What else are you a snob about?

[Jason Thurman]

I don't think there's much controversy in asserting that most of us are golf architecture snobs. I love nothing more than saying smug sentences like, "You know, that muni across town really exemplifies Golden Age strategic principles much better than your favorite expensive semi-private CCFAD."

What else are you a snob about?

[John McCarthy]

BBQ

[Howard Riefs]

Hotels

[Phil McDade]

The work ethic to swim competitively.

[Eric Smith]

firewood

[PCCraig]

Food, Wine, & Beer.

[Peter Pallotta]

firewood

Yeah, you pretty much have to be in this day and age. The crap they're selling as "firewood" won't even boil a cup of coffee. I like the kind that smells like Old Spice aftershave.

[Joe Bausch]

Viking food.

[Jason Thurman]

My list:

Beer - I've always enjoyed touting my advanced tastes by ordering crap no one has ever heard of and requesting "an unchilled glass, please." Eventually, I started brewing my own. Using malt extract wasn't pretentious enough, so I did some reading and figured out how to go all-grain even while living in an apartment. I've finally gotten to a point at which I won't even drink free American macros, which thankfully makes me happy enough that it outweighs the joy I used to get from party invitations, which come less frequently now.

Music - When I call myself a "music lover," what I'm really saying is that "I hate almost every song I hear on a visceral level, and take poorly written songs personally." There's really no genre that I don't discriminate against. I've played guitar for 15 years and that's only made it worse, as I now judge anyone who likes Jimmy Page or plays lighter than 11 gauge strings on an electric with 12th fret action that can't be measured in centimeters at least.

Honorable mentions – Movies (Sure I love to say things like “Django Unchained just didn’t offer enough character development for a 2 ½ hour movie and it felt like Tarantino by numbers,” but I don’t watch enough of them to be a snob), Sports (I refuse to watch college sports because “Why would you watch people who are terrible at what they do?” but I totally got wrapped up in Linsanity so I’m just not cynical enough to sit at the Snob Table), and Pizza (I’ll frown on any wood-fired joint that doesn’t use hand-pulled mozzarella, but it’s hard to call yourself a snob when you only really eat three toppings).

[Peter Pallotta]

Viking food.

Yeah, Joe, you pretty much have to be these days. There's so many high end retailers peddling "authentic" Viking food that it's hard to imagine there being enough Vikings around to cook it all.

[Tim_Weiman]

Jason,

Glad you brought up this topic. I always tell people I am a golf architecture snob, but am not a snob when it comes to actually playing golf. Happy to play a local muni, but if I travel to see a golf course, I want it to be something special.

[Connor Dougherty]

College football (I do like that thread in the fall  ) and college basketball.

I enjoy hockey, BPL soccer, baseball, tennis, pretty much any sport you name it (with the exception of NBA basketball and racing), but the time dedicated and depth of knowledge in the two topics above probably surpass other topics

Jason, if you ever need anyone to get you watching football on Saturdays, I'm your guy  

[Peter Pallotta]

"Using malt extract wasn't pretentious enough, so I did some reading and figured out how to go all-grain even while living in an apartment."

And party invitations are coming less frequently? I don't get it, Jason. Do people know you also hate Jimmy Page and love golf course architecture? I mean, you gotta let them know what they're missing!

[Paul Jones]

Beer - I always like to have a good beer after a round, this would never include any light/lite beers.

[Josh Tarble]

College basketball...when you live in Indiana and go to games at Hinkle Fieldhouse and your team is coached by Brad Stevens, its hard not to be.

[Shane Wright]

No particular order -

1. Pitchers (baseball) - it's not the playoffs until it's the playoffs.  Anticipate the next 3-4 pitches so you can get the ball from the catcher and be ready to make the next pitch.  Watch Brett Anderson from the Oakland A's this year.  THAT is how you are supposed to control a game from the mound.  There are way too many human rain delays in the game right now.
2. Books
3. Running/biking trails - completely spoiled rotten in the Minneapolis/St. Paul
4. Beer

[Jeffrey Conners]

Hotels and wine.

