Liriano's Health

From my secrect source, Jason stark on ESPN.com:


Liriano• With Matt Garza heading for Tampa Bay and Santana looking for a moving van, the health of Francisco Liriano is about to become the Twins' most significant pitching story. But GM Bill Smith reports that Liriano has done so well in his 13 months since Tommy John surgery, he has been told by the medical people he can get ready for spring training as if he'd never been hurt.
The big fear teams normally have with pitchers coming off Tommy John is that they feel so good so soon, they try to rush back and reinjure themselves. "So we told him [after the surgery], 'Don't even think about it. We're not activating you [in 2007] under any circumstances,' " Smith told Rumblings. "It's when you try to cheat the system that you have problems. It's a 12-month program, and when you try to do it in nine, that's when you have setbacks. He's had no setbacks. So let's just say we'll all be very excited to see him come to spring training."

Full article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3132761&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

Shout out to Gerald Gill

I found out the other day that my college advisor Professor Gerald Gill passed away this summer. Dr. Gill was the reason I studied history in college and why I concentrated on American History, particularly African American History. As a freshman I took "U.S. in the 20th Century" taught by Gill. In a class of 60+ I was a bit intimidated to raise my hand and join the discussion. However, one brave day, I sheepishly put my hand up to ask a question. Dr. Gill called on me by name. Now, I had never said 'boo' to him previously, there was no reason he should have known who I was but he did. I remember leaving the classroom that day, saying 'goodbye' to Dr. Gill as if I had found a new best friend and deciding to major in history. From then on I sought out Gill's classes and my eyes were opened to parts of American History that I never knew about and would never have exposed to otherwise. My sophomore year I asked Gill to be my advisor; thankfully he accepted. The summer between my junior and senior year Dr. Gill got me an internship at WGBH (PBS affiliate in Boston) to do research on the documentary "Africans in America," a tremendous opportunity that I cherish to this day. Getting to know Dr. Gill it was pretty easy to figure out he was also a sports fan. I always found it humorous that on his office door he had a newspaper clipping with the headline something to the effect of "Gill scores 30 in Seattle win" (Kendall Gill would have been proud to hang on that door.) He was a terrific educator, motivator, and mentor. He will be missed.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2007/08/02/gerald_r_gill_at_59_was_professor_of_history_integral_part_of_tufts_campus/

Reason #4,672 I hate the Green Bay Packers

You guys probably don't care so much, but they just hired NU's Athletic Director to be their team president. The problem is, he was actually a great AD who helped us become a respectable athletic program (not to the Stanford, Duke, UCLA, Michigan level, but I'll take it), and now he's going to work for one of my personal evil empires (screw all that 'awww, they're so cute because the public owns them and their in the smallest U.S. market among NFL teams' stuff).

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/672514,CST-SPT-nu29.article

Found this interesting, too. Here are the most recent directors' cup standing for all-sports. The 'U' looks pretty good...(teams of note in bold)

1. Stanford 2. UCLA 3. North Carolina 4. Michigan 5. USC 6. Florida 7. Tennessee 8. Texas 9. Cal 10. Arizona State 11. Duke 12. Georgia 13. Virginia 14. Ohio State 15. Florida State 16. Wisconsin 17. LSU 18. Texas A&M 19. Auburn 20. Minnesota 21. Penn State 22. Notre Dame 23. Wake Forest 24. Arizona 25. Oklahoma 26. BYU 27. Nebraska 28. Louisville 29. Washington 30. Northwestern

Say 'goodbye' to Garza and 'hello' to Delmon Young

What is going on here?

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/neal/

I love my hair

Yeah, that's me rubbing elbows with two Twins Jason Bartlett and Jason Tyner. When this picture was taken Tyner had never had a major league home run. After this picture was taken, Tyner got his first one. I'm just sayin'.

Cheating?

