Beer, Pizza, And Baseball Icons

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there: https://www.fwweekly.com/2019/08/13/sports-rush-pizza-beer-and-pudge/

Many a person’s outlook on life has improved via a combination of pepperoni slices and 12-ounce cans. I got an opportunity to interview them together and I asked some probing questions. How did they meet? How does the pair feel about having the same boss? And then something, well, unfortunate happened. You’ll just have to watch the video interview to see how it unfolded. Note: there is a surprise appearance from a Rangers Hall of Famer.

We did the chat session at Texas Live! (they add the exclamation point – not my grammatical improvisation).The facility celebrated its one-year anniversary Friday. It was fun. There was 13 Gold beer and Pudge’s Pizza, which you can actually find every day at TL! (my abbreviation, not theirs).


Rush Olson has spent more than two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

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Dancing Around The Definition of Sport

This post originally appeared at the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To view it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2016/11/30/sports-rush-the-fine-art-of-sport/


Ballet is a sports credit. At my nieces’ school, a student can use regular instruction in that traditional dance form to fulfill his or her sports requirement.

So it’s a sports credit. But is it a sport?

This column started because my 14-year old niece, who receives her own activity credits through volleyball, basketball, and tennis, insisted “Ballet is NOT a sport. It’s a fine art” (ALL CAPS were hers). This declaration came pursuant to a discussion on the matter with a classmate who disagreed because of how much physical exertion ballet demands. And indeed, I don’t think there’s too much argument that vigorous dance indeed carries many of the same fitness benefits as, say, stick-and-ball sports. But, yeah, is pirouetting and pliéing a sport?

Ballet offers competition for roles, so participants do experience some of the same pressures as an athlete trying to make the varsity. Teamwork would also seem a necessity in executing complicated dance maneuvers involving multiple cast members. But if you define a sport as needing a winner and loser (or at least some uncertainty in the outcome), as my niece contended, then choreographed routines don’t qualify. We all know how The Nutcracker turns out (spoiler : the prince gets the girl, like every other fairy tale).

Except, actually, while a pursuit might not have originally been designed as a sport, perhaps it can become one. In fact, competitive people will make a game of anything. Sure enough, ballet competitions abound worldwide (without agreement in the dance world about whether they are a good thing). Is it a huge step from ballet to figure skating? And that’s in the Olympics, which has a number of events whose outcomes rest on the decisions of the judges – kind of like Dancing with the Stars does.

We’re actually pretty good at taking stuff that its originators never dreamed would be a sport and turning it into one. Cheerleading never seemed like a sport, but then it morphed into Cheer and now it overruns convention centers with sparkly competitors trying to execute the best pyramids and dance numbers. And, yes, its organizers do want to get Cheer into the Olympic Games.

We can take sports the other way, too. Wrestling, an original Olympic sport (as in 776 B.C. original) nearly got booted from the games before an uproar fueled its reinstatement. Part of its problem is that the best-known form of wrestling is not a sport at all, but a show staged to look like a competition.

Pastimes like golf, bowling, chess, and auto racing have generated controversy about whether or not they constitute true sports. The debate constantly widens. How shall we treat eSports and drone racing? J.K. Rowling made up a sport and now people attempt to play quidditch without magic. By the way, speaking of chess, Wizard Chess could make a pretty good argument for being a sport. Expect the FIEM (Fédération Internationale des Échecs Magicien) to petition for a place in the next muggle Olympics.

Whether or not it’s a sport, ballet is for sure classified as a “fine” art. Some other blogger can take on the question of what is and isn’t fine, or, as the Old 97’s put it, “What’s so fine about art?”

Meanwhile, the next time you pursue an activity that involves some degree of motion or competition, ask yourself, “Is what I just did a sport?” The answer might surprise you.

Beer pong, anyone?




Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions.



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Top Spots in Ft. Worth to Watch the Rangers

This post originally appeared on the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau blog. To read on that site : http://www.fortworth.com/blog/post/2016/19/Top-Spots-to-Watch-the-Rangers/1263/

The Texas Rangers don’t play at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

Well, okay, they don’t always play at Globe Life. Half their games are road games, and Spring Training games happen mostly in Arizona. That means you’ve got to find somewhere to watch your Rangers play when they don’t do it in Tarrant County. Luckily. Fort Worth has a number of establishments you can access to get your game on.

We’d like to establish that this list is not comprehensive. Do you have a favorite place where you like to watch the local baseball team? Let us know in the comments and on social media and help us spread the word about good places to share nine innings with old or new friends.

We’ve organized this list geographically, so you can find somewhere close to you.