[Dan Boerger]

Phil - I'm with you! Although not a swimmer myself, I have a couple competitive swimmers (middle school) and am awed at the level of work they put in to reach and maintain their competitive state.

Also, beer. Not much of a drinker, but when I do I'm somewhat selective. (Kind of enjoy the offerings from Ommegang and Unibroue these days.)

Firewood? I burn a lot but it's all from my property. My experience is that as long as it's pretty dry, it works (although some obviously burns hotter than others).

[Charlie Goerges]

Dammit PeterP. you got me laughing like and idiot here in my cube, thanks a lot!

BTW, it actually pays to be a snob about firewood. You'll need about triple the amount of pine to heat your house for a given period as you would if using white oak.

[archie_struthers]

     ;


Pizza.    No bad pizza please !  Can be thick or razor thin, just not plebeian

[Gib_Papazian]

I'm an insufferable food snob who refuses to set foot in a fast food joint under any circumstances. If I'm going to exceed my daily calorie intake, it sure as hell is not going to be stuffing a mouthful of McDogshit in mouth. When you grow up in Burlingame/San Francisco and make a goodly amount of your living in NYC, it is difficult to justify sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair eating splintered potatoes boiled in rancid grease.

Just picked up some Blood Orange Balsamic from Sicily yesterday made from Moros, not Sanguinellos - just fabulous when reduced and drizzled on arugula, heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese with almond oil.

Additionally, I refuse to drink cheap tequila under any circumstances. I'll tolerate a marginally decent red wine, but won't even cook with anything below my standards. If it is not good enough to drink, why would I deglaze my pan with a noxious pollutant?

Salt is another one. I'm a hopeless salt snob and will only use that nasty bitter Morton's or Leslie crap to bring pasta water to a boil a bit quicker. Otherwise, I really prefer Himalayan Pink Salt as it has a crisp, sweet undertone.

I'm a snob about restaurants run by a national chain. Outback, Red Lobster, Olive Garden and especially Applebee's are avoided like the plague. When I go to a strange city, the last choice is mind-numbing, generic, prefabricated, focus-group driven culinary torture served by brain dead, minimum-wage nitwits and cooked by drug-addled jailbirds. I'll find a sole proprietor's joint and strap on the bag - at least it is likely to be prepared honestly and with some panache and creativity.

I'm a horrible, irretrievable snob about computer equipment and phones. It is Apple or nothing and any product from Gatesland is expunged and expelled. Just the sound of that goddamed noise of an MS operating system booting up irritates me. I'm not Chinese enough to run a P.C. and thus can be identified as a typical Mac groupie. Fine, I'm a snob.

I'm a snob about three-camera, mainstream network comedy. There are no funny sitcoms anymore and I will not waste one second watching something that panders to the far left side of the intellectual bell curve.

Sadly, there is not enough room on Ran's server to list all the things beneath me.                  

      

[Ken Fry]

Beer - Imperial Stouts are the most sought after now

Cars - Don't have to be ridiculously expensive, but need to be fun when "driven."  Sorry, no Volts or Prius' need apply...

Ken

[Ben Sims]

I'm a snob about news.  What passes as news today is a joke.  Sadly, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC push their drivel on unsuspecting sheep. 

Tires.  I hate bad tires.  Michelin or Conti's only.

Food, beer, wine.  I'm a snob about all these things.  Trouble is, I am über anal about efficiency and promptness. This leads to sacrifices in the food, beer, wine area sometimes.

[J_ Crisham]

Wine,  steaks, books, kitchen appliances, and cars.

[Powell Arms]

Beaches, food and chocolate.

Gib, I'm with you. I avoid the national chains and, when traveling, would much prefer a "local flavor" restaurant, even if lesser quality, simply for the experience. And at home, it is local and something I can't make better myself at home.

I was going to say wine & beer, bit that would imply I won't drink something inferior. And history would prove me a liar. I just prefer the better stuff. Like with food, a good backstory from a local producer is worth a lot in the experience.

Growing up, my grandparents owned a homemade chocolate shop. My sister still has an old chocolate melting tank in her basement.  It's unbeatable.

And I can tell you where I think the best beach is, but that would ruin it.