This past Saturday's Powerball jackpot was estimated at just a shade over $180 million. Upon hearing this, I excitedly licked my chops and promptly forgot about buying a ticket. Then, en route to church Sunday morning, I saw the giant billboard that denoted the new, paltry $10 million prize. I was fully expecting the monies, like in previous Powerball payouts, to go to one of this country's many "hick" states which would then be spent on meth, store-bought moonshine and a new NASCAR racing team, but the Star Tribune and several television stations started reporting Sunday night that the buyer was actually from here! Wow, imagine the excitement.

Again I forgot about it, until today when the winners came forward. And after reading the story and seeing them on the news, I must say that I think they are the most deserving couple so far. An excerpt:

"I guess there was divine intervention," Paul Rosenau said. "This happened for a reason."

[...]

As for what they'll do with the money, Sue Rosenau has ideas of a trip to Hawaii while Paul Rosenau spoke of philanthropic plans, including giving money for research toward the disorder that took their granddaughter's life.

Good on you, guys.

In a loosely related story, Strib sports columnist Patrick Reusse took Minnesota sports fans to task for treating former Wild majority owner Bob Naegle like a deity while vilifying Twins owner (and 2008 Forbes Magazine Richest Man in Pro Sports) Carl Pohlad. Now I'm not a fan of either; Pohlad has pulled his share of dick moves on the Twins fan base (see 2001 contraction attempt) but he seems to be at least trying to make sonething happen now while also keeping the team in the black. My favorite part of the article though is in the comments, where illiterate and belligerent hockey fans try to defend their patron saint and then get collectively ripped to shreds by a guy called 'cartwa':

You can rip the Twins, Vikings, T-wolves, and gophers but you cant rip the Wild. It isnt fair. It is much like ripping on the kids on the short bus. Wild fans can barely read and logic is something they just dont understand. Expecting them to grasp reality would be way too much to ask. Keep in mind that these are the same fans that think mullets are cool and that wearing an oversized jersey with jeans and tennis shoes is styish. Wild fans think nothing of having their winter sport championship in June. Wild fans dont find anything odd about having teams in hockey hotbeads like Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte or Florida (twice). Wild fans actually wait in line to purchase $85.00 game tickets and then never complain when their team musters only a handful of shots. Wild fans are so loyal that the mere attempt to open their eyes generates 80 plus comments that are so creative, you question our public school system. My favorite is the post that simply says "Reusse, you are an idiot." Please Mr Reusse, please dont rip the Wild.

Thanks for the humorous yet astute characterization of Wild fans, my friend.

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley "Travelin'"

[Photo courtesy roadsidenut and Flickr]

Labels: local, media, twins

Everyone who knows me knows I am super excited about the new Twins ballpark.  So much so, in fact, that I track pretty much anything I can regarding it: the webcam, construction galleries, etc. I even track down news articles from the Star Tribune. Which is why I read an article concerning the vendor selected for the new concessions. My favorite part? (emphasis mine):

Labels: internet, local, twins

it's time it's time it's TIME TIME TIME for the Twins midoffseason report card!

you may remember that about oh, three months ago the Minnesota Twins made a hasty exit from play-off action. shortly thereafter I posted a to-do list of things that absolutely positively had to get done in the offseason. how has the team done so far? and how do my predictions hold up? let's take a look:

1) Pick up Hunter's option, and get a three year extension done, pronto. DONE, sortof. though a lot of members of Twins Nation (?) were clamoring for either a long-term deal or an outright cut-and-run, the Twins went ahead and pulled the trigger on Torii's !$2.5m option for 2007. after that though, he's fair game it seems, as Terry Ryan and crew are busy with some other contract issues this offseason. this is a hell of a deal too for the Twins, comapred to Vernon Wells' recent extension, but regrettably either the Twins will pay near-market for Hunter in the winter of '07 or they will have to wave buhbye to the face of the franchise since 2000.

Grade: (of five smileys)
Me: Twins:

2) Get one of the Big Three a multiyear deal, and save the other two for later. um, not yet? I'm still optimistic, especially after seeimg them pre-arbitration exchange figures; though high they were not as high as I was expecting them to be. conventional wisdom is leaning toward Morneau in the long-term contract race but there is an outside chance that both he and Mauer could see multiyear deals this spring. look for Cuddy to re-up for '07 ar around $3.5-3.6m.

Grade:
Me: Twins: incomplete

3) Forget about Carlos Silva. whoops! I blew that one. not only did I get this completely wrong, but I should've seen it coming what with my call in the following section. also, I boofed the dollar amount. and at four million plus change, Silva is a goddamn bargain compared to Gil Meche's or Ted Lilly's deals. let's hope he finds his 2005 form form, which isn't really realistic due to his historically ridiculous BAA. as far as that bottom of the rotation guy I wanted? let's hope the Twins have found him in Ramon Ortiz, the flyball-pitching innings eater from last year's Natspos and the 2002 Series winning Angels. also, a minor league deal has been worked out with Prince Fatty Ponson but I doubt that will do any good, or last past April.