West 7th

On one of the fact-finding missions for this column, Landmark Bar & Kitchen won the titles (across neighborhoods) for most total TVs showing the Rangers game and most consecutive sets with the game on. More than half a dozen LGs ringing the outdoor bar all showed the Fox Sports Southwest broadcast and several more inside had it as well. Preston the bartender told us he wanted to be able to move anywhere in the place and keep up with the game, and he succeeded. Good call by him.

The West 7th area actually gives you lots of options for catching the game. The Varsity Tavern has TVs as big as Nomar Mazara’s future, and you can also look for the game on multiple screens at the likes of King Crab Tap House, Brewsters, Reservoir, the Durty Crow, The Local, BoomerJacks, and several others.

Downtown

It’s hard to pick one place in downtown. It might depend on where your hotel or office is, or perhaps what kind of food you want. Frankie’s is near the central library, but the bar that’s actually called “The Library” is at Houston and 6th, Ojos Locos bills itself as a sports cantina, with Tex-Mex offerings and TVs in several booths, so you can feel like you’ve got Steve Busby and Tom Grieve actually dining with you. Whiskey & Rye has won a few awards for best sports bar in town. You’ll find them in the Omni Hotel in southern downtown by the convention center.

A downtown sleeper pick : The Red Goose Saloon. You can sit at the bar and watch the game on a couple of screens, and the food is underrated. You can smoke here, if that appeals to you.

You could actually watch the game at the Texas Rangers Team Shop on Main Street. Not only do they have a TV inside the store, they have a couple of sets by the windows facing the street. If you don’t mind standing on the sidewalk, you can be sure the game will be priority programming.

Stockyards

Nolan Ryan is a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, located in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. However, Cowtown’s north side has more saloons than sports bars. We recommend you sit at the bar at Filthy McNasty’s Saloon (they’re friendlier than they sound) and enjoy a beverage while watching the game on the TVs above the bar.

East Side

The No Frills Grill on Eastchase is as close as you can get to Globe Life Park in Arlington without leaving Fort Worth. And they do, in truth, have some frills - specifically TVs showing the Rangers game. You can almost see the home run fireworks from there.

Near South Side

Upper 90 on College came into being when the owners felt the Magnolia area needed a sports bar. They may be named after a soccer term, but you can still count on them having the Rangers game on one of their many TVs.

Hulen Area

You’ve got plenty of choices in restaurants near the mall. We’ve watched a Super Bowl or two at the Fox & Hound. You can play pool while you watch the ballgame there, too.

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.


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The Fast Track to Beer at Texas Motor Speedway

This post originally appeared on the Blotch page at the Fort Worth Weekly. To read it on their site : http://www.fwweekly.com/2015/11/04/the-fast-track-to-beer-ar-texas-motor-speedway/

Drinking beer and driving your car don’t mix. Drinking beer and watching others drive, on the other hand, have long paired well together. The latter assertion is especially true when those other people drive in a contained environment and race each other at a really high rate of speed.

Today, we cover the Texas Motor Speedway as the third installment in our public service series about where to find beer at sporting venues of interest to Fort Worth-Dallas fans. The Fort Worth Weekly staff knows you like beer (we do, too, actually), and don’t want you wandering aimlessly trying to locate it when enmeshed in a sporting spectacle. TMS hosts NASCAR events this week and weekend, so we want you prepared as you head to the track.



Street signs reflecting the speedway’s marketing campaign declare the area “No Limits, Texas.” Speed limits may not apply on the track, but knowledge of one’s own alcohol intake limits enhances the raceday party experience. Texas Motor Speedway’s size (it swells to become the seventh largest city in Texas during a race weekend) and relatively remote location make it a little different from some other sports venues, so you really need to make sure you plan ahead for getting home safely.

Track Media Relations Manager Louis Mora notes, “We have to move 160,000 fans, workers and campers out at once, making access to the facility difficult.”

Because of the volume of traffic, post-race roads are rerouted to move in the direction of egress. Mora indicated that if you called a cab, the driver likely wouldn’t be able to reach the facility for up to a couple of hours after the race. So your best, and most affordable, option is to designate a driver in advance.

The RV culture thrives in auto racing, so if you plan ahead, you can always drive yours to the track and park it. Sleep it off in your own urban assault vehicle and go find some breakfast tacos Monday. If you’re parked in the infield area, you’ve got a couple of your own beer stands to choose from, plus a Fuzzy’s Taco Shop emplacement.

If you don’t mind dropping a bit of cash on transportation, you can arrive in a limousine. This option has the added advantage of a bar in the back where you could stock more beer. The track also has a helipad north of the speedway if you can manage to borrow or steal a Chinook or Sikorsky.



As you depart your chopper and enter one of the gates, you’ll no doubt start to think about where to find something beery to slake your thirst. The track has helpfully wrapped signs around columns reading “Ice Cold Beer.” These unambiguously indicate you have drawn nigh to a vendor who will sell you some suds.

