GROG BLOG

To mark four years off the piss I give you the story of grog, courtesy of Brewer's:

Grog. Spirits; properly rum diluted with water. In 1740 Admiral Vernon, when Commander-in-Chief West Indies, substituted watered-down rum for the neat spirit then issued to both officers and men. The admiral was nicknamed Old Grog from his grogram coat and the name was transferred to the new beverage.

A mighty bowl on deck he drew;
And filled it to the brink;
Such drank the Burford's gallant crew,
And such the gods shall drink,
The sacred robe which Vernon wore
Was drenched within the same;
And hence his virtues guard our shore,
And Grog derives its name

~~ TT: Written on board the Berwick

Grog was originally issue twice daily, as a quarter of a pint of rum with a pint of water. The ration was cut to one issue in 1824 and reduced to a half-gill in 1850. The issue to the officers was stopped in 1881 and to warrant officers in 1918. Grog ration to all ratings ended on 31 July 1970.

Comments

[Dorian]

And I bet he never washed that coat.

[Tony T.]

He sucked it.

[Tony.T]

Well, this has proved a singularly engaging post. I bet all you vile revellers are out getting shit-faced.

Hope you get hangovers so bad your teeth throb.

[Francis Xavier Holden]

hello

[pat]

My condolences on your 4 years of self inflicted hell. Maybe this movie will cheer you up (or serve as a warning) if you haven't already seen it. The central plot device is one of your favourite subjects/obsessions.

I guess when you don't drink there's not much else to do but obsess and ruminate over all sorts of trivialities.

[Scott Wickstein]

Hey, us readers are a fine body of men and women. You won't see us getting shitfaced.

Until tonight, anyway.

[nick]

Is this the worst World Cup ever or what? Can't even get the fucking weather right! Sri Lanka will bowl first on a sweaty pitch after winning the toss, and fuck the Aussies like they did in 96 and like NZ did against SA. Fuck it. And...even if they do get a proper game going, it'll be so delayed that everyone here will fall asleep waiting for the end. Fuck Sri Lanka, fuck the weather, and fuck this half assed tournament.

[os]

Well done Teach. Long journey. Hope some of us made it less lonely, more good.
Punter wins the toss. Rains falls, covers out again. Barbados, Barbados, shortened game, you bitch.
Go Eags. All good.

[nick]

Play your satellite tournaments in satellite countries. Play your premier tournaments in premier countries with premier organisation. That's not the West Indies. The tournament is too long, and the West Indians have not been allowed to contribute a West Indian flavour to the Cup. Even the graphics used in the TV broadcasts look like a straight take off from 2003. The final is looking like a joke - and it sums up the whole tournament. I'm sickened. They could have played a video of the Champions Trophy 2006 - saved a lot of money and saved us all the bother. Joke.

They could fly both teams to Docklands and play the final there. It would be less ridiculous.

[Mr Z]

Fucking Morgan Freeman and Aleeeeem Durrrrr as umpires AGAIN?

They really don't want us to win, do they?

[nick]

It would be good for cricket if Sri Lanka won (As an Aussie, I call BS on that one - didn't do much for world cricket when they won in 96), but obviously it's not good for cricket to have a showcase tournament of appropriate length, with appropriate crowd rules, and sensible regulations in regard to rain on the day of the final.

[SaggyGreen]

Rergardless who wins, I'll be glad to see the back of Ned Fucking Flanders.

[Russ]

Dead ball for running on the pitch?! Where the f..k did that come from? If you touch down at the stumps at the other end you've run on the pitch. This is just rubbish.

281 though. Doesn't kook as easy to bat as Gilchrist made it seem, but I'm still concerned McGrath might go.

[nick]

Keep Ned and get rid of Morgan, Crook Finger and Dur. Surely there must be some better unpires than this group of grandstanding or geriatric Aussie hating pricks?

[pat]

Time to bring Clarke on for a bowl. He'll rattle through em.

[pat]

I am a fucking genius!!!!!!!!!!!

As is Clarke and Punter of course.

[Russ]

Oh, good call Pat. And with a bit of rubbish MacGill would be proud of as well.

[pat]

Now bring Tait back on.

[Russ]

Pitch is going a bit soft. Still wish it would stop raining though. Who wants to win on d/l?

[The Pathetic Earthling]

Tony -

Congratulations on four years! Good on you.

[nick]

Gee Pistol would have to be a better umpire than he is a commentator! Let's hope SL don't get the sort of target that India would have, had they gone off for rain in the 03 final...was a bit small considering the Aussie total.

[Russ]

269 looks about right...

Watson, you beauty. Getting Jayawardene almost makes up for dropping Sangakarra. Tough from here. Unless they have a slogger they've been hiding in the shed.

[pat]

Great over from Tait - till that last ball.

[pat]

Brilliant over from McGrath.

[pat]

Clarkey, Clarkey, Clarkey, it's comin home.

[pat]

A farcical end to the most farcical world cup ever.

[Russ]

This is hilarious. What were the umpires expecting really? They offered the light with three overs left and a runrate of 21 an over. Of course everyone thought it was over.

[Tony.T]

Best world cup ever.

For us.

Since 1999.

Since 2003.

Worst World Cup for ever other bastard.

Including me, who had stomach trouble all farging night.

And Ian Bishy, who just got attacked by alien beams.

[Tony.T]

Brilliant! The fans are booing the ICC shlubs.

[Vindicate]

I hear Malcolm "Muralidoesn'tthrow" Speed got an appropriate reception.

[Tony.T]

The biggest boo was for Mal. Those fans obviously know their cricket.

[pat]

Gilly has named this Cup for all eternity - the "never-ending" game for the "never-ending" cup, appropriately given the "never-ending" awards ceremony.

[Saltation]

grog was actually introduced as a change to the British Navy's rum ration. it was originally a single draft of one pint of rum, issued about 10am. after a little while, it was noted that the men were perhaps less effective than they might otherwise have been, and grog was introduced.