Sports – Page 3 – IndyScan.com

2021 Week 21 – Burritos and Onions

If you’re a fan of Barstool Sports you might be interested to know they are the latest company to partner up with an Indiana casino (Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg) to provide sports betting. They have a couple of decent “free money” promotions available once you sign up. I ended up with $15 in free bets to try out. I’m still a big fan of DraftKings but the Barstool app looks promising.

Chris’s Ice Cream is one of those places I’ve driven by for years and, as someone who isn’t a big ice cream fan, I never really gave it a second thought. While they don’t have much of a presence online you can view the Yelp Profile and get an idea of what they have. Here is a pic of the menu from a Yelp Review. I’m hooked on the Chorizo Burrito & haven’t explored the menu any further. If you want to try some really good scratch made Mexican food you should give this place a shot!

Speaking of food… The New York Times had a great article last week called “Know Your Onions (and Shallots and Leeks and Ramps)“. I’ve been a subscriber of the NYT Cooking section since they put it behind a paywall. For $5 a month it’s a wealth of information and a great way to find new recipes.

Finally, although we’re not technically in the south, it can get pretty humid in the summer in Indiana. I thought this short on YouTube summed it up perfectly!

2021 Week 20 – Mini Road Trip Part 2

Picking up where we left off last week. After I finished checking out Spring Mill state park I headed to another item on my travel list, Hemlock Cliffs.

Located on National Forest Rd, in English Indiana, Hemlock Cliffs is a little out of the way and on this Friday afternoon the parking lot was pretty empty. I could see this place getting really busy on a weekend. The trail loop out the the cliffs is about 2 miles long and easy to moderate in spots. It’s NOT accessible buy wheel chair or stroller as it has some narrow parts and several sets of steps.

Here are some short videos I made of the various waterfalls in the area.

While heading to the next destination I saw a sign for the Winzerwald Winery in Bristow Indiana and decided to check it out. They had a nice tasting room where you could get 4 samples for $4. I chose the flight of their “dry” wines which consisted of the following:

Black Riesling (Red)
Blaufränkisch Rosé (DEEP Red)
Cabernet Sauvignon (Red)
Grüner Veltliner (White)

All were quite good but I settled on the Grüner Veltliner to purchase and enjoy at home. Winzerwald Winery also sells a Pumpkin Spiced wine that I was too scared to try this time around.

I was surprised to see the number of wineries in the area. On Google maps I counted at least 12 within an hours drive of this one.

Next we’re headed to one of the reasons for the trip. The 18-hole Disc Golf (DG) course at the Saint Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana.

Unfortunately this is where the trip goes south. After 9-holes of DG the skies opened up and there was no end in sight. Between the rain and lightning I decided to cut the trip short and head back to Indy. I’m glad I did as the rain continued into the evening and setting up all your camping gear for a single night is just not worth the effort (or the cleanup afterwards). I already have a return trip planned and hope to finish out my round of DG and get a night of camping in the books.

That’s it for now, enjoy the warmer temps this week. I think summer is finally making an appearance!

2021 Week 17 – Snow Day!

We just had 2-3” of snow hit the Indianapolis region last Tuesday evening. Snow, in Indy, in April, is not that uncommon. In fact according to weather.com we have a 10-20% chance for snow in April. The average date for the last snowfall is March 19 and the latest snowfall ever recorded was May 9, 1923

I finally ate at Loughmiller’s Pub & Eatery on West Washington in Indianapolis last week. I was out for a lunchtime walk and decided to stop in. They had a decent lunch crowd with a lot of people (at least around me) from out of town. The menu had a nice variety and the service was very good. I enjoyed the Skillet Burger which is an open faced sandwich on Texas Toast covered in house made chili and cheddar-jack cheese. Crinkle fries were included and were cooked and seasoned perfectly. The gentleman next to me ordered the Fish & Chips and they looked amazing (he really liked them too). That’s a reason to go back!

Finally, we had some amazing weather yesterday so I took advantage and drove up to Morse Beach in Noblesville to check out their Disc Golf course. It’s a 9-basket course but they have 2 Tee Pads for each hole for a total of 18 holes. You basically make 2 rounds. It was more challenging than I was expecting and is considered a “beginner” course. Either way it was a great way to spend a few hours outside getting some much needed exercise.

2021 Week 15 – Batter Up!

Baseball is back! I played baseball for many years before I moved to Indiana and have followed the Cincinnati Reds since I was a kid. When Major League Baseball (MLB) went on strike in 1994-95 I just stopped watching. I’ve attended several Indianapolis Indians games over the years since then but I never got back into the MLB. I found myself watching a Reds game the other day & actually enjoyed it! I’m now back on the bandwagon rooting for the Cincinnati Red Legs.

