Do you have something to buy , sell or trade?  Want to get it on the internet for free?  Not only free but with a built-in readership base so somebody will see it.  Sports Lore make no money off of this service.  It is just a way to say Thank-you to our readers.  You can contact either the webmaster or Mike Toone through Sports Lore to advertise.

NFL Game Clips spanning fourty years can be sold or traded.  The cost is $15.00 per tape plus $3.00 for shipping and handling.  Hundreds to choose from.  At present seller is looking for Superbowl 1 Packers vs Chiefs.  Color game film with either CBS or NBC Radio Broadcast.  The AFL Championship complete NBC version or color game film.  Lastly the 1965 NFC Championship Packers vs. Browns.

For more information and a complete list of tapes for sale contact:

Michael Brodie
200 Cushman Street
Durham, NC 27703 or call at (919) 765-5825.

Have we got some books for you!  First time author Ken Knight tells us the "real story of the history of NFL football fan support in New England."  To learn more about Ken and his book click here.

If something can be thrown people will watch it.  If something can be made people will drink it.  Don Russell once again helps guide up through the rich foamy past and present of beer.  For more information  click here.

Well you got to have a little music.  The following is a premier South Jersey Irish Band.  Which means they have day jobs.  Despite that they are all accomplished entertainers with a few CD's to their name.  Thei name is Broken Shillelaghs.  While this has little to do with sports I know all of them, and, well, they are good sports.  For more information click here.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on September 11, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

IT'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL time, which means it's time for another installment of Joe Sixpack's Freshman Guide to College Beer-Drinking.

I'm going to assume most of you have already completed course work in Intro to Keg-Stands and Basics of ID Forgery. So we'll skip directly to what I hope will become not only a lifelong lesson, but a hip, new term at urbanslang.com: The Stupid Drink.

That's the drink that takes you from a fun night to a night you regret, from being in control to losing it, from drinking to drinking too much.

The Stupid Drink is not my original idea, although Lord knows I've downed my share of idiocy. Instead, it comes from students at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, who coined the term in their winning entry in this year's National Student Advertising Competition.

Their assignment: Develop a campaign to combat dangerous overconsumption of alcohol by college students.

Overconsumption is a big deal on college campuses these days. Freshmen undergo lengthy, often overwrought orientation about the evils of alcohol that invariably equate beer with alcoholism, crime and death.

What caught my eye about the Stupid Drink is - though it's targeted at underage drinkers - it doesn't preach abstinence.

Professor Edward Russell, the faculty adviser who worked with the students, explained "that's because we know the abstinence message doesn't work . . . It's been tried many times by well-meaning people, and the problem keeps getting bigger."

Moreover, the campaign willfully rejects the B-word: binge.

When the Syracuse advertising team surveyed their campus, fellow students laughed at the term because, under its common definition (five drinks for men, four for women in two hours), virtually everyone they know is a binge drinker.

Yet they all know overdrinking when they see (or feel) it. There's a line that's crossed, they agreed, and it's different for every drinker. It may be a feeling, a situation, an environment, a number or a specific form of alcohol.

That's the Stupid Drink.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on July 17, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

WHEN TAP lineups at your local pub change every day, challenging taste buds and pushing flavors to the extreme, it's not hard to feel less than excited by the old standbys.

Or worse. It's an unfortunate truth, after all, that familiarity breeds contempt.

So the other day, I sat down with three stalwarts of the craft-beer renaissance with a clean palate and a fresh eye.

Are they as outstanding as they were a generation ago when they were trendsetters? Or have they lost a step as competitors have improved?

All three are top-sellers in the craft-beer market, and they're benchmarks in their respective styles. Yet - perhaps in a sign of their diminished standing among experts - it's been a decade since any won a medal at the Great American Beer Festival.

But forget the experts. Try this exercise yourself. You'll be surprised by either how much your palate has changed or by how damningly easy it is to take excellence for granted.

Anchor Steam

Introduced: 1896.

Last Great American Beer Festival medal: 1992 (bronze).

Claim to fame: When washing-machine heir Fritz Maytag revived the brand in the late '60s, it would set in motion the entire microbrew craze, proving to the world that America could actually brew something other than a pallid yellow lager. By 1977, it would be described as "the Rolls-Royce" of U.S. beer.

Gratuitous diss: It's a training beer for novices.

