Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 76

Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler get together for yet another edition of Tapping The Keg podcast. Most of the podcast involves us talking about the trade deadline for the NBA. Even though there were not many big deals, there were enough of them to talk about for 15-20 minutes. Milwaukee Bucks made a move dealing Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour to Charlotte for expiring contracts with Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien. Even Turner deal to Indiana is discussed at great length as well as a couple of the minor deals. Also in this podcast, how Tinder is changing the date game, getting you ready for the Olympics and Hank the Brewers mascot dog!

Charlie.

Fire Up, It's America Time.

We are about 90 minutes away from United States-Canada bloodbath. It feels like everyone is all in with this team right now. Mitch and I talk about on the podcast that will be up in 30 minutes, but everyone seems to have a different attitude about this team.  United States feels like the best team left. Yes, I realize how good Canada is, but the United States is playing great puck right now. There will be people across America calling it an early day at work and catching a buzz at the lunch hour. There will be others like me watching it from his lucky chair hoping things turn out for the United States. I love this video to get us ready for hockey. It does show the true growth in the spot beyond just Canada. USA USA USA USA.  (H/T Barstool Sports) 

Charlie.

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 16

H/T @cjzero da gawd 

I decided to change the format. It makes no sense to drop this in the middle of Sochi time. Why not do it
around midnight, and make it run through the day until First Taste happens at 8:30 am. That's what we are going with here, and if you do not like it, I do not care. The format is changing basically giving you a timeline of what will be on television. I also will not post everything, just the marquee stuff.

What's on today?  
2:30 am - Men's Curling - Sweden takes on China for third place. Give me the Swedes. Could it be a start of a good day for them?  Where can I find it: NBCSN

3:39 am - Women's Skiing - Ski cross event for the women this time around but like the men, there is no Americans featured in this one. Where can I find it: Stream

6:00 am - Men's Hockey - Sweden and Finland play their own version of Canada-US. These two do not like each other. Henrik Lundqvist and Tuukka Rask should be a beauty to watch go at it.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

7:30 am - Men's Curling - Gold medal event featuring Canada and Great Britain. If you lived north of the border, is the whole morning spent getting drunk? I would say so.  Where can I find it: Stream and on CNBC at 4:00 pm.

10:15 am -Women's Skiing -  Slalom event gets going today where Mikaela Shiffrin will be on display as well as three other Americans competing. Where can I find it: NBC

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - United States and Canada for all the North America marbles. Odds I make it out of this game alive is not good.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

11:45 am - Men's Speedskating - 500m on the short track. Can the Americans finally find the medal stand? J.R. Celski is involved with this one. Where can I find it: Stream

12:00 pm -Women's Speedskating - 1000m this time around where Emily Scott and Jessica Smith will represent the United States and try to not to embarrass them. Where can I find it: Stream

12:15 pm -Men's Speedskating - It would be completely ironic if the United States won the team event.  Where can I find it: Stream

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics


Maddie Bowman's grandma is awesome.

KESSEL POWER. #USA #Canada #Sochi2014 http://t.co/XIPezN7e42
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 20, 2014

This meme still is funny despite the United States result :(

Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are wearing matching gold leaf headbands. pic.twitter.com/fD3cq18svc
— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) February 20, 2014

Last day of Johnny and Tara. Of course, they rocked gold.

Olympic Mustache: Slovenia’s Filip Flisar pic.twitter.com/B28lcfTw5w (H/T @NBCOlympics)
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) February 20, 2014

Mustache game strong.

Importance of United States Hockey Rivalry with Canada

Currently, United States leads the medal count right now at the Sochi Winter Olympics. After a rough couple of days,  U.S. really turned it around in the second week of competition bringing in the medals. But the biggest things left on the docket will be hockey for both the men and women.  The roadblock standing in each teams' way is Canada, their most hated rival. This could be one of the most meaningful two-day stretch in United States hockey history even though the U.S. men need another win to bring home the gold.

In about an hour, Canada and U.S. will be dropping the puck in the women's version. These teams have already met in Sochi where the Canadians took home their first victory against United States in the last five tries. This reestablished the dominance of Canada in women's hockey. Some people saw it as even though Canada lost many exhibitions games to the U.S., Olympics are a different animal. It has become like the men where Canada put its hands all over the gold medal. They have won in 2002, 2006 and 2010 beating United States a couple teams along with one victory over Sweden. They are the cream of the crop when it comes to international women's hockey and can the United States end its reign of dominance? 