To cover the 14 miles between my house and my office, it takes me 45 mins to an hour. Until recently, I had a carpooler to chat with. I am now carpoolerless, but I have discovered the world of books on tape. Let me tell you it sure beats the wacky morning DJ shows and it is not as aggravating as talk radio. My question is this, are books on tape a form of cheating? If we were to debate Atlas Shrugged and you were to find out that I had not read the book but merely listened to the tape, would this influence your opinion of my points? If I listened to Hamlet for a college class instead of actually sitting down and reading it, would this be cheating?

Who can it be knocking at my door?

As the Santana sweepstakes heats up over the next 10 days, Twins fans are holding their breath to see what Bill Smith has up his sleeve. Twins Territory was sent into a quasi tizzy last week when it was announced that Torii Hunter had signed with the Angels. Despite the feast on Turkey day at least this Twins fan was left feeling empty inside. The focus is back to Santana as the Twins front office attempts to avoid letting another big name go without major compensation in the form of talent. At a local watering hole on Wednesday night (pre-Hunter deal) I was involved in a long discussion with an area Twins fan that we'll call Sam. Sam, who was a few beers into his night, pulled me close and whispered "I have it on a good source that Hunter won't be re-signed, the Twins are gonna trade Johan and get 2 or 3 starters they can add to the roster with immediate impact, and the Pohlad's are loosening the purse strings for guys like Morneau, Cuddy, Mauer and an other free agents in an effort to win now." While Sam was drunk and his "source" about as reliable as me or you, you could at the very least hear the desperation of an entire state in his voice to not come away from baseball's winter meetings empty-handed.

When the dust finally does settle, Twins fans won't forget two things: Santana's 93-44 record, career 3.22 ERA, and 2 Cy Youngs and "who we get" for him. Very soon we'll at least know the names, considering the size of talent in Santana "who we get" will have to be better than the steals we have seen in the past in the Lirianos, Nathans, Guzmans, Miltons. Whether it's coming from the Yankees lead by Joba Chamberlain, the Mets lead by Jose Reyes, or some other team, the names will be burned in your memory for good or for bad. Two years from April when the snow is flying at "Best Buy Field at Target Stadium at General Mills Grounds" we could be swooning over a team of lovable characters who are in the midst of something special or cursing the fact that we let the best pitcher in baseball go and got nothing in return.

"All Day" should stay "Day to Day"

Reports out of Winter Park indicate that the Vikings brain trust is looking to start Adrian Peterson against the Lion's if he makes it through a week of practice. The past two wins came with Taylor in the backfield filling in nicely for AP so my question is "What's the rush?" (note: pun intended.) I get it, we are in a playoff hunt (a lame one but we'll take what we can get.) You want your best players out on the field as soon as possible. Football is a game where guys have to play through stuff. If AP is cleared why not play him?

My feeling is that AP is going to be so amp'd to be back out on the field that he isn't going to feel his leg if he does get it hurt again. I'd take another week of him on the sidelines, getting him two weeks in practice to feel the flow of the game again and bring him back out when and if the Vikings beat the Lion's to make a run. Listen, we are a 5-6 team. We did just expose Eli Manning as a fraud but that had already been done before. Do we need to rush the Football Jesus back on the field so we can wrap up what I think will be at best a 8-8 season?

Knowing what I know, I'm going to say that the Vikes put AP out on the field for kickoffs this Sunday & give him 10 - 12 carries in the game. I, along with Vikingsland, will be holding my breath.

In case Hunter's leaving did not have you down enough...