Grade:
Me: Twins:

4) Don't count on Francisco Liriano being around next year. I'm not gonna delight in being right about this one. see you in October, Franchise.

Grade:
Me: Twins: , for being required to shelf him for the season

5) Don't back off Punto. good work guys! thanks for leaving him be. also, signing Jeff Cirillo to fill the utility slot was pure brilliance.

Grade:
Me: Twins:

6) Bring back Rondell and bring on the round-robin DH. another awesome call. bringing White on for '07 is a super low risk, super high reward move, especially when he will be handed the outfield job outright. it also gives the Twins the option to fill the hole in '08 with Denard Span. so, for the foreseeable future, White wil be in left and Kubel will be the everyday DH.

Grade:
Me: Twins:

Final Thoughts well, I didn't start out great. but I sure finished strong. overall, the winter for the Twins has been characteristically productive and quiet, and most of the trouble areas have been attended to. the biggest worry I have is how the six arbitration cases will affect payroll, as last year's was around $67m and so fatr this year, before arbitration, they have committed to around $62m. but only time will tell....

now playing on iPod: Guster 'Diane'

Labels: twins

rocked @ 9:59 PM by ehren 0 comments

OH MY GOD THE TWINS GOT SWEPT OUT OF THE LDS BY OAKLAND

that was unexpected :( oh well, still a hell of a season even though it ended in a less than desirable fashion. next up is a crazy busy offseason, with many holes to plug and decisions to make for '07. thusly, here is the official ES.com "Hot Stove To-Do List". Terry Ryan, take note:

1) Pick up Hunter's option, and get a three year extension done, pronto. Torii has his detractors, but there are three key points to remember regarding him: he is the best defensive fielder in the game hands down, he is a genuine guy who lacks a Major League ego, and since 2000 he has been the face of the Twins both locally and internationally. get the $12.5 million option ride, and try to negotiate a $27-30m/3-year extension. that will get Hunter on the grass of the 2010 ballpark he helped make reality, and also help the Twins' parsimonious public image.

2) Get one of the Big Three a multiyear deal, and save the other two for later. The M&M boys plus Cuddyer are due big paydays for the 2007 season, as they are all up for arbitration for the first time after having career years. it's unrealistic for the Twins to be able to secure all three of their boppers for more than a couple years, especially with the way the home run dominates the headlines. this is why they need to get one contract solved this year, then save the other ones for down the line. Morneau's 33 homers and sick OPS will assure him a huge raise from his $500k check in '06 but Mauer is the guy with more upside and consistency, as well as having the hometown label. this is why a 4 year deal worth about $28m makes a lot of sense. it'll allow the Twins to scale the contract and backload the dollars to the new ballpark era, and give them flexibility for '07-'08.

3) Forget about Carlos Silva. his $6m club option for 2007 is way too much for a once-effective starter who was Kyle Lohsed into mop up duty. instead, use that money to pick up a proven fifth starter, like Kip Wells or John Wasdin. and while we're at it...

4) Don't count on Francisco Liriano being around next year. the mystery elbow could be soreness or Tommy John surgery, and if it's the latter you can scrub Franchise till the next Presidential election. this is a prime opportunity to look at the farm, and give guys like Scott Baker and Glen Perkins the chance to break into the rotation. even so, the rotation will look a bit rough, with Santana and Boof up front and no one to back them up.

5) Don't back off Punto. sure, he's not the prototypical threebagger, but he flashes an amazing glove and held his own in the #2 spot especially in the second half. don't give in to the free agent hype and try to sign someone, and just let him be. please?

6) Bring back Rondell and bring on the round-robin DH. the Twins will never afford David Ortiz or Jim Thome, but they have enough proficient outfielders to let Jason Kubel be the odd man out and spell Hunter at center, Cuddyer at right and White at left while giving Kubel time to rest his bionic knees.

these are the six main thing the Twins absolutely have to remember going into the offseason if the expect to be successful. and only time will tell if my prognostications turn out to be correct...

now playing on iTunes: Matt Nathanson 'Pretty the World'

Labels: local, twins

OH MY GOD THE TWINS WON THE DIVISION



I know it's been far too long since I posted something worthwhile here. I'm not in a mood to write about anything that has happened to me in the past three or so months, but I promise I will be doing semi-regular updates again very very soon.

thanks for viewing.