Lincoln Engstrom is Executive Chef of Levy Restaurants’ emplacement at the track. He knows where the beer is. Engstrom said their biggest sellers are the standard domestics, as in most places. The track doesn’t have a beer sponsor, so the selection is pretty balanced. You’ll find Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra, and ZiegenBock cans at 18 different concession stands. You can add the official beer of NASCAR, Coors Light, to the stands by sections 107, 115, 131, 143, 414, 419, and 429.

Note to brewers : the brewskis sponsorship category is indeed available and I can tell you who to talk to. Let’s meet up for a beer (your treat) and I’ll clue you in. You could have a huge freaking sign, some clever scoreboard features, and a leg up on pouring rights before the next dirt track race.

A small number of drivers have beer sponsors from the big breweries, so if you want to choose your consumables based on your support for Kevin Harvick (Budweiser, switching to Busch in 2016) or Brad Keselowski (Miller Lite), you have that option.
If a drinker wants to expand her selection beyond the norm, she can find Shiner, Corona, and Angry Orchard at portable carts by sections 115 and 414. The true beer oasis, however, appears by Gate 4, near the start/finish line.



“The real beer star is the local beer tap wall,” said Engstrom. “That gives you the full gamut. You’ve got an IPA, you’ve got blonde, we’ve got a couple lagers in there.”
“Levy Restaurants, as a premium food service provider, is kind of trying to stay on top of trends,” he said. “That’s kind of the biggest growing category is these craft brews.”
At the Local Texas Craft Beers tap wall, you’ll find the above-mentioned Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, and ZiegenBock. You’ll also find an assortment of Texas brews in a variety of styles:

• ZiegenBock Dungskier (Houston)
• Audacity Sunset Vienna-Style Lager (Denton)
• Deep Ellum Dallas Blonde (Dallas)
• Franconia Lager (McKinney)
• Grapevine Lakefire Rye IPA (Grapevine)
• Karachi Hopadillo (Houston)
• Nine Band Cactus Cat Kolsch (Allen)

They come in a 22-ounce souvenir cup and cost $12 (regular domestics run $7 or $8). Engstrom’s team selects the beers through tastings and consultation with vendors.

An advertising landmark might help you remember how to find the craft beer stand. Whether you find it awesome or politically incorrect, the nearby Miss Sprint Cup sign is certainly memorable and could speed your successful return to Gate 4’s location.
I always feel it’s important to check what plans a sporting venue might have in place for ensuring they don’t run out of beer.

“We do projections way ahead. In the concessions area in particular, we will overstock, almost by a hundred percent,” explained Engstrom. “We’ll have trucks sitting on property, refrigerated trucks that have beer sitting there so that never happens.”

You can actually take personal responsibility for not running out of beer, as TMS allows you to lug in your own cooler. Few venues allow fans to bring in outside food and beverage of any kind, and almost none allow one to bring alcohol. That means it’s a special privilege – don’t abuse it and ruin it for the rest of us. Do not bring glass of any kind in that cooler. It needs to measure no more than 14″ x 14″ x 14″ and you can’t bring your own alcohol to the suite level, Victory Lane Club or in the Village of Champions.

Here’s a fact beer drinkers will appreciate: the speedway boasts capacity for 200,000 spectators. That means, as Engstrom points out, “We have bathrooms for 200,000 people,” even if not that many fans show up for, say, a truck race. As long as you don’t all head for the same loo, you should find manageable lines.

Whatever kind of beer you end up recycling, TMS policy allows freedom of movement within most areas of the speedway, and fans with any sort of ticket can access any of the craft or big-name brewery beer options. Just don’t try to drive after drinking a lot of it – at TMS, it makes sense to leave the driving to the professionals.



Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.

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Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports

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Rugby World Cup : a Texan Perspective

This post originally appeared on the Blotch page at the Fort Worth Weekly. To read it on their site : http://www.fwweekly.com/2015/09/29/missing-the-rugby-world-cup-its-a-crime/

Note to local miscreants: If you had plans to rob a house, you missed your chance Sunday. You should have been in Ireland.

You had no idea, did you? We can guess you didn’t because most of the United States likely doesn’t realize the world’s third-largest global sporting event is going on right now. The Irish know, though. Some 89,267 fans packed London’s Wembley Stadium Sunday, and judging by their number of green shirts (and wigs, facepaint, and capes), 89,167 of the assembled throng were Irish. The entire country seemed to have emptied to come watch its national team, and set an attendance record for a Rugby World Cup game. And of those Irelanders who didn’t make it across the Irish Sea to see the match in person, you’d have to figure a significant portion of them watched the TV3 broadcast in pubs for the duration of the match. So that meant a lot of temporarily vacant housing ripe for burgling.


