The Bobblehead Bar

This past weekend I took a couple of days off work and headed out on the road for my almost annual NBDL trip, an effort to get me into smaller-than-the-NBA time pro basketball and some parts of the United States I wouldn't ordinarily get to. Before I arrived in Canton, Ohio or Erie, Pennsylvania, I spent a night in Cleveland. This is the second of two posts about that city before we get to some words about the D-League. For my minor rant on how I feel about Cleveland, read the last post.

In 2011, my friends Mike and Bryan and I hopped in a car and drove across America. It's a trip most people do right after they graduate from college. I waited until I was 43. Better late than never I guess. We took the northern route which ran us roughly out to St. Louis; then straight north to South Dakota; then pretty much westward through Deadwood, Yellowstone and the Bitterroot Mountains to Seattle. I recommend everyone take a major road trip in the U.S. at least once in their lifetime. It was incredible to see the country that way.

If you know me at all, you'd suspect we stopped at a lot of bars and breweries on that trip. And you'd be right, of course. The Old Point Tavern in Indianapolis; the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in St. Louis (total American pilgrimage); our hotel bar at Yellowstone National Park (where we drank the amazing and awesomely named Moose Drool); Pike Place Brewery in Seattle; and countless (OK, so maybe four or five) breweries in Portland, Oregon. But the best bar on the trip hands down was in Cleveland.

When assembling a list of bars to visit in Cleveland I used a very scientific evaluation criteria: wherever people burned LeBron James jerseys the previous summer after LeBron announced he'd be taking his talents to South Beach. That meant two places: Harry Buffalo and The Winking Lizard Tavern. We hit up both while we were in town and found the former to be way too deserted on a non-Indians summer game night and the latter to be too big and sprawling, likely because of its elongated triangular floor plan. Neither of these turned out to be the best bar of that trip. And I didn't visit either last weekend.

The best bar in Cleveland (and in the entire country that summer of '11) for me turned out to be City Tap, which is located right next door to The Winking Lizard. We stopped in there after a disappointing drink or maybe two (the memory is fuzzy after five plus years) at the Lizard next door and I instantly fell in love.

I know, you are dying to know why it was the best. Was it the incredible tap list? Nope, although their range of draft beers is impressive. How about the featured Thirsty Dog brews from nearby Akron? No, not that either. The Carling Black Label in cans? Uh uh, although I love me some Black Label. Surely, it wasn't the UV Cake / Pinnacle Chocolate Whipped vodka shot, right? It wasn't, although just try it sometime and tell me it's not really good. 

No, the reason I fell in love with City Tap is because they have the most incredible bobblehead display I've ever seen in a bar anywhere.

City Tap's beer board. Tell me you've heard of all these breweries. I dare you.

OK so maybe I ought to qualify that last sentence. First of all, the subject matter (all Cleveland and Ohio State) is deplorable to this Wizards fan and Michigan grad but I guess you can't expect anything more considering the location. But if you can overcome that and appreciate the prominent way these things are displayed front and center among the liquor bottles backlit in multiple colors, I would go there about every night until I got sick of the place, which I may never do.

We rolled into Cleveland last Thursday at about 3:30 pm. 30 minutes later we were at the City Tap bar working our way through the beer list. I started with a Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale, just because I'm  a fan of the brewery after that one night there five years ago. We sat about where we sat last time we were in town towards the north entrance near the hoop bobbles and away from the Indians bobbleheads on the south side. Since we'd been here last, they actually expanded their collection, moving a good number of the Ohio State football bobbleheads to a new display case nearer the north entrance. This kind of dedication to bobblehead collections is impressive, even if the likes of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love caused the expansion.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, it should come as no surprise that bobbleheads occupy a significant spot in my Wizards fandom world and I'm all in favor of showcasing any bar that goes to the lengths that City Tap goes to demonstrate a commitment to poorly painted overseas manufactured bobblehead replicas of athletes that may or may not resemble the actual athlete. I'm proud to call this place my bar when I'm in Cleveland which is not likely to be very often.

As of last Friday (or likely way before that to be honest but I just became aware of it last week), City Tap is no longer stocking Carling Black Label. That sucks, honestly. Every bar needs a cheap local (Canada) brew to keep folks like me going after guzzling a few pints of the stronger stuff. And no more cake flavored vodka either. Don't let either of those things keep you from going to this place.

Finally (and of course) there's a Wizards connection here. Look on the fifth shelf up in the basketball section and two spots from the left end you'll find former Wizard Larry Hughes, who helped take the Wiz to the second round of the playoffs in 2004 before defecting to the Cavs. I never thought Boogie should have bolted town for Cleveland but they were offering more money so I guess you take what you can get in life. Larry's not waving; I assume he's playing some D.

