Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Märzen Madness 2024

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I may not be biggest fan of academia’s version of indentured servitude, otherwise known as college basketball, but I do still enjoy the games of March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the thirteenth straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football or baseball. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks beginning right now, with the first games taking place on March 17, which only gives you roughly two weeks to complete your bracket. So don’t delay, sign up right away and fill out your bracket.

To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow the link below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation and play Märzen Madness this year, just follow this invitation link.

Good luck everybody!

Märzen Madness 2022

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I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the eleventh straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks beginning right now, with the first games taking place on March 17, which only gives you a couple of days to complete your bracket. So don’t delay, sign up right away and fill out your bracket right away.

To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow the link below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation and play Märzen Madness this year, just follow this invitation link.

basketball-beer-glass

Good luck everybody.

Beer In Ads #3681: Red Auerbach For Miller Lite

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Monday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1982. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features American professional basketball coach and executive Red Auerbach, who was a head coach in the NBA, most notably with the Boston Celtics. He was also the head coach of the Washington Capitols and Tri-Cities Blackhawks. As a coach, Auerbach set NBA records with 938 wins and nine championships.

Beer In Ads #3674: Leonard “Truck” Robinson For Miller Lite

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Monday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1988. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features American retired professional basketball player and coach Leonard “Truck” Robinson, who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Washington Bullets (1974–77), Atlanta Hawks (1977), New Orleans Jazz (1977–79), Phoenix Suns (1979–82), and New York Knicks (1982–85).

Märzen Madness 2021

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I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the eleventh straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks beginning on March 14, with the first games taking place on March 19, which only gives you about a week to join and a few days to complete your bracket.

To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow the link below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation and play Märzen Madness this year, just follow this invitation link.

basketball-beer-glass

Good luck everybody.

Beer In Ads #3658: Dave Cowens & Bob Lanier For Miller Lite

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Friday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1986. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features former Boston Celtics basketball player Dave Cowens and Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks basketball player Bob Lanier.

Brookston Fantasy Basketball 2019

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basketball-hops

We’ve done March Madness fantasy games in the past, which I’ve called Märzen Madness, but I’ve never done an NBA fantasy basketball game of any kind. Since my son has been playing high school basketball for the past few years, my interest has grown, not to mention our local Golden State Warriors have been a lot of fun to follow lately. So this year, I thought, why not give it a try? Our league is called Hoops & Hops and will last all season long.

Similar to both Baseball fantasy and Football fantasy, in Basketball fantasy you draft a team, play your starters and then earn points for what they do in each game. I tried to keep it fairly simple since I’m both an idiot when it comes to the finer points of basketball (and especially NBA) knowledge and also since this is all so new. Each team has a roster of 16 players, from which you’ll start 10 players each day. Scoring is also fairly straightforward, with 1 point for a free throw, 2 points for a field goal, and 3 points for a three-pointer. Then there’s also points for total rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots and negative points for a turnover. And there are big points for the elusive double-doubles and triple-doubles, but that’s it. There were a lot of other statistics you can give points to, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you see something you think should be added, say something now, since I can edit the stats before the season starts, but not after.

hop-slam-dunk

The season starts on October 22, so you have about 6 weeks to sign up, which is good since I don’t know what I’m doing and that gives us more time to fix anything. We need a minimum number of 4 teams, but we can have as many as 16, although we have to have an even number. I’m not sure why that is, because you get points just for how your players do rather than going head-to-head against other players, but c’est la vie. So while there’s no hurry per se, the sooner you sign up, the sooner you’re locked in to fielding a team this season. We’ll use the Autopick draft feature, again to make things easier, and once it’s set to “Go” then the draft will run, usually overnight. In order to sign up for a team, you’ll need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one), and then simply follow this link and follow the instructions to join Brookston’s Hoops & Hops. When you sign up, you’ll also get a chance to look over the league settings for rosters and scoring, and please do let me know if you have any suggestions for improving things, keeping in mind my goal of keeping it fairly simple. Enjoy.

basketball-hops

Märzen Madness 2019

By

basketball

I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the ninth straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks beginning on March 17, with the first games taking place on March 21, which only gives you a short window to complete your bracket.

final-four

To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.

Group ID#: 44394
Password: brookston
NOTE: You may not need a password this year if you use the invitation link.

basketball-beer-glass

Good luck everybody.