Signs point to yes even though Canada notched a victory against the Americans earlier in Sochi. It is a contrasting style game with United States being more of a finesse team and Canada having a bruising style to them. There is no telling what will actually happen in this one. Gold medal games along with World Cup final and other international team competitions are truly unpredictable. It could go as expected with some of the stars of the team like Amanda Kessel and Brianna Decker, or something out of the ordinary ends up happening like what happens at the bronze medal game early today. 

As for the men, the importance of United States and Canada is very high and quite possibly bigger than people might give it credit for right now. The narrative today is United States might have a record-long streak of Stanley Cup winners with their organizations, but a majority of their players are Canadians. Look Chicago Blackhawks, the recent Stanley Cup winner, they have Patrick Kane, sure, but most of their star players, Johnathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith are all Canadian. 52 percent of the NHL is filled with Canadians with about 22 percent being Americans. If United States were to win this game and then take home the gold, it could have an impact on the youth of America moving forward maybe pushing more children into ice hockey. 1980 had that sort of impact, and it is hard not to look past the slight comparisons with Lake Placid. 

Yes, both of these teams are loaded with professional athletes. Yes, there is no sort of political element to the it. But when it comes down to it, Canada is the impossible opponent. United States struggled in the last decade against them in international competition, and even if they beat them, one time like The Little Giants speech, this would be huge for United States hockey. The eerie thing is U.S-USSR was a semifinal game where they took on Finland in the gold medal game. The same could happen in 2014 if the Fins were able to take down the Swedes in the other semifinal game Friday. 

If U.S. can score two wins against Canada, our neighbors to the north might explode as hockey is their life blood. They could probably take the U.S. winning one, but if they were to complete a sweep plus the Ice Dancing gold for United States, Canada might go into a state of catatonic shock.  Either way, it is an exciting time to be a resident of North America.  

Charlie.  

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 14

I decided to change the format. It makes no sense to drop this in the middle of Sochi time. Why not do it around midnight, and make it run through the day until First Taste happens at 8:30 am. That's what we are going with here, and if you do not like it, I do not care. The format is changing basically giving you a timeline of what will be on television. I also will not post everything, just the marquee stuff.

What's on today?  
Happening Now:
Men and Women parallel slalom qualifying happening. All I know about these events is there are a lot of 'L''s in parallel and slalom.  Where can I find it: Stream

2:00 am - Men's Hockey - Sweden takes on Slovenia in the first quarterfinal of the game. Even though, this features a one seed, I might wake up with an upset. Slovenia is a tricky out, and Sweden has not played anybody. Where can I find it: NBCSN

4:30 am - Men's Skiing - Giant Slalom for the medal and if Ted Ligety of the United States loses, it will be a massive disappointment. He dominates this competition. Bode Miller will be there too just in case NBC wants to make him cry again. Where can I find it: Stream

4:31 am - Women's Snowboarding - There are no Americans in this competition... DOOOOONT CARE. JINGOISM YES.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

4:35 am - Men's Snowboarding - Parallel slalom is the only snowboard sport where U.S. is not primarily involved. The only one... Jason Reiter. Where can I find it: NBCSN

6:30 am - Men's Hockey - Finland and Russia settle the score from their wars in the past century. This has to be a rivalry, right? Like I cannot see the Fins and Russians getting along.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

7:30 am - Women's Speedskating - 5000m where we have Maria Lamb from the United States and Netherlands' girl Ireen Wurst.  Where can I find it: Stream

9:00 am - Women's Figure Skating - Short program where it is completely loaded with Americans' Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, favorite from South Korea Yuna Kim and Russia Juila Lipnitskaia. Pretty sure Eric is unfollowing me tomorrow. Where can I find it: NBCSN

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - Canada takes on Latvia in one if gambling were legal, load up on the Canadians. You're welcome. Where can I find it: MSNBC

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - United States takes to the ice again versus the Czech Republic. I have no boo on the Czechs, but I expect U.S. to put up around four goals. Where can I find it: USA Network

11:15 am - Women's Bobsled - Americans have two contenders in the top three right now with Lolo Jones hanging in eleventh. I doubt they will get a sweep here.  Where can I find it: Stream

NBC Primetime - Medal Events in Skiing, snowboarding, bobsled and the figure skating.

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics

Johnny Weir looking fabulous in prime time too pic.twitter.com/YLuu7jizii
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 19, 2014

Keeping you updated on Johnny Weir because I have nothing.

Charlie.