Here is what the Twins are asking for Santana (from the ever obscure source Jason Stark on espn.com, not that you couldn't have found this on your own):

SANTANA-MANIAThe Twins played it cool on the Santana front for a while, as they explored what it would take to re-sign their ace. But now, there are rumblings that they're beginning to zone in on interested clubs and exchange lists of players.
The price: either three or four big-time young players, at least two of whom the Twins could plug into their big league mix on Opening Day 2008.
There isn't a team on earth, from the Yankees to the Chunichi Dragons, that wouldn't be interested in Santana. But the list of clubs that conceivably could meet that price would have to start with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers.
The Mets seem prepared to talk about the likes of Fernando Martinez, Mike Pelfrey and possibly even Carlos Gomez if the grand prize is Santana. And the Yankees would be so hot in pursuit, they'd be likely to discuss anyone but Joba Chamberlain.
There have been indications that the Red Sox might be willing to trade one, but not more than one, of their three studs -- Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. And the Dodgers would at least have to do some serious mulling about whether to give up one of baseball's best pitching prospects, 19-year-old left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
The trouble is, those four players wouldn't be all it would take.
Any team that would give up that kind of young talent for Santana would want to sign him to an extension, too. And the latest rumor is that he's looking for seven years, at $18-20 million a year, on top of the $13.25 million he has coming in 2008.
So that's another $140-160 million that the winner of this sweepstakes would have to fork over, plus the best players its system has to offer. Yikes.
When you add up all that, it's safe to eliminate, say, the Pirates and Royals -- not that Santana's total no-trade rights wouldn't have done that, anyway. What isn't safe is naming a favorite here. But one NL executive says: Watch out for the Mets, given the pressure on GM Omar Minaya to win now.
"Omar seems determined to make a huge splash," the exec says. "And I think that's the guy they've had earmarked all along."

Full article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3121887&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I received this in my daily Newsbreaker email from Fanball.com today:


November 21, 2007 12:32 PM ET
Rams: Steussie signed
The NewsThe Rams signed tackle Todd Steussie on Tuesday and plan on starting him this Sunday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Our ViewIn case you needed a reminder of how desperate the Rams have gotten for offensive line help, here you go. This obviously doesn't bode well for their fantasy options.

My prediction, 2 false starts including one in the red zone.

So Long Spidey

On the eve of one of America's treasured days I learned that Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins has signed with the Angels for 5 years and $90M. With a bit of perspective on the world around us (you know, the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse galloping around the globe) this event is about as important as which shoes I am going to wear today. With Death, Pestilence and the gang aside and memories of Brunansky, Gladden, Hrbek, Kirby (f'ing Kirby in Game 6!), Viola, Gaetti, Reardon and the only team that has brought my generation any sort of national sports title, I am totally pissed.

I was always a believer in the Twins. My heart had been broken by the Vikings but the Twins never really betrayed me. '87 and '91 are parts of my teenage identity; they are seminal parts of all my friends teenage years; they are the memories shared with strangers in bars in Chicago or New York or LA who also happen to have been in downtown Minneapolis in '91 running through the streets celebrating local-boy-made-hero Jack Morris . The Twins had always come through. I loved them. Even as the team struggled throughout the 1990's, the Twins got a free pass. Yeah, I bitched that we won 53 games in 1994 but Tom Kelly had started to reach Bud Grant territory in Minnesotan sports mythology with those two rings. Even during the off season following 2001 when the Twins were offered up for contraction by owner Carl Pohlad (insert "Scrooge McDuck" joke here) I was dismayed and my friends were all concerned but I knew it would all work out, it had to. On cue it did work out and the Twins went on to the ALCS that year winning 94 games (the most since '91; yes it felt like magic.) They quickly healed the hearts of millions gashed by Pohlad's breach of the public trust. Now there was a nucleus of talent that had gone from 63 wins in 1999, to 69 wins in 2000, to 85 wins in 2001 and it was goooooood.

Even though the Twins became the proverbial bridesmaid over the next 5 years only receiving the 'Participation Ribbon' of 3 AL Central titles, they did have a ridiculous run to 96 wins in 2006 and captured the triple crown of having the MVP, Batting Champ, and Cy Young on the same team at the same time. All the while during this Twins Renaissance, one of the few mainstays with superstar talent and a connection with every fan was Torii Hunter. Starting in 1999 Torii was the constant presence in center field. As Twins fans we didn't get the second coming of Kirby Puckett, we got an original model in Torii. And we loved him as much as we loved Kirby. He made the Twins legit. He was a highlight reel that exemplified Twins small-ball ways. He was a community guy and a locker room guy. He was hilarious. He was Spiderman.