Tasting notes: The aroma is delicate and enticing. The body is dry, smooth and thoroughly refreshing. First you taste its malt, delicately sweet and almost buttery. Then a tight, almost subtle, bite of hops cleanses the palate and urges you to follow with another quaff. Anchor Steam is a marvel of perfect balance.

My take: Anchor Steam is a wonderful easy-sipper, maybe the ideal ballpark beer. But in a world of hop monsters, malt bombs and high-octane mind-numbers, it's a "safe" beer that may never again get the credit it deserves.

Celebrating the 50^th Season of "The Other League" With a Special Five-Part Documentary

New York (Aug. 18, 2009) – This fall, SHOWTIME Sports® and the National Football League® celebrate the 50^th season of the maverick American Football League, from its tumultuous beginnings to its unlikely merger with the rival NFL, through an insightful NFL Films-produced five-part documentary entitled Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League, premiering on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on SHOWTIME®.

Follow the birth of the only league to successfully rival the NFL from its innovative and wild beginnings to the most stunning upset in pro football history and the eventual powerhouse merger. SHOWTIME Sports will air the five-part documentary every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT starting on Sept. 16, until the finale on Oct. 8.

The AFL was full of unique personalities both on and off the field. Breaking with tradition and challenging a powerful institution, it brought America a new and exciting brand of football.

"This is the quintessential underdog story in both sports and in business," said Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. "This is the first documentary ever presented by SHOWTIME Sports.  And with the colorful characters and unique personalities of the up-start AFL brought to life by NFL Films, this promises to be one of the most compelling sports documentaries ever made."

"The AFL is one of the great American success stories, and it is a story with a lot of colorful characters," said NFL Films president Steve Sabol. "In this project we celebrate the AFL while also debunking myths about why the league succeeded."

Weaving through the social, cultural and political events of the tumultuous 1960s, Full Color Football examines the daring vision of league-founder Lamar Hunt and his dream to challenge the NFL.

Through rare interviews from some of the biggest names in the AFL, including Joe Namath, Al Davis and John Madden, long lost game highlights and never before seen footage, Full Color Football tells the inside story of the outsiders who forever changed the game.

Pop culture personalities and historians will also pay tribute and analyze the vibrant history and free-thinking spirit of the Americans who dared to challenge the NFL and strive for greatness. 

Published: Thursday, July 16, 2009 on Main Line Media

By Lou Orlando

VILLANOVA — The very first Phillies game I ever attended was on a Sunday afternoon in 1953 at old Connie Mack Stadium. The star-studded Brooklyn Dodgers were the opponent that day.

At barely 8 years of age, I wasn’t knowledgeable enough about the game to appreciate a fine pitcher’s duel, and left disappointed because I didn’t see any home runs. Had I known more, I could have expected that result because Don Newcombe was pitching for Brooklyn and Robin Roberts was pitching for the Phillies in a game the Phillies and Roberts won, 2-1.

Roberts wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer I saw that afternoon. There was Richie Ashburn, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson, too.

Imagine that, my very first big league game, and I saw no less than six Hall of Famers take the field that afternoon.

I went to that game with my father and my uncle. During the ride home, both talked about how effortlessly Roberts threw and still managed to shut down one of the best lineups in the National League. I guess if four of the men who started for the Dodgers that day would ultimately make it into the Hall of Fame, shutting them down was indeed a special feat.

I’m not sure how Dad and Uncle Vick knew Roberts threw effortlessly, because from our seats in the upper deck in left field, we could barely see Roberts, let alone determine if he was breezing through the Dodger lineup with ease or working hard and sweating up a small ocean.

Roberts was the ace of the Phillies pitching staff all through my childhood. He went on to win 286 games and notch 45 shutouts in a career that spanned 19 years. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the seven-time All Star, is the 305 complete games he threw, and having once pitched 28 complete games in a row!

To put that last statistic in its proper perspective, the pitchers who led the National and American leagues in complete games the last two years had only 27 complete games combined.

In 1953, Roberts threw an amazing 33 complete games. No one in either league has passed that mark since, and you have to go all the way back to 1917 to find another pitcher that exceeded that number. Some guy named Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox led the majors with 35 complete games that year.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on October 9, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

WHAT'S OLD is brew again.
From heather to pomegranate, unusual ingredients that were common in beer 1,000 years ago are making their way back into the modern brew kettle, thanks to a quirky new wave of experimentation by small brewers.