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 12

I decided to change the format. It makes no sense to drop this in the middle of Sochi time. Why not do it around midnight, and make it run through the day until First Taste happens at 8:30 am. That's what we are going with here, and if you do not like it, I do not care. The format is changing basically giving you a timeline of what will be on television. I also will not post everything, just the marquee stuff.

What's on today?  
Happening Now:
We have three women's curling matches taking place. The matchups are Great Britain versus Russia, Korea versus United States and Japan battling China.  Where can I find it: Stream & US-Korea gets going at 2:00 am on NBCSN with Russia and Great Britain following it.

4:00 am - Men's Curling - United States are struggling and they take on Switzerland in a big-time matchup.  Where can I find it: USA Network

4:15 am - Men's Snowboarding - Snowboard cross where there are four Americans competing in this one. Two guys to keep an eye on... Nate Holland and Trevor Jacob. Where can I find it: Stream

6:30 am - Women's Hockey - United States battles Sweden for a chance to play in the gold medal.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

9:00 am - Figure Skating - Ice dance finals where the rivalry is living up to the hype with Davis/White leading with Virtue/Moir in second. Let's goooo.  Where can I find it: NBCSN

11:00 am - Women's Hockey - Canada takes on Switzerland in the other semifinal game. Cannot state enough how much of a disappointment it would be if we do not get a Canada-US final. Where can I find it: MSNBC 

11:30 am - Men's Skiing - We have the aerials final for the gold. Mac Bohonnon is the lone American at the tender age of 18.  Where can I find it: Stream and NBC daytime later in the afternoon

12:15 pm - Men's Skiing - This is called 'Team large hill ski jumping' and I have no idea if this is a team thing. It has to be right?. Where can I find it: NBCSN.

NBC Primetime - Medal Events in Snowboard cross, ice dance, aerials and bobsled

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics

OMG, Johnny Weir's wearing a tiara. FABULOUS! pic.twitter.com/mEA9y3hRSp
— World of Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) February 16, 2014

A continued look into Johnny Weir's fashion.

Great photo of U.S. Olympians @GigiMarvin and @OSH74 from high school RT @MarvinWindows pic.twitter.com/NO16z4tD5T
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) February 16, 2014

U.S. Men's hockey player T.J. Oshie as a prom king and U.S. Women's hockey player Gigi Marvin as a prom queen.

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 11

I decided to change the format. It makes no sense to drop this in the middle of Sochi time. Why not do it around midnight, and make it run through the day until First Taste happens at 8:30 am. That's what we are going with here, and if you do not like it, I do not care. The format is changing basically giving you a timeline of what will be on television. I also will not post everything, just the marquee stuff.

What's on today?  
Happening Now:
We have three men's curling matches taking place. The matchups are Great Britain versus Norway, Canada versus United States and Russia taking on Sweden.  Where can I find it: Stream & US-Canada gets going at 2:00 am on NBCSN

Also the Super G is being decided in Men's skiing with Bode Miller with a realistic chance at a medal.

2:00 am - Women's Hockey - This is the classification round meaning one of these teams needs a win to stay alive between Finland and Germany. Where can I find it: Stream

2:00 am - Men's Hockey - Austria and Norway are both winless, their chance to get off the schnide  Where can I find it: USA Network

3:45 am -  Women's Snowboarding - Snowboard cross where they actually race on snowboards is happening for a medal.  Big matchup here is the US-Canada rivalry between Lindsey Jacobellis and Dominique Maltais Where can I find it: Stream

4:00 am - Women's Curling - Theme of the day minus men's hockey. USA taking on Canada in team and individual events. Where can I find it: MSNBC

6:30 am - Men's Hockey - I have a feeling Russia will be a little upset and take it all out on Slovakia.  Where can I find it: USA Network

6:30 am - Men's Hockey - USA tries to avoid the hangover when they take on Slovenia in the final preliminary round game. Where can I find it: NBCSN

8:00 am - Women's Speed skating - They medal in the 1500m and will the US speedskaters continue to struggle?  The name to watch here? Netherlands' Ireen Wurst Where can I find it: Stream

9:00 am - Pairs Figure Skating - Why you watch this one is because it is another United States versus Canada rivalry with the U.S. team of Charlie White and Meryl Davis versus Tessa Virture and Scott Moir of Canada. I am 100 percent in. Where can I find it: NBCSN.

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - Finland against Canada should be a very good barometer to see where the Canadians are this Olympics. . Where can I find it: USA Network

NBC Daytime - Women's snowboarding and cross country skiing.