Labels: local, site, twins

Labels: media, twins, web2.0

Tax data package feared stolen was actually just at post office (Star Tribune)

the same day Bush gets his stem cell veto, this happens. and they wonder why people are always so skeptical of the compentency of the public sector

in other news, the Twins are winning again! yesterday I got to go see the pitchers' duel lopsided victory between future rookie of the year Francisco Liriano and something named Scott Kazmir. somehow, Rondell White managed two hits, and then tonight he knocks out two dingers in the 7-2 W. I'm taking Austin tomorrow to see Santana pitch, and it should be another easy win. pictures to come, I'm sure.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, twins

wow, it's been a while.. sorry. well, I've been pretty busy but at the same time not a lot has happened. the big plans I had for last weekend never really came to fruition so I pretty much just sat around. um, I also finally went to a Twins game today. it's really interesting that they can have an awesome outing one night, then the next day when I actually decide to attend a game, they get their asses handed to them on a big silver platter carried by one CC Sabathia. thanks a lot, you fucks.

I've also been spending a lot of time helping the Followers gear up for the '06 tour, which I am super excited about. there's also a decent amount of trepidation there, but then that's kinda par for the course when you're dealing with a horde of mostly unruly teenagers. I feel bad for poor Rob, who's probably gonna have a full head of gray hair by the end of the tour, and he may just spontaneously combust from the stress level. either way, I'm gonna be entertained.

THE BALL PARK IS FIINALLY BEING BUILT I'm gonna just start doing all my shopping and eating in Hennepin County. because that will, unless my years of construction wisdom fail me, heighten the construction pace to almost human levels to enable the first game to be played next Thursday rather than 2010. I mean, my god, I'll be like 206 30 by then. I CAN'T WAIT.

I saw this article at Yahoo! today. that's good research right there. oh and also? what's the deal with Yahoo! rolling out this new front page, and not building in compatibility with Safari? I mean, it's only the most used Mac browser out there. and the lack of video content compatibility also angers me. I mean, one would think you'd wanna build in support for the OS choice of affluent gay creative professionals.

I'm done, totally tired. plus I think I have another vomit inducing headache coming on. later!

now playing on iTunes: Jim Gaffigan Beyond the Pale

Labels: internet, local, mac, personal, site, twins

for a day at least. the eight days of ULTE tyranny over my life are finished. what do I plan on doing? lounging, of course! actually, I gotsta do some mundane things like cleaning and such to catch up to where I should be.

hey, Twins? I hope it isn't too much to ask, but could you cats like, win some games sometime? that's really the only thing that's good about tonight being an off night for them; I can't watch them get crushed again by a hapless Detroit/Kansas City squad. Johan, I know you can pitch better. STEP ON IT..

happy May, motherfuckers. ish, I'm so frickin' tired.

now playing on iPod: PMB 'Minute'

Labels: personal, twins

I went to Thief River Falls over the weekend to witness my awesome sister play a fifty page work by Tchaikovsky from memory on the piano. however, I came away from my trip with more than just a renewed appreciation for baroque-era classical pieces:

1) TRF is very similar in civic structure to the fictional Tree Hill, NC. there is an extreme high-end upscale contigent, represented in part by the recital I went to in which one of the pianists has already cut a CD and been commissioned to write a play, and a Lucas Scott-inspired 'wrong side of the tracks' that is littered with dirty dirty industry and crappy pressboard houses. of course, as with any rural Midwest town, the epitome of trashiness can be found at the Pamida. I can say, without question, that the Thief River Pamida is the dirtiest, most run-down, and least organized store I have ever seen. I'm pretty sure I caught herpes while in the health section, which lacks an operating pharmacy but curiously has not been retooled to reflect that.

2) 90 minutes of listening to piano is not quite as fun as it sounds. the Knuttila Studio, which staged the recital, is run by a woman who is unfailingly nice but also clearly nuts. she has a quirk when speaking to a gathering of people in which she refers to everyone as 'audience' repeatedly. as in, 'Audience, this is the first blah blah...' forcing me to supress the urge to loudly respond 'That's great, performer.' I fucking hate when people do things like that. if you can't address someone by name, you shouldn't address them directly at all, because it just sounds like you're trying to assert a higher standing over another person. it's like at work; one of my responsibilities is to perform stock checks. almost without exception, the sales staff will get on the horn and be like 'hey warehouse, blah blah blah...' and I reply by calling them 'sales'. doesn't seem to faze them though. once a while, I'll get this exchange:

caller: warehouse?
me: sales?
caller: I'm not sales, I'm MANAGEMENT.

whoops! my mistake, Princess.

3) Twins stadium deal is close to going through. FINALLY. after all that hoopla with the tax committee, the ballpark bill passed through the last House committee last night on its way to the main House and Senate floor and, hopefully, to construction later this year. I really do hope this all happens.

