Saturday Night Drinking, Sports, Best Christmas Present Ever Thread

Submitted by xtramelanin on

Mates,

It is a pretty good Saturday night for sports right now, with a decent IU v Duke football game on and Nebraska v. UCLA coming on later.  Additionally, both the Wings and the Pistons will be on the tele tonight and our house still has television for another couple of weeks so I will probably watch some of all of these games. 

EDIT:  Oops, forgot NFL game, Wash v. Philly

Also, a question for the board:   What is/was the best or most memorable Christmas gift you ever got, even if it was when you were a youngster? 

I hope you are still with loved ones and coming out of your food-coma from yesterday's dinner.   Merry-day-after-Christmas and Happy New Year.

XM

UPDATE:  IU lost a heartbreaker, Pistons lost, Wings won 3-2, Nebraska looking good v. UCLA, tied at the 1/2 despite a couple of total horse scat calls, and Wash lost points due to their sparty QB, Cousins. 

 

jmdblue

December 26th, 2015 at 7:13 PM ^

I'm mostly a beer guy.  I like a nice red with a meal.  But I read the linked story and have enjoyed perfect manhattans ever since  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/03/manhattan-5

As for my best gift I have 2...

As kids in the summer we rode our bikes almost daily to a little shopping complex about a mile away.  A&P Super Market, Maskill's Hardware, Sander's ice cream, and all the candy and soda at Perry's Drugs.  Most on the board don't know this, but all of these were major retail institutions in the Detroit Area circa 1978.  Anyway, Maskill's had a decent enough sporting goods section to keep us in cheap footballs and baseballs.  They also had a little glassed-in display case where they kept things that might attract sticky fingers and also stuff they were trying to set apart as "special".  One of these items was a 4 piece Daiwa fishing rod and reel set in a hard plastic case.  I'm pretty sure they only had 1 and I watched it for months before asking for it for Christmas.  It was around $30 or $35 which was not nuthin back then, but in hindsight I'm sure it was the easiest money Mom ever spent.  It was hidden deep under other items beneath the tree - it may even have secretly entered the fray a little late amongst all the wrapping carnage.  Anyway, I assembled and disassembled that rod and reel hundreds of times before Spring arrived then hundreds more for several years of  actual use.

My second is a silver bell Christmas ornament dated 1993 with a short engraved message.  Mom gave them to both me and my sister when it certainly appeared breast cancer would make that Christmas her last.  Pretty emotional to open to say the least but turns out she lived another 11 really wonderful years.

This Christmas is a little rough for me.  The kids are with their Mom.  Sister moved to Utah this year,  Girlfriend is visiting her folks out of state.  It's all good.  I've caught more than my share of breaks in this life and next year will be better.  Still, appreciate what you've got when you've got it.  Go Blue.

xtramelanin

December 26th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^

can't imagine the kids not being here.  i hope it is a decade or more before/if/when they start to not all be home.  

when i was young dad told us mom was sick, but not much else that Christmas.   mayo tried to do something about it but upon operating said no way to stop it and unfortunately they were right. 

 

Wolverine Devotee

December 26th, 2015 at 7:44 PM ^

I'm sorry I don't have a memory of every single comment in a thread I posted on Christmas morning.

The good feelings and energy that Christmas gives off to most of the Earth certainly doesn't have much pull with some here. 

justingoblue

December 26th, 2015 at 6:42 PM ^

Has anyone else seen The Hateful Eight roadshow yet? I went for a 10:30 screening last night and was pretty surprised they were having a line form outside. Also got home at about 2:30 but that's what happens when you schedule around family.

No spoilers or anything, but if you're a fan of Samuel L Jackson you're gonna want to see it. The reviews about it being peak Tarantino are all right on, IMO, both for good and bad.

Danwillhor

December 26th, 2015 at 7:32 PM ^

I think it's likely his worst film and I'm a fan. It felt as if someone was trying to be QT, hired all his friends, chose a few actors whos careers he'd try to resurrect ala QT and made a film in that typical QT style. It feels like a forgery of his style instead of a QT film. Opening with an hour and a half of straight dialogue that seemed largely phoned in or poorly acted before anything beyond SLJ happens. Then the film actually starts moving and the last hour is admittedly solid. I enjoy a long exchange when it's well done (!) but the first hour was painfully bad and only saved by SLJ, IMO. On the "QT Film Scale" it's a 4/10, a solid 6/10 if we ignore the director.

ijohnb

December 26th, 2015 at 8:32 PM ^

really is. I rank Reservoir Dogs among the top 10 movies ever made, and Pulp Fiction had its moments. Since then it has been a shit show. I don't know what the hell I am watching when I watch a Tarantino movie. Pretty much garbage I guess.

In reply to by ijohnb

imablue

December 27th, 2015 at 12:54 AM ^

I thought Inglourious basterds was pretty entertaining, but had mixed feelings about Django unchained.I do like Samuel L Jackson, so I'll check it out, he was great in Jackie Brown.

Lampuki

December 26th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

Yeah. My folks would not spring for a top end BMX bike back in the day So I souped up Stingray . Probably why I started buying bikes. Turned into a great hobby and amazing investment. My kids were riding around Oakland county on $3000 first edition mongooses a few years ago and they were cool even then. This year my kids asked for Swagways. Watching the gleam in their eyes getting that was a pretty great gift.




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SwitchbladeSam

December 26th, 2015 at 6:46 PM ^

As a youngster, nothing can top when I got my Snes for Xmas. I was so pumped. A close 2nd was getting my PlayStation 2. I had to wait in line for 4 hours in Kmart to get it. It was November. I was suppose to wait until Christmas to open it. I was maybe 14. Needless to say I found it and had it opened within a week.

Not drinking yet, but I see something strong in the near future.




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