With Torii leading the way it felt like the Twins had arrived again. Like they had a sustained run in them. To make it all even rosier was the fact that they were getting a new stadium. While they had somehow always excelled at jettisoning talent because of salary issues (Knoblauch, breaking up "The Soul Patrol", AJ ) they didn't need to do that anymore, "new stadium" and "spend money on talent" were being used in the same sentence. It couldn't have come at a better time too with contracts of our stars coming up; time to put the Pohlad money where the Pohlad mouth was. Every Twins fan with a sense of what this team really means to Minnesota thought Torii should be/would be rewarded after his best season in a Twins uniform. It was the right thing to do to make him the starting center field in 2010 when an entire generation will watch their first outdoor professional baseball game in Minnesota. But that's not going to happen now. And, by the looks of it, the Twins are probably going to lose Johan Santana too. In the past the Twins made things like this work out but it feels different this time, more sour, like darker days are ahead if this is how an adopted son from Arkansas is going to be treated. No wonder Terry Ryan stepped aside awkwardly at the end of 2006; I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to sit across the table from Torii and tell him it was 'time to move on' either.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Photo by Morry Gash, Associated Press

Chuck and Joyce Gauck Arrested After Setting "Victory Fires" in Ames

Well, our poll shows that this bunch knows Gopher hoops with a big win last night. Not sure why I feel as though there should have been a riot in Dinkytown after the win. We won by 10 on the road. Impressive.

Top 10 Reasons I want to Punch Brad Childress

1. His mustache
2. T-Jac
3. His lack of nards
4. His offense
5. He has set the Vikes back 3 years
6. For making me take interest in that Vikes/Pack game last week
7. He almost lost to 'Pep'
8. Matt Schaub
9. Because I have to listen to idiots say things like "You know, the ball bounces our way a couple of times and we are a 7-3 team."
10. No reason, I just like a-punchin' people

People of the Land of Oz v. Dorothy Gale

The People of Winkie County in the Land of Oz do hereby charge one Dorothy Gale of Kansas, USA with murder in the first degree.

Charges –

Count: 1
Charge: Murder in the First Degree – Intent, with malice and premeditation

In Violation of: 609.19, Subd. 1(1)

Maximum Penalty: Life Imprisonment

On or about June 6, 1939, in the Winkie County in the Land of Oz, Defendant DOROTHY GALE, DOB: May 4, 1923, caused the death of Elphaba a.k.a the “Wicked Witch of the West” (‘WWofW’) with malice and premeditation.

The Thursday Jambaroo

Guys,
I've started reading this guy's NFL column every week (it appears on Thursdays). It's the same guy (from the blog Kissing Suzy Kolber), who did the Boston Sports Fan thing a couple weeks ago, which was classic.

Anyway, he is a little overreliant on profanity (as Alshouse put it), but his stuff cracks me up. Plus, he's from MN and a Vikings fan. A couple of great lines this week to that effect.

http://deadspin.com/sports/jamboroo/jamboroo-week-11-a-quick-tribute-to-the-strongest-motherf++ker-in-the-nfl-323140.php

Bonds Shocker

Sort of. Well, not really. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/11/15/bonds.indictment.ap/index.html?eref=T1

Did you know there was a "Ozarks Medical Center Tip-Off Tournament"? Well, we got the MVP from it

The Gophers will announce the signing of four basketball recruits today: Paul Carter, a 6-8 forward from Missouri State-West Plains Community College; Devron Bostick, a 6-5 guard from Southwestern Illinois Community College; Colton Iverson, a 6-10 center from Yankton, S.D, High School; and Ralph Sampson III, a 6-11 center from Northview High School in Duluth, Ga. The Gophers still have one scholarship for 2008-09, and they would like to have it go to either Devoe Joseph, an outstanding point guard from Ontario, or Krystopher Faber, a 6-11 center from Ribet Academy in Los Angeles. Bostick was named first-team junior college NCAA All-America; Carter recently had 45 points, 23 rebounds and six blocked shots over two games in the Ozarks Medical Center Tip-Off Tournament and was named tournament MVP.