4) about 12-14 years ago, my grandparents went to DC and Virginia on vacation, and on their return gave me a souvenir copy of the Declaration of Independence and a map detailing the Battle of Gettysburg. they were muy cool because they had that fake antique parchment feel to them. also, for the past three months or so, I've been doing an energy drink about two hours before my shift at work ends so I don't crash. this is pretty much essential when constantly running on two hours' sleep. anyhoo, I usually get Mountain Dew Amp, but since they discontinued it in favor of MDX, I switched the more readily available Red Bull. so here's how these two events tie together: to achieve the antique parchment look, my souvenirs had to be soaked in a smelly acid concoction that still permeates those papers to this day. well, my Red Bull today tasted JUST LIKE HOW THEY SMELLED. quite disgusting, and I almost vomited. ahh, teh goodtimes.

that's all for now. later, CHUMPS!

now playing on iPod: Jimmy Eat World 'Sweetness'

Labels: bestof, personal, twins

as I usually do nightly before turning in, I checked out the Star Tribune tonight to see what's going on. and from all indications, the Twins stadium plan is go. over the past couple weeks, the ballpark saga has quickly developed, starting with a re-confirmation of the 2005 Hennepin County commissioners' vote and leading up to this week's two public hearings organized by the House Taxes Committee. Phil Krinkie, the unfortunately-named crank from Lino Lakes and opponent to any civic improvement spending in any form (ie: LRT and other mass transit), has opposed the Twins park from the beginning and just so happens to be the captain of the HTC ship, and thusly tried to stack the deck against the current bill by booking the pro-bill hearing in a small Capitol room during business hours and the anti-bill hearing in a huge middle-school gym deep in the suburbs on a weeknight. well, it didn't work out so well for him; the Capitol session was overwhelmingly positive and the Oak Grove hearing, split down the middle, ended in an affirmative vote to let the bill ride sans referendum. good news for the Twins, good news for the fans, and good news for non-fans who actually came around to supporting the idea. now, all that needs to be done is get the House floor and the state senators on board, which shouldn't be an issue according to majority leader Dean Johnson.

oh, and in other news, the new Mandy Moore movie is supposed to be fantastic. I think someone is due to see this with me. *coughelenacough*

now playing on iTunes: Marvin Gaye 'What's Goin' On'

Labels: internet, twins

jamcor247 (11:17:04 am): dude, look at this uncut card sheet. you have one, two.... eight Kyle Lohses.
underdawg_32 (11:17:12 am): awesome! one for every run he'll allow today
* not an actual AIM conversation, but formatted to look like one

sorry I jinxed you, pal.

now playing on iTunes: Kevin Bowe 'Sweeter World'

Labels: aim, internet, personal, twins

so I'm sufficiently drunk for the second night in a row. I should probably have that looked into. but for now, since I haven't updated in the longest and I'm in a state where I don't really care what I say, here are some bullet points for the day:

I finally got my RAZR V3c. 'twas about time, since the Samsung keeps taking periodic dunps on me. I love it except for the fact that Verizon decided to disable OBEX profiles for some inane reason, and I had to enter all my phonebook info in maually. this was a drag, which also led to...

unfortunate drunkdials that I already regret I called two people having a good time because my over-neediness and insecurity compelled me to call them and see if I could somehow join the good time. I also called a couple other random people, and left a rather incriminating voicemail at one number. hopefully, she'll just delete that one and forget that I ever called her.

I also experienced a downswing in traffic due to a preventable server outage. who knew that hosting bills needed to be paid periodically? well, I did, but I forgot to update my card info when I got my new checkcard. whoops! my bad... it's not like I've had anything of significance to post because I'm busy working on...

the OS X Browser War! yeah this asinine idea continues to eat up my time. I'm currently spending most of my time this week browsing teh internets with Camino, though this post was written in Firefox to ensure compatibility. hopefully by the end of the century, I'll have something meaningful to file in regards to my browser report.

THE TWINS ARE IN SEASON AGAIN yay for baseball! Torii Hunter homered on the first spring pitch he saw, and Lew Ford and Joe Mauer chipped in with their own solo shots to power the Twins into a 6-3 victory over the Beantowns. I know it's super early still, but hey, spring training rules the roost.

the last two things I'll mentions are: I know I've neglected the site, yet again, but I do promise to do better in the spring months, and the RAZR's megapixel camera should make it easier to post to the photoblog that hasn't been touched in eight months. also, I've been crushing on this one chick for a while, but I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that knows the situation that nothing is gonna happen. so I decided this afternoon that I'm gonna let it drop and move on. I've pretty much known that I should have done this like a month ago, but it's better late than never in my opinion.

see you in the morning, after I sober up!

now playing on iTunes: Stephen Kellogg 'My Sweet Charade'

