The Armchair Quarterback’s Guide To The NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round

The Armchair Quarterback’s Odds And Ends Of The Week

Beer Review Of The Week:

Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale (Spoetzl Brewery)

This week’s beer comes from the good folks at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas who are best known for their Shiner Bock. Their Wild Hare Pale Ale isn’t as well known, but it is a decent and very drinkable offering. I’ve said before that I’m not a “hopaholic” and don’t take great pleasure in trying to find the most bitter beers on the market. That’s why I thought I might like the Wild Hare Pale Ale, because I had heard that as Pale Ales go it was pretty well balanced. This proved to be correct. Their is definitely some citrus and floral hop taste to it, but the bitterness is mild and it’s balanced by a decent malt taste with even a little sweetness mixed in to boot. It’s one of the easiest drinking Pale Ales that I’ve ever had. Therefore, if you’re a Pale Ale purest and prefer a little more bite, this probably isn’t for you. If I’m honest, it even left me wanting a little more hop kick, and you know it’s a mild Pale Ale when that happens. Nevertheless, it’s pleasant balance and drinkability give it a passing score in my book.

My Rating (1-10): 7

A Good Way To Pass The Time This Week:

I’m debuting a new section here in the “Odds and Ends” this week. With 75% of NFL teams now being done for the season there are a lot of NFL fans that have already started counting down the minutes until next season. Each week of the offseason I’ll try and give you a new way to pass the time. This week, painful as it may be for some, it’s…….

Watch the NFL Playoffs

Look, obviously I know it can be hard to watch when your team is out of it, but no matter what team you follow we’re all football fans and the NFL playoffs are simply the best football on the planet. So I can’t in good conscious recommend you go out and do anything else this weekend then take in the last few games of football that are left. It’s a long stretch between the Super Bowl and the first preseason games, so they’ll be plenty of time to do other things later.

Rant Of The Week:

Oh who am I kidding, half this week’s Armchair Quarterback has been a rant about how my team lost. So let me get a few more things out and then I promise I’ll be over it by next week. Some of these may seem a little random or harsh, but I find it’s best to just let it out.

“Dear Andrew Luck, I hope Tom Brady spanks you this week so you have to go home and shave that stupid beard!”

“Dear KC defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, your game plan of letting TY Hilton just run free all over the field all game long on Saturday was AWESOME, just AWESOME!!!!!!!”

“Dear Kendrick Lewis and Dunta Robinson, thank you for inspiring millions of elementary school children on Saturday when you showed them that you can make millions of dollars in the NFL by playing two hand touch football.” (That’s actually not accurate, neither Lewis nor Robinson were ever able to get two hands on a Colts WR at the same time.)

“Dear Twitter, thanks so much for all the HILARIOUS Chiefs related tweets during the BCS National Championship. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading things like:

Andy Reid thinks Auburns 11 point halftime lead is plenty big enough and is going to bed.

or

Apparently Auburn got the Chiefs defense to come play for them in the 2nd half.

Oh, Twitter, you do crack me up!”

Finally…..

“Dear Andy Dalton, thank you SO much for throwing those interceptions and letting the Chargers advance while my Chiefs are at home. The fact that Denver and San Diego now play each other so that one of them is guaranteed to advance further is just icing on the cake!”

Okay, I feel a little better now. Sorry you all had to suffer through that, but I’ll be back to my regular self next week.

In the meantime, find yourself a comfortable chair and enjoy a great weekend of playoff football.

Thanks for reading.

(Okay, one more) “Rivers!”

Follow me on Twitter: @LyleGraversen