NBC Primetime - Medal Events in Alpine skiing, snowboard cross, speed skating and ice dance's short program.

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics
If you want a T.J. Oshie shirt, may I suggest this one. (Barstool Sports Store) 

#Straydog seen on the chairlift at women's Super-G. Clearly the dogs are charming the security forces. . pic.twitter.com/o1ZN6lxWTA #Sochi2014
— Michael.R Payne (@MichaelRPayne1) February 15, 2014

Stray dog just chillin on a chairlift.

Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski singing Total Eclipse of the Heart. I mean sure why not.

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 9

First of all, I would like to extend an apology for not getting a viewer guide up. I straight up fell asleep after coming home from the bar, but I decided to change the format. It makes no sense to drop this in the middle of Sochi time. Why not do it around midnight, and make it run through the day until First Taste happens at 8:30 am. That's what we are going with here, and if you do not like it, I do not care. The format is changing basically giving you a timeline of what will be on television. I also will not post everything, just the marquee stuff.

What's on today?  
Happening Now:
We have three men's curling matches going down with USA battling Germany, Canada against Norway and Sweden facing off against China. NBCSN has the USA-Germany match at 2:00 am and Canada-Norway at 4:00 am. Where can I find it: Stream

1:45 am - Women's Skeleton - Medal event in this one and I have to be honest when I say... I have no idea what skeleton is but it appears to be one big 'The Plunge' on ice. For those unfamiliar with 'The Plunge", it is a dangerous ride at Noah's Ark. Where can I find it: Stream

2:00 am - Men's Hockey - Czech Republic battles Latvia. Czech have more NHL talent so I would favor them Where can I find it: MSNBC

5:30 am - Men's Skiing - Super-Combined Slalom where they will be medals. Bode Miller is involved with this one. Where can I find it: Stream

6:30 am - Men's Hockey - Sweden vs. Switzerland - I would put Sweden as the favorite in this one but I know nothing about hockey. Where can I find it: NBCSN

9:00 am - Men's Figure Skating - I have no idea if they will actually show whom wins the medals, but let's hope for it with the combination of Lipinksi and Weir. Where can I find it: NBCSN

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - Norway and Finland meet as the Fins begin their Winter Olympics. Norway gave Canada quite a game on Thursday morning.  Where can I find it: MSNBC

11:00 am - Men's Hockey - Canada takes on Austria, I think this would be an easier game for Canucks but I could be wrong. Where can I find it: USA Network

11:30 am - Women's Skiing - Gold medal event for aerials and it should be some fun with a couple USA contenders Where can I find it: Stream and it will be on NBC later in the afternoon.

NBC Primetime - Medal events with figure skating, combined slalom skiing and skeleton.

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics


Sweden and Wu-Tang, match made in heaven.

One of the thing that got lost in the shuffle amid my sleep schedule. Kate Hansen dancing. Fantastic. (CBS Sports) 

feels good, man. MT @MeredithFrost: Welp, here we are. Sochi: Day 6 (AP) pic.twitter.com/Wm78ZZswu0
— darth™ (@darth) February 14, 2014

While US gets nailed with snow, this is Russia.

Charlie.

Sochi Olympics Viewing Guide Day 5

I am going to do this to help the people out with their television needs with the Olympics. I will also include what will be on in the middle of the night for those whom do not really sleep very much. This is critical given it is unlike London where there is a smaller time difference than what we are dealing with here in Sochi, Russia. I do not know if we include recaps in here, but this is our beginning of our Olympic coverage for the next couple of weeks.  Pictures/links and everything else I can find will be included below plus this will go up before First Taste each day as the Olympics are happening basically as all of us wake up and before the usual Sportandfashion-news start time.

What's on today?  
NBC 
Daytime events: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm - During the week, NBC does not really bring it during the day which is sort of disappointing. All we have for you is men's biathlon and men's freestyle moguls.

Primetime: 7:00 pm - 10:30 pm - All of these being repeats of earlier today but we have medal events in two men's speedskating events with the 500m and 1500m as well as women's super-combined alpine skiing. Not the best night in terms of events, but at least there are medal events to watch.

NBCSN 
Early Morning Events: 6:45 am - 10:00 am - For those waking up and expecting Dan Patrick Show in the morning, not happening. Instead we have Men's speedskating and freestyle skiing. I believe the men's speedskating will be a medal event.

