This is Cocktail Thursday, in which we fret as only Bulldog fans can over our next opponent while enjoying a drink to steady our nerves and fortify our resolve. Except when there is not an upcoming opponent because it's an off week, in which case I just propose a drink and we sit around watching Thursday night football while checking the ACC-PD booking website.
The Games
Tonight you have two choices so far as college football goes. On the one hand the UConn Huskies will take on THE Eastern Carolina Pirates in scenic Greenville, North Carolina at 7:00 p.m. on ESPNU. And in a matchup of ACC powers circa 2008 on ESPN, Virginia Tech will host Miami in a game whose winner may be among the frontrunners in the ACC Coastal Division and whose loser may have a coach on the hot seat. Thus is life on the razor's edge of ACC football.
The Drink
I'll be watching the Hokies and Hurricanes, because there's just nothing like watching south Florida's finest football players who weren't offered by FSU, Florida, Georgia, Louisville, or Michigan State battle the elements and 66,000 assorted engineers and hillbillies (some of whom I may or may not be related to, full disclosure) on a mid-October Thursday night. The game time temperature in Blacksburg will be a relatively balmy 48, but still it's enough of a chill to feel like football.
In addition to football fall also brings pears, a great fruit for drink recipes. So tonight we're mixing up a football cocktail fit for old school coaches and new school drinkers alike: The Pear Bryant. Add 2 and 1/2 ounces bourbon of your choice (the Bear was a fan of brown liquor), 1 and 1/2 ounces each of pear liqueur, simple syrup, and lime juice to a cocktail shaker of ice. Shake thoroughly to combine and strain into a glass. You could garnish with a slice of pear, but I'm not a huge fan of garnishes. Unless we're soaking fruit in a mixture of alcohols then eating it. In which case I'm in.
So fix yourself a strong one and join us for some college football which we as Bulldog fans have absolutely no stake in the outcome of. Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!