The Beerdolier

To drink in bars or basements?

At age 18, you can vote, marry, serve in the military, and enter into legally binding contracts. But you can’t buy a beer in the USA. Most nations allow alcohol consumption at 16 or 18, and some have no minimum drinking age at all.

Now college presidents from more than 100 schools across the US are calling on lawmakers to do something about binge drinking: Consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18.



“Twenty-one is not working,” says the group’s statement, signed by presidents from prominent colleges such as Dartmouth, Duke and Syracuse. “A culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge drinking’ - often conducted off-campus - has developed.”

The current law, “pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks, including risks from drunken driving, and it prevents (colleges) from addressing drinking with students as an issue of responsible choice.”



Critics, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, say the change would lead to more fatal car crashes and move the problem of underage drinking from college campuses to high schools.

They raised the drinking age to 21 when I was 16. Boy, I was pissed at the time. I was nearly out of college when I was finally able to march into a bar and buy my own six-pack. Somehow, after that, the thrill was gone. That said, I’m (relatively) an old fart now so I don’t have a dog in this hunt. 

What do you think? Will a lower drinking age make campuses safer or just create new problems?

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Source: Newsday

Ryan Jones: Check Your Balls, mate!

A British sports star is calling on young men to grope their privates in the shower.

No, he isn’t a perv. Grand Slam winning captain Ryan Jones of the Ospreys is encouraging young guys to “check their balls” in a drive to reduce testicular cancer.

Jones is part of the drive to put hundreds of waterproof shower cards and posters in changing rooms across Wales, UK.

It is hoped the Health Challenge Wales campaign will not only highlight the disease, but also the importance of early detection of testicular cancer – the most common form of cancer in men aged 15 and 44. Although the disease is quite rare, such cancer cases have more than doubled since 1975.

Jones said he hoped the new campaign would help get rid of the embarrassment around the subject and encourage men to examine themselves the same way women are encouraged to self-examine for breast lumps because there is avery high success rate of treatment for testicular cancer if it’s caught early enough.

He said, “Our health is quite literally ‘in our hands’.”

We applaud Jones and this campaign for this effort to remove the stigma and encourage all men to regularly see their doctor for a check-up. Cancer is some scary stuff, but attacking it with a sense of humor makes it easier to fight.

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Source: South Wales Evening Post

A lawyer has sued Columbia University, accusing it of turning feminism into the school’s religion and teaching that men are “the primary cause for most, if not all, the world’s ills.”

Roy Den Hollander says Columbia discriminates against men by teaching a doctrine that scapegoats men for all of history’s troubles. In a suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court, he complains that the Ivy League school uses federal money to fund a “religionist belief system called feminism” and “demonizes men and exalts women to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt.”

Hollander, a self-described anti-feminist, has also sued city nightclubs for charging men more on discount ladies’ nights. He says Columbia should offer equivalent programs for men if federal and state governments provide funding to run the campus’ women’s studies programs.

A Columbia spokesman declined to comment.

Personally, I think this guy just needs to get laid. But in defense of our gender, yes, men are responsible for most wars and we have run things for ages, but we aren’t ALL bad. We built societies, composed masterpieces and cured diseases (at least that’s what we tell the girls majoring in women’s studies when we try to get them drunk).  

What do you think? Is this dude just being silly or does he have a legit point? Are men responsible for all of the world’s ills? Do these college courses turn men into scapegoats? Do you feel discriminated against if your local bar discounts the cover charge for women so you have more babes to hit on when you get inside? Sound off!

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Source: New York Daily News

The Dodgers did pretty good getting Manny Ramirez, and now it looks like they’re getting four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux.

This would make the second time in three seasons that Maddux isn’t going to end the season where he started it. That would make him the only pitcher to be traded twice in midseason after reaching 300+ wins. It is unclear what two players the Padres would receive in return for the 42-year-old Maddux. 

ESPN reported the deal was reached Monday night, but conversations are ongoing. Maddux has a 3.99 ERA this season but is only 6-9 for a Padres team that has languished in last place in the weak NL West. The Dodgers moved into a first-place tie with the Diamondbacks in the division on Sunday. LA put right-hander Brad Penny on the disabled list last week. 

Maddux went 6-3 in the regular season for the Dodgers after the Cubs traded him to LA in 2006. Padres general manager Kevin Towers said the Dodgers were the one ballclub Maddux had interest in going to. 

It will be interesting to see if Maddux can help put LA over the top.