Labels: drunk, mac, personal, site, twins

in the mornings, I have a set routine. the last thing I usually do everyday before leaving the house is sign onto Yahoo! to check my mails. well, this morning there was a little surprise waiting for me:



I was a bit surprised. I mean, I know I'm popular and all, but shit... 4000 emails? I'm not Strong Bad over here. so I open up my inbox, and discover that some creative e-thug has sent out tons of spam emails advertising a 'Canaddian' (sic) pharmacy using addresses such as r2xqmy@ES.com, and since I have my email set to catch mail sent to invalid addresses, I received hundreds upon hundreds of bounce messages from people rejecting 'my' spam. so I cleared out my inbox and spam folder, and shortly before 11a went to work.

fast forward to like, 20 minutes ago: I get home and check my mails. I am then greeted with another surprise:



this in the space of six hours, folks. so I clean out my inboxes, again, then go ahead with changing my settings to make another address my catchall address. the point? not sure. I just really hate spam.

now playing on iTunes: Coldplay 'Scientist'

Labels: internet, personal, tech, twins

no one, except for Nick Punto. the Twins are about to lose, which would be their ninth loss in 12 efforts. this includes three mistake-filled defeats to the Angels of L.A.-Anaheim in which quality starts by Radke, Silva and Mays were wasted. that makes for a .250 win percentage with only the Dodgers losing more in that span. the problem, you ask? it isn't the pitching, but the hitting (or lack thereof) that routinely let fans down withs its ineptness and inability to plate baserunners. just tonight, through Torii Hunter's 9th inning plate appearance, the Twins were walked nine times and scored from those walks only once, and that time only because of two miscues by Baltimore catcher/washout Matt Whiteside. so, one wonders exactly what can be done to help the Twins out. well, here are a couple of suggestions:

• Fire Scott Ullger, and make Molitor the hitting coach already. the evidence of Ullger's biggest shortcoming, not being able to coach players on their hitting, is sitting in the home dugout at Fenway Park. in 2002, David Ortiz was a power hitter who struck out too much and couldn't hit righthanders. then in the '02 offseason Terry Ryan cut ties with Ortiz who then signed a one-year, $1m contract with Boston. after an improved '03 in which Ortiz worked with Ron Jackson, David blossomed into the 2004 American League MVP who still struck out too much but finally solved the puzzle of the RHP to hit .300 with 40 homers and 140 RBI to help Boston get their long-awaited trophy. Big Papi isn't even the only example; Scott Ullger has also singlehandedly destroyed the powerful swings of Mike Ryan, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau with his endless unnecessary tinkering, and essentially ended the once promising career of one Michael Restovich.
• Trade away some prospects for a bona fide bat. Please? having minor-league studs is great. but when you hoard them away, letting them rot at Triple-A Edmonton/Rochester, you're not helping anyone. right now, the Twins have more minor league outfielders than they know what to do with. At Rochester, there is Kevin West and Josh Rabe. at Double-A New Britain, Denard Span is putting the hurt on baseballs. and at Single-A Fort Myers, 2003 draft pick Justin Arneson is just starting to blossom. and that's with Jason Kubel, Lew Ford, Cuddyer, and possibly Hunter in the long-term plans of the big club. that's just at the OF positions! all of the Twins farm is stacked this way. so alls I'm saying is maybe, just maybe, we can part with one, to get someone like Joe Randa or Kevin Millar, or anyone who knows how to hit, in the lineup.
• Stop being tentative on the bases. it seems like the guys have just stopped wanting to play hard. so let's run out those singles, take big leads, and for God's sake take a chance once in a while! the umpire won't tell you when to score, you've got to learn how to do it on your own.
  

hopefully this will catch Gardy's eye. after all, he should be totally relaxed now, after his eventful All-Star break and office tirade.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: twins

[10:11 PM] badbadpatman: so the red sox lost to the fucking devil rays
[10:11 PM] underdawg32: yay
[10:11 PM] badbadpatman: that's no good
[10:12 PM] underdawg32: it happens
[10:12 PM] underdawg32: much like the twins current woes
[10:12 PM] badbadpatman: yep
[10:12 PM] underdawg32: i'm fucking disappointed in them
[10:13 PM] badbadpatman: :(
[10:13 PM] badbadpatman: it's early, still lots of ball to go
[10:14 PM] underdawg32: when you fuck up as consistently as the twins have this month...
[10:14 PM] underdawg32: the southsiders tried their hardest to give us the series this week, we still pissed it away
[10:15 PM] underdawg32: we barely scraped by the royals, at home
[10:15 PM] badbadpatman: and now you've stooped to losing to the tigers
[10:15 PM] underdawg32: we put in old balls mulholland instead of nathan and he gives the game away
[10:15 PM] underdawg32: they can't score with the bases loaded
[10:15 PM] badbadpatman: you guys still have that old dude?
[10:16 PM] underdawg32: they can't stick with a left side they like
[10:16 PM] underdawg32: the pitchers aren't finding their spots
[10:16 PM] underdawg32: mauer feels great but he's still getting the kid glove treatment
[10:17 PM] underdawg32: they're sending down one of our best bats so we can carry 4 fucking catchers
[10:17 PM] underdawg32: ridiculous
[10:17 PM] badbadpatman: haha, that's a lot of ranting
[10:17 PM] underdawg32: yes well
[10:17 PM] underdawg32: it's totally warranted

