Thank You Mr. Gore!

What did we do for fun before the internet? Shakira has been making Sad City want to speak Spanish for a decade.

The Fastest Two Minutes

Some say the fastest two minutes in sports is the Kentucky Derby. We'd posit that if you were in this building at the wrong time in Derby, CT yesterday, you had the fastest two minutes of your life. Luckily for all, no fatalities were reported as of Thursday night. A Tebowing of thanks to Sad City friend John Biscuit for these awesome photos after the jump. These pics are so good you don't even need any commentary from us. And if there's one thing we like to do, it's comment.

The Finals: The Beat City Beauties vs. Chion Wolf

Well at long last we have reached the conclusion (and before the NCAA tournament as predicted by good friend Johnny Spigot) as the females have conquered all in Hot In Hartford. In reality, the all-female final match here shouldn't come as any surprise as men have shown a willingness to do almost anything to appeal to women. Heck, if it wasn't for trying to impress women, Jumper and Hakaan would probably be living in their Mom's basement (assuming we don't) endlessly playing "Career Mode" on every EA Sports game.

By now these lovely ladies need no introduction......you need them, you love them, you cannot live without them...The Beat City Beauties and Chion Wolf. For the final time, Who is Hot In Hartford?

Good Morning Hartford!

Ahhh, the morning. Bringing us the drone of an alarm, newly updated sports scores, fresh coffee, and a full bladder, it is a time of day both loved and reviled. No matter what side of the bed you wake up on, it's undisputed that morning gives us a couple of the most unique hours of the day.

A Great Time For A Great Cause

It's well documented that Sad City are great fans of local hockey and always urge all looking for some great entertainment to take in a Whale game at the XL Center. This weekend the Whale are giving you an extra reason to come out and have a great time as part of the price of your ticket will go to benefit the East Hartford Police Officers' Memorial. While supporting local does mean going to farmers markets and shopping at family owner stores, it goes beyond that. The Whale are our local professional team in Hartford and it's the police that do the really tough work of keeping our neighborhoods safe.

Capitol West, We Hardly Knew Ye

Anybody know the significance of these posters? On the near-eve of the funeral services for the old capitol west building, thought it apropos to put up some pictures of the old gal in memory.

Let The Madness Begin!

For the second time Sad City has been able to tie Hartford to Tebowmania. This pic was shot earlier this week by Sad City friend Victoria Reallylonglastname. With Tebow having been traded to the Jets this week a slew off questions arises; will the Jets challenge the Patriots and Giant for popularity in Hartford, will El Mercado start carrying Tebow jerseys, and is Mr. Tebow morally opposed to foot fetishism?

While we can only speculate on the latter two, the first isn't all that far fetched. Remember when you were growing up in the 80's and 90's and EVERYONE was a Giants fan save for a few weirdo Jets fans and you knew like one person who liked the Patriots and you'd just want to ask them "why?" Well a couple Super Bowls can sure make a difference can't it?

A Meditation on Taxi Cabs in Hartford

Taxis are important. Without them, we wouldn't have the ability to shuttle our drunk and/or car-less butts around. To all of the taxi cab drivers in Hartford: thank you.

What's the Point?

Our griping about the St. Patrick's Day Parade created an interesting discussion in the comments section of last week's post. While there was some nuance to each of the statements, they all seemed to break into two camps.

What did each side care about? Which side is right?

Hot In Hartford: Dennis House vs. Chion Wolf

Two great Sad City friends meet each other in the penultimate Hot In Hartford matchup. Chion Wolf, having already won the ultra prestigious Howard Stern Award as the furthest advancing radio personality, will try to avenge the defeat of colleague Colin McEnroe who was bested by Mr. House in the previous round. Will television continue dominance over radio? Will it be an all female finals? Vote to find out!

The Whale Homestand

It's been up and down for the Whale over the past few days. There was some good play, some bad play and then you could say there was some good play again!

Hot In Hartford: Dan Schwartz vs. The Beat City Beauties

Mercifully, it's almost the end for Hot In Hartford as we reach the semi-finals with the unlikeliest of all duos. For a chance to advance to the finals lawyer and employment law blogger Daniel Schwartz faces off against burlesque dancers the Beat City Beauties. While on the surface it looks like a match that couldn't be more different, looks can be deceiving. Maybe Mr. Schwartz has many tattoos and is a burlesque fanatic? Maybe some or all of the Beauties are attorneys themselves? One just never knows.

Good Morning, Hartford

In Hartford, the sunrises over the Connecticut River can be awesome. Just saying.

Music is from Cradle Rock's "Sleepy Side of the Moon," an incredible, lullaby version of Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon.

St. Patrick's Day is a Religious Holiday

Despite our jaded whining earlier this week about the St. Patrick's Day Parade, we fully admit that it's a great people watching opportunity.  Among the many human interest stories of the day, the First Baptist Bible Church of Plainville made an appearance at the event. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Church, they're the ones who typically show up at parks and sporting events to engage in "street preaching." (SIDE NOTE: One man's street preaching is another man's annoying and gross.) Nothing screams "salvation" quite like acrylic paintings of human torture.

We caught up with the Church for an exclusive video interview.

Hot In Hartford: House vs. McEnroe

It's a tv vs. radio match in the final second round duel of Hot In Hartford 2012. Both Mr. House and Mr. McEnroe are fixtures on the Hartford scene. Mr. House is a 6pm and 11pm anchor on the Channel 3 evening news, hosts Face The State Sundays on 3 and blogs at The Hartfordite. Mr. McEnroe hosts The Colin McEnroe Show weekdays at 1pm on WNPR and also writes his own blog, the award winning To Wit. Three of the tickets to the final four have already been punched. Which one of these media stars will be joining the party?

