Have you had enough hoops yet? Never!

It is the international break for my beloved futbol which in the last 40 years has been dire up here in Canadia. BUT! This window is something different. Canadia is in 1st place and could qualify on Thursday. Why is this of importance? WE HAVEN”T BEEN THERE SINCE THE EIGHTIES!!!

I have always hoped this day would come and would be on the next plane to the games. Unfortunately the World Cup is in December, and it is in Qatar. Fuck.

Problem 1: Slave laboUr to build the stadia. Hey FIFA, know what’s cool? Refurbishing older venues, going to a country WITH stadiums and basically not behaving like our beloved Cecil Rhodes did back in the day.

Problem 2: Fucking petro state bought the damn tourney and they are NOT set up to host something of this magnitude. There are not enough hotels in London let alone Doha to accommodate 8 stadiums in a 55 km range. Now that they have these great stadiums I am sure that their domestic league will be insane like South Africa’s transformed right? Right?

Problem 3: The locals have bought up all the rooms so you are fucked to get a hotel room.

Anyway, I’m not going to the World Cup this session . I did however attend the game at the “Iceteca” during qualifying and next weekend at this point I will be in The Voyageurs end singing, chanting, and drinking. Hopefully we will be celebrating getting in the dance.

I’ve purchased a Camelbak which I will wear underneath my coat and fill it with whisky or wine (current forecast -2 C). I am attending the match with a friend of mine who lives in Victoria, BC and also is travelling to Toronto for this. This gentleman and I have been to a dozen countries together and this leads us into the dumb travel story of the week but first a song break;

I’ve been to Oktoberfest in Munich twice and both times with the gentleman meeting me in Toronto. The first year I was with my now ex wife (gf at the time), him and we were staying in Salzburg, Austria for the festival and taking the train in and out. Once we arrived in Munich I asked the fraulein at the ticket booth when the last train was leaving back to Salzburg. I was told 10:30 pm. We then went out to enjoy the festivities and it’s as wild as you think. We proceeded through our day getting absolutely wasted but cognizant of the fact that we HAD to be back at the station at 10 pm.

We got drunk, I got in a fight with 2 guys (did nawt go well) BUT we made it back to the station at 10. I then approached the ticket desk and attempted to buy 3 tickets back. The gentleman informed me that the last train left at 9. I lost it. Full drunk tantrum.

After collecting myself I had to figure out what the hell we were going to do? We went to every hotel in the area and of course they were sold out. This is the reason we were staying in Austria of course. Defeated we returned tot he train station and saw that there seemed to be others in our predicament inside the local Burger King. Simple, buy a burger, fall asleep in front of it. This worked for a couple hours and then they closed.

It was midnight, then 1st train was at 6 am. The only thing I could come up with was that I found a stairwell adjacent to the station and we tucked in underneath it on cardboard and had a snuggle. We stayed there for a couple hours and then made our way to the platform and returned to Austria. When we rolled in at 8 am our hostel roommates including a family were just getting up to start their day. We looked and smelled awful. Point being, next year we were sure to book rooms IN Munich and never trust anyone German.

Wine time!

To recap, we’ve covered classifications, Super Tuscans, Prosecco, and Pinto Grigio. Today we are going to investigate one of my favoUrite Italian wines  Amarone!

Amarone comes from Valpolicella in the Veneto region and is usually quite high in alcohol content at 15 – 16%. Amarone is classified as a DOCG wine so the rules are very tight which is why it is a bit more expensive in general. You are only allowed 3 grape varietals in Amarone, Rondinella, Corvina, Corvinone. In making Amarone they winemakers use the ‘apassimento’ method where they dry out the grapes on straw mats or racks for three or four months in order to get more concentrated flavoUrs and coloUrs.

There is also a junior edition of Amarone and that is Valpolicella Ripasso. If you see this on the shelves or list you can be sure it will be concentrated and flavoUrful. The difference between Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone is that Ripasso is made by re-ferementing the wine with unpressed Amarone grape skins, and adding up to 15% Amarone wine. It is then aged up to one year. By doing this a Ripasso wine falls right in between a Valpolicella and an Amarone as far as weight goes.

Valpo – light

Ripasso – medium to full

Amarone – Full and smooth.

Have a good week!

Tonight

HOOPS

Duke v MSU

Wisco v Cornpone State

Guns Up v Fake Irish

War Eagle v The U

Purdue v Austin City lights

Fightin Blax’s v Horned Frogs

Can we talk about Bon Secours Wellness arena in South Carolina? Is there a lot of french folk down there? So as a whole we want Duke, Notre Dame to get pounded.