Now playing on iTunes: Ben Folds 'Still Fighting It'

Labels: aim, twins

Now playing on iTunes: Mayer; Only Heart (the live stuff.)

when the Twins released the Homer Hanky way back in 1987, I doubt they'd envisioned the phenomenon that would ensue. Had they, they probably wouldn't have done it. In 2003 the Hanky had reached such iconic status (unlike its bastard half-brother the Touchdown Towel) that there was public outrage when they shifted from the standard red printing to a new blue design with block lettering. So they returned to the more traditional design for version 2004 and as it turned out, there were knockoffs being peddled for as much as $10 (compared to the paltry dollar the official ones at the ballpark run). The Twins put the kibosh on that, but were more than happy to let MLB.com sell them for the princely sum of $12.99. And you don't even get free shipping... what a bunch of bitches. The amazing thing to me though, is they're still outselling ANYTHING in the MLB.com shop. One other Hanky note, the copyright on the bottom of Version 2004 says "Copyright 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004 Star Tribune." Hmm, seems they forgot about the 1988 reappearance for the start of the season. Which is shocking, since they went out of the way to protect the other 5 designs. But the fans like me haven't forgotten, so as a big "fuck you" to the uber-liberal Strib, here is the Homer Hanky, v2.0:



OUT.

Labels: twins

Now playing on iTunes: Pat McGee; Runaway

a haiku describing the events of the evening:

Johan is a stud
Sierra's homerun was false
the Twins win Game 1

way to go boys.

next up: Brad "No-Decision" Radke vs. the quite imitable Jon Lieber, 7:10p Weds.

Labels: twins

JOHANJOHANJOHANJOHAN

Labels: twins

Now playing on iTunes: Josh Kelley; Travelin'

this is Youppi!:


and this is Brad Wilkerson:


Y'know how Tom Hanks said "There's no crying in baseball"? This guy shot that theory down. Last night was indeed a sad night for Expos fans around the world, and what was bittersweet to see was that some of the players shared those sentiments, especially Wilkerson, who broke down on his way off the field into the dugout, and had a difficult time talking to reporters after the game. Infielder Jamey Carroll said in the post-game ceremonies:

"I want to thank everybody in the front office, from the ushers to the security people. I want to try to touch everybody in the clubhouse. I want to let them know that the people that we run into every day have been a part of this thing. Also, I want to touch the fans that have been part of it for 30-something years. We appreciate it, and I appreciate it."

The saddest people of all are, of course, the fans. Over 31,000 showed up for the Olympic Stadium finale, and many openly wept in the stands. Some were vengeful, but most just wanted to say goodbye to Nos Amours (Our Loves when converted from French) and cheer for Canada's team one more time.

Au revoir, boys.

Labels: bestof, twins

Now playing on iPod 40GB: Cake; Italian Leather Sofa

much baseball news, little time:

Expos no more: Montreal drops home finale (ESPN.com)
Twins bill: Yankees sweep doubleheader (Star-Tribune)

1) the Expos vacate Stade Olympique for the last time. I never expected to see an MLB team relocate in my lifetime, the closest I believed would come to that happening was Tightass Pohlad selling the team for cigar money so they could move to the Carolinas. Instead, it was the other target of contraction, Montreal, that ended up packing their boxes to move to DC. It's both a good and bad thing: Washington deserves another chance at hosting a baseball team, one that actually has a sporting chance to compete, after being wronged by Bob Short back in 1970. And speaking of owners being shady towards their fans, Jeffrey Loria should be taken to task for not only dismantling the Expos but also for trying to do the same for the Florida Marlins. The bad thing is that Major League Baseball is all but abandoning a great baseball town that had a lot of pride in the rich history of its franchise. Nice work, Selig & Co.

No word on whether Youppi! will be moving with the Expos.

