S1P42 - 2019 Year In Review.

Before the sun sets on 2019, Two Old Guys Drinking Beer each made our lists of tops for the year. We each chose our top ten political/news events, top five beers, and top five baseball events. There was considerable overlap although the rankings did slightly differ. Here are those lists. Our yearend podcast was S3P15. It can be found at the link provided or wherever you listen to podcasts. We hope you enjoyed our 2019 episodes and will join us again in 2020 when we return for our fourth season. It should be interesting. In the political arena, we'll have the impeachment trial in the Senate and a year full of campaigning and elections. For baseball, the Rangers move into their new ballpark with several personnel changes plus the other changes around the majors both players and new rules. And of course, there are always new beers to taste and review. We hope you will join us for the ride. Outlined below are my lists. Dennis's lists did not differ greatly from mine, you can hear those on the podcast. Most of the differences were in ranking order, not substance. This episode and all past recordings can be found at http://2ogdb.libsyn.com/

Happy New Year!

Top Ten Political Events

1. The impeachment of President Donald J. Trump
1. The whole Ukraine affair
2. Giuliani and his thug buddies
2. The Mueller Report
3. Brexit
1. Theresa May resigns
2. Snap elections
3. Boris Johnson is elected PM
4. The trade wars
5. Climate change
1. Greta Thunberg
6. Israeli elections clusterfuck
1. Trump’s unwavering support of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians 
7. Mass shootings
1. Still no action by the Senate, House passes bills
8. Democrats huge field for the presidential nomination
9. Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds to the benefit of Turkey, Russia, Syria, and Iran
10. Democrats take over the House in January
1. They pass legislation that sits on Mitch McConnell’s desk

Bonus items

• The remaking of the judicial branch. About 25% of federal appeals court judges are now Trump appointees. 50 circuit court judges. Two Supreme Court Justices (22%). 133 district court judges.
• Human rights no longer part of US foreign policy.

Top Five Beers

1. Milk Stout Nitro - Left Hand Brewery, Longmont, CO.
2. The Temptress - Lakewood Brewing Co., Garland, TX.
3. Spaten Optimator - Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu GmbH Brewery, Munich, Germany
4. Fat Tire Amber Ale - New Belgium Brewing Co., Ft. Collins, CO.
5. Long-Range Pils - Revolver Brewery, Granbury, TX.

The Worst Beer

• Pudge Rodriguez's 13 Gold Lager - Nine Band Brewing Co., Allen, TX. This was a blog-only reviewed beer.

Top Five Baseball Items

1. The closing of Globe Life Park
2. The Nationals first World Series win in franchise history and over the mighty Houston Astros. 
3. Albert Pujols became only the third player to reach 2,000 RBIs. Aaron and Alex Rodriguez the others. Also reached 650 HRs, 650 doubles, passed Adrian Beltre for most hits by a foreign-born player at 3,167
4. Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander 21 wins and can’t win a postseason game.
5. The beginning of the $300+ million contracts. 

Bonus Observation

• Rangers only bonus - The emergence of Joey Gallo as a stud, first MLB player to reach 100 HRs before 100 singles (93) and the cratering of Rougned Odor as a future star.

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