About two weeks ago, I did a brief post about a Lithuanian guy whose blood alcohol level was beyond what would kill most mortal men but who was fully conscious and nominally able to drive. I facetiously referred to it as “one quarter of my heritage at its finest,” given that I’m one quarter Lithuanian. Well, I’m also one-half Polish on my father’s side, and a little more than a week ago, I came across this example of that part of my heritage at its finest Not surprisingly, this item involves drinking too. It also involves the World Cup, in this case, a semi-friendly rivalry between Polish and Ecuadoran soccer fans in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. One of my peeps named Gary Witkowski had one of the best quotes about beer I’ve ever heard. As the New York Times reported:
Mr. Witkowski keeps some potent Polish beer, Zywiec, in a small refrigerator for some of the Polish regulars who stop by the shop. He pulled one out to display its alcohol content.
“I once drank 44 Budweisers in one day, on a fishing trip, but nine of these and I’m on the floor,” said Mr. Witkowski, who weighs 310 and regularly wins a truck-tire tossing competition at the shop.
Whoa.
I’ve never tried Zywiec, but after reading that I may have to. It does remind me of the displeasure of the Czech football fans at the sponsorship of the World Cup by Budweiser and the reaction of a Czech when asked to taste American Budweiser:
“It’s cold,” Novak ventured, helpfully. “But it is missing, um. I don’t know how to say. It is missing … um, yes. I miss the, uh, typical taste of beer.
You know?”
He took another swallow. “Yes! Yes! I miss the typical taste of beer!”
But more interesting was the reaction of this Polish soccer fans two weeks ago, after Poland lost to Ecuador:
Inside the bar, Andrzej Jania, a construction foreman, stared at the TV.
“This is the worst moment in Poland’s history,” he said. “You want to see what it looks like to see a Polish soccer fan watch his team lose?” Then he began gulping down his beer.
Uh, does the date September 1, 1939 ring a bell? Wasn’t that just a wee bit worse than the Polish team losing a World Cup match?
