Football, baseball, Life, bulls, Hanson, and beer. I think that just about covers it.

This is going to come as something of a surprise, but I wrote a second post for Hoperatives.com this week.  Yes, I know, you feel cheated.  It was just yesterday that instead of writing a witty, thoughtful post here, I instead fed you, my faithful readers, a relink to the long, sordid tale of me attempting to cope with a cash bar last weekend.

But that was okay, by my standards.  My "good posts" seem to follow a M-W-F schedule around these parts these days, so throwing a little relink blurb up on Thursday was no biggie.  But today isn’t Thursday, is it?  Today is Friday, and I’m supposed to come big on Friday (or at least early Saturday), and show the week out with a bang.

But see, sometimes, well, sometimes writing a blog is like running a West Coast offense in the NFL.  In the West Coast, you take what the defense gives you, short and middle-range passes, mixed with a sprinkling of runs to keep the safeties honesty.  And then, when the D adjusts to deal with your "low-hanging fruit" approach, you pitch a 70 yard bomb and everyone gets covered in Gatorade.

Um, yeah, sorry to the non-football people out there.  That last paragraph probably reads like stereo instructions, huh?

Okay, so, maybe writing a blog isn’t exactly like that, but the "taking what you get" part is spot on.  Sometimes, Life hands you lemons — nothing interesting is happening to you or in the world in general.  You know you’ve had such a day when the highpoint of your morning was discussing which breakfast cereal your wife should pick up for you from the grocery based on its fiber content and your evening thrill was explaining to your kids why they probably don’t want to get too chummy with that older girl on the bus who’s been nicknamed "The Cusser"*.

As a regular blogger, those are the days when you end up publishing stick-figure drawings or squeaking out a few hundred words about how it’s time to get out the Christmas boxers**.

But some days, oh, some days, Life has gets your back and lobs up a great, gigantic grapefruit of a pitch that’s right in your figurative wheelhouse. One that you can drive up into the upper deck.

(Hey, that’s both a football and baseball reference in one post.  Achievement: Unlocked!)

Anyway, it turns out that yesterday was a grapefruit day.  I was presented with a beer-related news story that was simply Too. Juicy. To. Pass. Up.  It required, no, begged, for commentary.  And if nothing else, I learned in the past 15 years that when Life presents you with an opportunity, even if it’s just the opportunity to spin out a good blog post, well, you – all together now – grab that bull by the horns and hold on tight.

Which is why I couldn’t pass up the chance to write a Hoperatives post on consecutive days after learning that Hanson (yes, the boy band) is making/designing/producing/releasing(?) an "MMMHop" IPA.

That post is here.  I’m pretty happy with it.

And look, I managed to write a decent post here too.

How’s that for sending the week out with a bang?

Pud’n

*Yes, these are actual events from my life. I know, right? You so envy me, don’t you?

**Yes, "boxers", not "boxes".  As in boxer briefs.  For the record, Christmas boxer release day is, in fact, today. Woohoo!  Also, my wife and mother are at this very moment both shaking their respective heads in shame and dismay.