Of course, even if you’d tuned in to see the match here in the States and noticed the green sea covering the stadium’s red seats, you wouldn’t have made it to the Emerald Isle in time to get into much trouble. But you almost certainly didn’t watch it because it wasn’t one of the featured matches on official U.S. broadcasters Universal Sports Network and NBC Sports Network. Those outlets are carrying USA Rugby’s matches plus a handful of others (including the semis and final). You would have had to purchase the pay-per-view package with your ill-gotten gains.
FYI, the USA’s chances to advance past pool play don’t look strong at this point. They’ve lost tough games to Samoa and Scotland (though they did lead the latter at halftime), and they’ve got match-ups ahead against Cinderella story Japan and one of the world’s best, South Africa.

If you do fancy watching upcoming U.S. games at Upper 90 on College or another rugby-friendly sports bar, you’ll want to come armed with some knowledge.

Firstly, know that the sport you’ll watch is called “rugby union.” It’s played with 15 players per side and is distinct from the rugby league code, which uses 13 men. The two sides split more than a hundred years ago over professionalism issues. The American football code broke off from rugby not long after that, fyi.  Rule (or law, as they say in rugby) differences evolved over time. Rugby union, the most popular code in most of the world, finally went professional in the 1990s.
New Zealand’s team, known as the All Blacks for the uniforms they wear, is the defending champion and the favorite to win in 2015. Australia, England, France, Ireland, South Africa, and Wales are also considered to have decent chances. New Zealand and some of the Pacific Island teams perform Haka rituals before the game. These are based on native dances and are an important part of rugby tradition.

I won’t try to explain all the laws (rules) here, but just remember you can’t pass the ball backwards and you can tackle really hard as long as you come in low and wrap up your opponent. To score a try (similar to a football touchdown), you have to cross the tryline (aka goal line) and touch the ball to the ground.

World Rugby (formerly known as the International Rugby Board), the sport’s global governing body, suggests that the Rugby World Cup ranks behind only the Olympics and soccer’s FIFA World Cup in worldwide impact. Teams representing six continents participate, with Canada, Argentina, and Uruguay joining the USA from the western hemisphere.
England hosts the quadrennial event this year, with Wales also staging eight games (Japan gets it in 2019). Whether you’re into rugby or not, the whole spectacle of a huge sporting event feels cool to a sports fan. The RWC’s presence shows up throughout London. Notices remind you to factor in possible gameday delays when taking the train, advertising signs pass along official sponsor messages (and the occasional ambush ad), and people wearing rugby shirts from many countries wander the streets.


The game I attended (together with the whole of Ireland) came at Wembley Stadium. The facility serves as England’s national association football (soccer) stadium, but it has also have played host to a pair of RWC matches. Even though the crowd had only pockets of yellow-clad Romanian supporters, the game presentation stayed studiously down the middle, as it must during a neutral-site event. The P.A. announcer’s energy level when announcing lineups and tries for both sides would have felt at home at a Mavs game. They play both national anthems before the match and have a large video board for replays.


Late in the game, a wave (or Mexican wave, as the English call it) broke out. It started poorly, with different decks going in different directions, but eventually straightened itself out.


A packed pregame fanfest offered a chance for attendees to mingle, drink Heineken (RWC official beer), try a few rugby-related games, and watch USA v Scotland on a big screen. At one point, one of the event’s on-screen messages directed Dermot Kelly, Michael Collins, and Padraig Pearse to the lost-and-found. It was either a prank, a joke, or a tradition and I never quite figured out which – the men mentioned are an actor and two Irish revolutionaries from the days when they fought the English presence on their home island. While we’re on the subject of revolutions, here’s another good reason for the American one. On a whim, we tried the nachos in the fanzone. Thank goodness for independence – you do not want the English controlling your nacho-making. Trust me.
Once the game began, a strong Irish team coming off a win in the RBS 6 Nations tournament (an annual meeting of the national rugby teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales) crushed the Romanians. The Irish team now sits at the top of Pool D.

Criminals, take note, Ireland plays again on Saturday against Italy. If you’re taking a crowbar or wire cutters with you on the plane, be sure to put them in your checked luggage. For the rest of you, there’s a huge sporting event going on, to which you may want to pay attention. You might really enjoy the spectacle and the competition, even if you’ve planned nothing more nefarious than collapsing a scrum.


Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.


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Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports

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Béisbol, Southern Style

This post originally appeared on the Blotch page at the Fort Worth Weekly. To read it on their site : http://www.fwweekly.com/2015/08/25/beisbol-southern-style/

Baseball is the same everywhere, except that in some places the mascot might stand ten yards behind the third baseman, almost in fair territory, and a vendor might bring you donuts and Icees at your seat.