Save me a bar stool next time I'm in Cleveland. Until then...go Wizards.

Larry Hughes in Cavaliers hell. Shoulda stayed in D.C., Larry. You and Gil could have done good things.

Trolling Cleveland

A few years ago, I decided it would be worthwhile attending some NBDL games. My thought here is it would get me a window into what pro basketball is like below the NBA level from the player and fan perspective while also getting me into parts of America that I usually wouldn't visit. In February 2013, I made my first D-League trip down to Texas to see games in Frisco, Hidalgo and Austin. I followed that trip up about a year later with a New England swing to Springfield, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine and an overnighter to Delaware about 10 months after that.

Last season, I didn't get the opportunity to make a minor league trip. These things can only happen for me when the Wizards road schedule and a couple of NBDL teams' home schedules align and last year didn't work out. But this year did, and I'm happy to say the Canton, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania combination that I've been eyeing for years finally happened. I'll be writing about what I found there over the next month or so.

But before heading to Canton and Erie, I stopped in Cleveland and I'm going to start my story of this trip in that city. This is the first of two posts about my one night in northeast Ohio's busiest city. I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with the city of Cleveland. On the plus side, I fell in love with the midwest when I went to school at the University of Michigan and spending time in the late fall and winter in that part of the world brings back good memories. On the downside, I can't stand the Cleveland Cavaliers, their star player or their owner. Call me petty or jealous or whatever you will.

Before we get going, let me admit that this post would have been a lot more fun had the Cavaliers not managed to win an NBA Championship. It's difficult for a Wizards fan to truly troll the city of Cleveland now they have some hardware. Anyway, here's some of what happened.

The front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

One of the reasons I love Cleveland is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is there. It is probably, all things considered, the biggest tourist attraction in the city today. Now, I have my issues with the Rock Hall and its close close close relationship with Rolling Stone magazine but I love any place that celebrates the history of music. And I guess I love that enough to almost overcome whatever feelings I have about the undue influence that the magazine seems to wield over the Hall. If only they would recognize the achievements of The Moody Blues and Mark Knopfler, we'd be in a much better spot.

The Rock Hall, like any other non-profit, needs donations. One of their primary methods of raising money is to have folks like me purchase memberships on an annual basis to help them out with whatever financial needs they have. I've been a member on and off since before the Hall opened; I was a charter member before deciding to fund some other charities and then deciding I should return. These days, I've been renewing my commitment to the Hall each year through my annual membership dues.

In addition to memberships, which get you free admission to the Museum plus some other benefits, there are some ways to contribute which are a little more imaginative and visible. One of the signature ways of donating to the Rock Hall is to purchase a legacy brick which is then placed for all to see in the plaza in front of the building. There are two sizes available and as part of your gift, you can specify the language on the brick. The larger of the two bricks available for purchase is shown below. Not surprisingly, I think I'd see eye to eye with Chuck Degraf on at least one or two bands.

A couple of years ago, I thought it was finally time for me to pony up some dough and get myself a legacy brick in front of the Rock Hall. After all, I believe in this place enough and could afford to give a little more than just the cost of a membership one year, right? There are two designs available: one which is all text and one which allows fewer characters but also includes the Museum's logo. Since they send you a replica brick as part of this program, I opted for the design with the logo.

But what to have written on the brick itself? Well there's no doubt I'd want my name and some kind of nod to Mark Knopfler, who's absolutely my favorite artist ever, on there. I chose to have the name of one of my favorite MK songs ("What It Is", the first song on his Sailing to Philadelphia album) precede my name on the first three lines. One line left.

Since the Rock Hall's in Cleveland and knowing how I feel about their pro basketball team, I decided it might be fun to have "GO WIZARDS!!" written on the last line. It doesn't change the result of the three playoff series we lost to these guys a decade ago but it would bring me a small measure of happiness to know that there was a brick supporting the Washington Wizards in front of Cleveland's number one attraction. So I did. And then I never visited Cleveland. Until this past weekend.

I found my brick this past Friday morning. I got up early, walked from my hotel before the Museum was open and spent about 20 minutes trying to get the best photographs of a grey brick possible. My brick ended up in an awesome spot. It's pretty much perfectly in front of the main door of the building right behind the red letters spelling LONG LIVE ROCK. All told, I spent about 20 hours in the city of Cleveland. This alone was worth the trip. Maybe next time, I'll stay long enough to make my second visit inside the place.

I'll continue to support the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with or without The Moodies and any Mark Knopfler band being inducted. I'll also continue to support my beloved Washington Wizards. My support is on display for anyone in Cleveland to see and I love that. GO WIZARDS!!