2) The Twins succeeded in completely pissing me off last night. Our bullpen completely blew it in the first game at the Yank; after Santana put up 5 solid innings, Romero and Rincon combine to hand the Bombers the W on a silver platter, followed by the token shitty performance of the pitcher Batgirl has dubbed Lyle Kohse. Check out this stellar play in the outfield during Game 2:


(AP/Frank Franklin)

Nice try, Jason Kubel. Next time, try timing your catch. The Yankees' magic number is now down to 1 with four to play, and the Twins' chances at home-field for the LDS are dwindling. Here are the numbers as they stack up now for HFA:

AL HFA
Team    Record GB GL/OPP
Twins    90-68  - 1 @ NYY, 3 v CLE
Anaheim  90-68  - 1 @ TEX, 3 @ OAK
Oakland  89-69  1 1 v SEA, 3 v ANA

Promising? Sort of. A Twins victory coupled with an Angels loss and an A's win tonight puts them in a tie for a game back with their season-ending series deciding who wears the AL West crown. And if we get home-field, that means the Red Sox are our LDS opponents. God, I love October baseball.

Labels: twins

Now playing on iTunes: stuff

Approximately 16 years and 2 internet connections later, I've returned to tear some shit up. I had plenty to get angry about, and soon a new post will surface on the Gripe O' the Week!™. But for now, let me bring you up to speed with the behemoth that is the DAWG:

1) someone actually did semi-well at school this semester. I wonder who that was. Oh wait, it was me. I'm now rocking a B average which isn't a huge deal for most people but when you consider the kind of highschool student I was, it's pretty clutch. Yet I'm still taking some ribbing from my buddies (ahem, Nerdle) that I can do better. We'll see, come June 28th.

2) Twins baseball on FSN rocks my socks. No more of that Failure Sports One BS. Dick and Bert are in fine form, but my beloved team is hobbled by injuries!! Stewart, Rivas, Mientkiewicz, Mauer, Punto, Koskie, Guzman, Hunter, LeCroy... the list is much too long. Let's get these boys back into game shape and rocket to the top of the standings.

3) yep, I'm still employed by Ultimate Electronics. For now.

4) I'm so tantalizingly close to getting an iBook that I'm about ready to piss my pants. Well not really. But I am excited.

That's gonna do it for now. The ol' typin' hand hurts.

Labels: personal, twins

Ahh, that Fox Sports Net line across the tv is a comfort to my eyes. but they're still using the Victory overlay. lame.

Labels: twins

Now playing on iTunes: Ben Folds "Kate!!" Not that it really matters.

Here it is, bitchez! Breaking news... (linky)
Twins strike 8-year deal with FSN (Star Tribune)
Minnesota Twins Telecasts Return to Fox Sports Net (MLB.com)
Twins ditch their own TV network for Fox deal (ESPN/AP)

elation is the best word to describe my mood. plus now the Eels are playing on the iTunes 4.5 for Windows XP. after many months of posturing, hardline negotiating tactics, and public-relations tug o' war, the Minnesota Twins hit the cable airwaves via FOX Sports Net North, and Kevin Cattoor and company are shuttering the Failure Sports One operations. And you know what I have to say? It's about goddamn time. Not only did this Victory thing crush all hope of getting a stadium built in St Paul, but it caused many of the Twins fans to really beconme disenfranchised with the whole team experience. Not that the TV "experience" was all that great to begin with this year. Sure, Dick and Bert were there calling the plays, but the camera work was amateurish at best and I've already expressed my feelings pn their onscreen presence. That being, it SUCKED. Next time, in 8 years when the Twins try this stunt again, they should really find someone with training and/or experience when assembling a CGI team. And another tip: when the back end of the bullpen leaves for more money and you trade away two other key players for contract concerns, you shouldn't piss off the paying fan base, which is exactly what the Twins did and is the reason the average attendance has dipped almost 2,000 fans per game since last year. Now that this whole Victory unpleasantness is out of the way, I can get down to some serious Twins watching.... if only the on-field product would improve...

Labels: twins

Now playing on iTunes: some crap by Huey Lewis.

I'm still playing with the blog layout. One day I'll get it. For right now though, it still kinda sucks. Sorry about that!

So the Twins won again. It's scary that they can get away with pulling out these victories, especially with Torii, Mauer, Mientkiewicz and LeCroy hurt. Lew Ford has proven he belongs on the big club while filling in for Hunter in center, and Henry Blanco is certainly a surprise behind the plate. Who would have thought that a veteran catcher making the major league minimum and carrying a lifetime batting average lower than Jessica Simpson's IQ could be the guy we look to for clutch homers? But stranger, more frightening things have happened in history. Just look at New Coke.

Labels: site, twins

Now playing on iTunes: stellastarr* "My Coco"

Well if you're one of the 2 readers who frequent this, you'll notice the absence of the gray backdrop and in its place a drab Blogger.com default scheme. Reason being, I gave in to popular (among people I know anyway) opinion and downloaded Mozilla Firefox for my web browsing needs. Upon doing so, I found that my blog page wouldn't load correctly, so I vainly spent an hour or so looking for a new skin that was pleasing to look at. I suppose next time I just need to get off my ass and learn how to code CSS.