Attending a sporting event in another country means enjoying the aspects of the game you already love, like superb running catches and perfectly thrown 12-to-6 curveballs. It also means getting to enjoy unfamiliar nuances that make the presentation unique.

On a recent visit to México City, I didn’t eat the ballpark donuts because I had already filed myself with burritos and tortas from the concession stands. I did do a double-take when I saw the Diablos’ doglike mascot, Rocco, hang out a step and a dive from the leftfield line as the players kept playing, oblivious to the guy (or woman) in the costume. I thought about how jealous Rangers Captain will be when I tell him he could be cantering mere feet from Adrian Beltre during a game.

The Diablos Rojos del México franchise plays in its nation’s capital and is one of the country’s top teams. Rangers fans may remember the red-clad jugadores from the exhibition games they played in 2012 and 2013 at what is now Globe Life Park in Arlington. I feel sure that experience seemed as different for them as visiting their home park was for me.

The yard where I watched the Diablos take on the Aguascalientes Rieleros isn’t actually the club’s true home. Their regular stadium, the Foro Sol, is unavailable this season. That facility sits in a turn of the Mexico City Formula 1 auto racing track and is undergoing renovations in preparation for a race over Halloween weekend. The game took place in the nearby estadio Fray Nano, a much smaller ballpark situated among a group of fields used for recreational sports. They’ll play there this year and next until a new stadium opens in 2017. Fray Nano measures 408 to centerfield and 327 to the foul poles, so its dimensions satisfy American professional expectations. The team did a superb job of making it feel as polished and inviting as possible, and provided a game experience on par with that of good U.S. Minor league teams. Photos of players plaster the back walls of the main seating bowl. The press box shared space with several suites. The scoreboard had a video screen, and while it didn’t show replays, it did offer well-designed graphics and crowd prompts.

The food selection extended far beyond standard stateside baseball fare. An American fan would be pleased with the number of offerings. Whether his stomach could handle the hot sauces in which natives might douse a cup of potato chips or a taco would likely prove another matter entirely. Other concession stand selections include fruits, vegetables, flautas, and sushi. The Fray Nano happy hour allows you to buy 24 ounces of Corona for half price (a little less than $2.50) until 8pm.

On the field, the quality of play is high. The Mexican summer league is considered near Triple-A quality. Late-inning relievers showed mid-90s fastballs and both the home team and the Rieleros played error-free baseball.

We talked strategy the same way one would at a Rangers game. Should the Diablos’ manager have burned through his bullpen playing matchups in the 7th? Why, after throwing two swinging strikes outside, then a ball a little further outside, would the pitcher then shake off his catcher several times and throw an inside fastball? Aguascalientes’ Ramón Ramírez must have wondered the same thing after what turned out to be his last pitch of the night ended up over the right field wall for a grand slam.

Ancillary on-field details differ from their American equivalents, including:

• Everybody wears the socks high, including batboys.
• Team pants and jerseys carry sponsor logos.
• The batboys were mostly little people who took their jobs seriously and did them well.
• Said batboys don’t stay in the dugout during play. They station themselves near what would be the on-deck circle were one marked off. If the catcher drops his mask chasing a pop-up, the batboy retrieves it for him.
• Foul balls might go all the way out of the stadium. Be alert if you’re headed for the beer stand.
• All the players line up outside the dugout to congratulate the batter after a home run.
• The stadium sits close to the airport and descending planes appear to be within range of a Josh Hamilton or Nelson Cruz longball. Surely that’s an optical illusion, right?

Rangers fans may remember one guy who looks to have airliner power. Japhet Amador played with the Diablos when they visited Globe Life Park. He stands a memorable 6’4”, 310. With an OPS over 1.100 and more than 40 home runs already this season, he generated a buzz among the spectators when he approached the plate. Unfortunately, Aguascalientes mostly pitched around Amador, walking him three times, so we didn’t get to see him launch any balls 747-ward.

Some Americans play in this league. Californian Cyle Hankerd has put up big numbers hitting behind Amador. The Diablos have employed several former Major Leaguers at various times this season, including Boston native Manny Delcarmen, who blew a save in the 8th the night I attended. They also have a Texan, catcher Luis Flores of Del Rio, who got as high as Triple-A in the Cubs and Astros organizations.

The atmosphere, even on a Monday night, was compelling. We saw a few fans with wigs and others rattled matracas when the situation suggested noise. Coordinated chants chimed in even after an opposition jonron: Diablos, Diablos, rah, rah, rah!”

In the later innings, a prompt from scoreboard  resulted in a “Vamos Diablos” cheer.

I didn’t quite understand the playing of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” after the third inning and I cringed a bit when the Tomahawk Chop song started up. “Rock and Roll, Part 2” was also a big player. However, I was pleased to hear a number by Austin’s Eric Johnson as we exited the ballpark.