Through academic research and consultation of dusty texts, these brewers are producing a stunning variety of unusually flavored ales that were - until recently - virtually extinct.

The oddest, undoubtedly, is Dogfish Head Chicha, brewed this summer with purple maize that founder Sam Calagione and his staff chewed into mush, spit out and dried. The chewing is an essential step in the brewing process, allowing natural ptyalin enzymes in saliva to break down the corn's sugar and convert it into fermentable sugar.

Yes it sounds disgusting, but there's no health hazard because the mush is thoroughly boiled. Hundreds of people lined up at last month's Great American Beer Festival for a taste.

The ancient Peruvian brewing method is still practiced in some South American villages, but it's believed Dogfish Head's is the first commercially brewed chicha in the New World.

Dogfish Head is not the only one dabbling with long-forgotten recipes.

Craigmill Brewing in Scotland specializes in gruit, an old ale style that was prevalent in Europe before the use of hops became universal in the 16th century. Its beers are flavored with pine, blackberries and even seaweed.

At Cambridge Brewing in Massachusetts, brewer Will Meyers makes a Scottish ale flavored with heather flowers; it's a strong drink that Pict warriors might have fortified themselves with 4,000 years ago.

Fossil Fuels Brewing in California reaches back even further with a beer made from yeast extracted from a chunk of 45-million-year-old Burmese amber.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on August 21, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

YOU KNOW the local beer scene is exploding when even the wine-sippers at the Inquirer make space on the front page for the Everyman's beverage of choice.

The money quote in last Sunday's exhaustive report by Rick Nichols is from Sly Fox Brewery & Eatery owner Pete Giannopoulos, who said, "We can't grow fast enough."

I can't drink it fast enough, either, but you don't hear me complaining. Instead, I'll devote this week's column to catching up.

Worth the trip

Mention the town of Emmaus to beer freaks, and they immediately think of Shangy's, the mega-distributor with more than 2,000 brands, including hard-to-find imports. That's fine for beer to go, but where do you go for a cold one after a grueling afternoon of shopping?

The Tap & Table Gastropub (4226 Chestnut St., Emmaus) is a good bet.

Located just down the road from the distributor, TnT pours from six draft lines and three hand-pumped casks. The menu ranges from oysters and mussels to steaks and chops.

Next weekend offers the perfect excuse to make the trek up the Northeast Extension: A minisaison fest featuring the spicy Belgian farmhouse style pouring from all taps. The event, which includes live music, runs Aug. 28-30, starting at 3 p.m. each day.

Roll out the barrel

Oppressive heat notwithstanding, fall is right around the corner, and that means it's Oktoberfest season.

Mark your calendars for the second annual Philly Oktoberfest on Sept. 19 at the 23rd Street Armory in Center City. The festival features oompah music, a German biergarten and samples of malty Oktoberfestbier and spicy pumpkin beers.

Tix are $40, with two sessions at 1 and 6 p.m. VIP entry includes food and early entry. Info: www.phillybeerfests.com.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on July 3, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

MIXING BEER and ice cream seems like a totally gross idea that should offend everyone. It is a disservice to two perfectly fine indulgences, akin to mixing baseball and sex. There is no reason to believe they might be consenting partners.

Indeed, no less an authority than the Weekly World News reported on April 11, 1989, that beer floats were among "the world's weirdest snacks," on a "bizarre" list that included liverwurst-and-grape-jelly sandwiches.

The tabloid's culinary warnings notwithstanding, I'm obliged to report that pouring beer into ice cream does not disturb the natural order.

I spent a couple of sticky nights recently getting overly familiar with the two, and discovered that ice cream and beer - well, let's just call them beer floats - are nothing less than a transcendent melding of childhood joy and adult hedonism. It's creamy goodness meets intoxicating vice.

Now, I can't make any claims of invention. A number of restaurants in the area and across the country offer some variation of beer-and-ice cream, from the Young's Double Chocolate Stout float at Washington, D.C.'s RFD to the Lindemans Framboise shake at the Yard House chain in Southern California.

At the beer-centric Spinnerstown Hotel (just off the Quakertown exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike), the beer floats vary depending on the season and the tap list. Owner John Dale is fond of one made with Southern Tier Mokah and coffee ice cream.