Cursing the St. Patrick's Day Parade

 

The Hartford Marathon and the St. Patrick's Day Parade are the two biggest days of the year for suburbanites to come into the city. Not surprisingly, the two events draw wildly different demographics.

This weekend we went down to Hartford's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. People often say that the Puerto Rican Day and West Indian Day parades are the two worst days of the year in the city. We disagree. At least the majority of the chaos from those parades comes mostly from the city's actual residents. The St. Patrick's Day Parade revelers are way worse because most of them don't even live here. They just barge into town like unwanted party guests who drink all of your beer, throw trash on the ground, piss in your parking lot and then take a dump in the upper deck of your toilet (without flushing, mind you).

Hot In Hartford: Chion Wolf vs. The Russian Lady

Hot In Hartford 2012 carries with the a battle between WNPR's Chion Wolf and downton's The Russian Lady. Ironically the last time we saw Ms. Wolf was at The Russian Lady at a Beat City Beauties show. Kind of like a Sad City blender of an evening. We can't choose, while The Russian Lady served us drinks, Ms. Wolf had a drink with us. You can't really have one without the other can you?

Hear Ms. Wolf on WNPR co-producing The Colin McEnroe Show with Patrick Skahill weekdays 1-2. Visit the Russian at 191 Ann Uccello.

Whale Hail New Captain

A decision was made by Ken Gernander, a decision that most all fans probably agree on, a decision that most fans would say should have happened awhile ago.  Whale defenseman Wade Redden was named team Captain.  He is the first team Captain since Dane Byers who was traded last year.  Byers was Captain under the Wolf Pack brand.

The "Clear Day" roster was announced it is the list of players that are eligible to compete in the AHL playoffs and the rest of the regular season.  It consists of two goalies and 20 skaters. The Whale left off no surprises.  A note of interest was Sean Avery who was not on the list.  Apparently Avery was informed he has no more requirements with the team and and does not have to report to the team.   I had forgotten what it was like to see Sean Avery play in Hartford, it was back on January 27 when he last played for the Whale.  I think from now on when I think about Sean Avery in Hartford, all I will hear is; "healthy scratch".   I think most fans would agree that Avery was never really part of the Whale and they certainly wont miss him in the penalty box either.  

St. Patty's Day Parade

Saturday, March 10th is the annual St. Patty's Day Parade in downtown. The parade kicks off at Capitol Ave, heads down Main, Asylum, and Ford before wrapping up at the Memorial Arch. Check out the detailed parade route here. It's the one day a year where all of a sudden everyone is Irish. As an Irishwoman once told us "You guys are a country that has 25 million that claim to come from a country of 4 million!" Well we can rest assured no one will be counting much of anything on Saturday. Come on into downtown wearing your green to view the great parade and then have some corned beef and cabbage, the most authentic of all Irish dishes!

Bad Parking Award

Parking in Hartford really isn't that difficult at all. Sure, our neighbors in Vermont might think it's a hassle, but compared to other cities it really is a delight. While we don't find parking here difficult at all, those from Texas seem to differ. To be fair, Texas is like 3,247,721 times the size of Connecticut with wide open spaces, but c'mon lady, we are trying to live in a society here!

Historical Hartford Farmer's Markets

The original Lucky Taco truck!

We were recently contacted by Dan Gregory who works Hartford Food System and wanted to share some newly unearthed photographs of old Hartford Farmer's Markets with us. Most of these great pics date back to the 1970's and 1980's. Ahhh, the styles, the fashions. Who wouldn't have loved to be coming of age in the 70's and 80's? Well except for that whole lack of iPhones and instantaneous connectivity to almost any information you could possibly want. Still it had to be great to live at a time where you could impress girls by playing Asteroids, cigarettes didn't make you a social pariah, and the Mets were relevant. Just think of the joys and triumphs ahead for 1980's wunderkinds Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Mike Tyson.

Hot In Hartford: Beat City Beauties vs. Johnny Spigot

The second round of Hot In Hartford 2012 continues with a match between Johnny Spigot and The Beat City Beauties. What more can we say about this pairing? On one side you've got Hartford's best bartender and then on the other side you've got a group of girls performing burlesque. It's what we refer to as "winning!"

Visit Johnny at the Spigot. See the Beauties at their next show on March 30 at Billy Tee's in Cromwell.

Who Cuts The Check?

Here's a guy who knows who's cutting the checks....

Police Fundraiser At Pour House

Police Unity Tour fundraiser tomorrow, Sunday, 6 p.m., at the Pour House in Hartford. $20. Food, beer, and a raffle. Drop in if you can and show your support. The Tour is a 300-mile bicycle ride from Jersey to DC in May to raise money for the National Law Enforcement Memorial as well as awareness for fallen officers.

Hartford Hockey On Face The State

Straight stolen from The Hartfordite

At Sad City we are unabashed supporters of local hockey. Sad City holds season tickets to the CT Whale, and hope that one day in the not too distant future we will be holding season tickets to our new NHL team. You have to believe in something right?

Our friend Dennis House is also a big supporter of local hockey and often has hockey guests on his Sunday Face The State program. Last week long time hockey analyst John Buccigross visited Face The State to talk about hockey in Hartford. It's a must watch as Mr. Buccigross gives a journalist (for those that read too many blogs, that means unbiased) and legitimate opinion of Hartford's chances of getting a hockey team. The answers from Mr. Buccigross are both encouraging and discouraging, but always honest. It's an excellent interview by Mr. House, especially the second half, where his questions are absolutely spot on. The videos take too long to load but are worth the wait. Interview after the jump.