Firefox isn't the only new thing for me; yesterday I started sporting the Kyocera SE47 slider phone. Sweet. It's a pretty nice little phone, it doesn't take up a lot of room in my pocket and it's loud as hizell unlike the LG I had for about a year. So that's cool. Yay for materialism.

On other fronts: Failure Sports One is still holding out and not making themselves available to cable or satellite outlets. Oh, and I'm still making better onscreen graphics than they ever will [yet another example]. So eat my ass, Pohlad. I get my Twins info from ESPN.com or Yahoo, my baseball-on-TV fix from Extra Innings, and a good dose of Herb and Gordon curtesy of WCCO. Hah, looks like you LOSE, motherfucker! Wait, that makes no sense...

Oh and by the way, I was lying the other night about putting up a new post after finishing my homework.

Labels: site, tech, twins

Now playing on iTunes: Howie Day "Perfect Time of Day"

Once again, a while since I last posted. Fun.

So what the hell was I doing last week?? Inventory and school, foolios. Lots of time invested in those. Not much time for sleepy. The kicker: no sleep on Saturday night. Actually, I got about an hour, but the fact that we lost an hour kinda negates that. Oh well. I did get my homework done so that's golden.

I just caught one of possibly only 33 Twins games I will get to see this year. Things that looked good: Joesph P. Mauer, the new FieldTurf, Joe Nathan. Things that didn't: Radke (no surprise there), Jacque Jones, Guzman/Rivas, the Failure Sports One onscreen presence. I could do better. Actually, I DID do better [example]. Eat my ass, Failure! It looked SO horrible. There are no possible words to explain how much like ass Failure's graphics looked. Actually on second thought, maybe they were designed by Austin. It totally intruded on my experience of the game, almost as much as Radke serving up gopher balls right and left. What a bitch!

I picked up some new DVD's today. Good thing too, because I'm down to like 4 in my current collection that I haven't watched yet. (Identity, Sum of All Fears, Radio, Pi). But I picked up Donnie Darko, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and um, A Walk To Remember. don't ask me why.

That's all I got for tonight. So long, kids.

Labels: ipod, media, personal, twins

Now playing on iTunes: Tom Petty "Rebels"

BWWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! guess who's up a lot later than they should be? If you gave up, or just don't give a shit: it was me. And still is.

I picked up MVP 2004 Monday night. I also saw my crush du jour, but that's a whole different topic. The short story is, I played the hell out of it. From when I popped 'er in the old gamecube till like 3:30 or 4 im the morning it was nothing but BASEBALL BASEBALL BASEBALL. what a fucking sweet sport. and finally, a game that does it some justice. First, my disappiontments: 1) no Barry Bonds, 2) no expansion mode, 3) no Joseph P. Mauer. I fixed those player gaffes pretty quickly but I'm still disappointed no expansion franchises can be creatred. ehh... the third thing I did in the game (besides fixing Joe and Bonds) was found a Dynasty Mode™ based on my beloved Twins. Then I played some games, first as the Twins, then as the AAA-level Rochester Red Wings, then as the AA-level New Britain Rock Cats. SWEET!! Building on All-Star's deal from last year they gave every team their real-life minor league counterparts, and it's as fully interactive as the big club. ramble ramble blah blah blah.. anyhoo, this game rocks my socks. It should be on the top 11 list of any serious sports gamer.

Well that'll do it for me. Finally getting tired now.. ~ E

Labels: personal, tech, twins

Now playing on the iPod: Train "Meet Virginia"

Hah.. I guess I'm not making this as regular as I would have liked. What has it been now, a week? Anyhoo..

Today I was actually able to go to school without a jacket. Sweet. The other thing on my mind right now is the iminent season opener for the Twins. A lot of negativity has surrounded those cats recently and I for one am extremely optimistic for the 2004 season, what with the new "Soul Patrol" outfield of Stewart, Jones and Hunter, and the solid infield, and spanking-new local boy Joe Mauer behind the dish. The only thing that really gets my panties in a bunch is this whole fiasco with Victory Sports One and the fact that there may only be 27 games available to me to watch. That fucking sucks, my friends. How am I supposed to watch my Twins on TV if nobody will pick the channel up? Thanks a lot, Carl Pohl-ass.

I'm putting up fliers Friday to sell my PC. I'm hoping to get $1500 out of it, which would mostly pay for my Mac. I figured that if it comes to that, where I can't personally migrate files from my PC to my Mac, I can devise an elaborate system of pulleys, smoke and mirrors to make sure I keep all my files. The main thing I'm worried about is losing my MP3's. Oh well, we'll see.

Labels: mac, personal, twins, weather