Admittedly, beer floats are for those with a sweet tooth. I tried but couldn't find a good match for India pale ale or pilsner; they are simply too hoppy for this sugary treat.

Likewise, fruit-flavored ice cream and sorbet are a bit dicey. I tried pouring Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat over a scoop of cherry-flavored Italian water ice - a natural combo, I thought - and it turned into an unspeakably tart slush.

The ingredient you're after is malt, which can be sweet or bitter or both. Pouring a sweet, strong German doppelbock like Ayinger Celebrator over vanilla ice cream is akin to a butterscotch sundae. If you crack open a bottle of Rogue Mocha Porter (Oregon) with dark-roasted malts, we're talking chocolate syrup. Pour them both, add a maraschino cherry, and you've got a Dusty Road.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on June 12, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

A HARSHER CRITIC would sip a cream ale and sniff that the brewer had dumbed down a perfectly good pale ale by adding sugar and corn to the kettle.

Where are the hops? The body?

And he would have a point, because this often-overlooked summertime style is truly a compromise.

Head back to the late 19th century, when a wave of immigrant brewers perfected the newfangled American lager, and put yourself in the shoes of an old-time ale maker. Everywhere you look, your customers are drinking this confounded, brilliantly clear, crisp Bohemian-style lager, and you're still making dark, ponderous ales and porters.

What are you going to do?

Lighten up, of course. Use pale malts and add corn - it's completely fermentable, doesn't leave behind any proteins and even softens the body. Then you've got to knock down some of those fruity yeast esters produced by warm fermentation, so you condition your ale at a cooler temperature, like a lager.

What you get is fizzy and yellow, with only a nod toward the complexity of an ale.

Yes, it's tempting for the purist to shrug it off as lifeless, adjunct-filled factory swill. But take another gulp and understand that this is a whole 'nother kind of beer, a stylistic hybrid, an American original designed for simple refreshment.

That's what drove Clarence Geminn in 1960 to begin making what many regard as the classic modern version of cream ale at Genesee Brewing in Rochester, N.Y.

"We always considered ourselves a true ale brewery," said his son, Gary, who brewed countless batches himself during a 42-year span at the facility. "My father was looking for something a little milder than our 12 Horse Ale. Something a little less harsh, but with a little tartness."

The result was Genesee Cream Ale, a beer that eventually became a million-barrel seller in New York and Pennsylvania alone. Its hint of hops aroma and soft flavor (not to mention its cheap price) made it a popular go-to draft for anyone looking for something other than the usual industrial lager.

By Joe Sixpack
Posted on June 5, 2009 on Joe Sixpack

ASSUMING the world's scientists have this whole global warming thing right, I figure we've got two years, three at the most, till we're all wearing SPF 100 and it's crocodiles, not moose, that Sarah Palin is hunting up there in Alaska.

Thankfully, the world's beer makers have already sprung into action.

Greenhouse brew, aka summer beer, is the most popular seasonal of the year. Hefeweizen, fruit beer, blond ale, witbier, helles, Kolsch and pilsner - these are all classic summer styles, brewed to accomplish the No. 1 goal of beer: refreshment.

Typically light in color and body, one easy quaff of these beers will clear the sweat from an afternoon behind the lawnmower, and a sixpack will have you sleeping with the air conditioning on low.

Here's three notable styles this summer.

Watermelon beer

Don't laugh - the few I've tasted are surprisingly cooling and fun, bringing to mind a picnic in the shade on a lazy afternoon. (Just remember to spit out the seeds!)

The most widely distributed is Hell or High Watermelon Wheat from 21st Amendment in San Francisco, available locally in cans.

Brewer Shaun O'Sullivan said the idea for the beer came from an old homebrew recipe of his co-founder, Nico Freccia. "I thought it was ridiculous at first," said O'Sullivan. "C'mon, watermelon beer? It was the same reaction anyone would've had."

The secret is in the ale's fermentation, which leaves behind little residual sugar. It starts out with a fruity aroma, with only a touch of sweetness, and finishes dry, so you're eager to take another sip.

There aren't many watermelon beers on the shelves, yet, but look also for Thomas Hooker's More Than A Mouthful Watermelon Ale (Connecticut), with an even stronger melon aroma, and draft Watermelon Lager from Roy Pitz (Chambersburg, Pa.).