"Herschel" Monroe?

Disturbing quote from new Twin Craig Monroe:

"I went through a tough period," he said. "All players go through it. I need to go out and prove to myself and everyone in baseball what Craig Monroe can do."

And Jimmy likes Elaine. Let's just say this...if he picks up bobsledding this winter, I say we cut him. Another noteworth item pertaining to the deal: if he doesn't agree to a salary cut, the Twins are going to waive him (3rd-person speech patterns or not), and don't have to send anyone to the Cubs.

On the plus side, he and Torii are buddies...though Hunter was quoted as saying that the Twins signing Monroe will have no bearing on his free agent decision.

Nobody wants A-Rod...sniff, sniff

So, A-Rod opts out of his contract in the middle of game 4 of the World Series ( which is essentially the soonest he could do it)... essentially telling NY to f' off... celebrations ensue in Arlington as the Rangers save the $21 million of A-Rod's salary over the next 2 years that they were still on the hook for... and then... .... ... nothing. No race to sign A-Rod by the other 29 teams in the league... no on-line auction on Ebay, nothing. And now I read that A-Rod's contacted the Yankees, told them that he still wants to play there- and that he understands that any contract he signs will have to compensate the Yankees for the $21 million Ranger's subsidy that his opting out made them forfeit.

A-Rod is no question the most talented, most valuable player in baseball; He's easily the best hitter, an RBI machine, remains an above-average defender, he's still in his prime, and whomever signs him to his next long-term contract will likely have him for his run on Bond's home run record- meaning ticket sales, ticket sales, ticket sales...and what, nothing? WTF. Have we finally gotten to the point that owners are willing to say "He's not worth it"? of course "it" being the $350 million that Boras' thinks he's worth.

I find this all very interesting.

Georgians pray for rain. Really that is what is has come to

Georgia Governor, Sonny Purdue, must be completely out of ideas on how to solve the Atlanta water shortage crisis. His solution today was to organize a mass prayer on the capitol steps. Apparently, 300 sheep showed up to listen to the Governor pray for rain and apologize for our wastefulness. While apologizing he did not lay out any plans to conserve water in the future or implement new infrastructure.

Almost as pathetic were the protesters who showed up to point out the conflict of church and state. Come on people, isn't this one of the cases of stupidity where all you have to do is point and say "this is all they have !?!" I think of Jon Lovitz on SNL playing Dukakis saying "I can't believe I am losing to this guy."

Somewhere you know there are Cherokees saying "You know, maybe if you people had not forced us down the Trail of Tears, we would help you out with a rain dance right now."

Not a drop of rain has fallen in the Atlanta metro area as of the time of this post.

-RTS

Rondell redux or an opportunity?

The Twins and Chicago Cubs have been discussing a trade that would send left fielder Craig Monroe to Minnesota for a player to be named, and an announcement could come as soon as today.

Monroe, 30, hit 28 home runs for the Detroit Tigers in 2006 and five more in the post season as they reached the World Series. But the Tigers designated him for assignment in August after he batted .222 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI.

After being traded to the Cubs, Monroe batted .204 with one home run in 23 games.
He made $4.8 million last season and is eligible for a raise through arbitration, so many in the industry viewed him as a non-tender candidate.

pop the cherry

My first official blog posting... this is exciting. It reminds of that first time I came home with a loaf of bread, opened up, and discovered that it had already been sliced.... this is a wondrous time to be alive.