Remember that Cargo Ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal last month? There have been some funny Internet memes as well as canal simulators that came out of the mess. One I quite enjoyed allows you see the actual size of that ship compared to everyday objects on Google Maps. Like this one comparing the Ever Given to Lucas Oil Stadium:

And it even showed up in the Microsoft Flight Simulator game

Fishers has a new(ish) Mexican restaurant near the Geist Marina. El Lago (meaning “The Lake”) has been open about a year and quickly became our go-to place for dinner. The prices are great, the portions are huge, and the quality is amazing. My favorite is the Burrito Choriz which has chicken and steak cooked with onions, covered with cheese sauce, Mexican sausage, shrimp and pineapple. Served with rice or beans. For $13 you can’t beat it! I recommend the beans, they are really good and obviously homemade, as is their salsa.

Finally, some good news for the Castleton area. It was posted on the Indianapolis Reddit they’re finally making progress on the Saraga International Grocery that was reported in the IBJ back in 2019. I have some concerns bout the other asian markets in the area (Patel Bros, Asia Mart, Viet Hua, and One World Market) being able to compete with Saraga but I welcome the addition to the area. It’s about as close and Indianapolis is going to get to a Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati.

2021 Week 13 – Sweet 16

So we’re down to 16 teams in the NCAA March Madness Tournament. It’s been a year of upsets as some of the top teams (including ALL of the Big-10) are knocked out. It’s going to be an exciting weekend along with an even more exciting round next week!

YOU get a Shot, and YOU get a shot. Ads of March 31 anyone 16 years old and above is eligible for a COVID vaccine. I’ve been trying to get one for a while now but the demand far outweighs the supply. Governor Holcomb just announced there will be a mass vaccination clinic at the Indianapolis motor Speedway starting on 4/1. I’m scheduled to go on 4/2 for the J&J shot which I’m assuming will knock me on my butt the following day. Good thing there’s basketball to watch!

If you know me you know I have a few hobbies. Camping, Hiking, Cycling, Kayaking, Photography, Cooking (and eating)… I have a new interest this year and it’s Disc Golf. I’ve only just started but I’m very intrigued with it and have a few trips coming up that I plan to play while out and about. I like that it’s an inexpensive sport to get into and the courses are 95% free or only $5-6 where there is a fee. That makes it very accessible to people and easy to walk away if it becomes boring. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Speaking of Disc Golf I found an app called UDisc that makes finding courses and leagues, scoring games, and tracking your stats possible (and fun). All that for only $5 a year (it even has an Apple Watch app included! It’s well worth the price and I’ve really enjoyed using it so far!

Finally, for my Mac friends out there here’s a short video explaining 13 Keyboard Shortcuts you might not know about.

https://youtu.be/m6UJRd8SdQo

2021 Week 12 – Tourney Time!

The NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness) started this last week after a successful Big-10 Mens College Basketball tournament the week before. Indianapolis is getting a TON of press and our city is looking pretty nice on the national stage.

My friend Joe Pellman at the Indy Chamber has been working on a project to help get Indianapolis in front of people who would normally not even think of it. When asked about their perception of Indy a lot of people outside of the region are neutral (better than being negative). Life in Indy was created to change that perception and help people discover our amazing city.

The truth is that Indianapolis is one of our country’s best kept secrets—a hidden gem in the heart of the Midwest. But we decided the Indy region shouldn’t be a secret anymore.
Life in Indy

I’m going to keep this weeks post a little on the short side. Lot’s of stuff in the hopper but the weather is way too nice to be inside playing on get Internet. Have a great week everyone!

2021 Week 11 – Spring Forward

I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks forward an hour before you wane to bed last night. I usually have DST on my calendar as a reminder but didnt for some reason this year so the time change kind of snuck up on me.

I was doing some work in Downtown Indianapolis this past week and you can feel the energy of the big basketball tournaments. The Big-10 games started last Wednesday and wrap up today. Then we start all over with March Madness this Thursday through April 5th. EVERY Big-10 championship game and EVERY March Madness game will be played in Indiana. This is the first time this has ever been done and really puts our State under the spotlight. From what I’ve seen so far Indianapolis has cleaned up quite nicely and is doing a great job hosting everything.

If you ever want to know how much of the year has passed you can get real time updates on the Year Progress twitter page. I’ll admit I was watching it closely last year.

The BEST cheesesteak shop in the city has a second location! Originally starting in Flat-12 brewery on the near east side, and later relocating just south of Butler University, Hoagies and Hops just opened a second location inside Chilly Water Brewery on Virginia Ave (Fletcher Place). I stopped by on Friday to try the 1/4 pound chili cheese dog and a small side of fries. This was a BIG dog. The chili and cheese were both infused with beer so it was a different tasting chili dog. Overall I enjoyed it and would order again if I wasn’t getting a cheesesteak.. I dipped my fries in a lot of the cheese and that was a winning combo.

And finally, I’m a fan of the Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich. When it’s done right it’s delicious. Sam the Cooking Guy makes his version at home and it looks really easy to make. I think I’m going to give it a shot next weekend.