I spotted spectators wearing gear for at least half the Major League teams. A kid in our section had a Mike Piazza Mets shirt and another guy sported the untenable combination of a Yankees jersey and a Red Sox cap. A México shirt with a deer and antlers made me flash back to the 2010 Rangers.

Also noticed among the attendees: a Tom Brady Patriots jersey, an FC Dallas jacket, and a dude in a Cramps shirt. A seemingly random assortment of Padres, Cardinals, and White Sox shirts were on sale alongside Diablos gear in the team shop.

You can’t buy Diablos Rojos tickets terribly far in advance (I’ve seen stateside teams try that strategy as well and never liked it), but the scalpers can get a lot closer to the gates than they can in the U.S.

People all over the world, with different backgrounds and customs enjoy baseball, and I’m sure you will in México as well. I did notice one potentially polarizing difference, however, with this ballpark. Like in Fort Worth bars and 1970s Arlington Stadium, you can smoke there. I looked up and saw a guy puffing away in a suite. Try to keep your American sensibilities to yourself (or else offer the guy a light – a universal gesture of friendship).

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.

RushOlson.com

Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports

Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports

Major League Beer Selection

This post originally appeared on the Blotch page at the Fort Worth Weekly. To read it on their site : http://www.fwweekly.com/2015/08/12/round-rock-express-ballpark-beer-map/

Rangers fans, you need to know about a recent arrival making an impact for the club’s top farm team. He goes by the colorful name Beer Shake.

That’s not a bizarre nickname a playful Derek Holland hung on some young Round Rock Express reliever. It’s an actual milkshake made with beer, available for purchase on the Dell Diamond concourse. The concoction’s deliciousness represents just part of the beer story at the suburban Austin ballpark.

This week marks the second in an occasional series of posts designed to help fans know where to find the beer they want at notable sporting venues. Last week, we guided you through finding suds at Globe Life Park in Arlington. This week, we thought we’d help you plan a road trip to get a taste of what the Rangers’ Pacific Coast League affiliate has to offer.

The baseball fan in you wants to see some of the Rangers top prospects play, but you don’t have to even like baseball to have a good time. If you’re a kid, Dell Diamond has bounce houses and play areas for you. If you’re over age 21, they stock a lot of good beer.

The facility holds about a quarter the number of fans as Globe Life Park, so they have one main concourse. The concession stands there aren’t called “concession stands,” explained Brian Candler, General Manager for Concessions at Dell Diamond.

“One of the things that we’re really proud of is that we don’t have concession stands, we have restaurant storefronts,” Candler said.

All the food kiosks have themes reflecting what they serve, so the Rojo’s Southwestern Hideaway by section 121, for instance, offers nachos, tacos, and quesadillas, while the Southside Market BBQ by section 123 provides brisket, sausage, potato salad, and other Texas barbecue staples. Ryan-Sanders Sports Services (RS3), the stadium’s concessionaire, includes beer in the thematic planning, so the Ono Pacific Grill near section 113, for example, serves Longboard Island Lager alongside the Polynesian Sorbet.

RS3 prioritizes beer selection because the company wants to give its home market what it wants. “This is very Austin,” noted Candler.

They also want to set themselves apart. Candler said “We want people to think ‘I can’t believe this is a minor league ballpark.’”

With respect to beer, the selection available means there’s a chance you won’t believe it’s a ballpark at all. What can you find there?

Let’s start with basics. The team’s mega-brewery sponsor is Anheuser-Busch, who announces its presence with signage throughout the park, including in both bullpens. You can get A-B products at stands throughout the park, with Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and (happily for craft beer lovers), ZiegenBock their most prominent offerings.

There’s a lot more than the basics available, though, with even a Miller Lite tap popping up at the Papa Murphy’s Pizza location near section 115.

You’ll find the aforementioned beer shakes at the FrozenSational Tiki Bar across from section 123, which stocks lots of other beers and frozen drinks like margaritas. Candler explained that they came up with the Beer Shake idea this past offseason. They narrowed five prototypes down to three that made the final cut, all of which include four ounces of ice cream plus a half bottle of beer. You can choose from Chocolate Stout (made with Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout), Vanilla Caramel (made with Firestone DBA), and Orange Creamsicle (made with Shock Top Apple Crisp).

There’s another FrozenSational Tiki Bar near section 117 on the third base side. While it doesn’t have Beer Shakes, it does offer some 20 varieties of canned and bottled beer, including the Pedernales Brewing Company’s Robert Earl Keen Honey Pils and Rahr’s Pride of Texas Pale Ale.

