavor that sets Clynelish apart from the other everyday malts.

One final observation – we have a recent comment from an anonymous visitor. A sarcastic little jab about malted milk balls. Now I’m not certain, but I suspect this chickenshit comment came from my old sex education teacher, to whom reference was made in this very blog last month. So if I’m right, next time you visit, forget about that anonymous business. If you want to post or comment – have the conviction to declare your identity. Don’t hide behind that veil of anonymity – you’ll get no respect from any of us, regardless of how witty you try to be. And the hell with all that secret skull and bones shit. If you can’t sign your name to your comment, what’s the point of writing? Think about it next time you visit.