So, I'm glad to say that the topic of my first posting is a positive one. As sad as things are in MN sports right now, last night's football game was a sort of wake-up call- that brought me back from the edge with these 6 simple, beautiful words: at least were not the 49ers. Not since Blake v. [Insert School Name Here] have I seen a more anemic, inept and woefully over matched offense than I witnessed last night during the 49ers/Seahawks game. Don't get me wrong- if the 49ers offered up a one for one trade right now: Smith for Jackson, we'd be crazy not to take it... but there is something seriously not right with that offense right now- and for that, this morning, I'm thankful.

Breakfast with Tubby

This morning I attended the Dunker's meeting with my father-in-law and Tubby Smith was the guest speaker. Let's just start out by saying that we won the lottery with this guy. He was kind of all over the place with his comments (talked about his family, his wife, old coaching days) but overall you can tell that this guy is a winner and knows how to coach kids. What was really surprising was how funny he was. He talked about how he is in the process of setting goals with all of his players. He mentioned that forward Jonathan Williams goal is to lead the Big Ten in rebounds. Tubby then went on to say that after the Army game on Saturday Williams had 1 rebound and Tubby told Williams that "well, you got more rebounds today than a dead guy so you're gonna need to work on that goal of yours." Might have been funnier at the time.

Overall Tubby said his team is gonna surprise some people this year. I sat next to a season ticket holder who went to the game and said that Tollickson has dropped 30 pounds and looks great and Dan Coleman put on 30 pounds and is a player now. This guy also said that from the first minute of the game there was a different feel - the hustle never ended with guys going all out for loose balls and we actually played defense.

What was hilarious was that Sid was there and has been apparently seething over the fact that Tubby has not come on his radio show since being named coach 6 months ago. Tubby ribbed Sid a bit saying he would most definitely be on his show soon and that he knew Sid wasn't too mad because Tubby was still being called "his close personal friend."

As for the Army game, Gauck got it right, Monson's team would have lost that one whereas Tubby's team stepped on their neck. BTW - see Monson's new team Long Beach State put up 34 points in a 74 - 34 loss to BYU?

This Blog is Fucking Bad-ASS!

Unlike the state of affairs for our teams. Honestly, does it get much worse? Yesterday's drubbing was the first time EVER that the Vikes have been skunked by the fudgepackers. How does Childress explain this? How does he keep his job? He took a fucking 9-7 team and ran them into the ground! Thank goodness for the Purple Jesus - oh wait - he's now out indefinitely (not season-ending? I have my doubts). Would Donavan McNabb consider signing with us? BTW, sorry for the profanity, but a) I'm bitter about the Vikes and the injury, and b) most of the good bloggers out there seem to effortlessly integrate the f-bomb (and words like "cockgobbler") into their prose.

Oh yeah...the Twins are about to trade away the best pitcher in baseball and not re-sign the most popular player of the decade.

Thank goodness for Tubby Smith. Yes, I know it was only Army, but how many times did that mannequin Dan Monson squeeze 80+ points out of the squad in his miserable 7 years?

All Day is now Not Today

Rookie running back Adrian Peterson has a partial tear of his lateral collateral ligament but won’t need surgery, Vikings coach Brad Childress said at his press conference today at Winter Park. It’s uncertain how much time Peterson will miss, but the Vikings certainly aren’t going to take any chances.

Childress said he has been told Peterson’s injury is not season ending. The NFL’s leading rusher has been ruled out of Sunday’s game against Oakland. (The LCL holds the outside of the knee together, keeping the leg from collapsing outwards.)

Testing, Testing, Testing

I am in baby. Now the whole world can read my dilusional writings and make fun of my poor grammer.

Regards,

RTS

PS- I did mispell delusional on purpose.
PPS- Misspell was a mistake though.

Hello Cleveland! Hello World!

With this posting five guys in their early 30's have officially dipped their collective big toe into the ocean that is the cybernet. It remains to be seen what the world can come to expect from a group as diverse as the crowd at a Public Enemy concert but what this group can promise are the cold, hard facts as they appear through the filtered prism that comes from being raised in the Land of Sky Blue Waters.