Holiday weeks always throw a monkey wrench into the usual rhythm and Thanksgiving is no different. I packed the work I do through 5 days into 3, but since there was little in the way of other activities it was no problem. A slow week anyway since everyone else is getting ready for Thanksgiving too. Of course on the plus side I get filling for dinner. I like filling. That’s stuffing for all of you non-South Central Pennsylvanians.
I started my Black Friday festivities by renewing my Revolution season tickets. You get a nice discount in the team store so I pick up a new hat and my autograph pennant for next season. Then it was up to Harrisburg to renew my Senators season tickets. Ended up at Pizza Boy for lunch. Good pizza there! It gets the Kevin Seal of Approval and that’s before we discuss the beer, which also gets the prestigious Kevin Seal of Approval.
The evening took me up to Allentown to see the Bears take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. I like coming here. Tickets are cheap (for hockey), the garage I park in gives change in $2 bills and Fegley’s Brew Works is a block away from the arena. First I stopped in at Weyerbacher and then it was on to Hijinx in Allentown to stock up. Haven’t been to Hijinx yet since I usually only come up for Iron Pigs bobblehead games and they fall typically during the week when they’re not open on convenient hours for me. I tried to find them last year when I was up for a Saturday game but I made a wrong turn in Bethlehem and wound up on the expressway and just decided to head for the stadium instead. Nice place but a bit hard to find, though I don’t think the locals have a hard time since they were rolling in when I was leaving. I drove past the stadium of the old Allentown Ambassadors baseball team. The outfield fence was about 50 feet or more closer then most pro parks so it is nothing more than a glorified softball field. I heard they once scored 40 runs in a game there. Ended at Fegley’s for dinner before the game.
We’ll start by saying the PPL Center is gorgeous, but then given the price tag it better be. The bad news is that the cheap $10 seats are no more, up to $16.50 now. Still only $6 to park and I got more $2 bills as change. It started off well for the Bears being very aggressive and netting the first goal of the game and then it went downhill. Lehigh responded for 2 quick goals, Hershey got one back, Lehigh got that back and then added 2 more late in the game when it was over. It’s not that Hershey played badly, Lehigh was just better and Ilya Samsonov looks like he needs a lot more seasoning in the AHL and not the NHL. Lehigh wins 6-2.
On Saturday I went down to pick up my long lost beer stein. I confirmed with the Nationals that the team store would be open this time and hey I got it. It might have actually been open last time too, the door from the outside blends in really well and it is easy to miss. My anger might have been misplaced but a sign outside could have helped. While I was down there I made a stop at DC Brau, Right Proper and Atlas Brew Works to make the most of my foray. Got beer to go at DC Brau and Right Proper and had a cold one at Atlas. Nice place but it’s easy to miss the turn as is nearly any place in DC. I also stopped at the new Guinness Brewery in Relay. That is quite a place and they will be making money hand over fist. It was packed in there on a cold and rainy day. Finished with a stop at BC Brewing near where I had my very first job out of college. Different system there, you get a card that logs your beer and then you pay by the ounce. The brewery list has been updated.
Sunday brought the Diplomats of Franklin and Marshall to York. F&M is a perennial power in D3 and combine that with free entry (most times) and a brewery across the street it makes for a yearly trip there but they are in York now. The seats in their gym are hard though. It’s an old gym. Not to worry, at least this time, since this was in York and not Lancaster. Their coach is one of the all-time great winners in men’s college basketball and they have had a lot of talent come through there in the past few years but he is absent with a medical issue. This was a tale of two halves. F&M couldn’t miss in the first half but in the second the bounces stopped going their way. F&M blew a 16 point lead, York in turn blew a 10 point lead and the game went into OT. In OT York got up and took control before F&M hit a meaningless 3 at the buzzer. York wins 78-74 in OT.