Speaking of Fort Worth brews, you’ll find the Rahr Amber Lager at Rojo’s Southwestern Hideaway. Other Texas brews abound, most especially at the Brew at the Rock Beer Garden, located down the third base line near section 112. They boast 16 draft beers here, including Rahr & Sons Bucking Bock. This stand also serves the stadium’s most popular craft brew, which, ironically, doesn’t hail from Texas.

“The Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale is our number one seller,” said Candler of the Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. brew, which boasts an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 8.2%. “We can barely keep it in stock.”

If you’re not convinced the Lexington import is as good as, say, Independence Brewing’s Austin Amber Ale or Karbach Brewing’s Weekend Warrior Pale Ale (both of which you can find at the Beer Garden), you can try a flight of four sample-sized servings to compare.

If you find the willpower to move on from the left field beer garden, perhaps with a full plastic Express-branded mason jar cup (available for an extra dollar with any of the beers), you might make your way back to your seat to watch a few innings from there. RS3 usually has ten or so beer vendors filtering through the seating bowl, although they had to up that total to 30 at a recent soccer game. These men and women will bring 16-ounce Bud Lights, Budweisers, Michelob Ultras, and ZiegenBock to your seat.

If you’re lucky enough to have seats allowing entrance to the Intel Club behind home plate (or you can pay a $10 cover charge for admission), you’ll find a unique selection of beer on tap there as well. The available drafts include Pedernales’ Lobo Negro, Power & Light Pale Ale, and Karbach Hopadillo IPA, with several more brews in cans and bottles.

If you’re in the Intel Club and feel the need for a supplementary intoxicant, you might consider trying one of mixologist Connan Hill’s infused liquors. Selections vary depending on the game, but might include such delicacies as Don Julio tequila combined with habanero or Makers Mark whiskey infused with cinnamon apple.

We should note that team policy stops alcohol sales of all kinds at the first pitch of the 8th inning. Hopefully when you came in, one of your party stopped at the Budweiser Good Sport cart just to the left of the Home Plate Entrance and signed up to be a designated driver in return for free soft drinks. If not, Yellow Cab sponsors a scoreboard feature at the top of the 9th reminding you to get a ride home with them if you’ve had too much to drink. Candler recommends starting that process at Guest Services. They’re located just to the right of the Home Plate Entrance and can help you get a taxi.

Make sure you plan your exit in advance, because once you arrive at Del Diamond, you’ll have much beery yumminess to entice you. A lot of you have apparently succumbed to the temptation. Candler says craft beer sales are up 46% this year. That’s a lot of Beer Shakes.

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.


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You Like Beer

This post originally appeared on the Blotch page at the Fort Worth Weekly. To read it on their site : http://www.fwweekly.com/2015/08/04/rangers-ballpark-beer-map/

You like beer. I feel confident making such an assertion because you’re reading a sports column. Sponsorship Today reports global beer brands spend $1.4 billion annually sponsoring sports properties. They would spend those sponsorship dollars on musical theatre or societies for creative anachronism if it made sense, but sports fans are the ones consuming a lot of suds.

As a public service, then, I’ve decided to start an occasional series of blog posts in which I will offer you guidance about where to acquire beer while attending your favorite sporting events. My kitchen cabinet populated with plastic Rangers souvenir cups prompted me to start at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

When a beer company sponsors a sports team, it also typically negotiates an agreement for favorable placement of its product within the team’s venue(s). You won’t have a difficult time guessing who scored the deal at Globe Life Park. You can’t flee an errant line drive without careening into Anheuser Busch products and signage.

Unless you’re, say, PeeWee Herman, and have a real thing for bowties, you care more about the product than the signage, so we’ll focus on the liquid refreshment. Entering through any gate but Center Field, you can walk straight ahead and encounter small stands stocked with Bud-branded goodies on ice, including ZiegenBock.

If you enter through Center Field Gate by the office building, you’ll walk smack through the Budweiser Bowtie, a concession area in which they sell food and, well, yeah, beer.

So basically you can buy a beer within seconds after you enter the ballpark. And, as noted at the top of this column, you like beer.

So now you have an aluminum bottle to enjoy while walking the concourse scouting out where you might get your next one. Before we proceed further, we want to mention some important safety tips with which you should familiarize yourself. First of all, the Budweiser Good Sport program offers rewards to designated drivers. Inquire at the guest relations office near Mazda Home Plate Gate.

Secondly, the concessionaire sells enough food products at that stadium to feed Mr. Creosote for a year. They have more than 100 concession stands, some selling comestibles the size of your labradoodle. When you can access a Choomongous, the Rangers 2-foot Korean beef sandwich named after outfielder Shin Soo Choo, you have no excuse for drinking on an empty stomach. Thirdly, you’ll find the cabstand outside Southwest Airlines Third Base Gate (or you can have an usher find it for you). Fourthly, there are, by my count, at least 189 restrooms in the stadium, if you include the suites, the clubhouses, and the office building. Your gender may disqualify you from using some of them, but you should still easily find a WC toward which to stumble if you’ve filled your bladder.