Late Morning/Early Afternoon Events: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm - A load of things to prepare for the day if you have Monday off from the cold here in Milwaukee. They will have women's luge singles with women's skiing training for slopestyle. Included in this section of television is a women's curling match between Sweden and Great Britain

Women's Curling: USA v. Switzerland 2:00 pm - Is this a repeat of this morning or not? Very good chance I confused hockey and curling so if I did, my bad.

Hockey: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Hockey game of the day which will be one of the women's hockey events.

MSNBC
Women's Hockey: Canada v. Finland 9:00 am - The women's hockey round robin continues with these two matching up against each other on Monday.

CNBC
Men's Curling: USA v. Norway 4:00 pm - I would assume this is a repeat from earlier today, but worth your time coming home today or at the gym.

Streaming on NBCOlympics 
3:00 am & 6:00 am - Nothing really on the stream besides round robin curling events, but we do have qualification for women's slopestyle alpine skiing and then the medal round will be at six.

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Olympics

Not sure whether you should be in bed right now? No. Stay up and admire these trousers. #sochi pic.twitter.com/jZXFMqLTmM
— BuzzFeed Sports (@BuzzFeedSports) February 10, 2014

All I got for you today is Russia's fantastic pants for curling. Tremendous look.

Charlie.

Sochi Viewing Guide Day 3

I am going to do this to help the people out with their television needs with the Olympics. I will also include what will be on in the middle of the night for those whom do not really sleep very much. This is critical given it is unlike London where there is a smaller time difference than what we are dealing with here in Sochi, Russia. I do not know if we include recaps in here, but this is our beginning of our Olympic coverage for the next couple of weeks.  I might include Russia pictures of the day from different journalists because that sounds like fun.

What's on today?  
NBC 
Daytime events: 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm - They have a variety events to watch this afternoon if you need a palate cleanser. We have Men's 5,000M speedskating, Men's ski jumping, Men's biathlon and women's combined skiing. Some of these events were I believe on NBCSN in the way late night so it could be a repeat, be aware.

Primetime: 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm - If you did not watch the slopestyle gold medal event late night, this will have a replay of that. Hannah Kearney will go for a repeat gold in women's moguls and the team figure skating event will match on. Basically a repeat of Thursday with a little more competitiveness.

NBCSN 
Figure Skating: 8:30 am -1:30 pm - For those fans of figure skating, a bunch of it is on during the morning and the early stages of the afternoon. When I say a bunch, I mean it is a variety of skating events.

Hockey: 5:00 pm - I have no idea what this is but they call it the 'Game of the Day.' If I had a guess, they are replaying the best game from the day and it is a supercut of the game. Kind of nice before the primetime stuff.

MSNBC
Women's Hockey: Canada v. Switzerland 7:15 am - Do I expect any of you to watch this? Not really but you should know all that's out there today.

Streaming on NBCOlympics 
12:30 am - Women's Slopestyle semifinals, great thing to have on at the bar if they can figure out how to stream things at the bar, or watch if you stayed home or worked late.

1:00 am - Men's Alpine Downhill Skiing - This will be a medal event for those who will be up late and want to ruin it for your friends.

2:00 am - Women's Hockey - Sweden v. Japan: For those who cannot get enough hockey.

3:15 am - Women's slopestyle finals - Another  medal event for the insomniacs.

4:00 am - Men's Skiathlon - The final medal event of the late night session, but you have to be a real degenerate to watch this one.

Images, links, pictures and everything else about the Opening Ceremony 
Yeah about that missing ring....

The Olympic ring that failed to display properly at the Sochi opening ceremonies is the one that officially represents the Americas.
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) February 7, 2014

USA USA USA USA USA USA

Is there a mustache gold? We win. #USA pic.twitter.com/s1Xc5k4Eqe
— 610 (@610Barstool) February 8, 2014

One of the torch bearers used to have a fling with Vladimir Putin. I mean well of course. (Washington Post) 

One of the Austria athletes took a massive digger. There are also some other images from the Opening Ceremony. (For The Win) 

U.S.-Canada Women's Hockey Brawl

USA USA USA USA USA USA. I know we probably should not condone fighting in an exhibition game, but this is awesome. As the U.S. women's hockey was on their way to beating Canada, 4-1, in a game preparing for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, all 'heck' broke loose according to the announcer as a brawl began in the corner. I believe Canada started it which is a classic Canada move. Cannot deal with the United States handing them a bald eagle's version of whoop ass on Friday night. Hopefully, this will carry over to Russia because I am convinced the U.S. is entirely in Canada's head. (H/T @brodiebrazil) 

Charlie.