Since you probably finished that first brew while reading the last paragraph, you’ll want to assess your options for a refill. Turn left or right after entering at any gate and you’ll find a few of the aforementioned concession stands, each with taps primarily dispensing standard Bud products, like Bud Light. The Rangers must sell a lot of Bud Light. If you’re in that “Up For Whatever” kind of mood, you can satisfy your BL jones a lot of places.

How about if you crave something different? Maybe you’ve progressed past the point of choosing the cheap Arlington Stadium bleacher tickets so you could afford more paper cups of suds? Luckily, the craft beer revolution has not bypassed the Rangers’ current stadium.

Casey Rapp serves as Operations Manager for SportsService, the company that manages concession and merchandise sales for Globe Life Park in Arlington. He provided me some info on the variety of barley/hops available there.

“Section 18 has the biggest selection on draft and it’s called Major League Brewhouse,” he wrote me. “We rotate the draft, but there are local beers like Franconia, Real Ale, Deep Ellum, Revolver, Karbach, St Arnold’s, and other craft beers like Alaskan, 90 Shilling, and the list goes on and on.”

You’ll find Major League Brewhouse on the ground-level concourse near Southwest Airlines Third Base Gate, and the nearby 3rd Base Alehouse also serves a variety of drafts, bottles, and cans. If you’ve entered via Southwest Airlines First Base Gate, turn left and you’ll quickly happen upon the Beers of the World stand, near the entrance to mid-30s numbered seating sections, offering a number of beery options.

Incidentally, if you have some members of your party who prefer vino, you’ll find a wine stand across the concourse from Beers of the World. Such is Anheuser Busch’s dominance that they even sell Shock Top and Bud Light at the wine stand.

If you enter from Mazda Home Plate Gate and want something out of the ordinary, turn right and go just past the Pro Shop, across from the entrance to the good seats in the upper 20s sections. You’ll find the LandShark Lager stand. In addition to its namesake, the kiosk can sell you a draught of Montejo, Stella Artois Cidre, and the obligatory Bud Light.

Hard by Greene’s Hill (the grassy expanse in the batter’s eye named after a former Arlington politician) in centerfield resides the Beers of Texas stand, headlined by ZiegenBock. The location also offers some Shiner, Lone Star, and Lakewood brews. Rapp informs me they have such stands near sections 25, 51, 210, and 328 as well.

On the other side of the Hyundai Club from Beers of Texas, you’ll find the Centerfield Alehouse, just across from the Centerfield Market. It features, among other offerings, Stella Artois on tap. Its cooler includes cans of Modelo Especial, Heineken, Corona, 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and more.

If you visit the Lexus Club Level, there are a handful of stands and barlets that serve suds. The small bars offer a chance to enjoy some air conditioning as you order your beverage. I took special note of the left field emplacement, as it replaced my previous favorite spot in the ballpark, the ersatz Irish pub known as the Dublin Up. The new incarnation is Shock Top branded and offers its namesake’s varieties on draft as well as Bud Light.

If you choose to remain in your seats, SportService will have 75 or so beer vendors at a typical game to bring beer-filled aluminum receptacles to your very row. Rapp tells us, “You can get Bud Light, Budweiser, ZiegenBock, Michelob Ultra, Shock Top, LandShark, and the Rita family.” The Rita family means Bud Light with citrus favors. Be sure to tip the vendor something. Rita family members are heavy to carry around.

If you get up to go to one of the aforementioned necessaries, you may encounter a roaming beverage cart. Mr. Rapp tells us, “there are four on the lower level, one on the club level and three on the upper deck.  They roam each baseline, stopping to make sales on the concourse. You can get all the same things you can get from a vendor, plus wine.”

Rapp also tells me I can find Firemans #4, Rahr’s Blonde, Rahr Pride of Texas Pale Ale, and Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s Dallas Blonde in cans on portable carts.

What if you spend some of your evening in one of the onsite clubs? Of course, in the likes of the Captain Morgan Club, the Jack Daniel’s Club, and the Capital One Club, they serve beer. Casey Rapp describes it as a “wide array.” He also notes they often have Shock Top seasonal on draft, including Lemon Shandy, Banana, and Pretzel depending the time of year.

We’ve established that sports fans like yourself really like malted beverages, and a lot of folks like you attend every game. How can you feel certain the Rangers won’t run out of beer? Rapp assured me they keep a three-day supply at every game and can get same-day deliveries if needed. Whew.

Here’s one final note, for the benefit of Michael Newquist and the Fort Worth Weekly sales staff:  if you’re a beer brand, consider sponsoring this column. The people who read it like your product.

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.


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