The blog formerly about a daily dose of mostly Minnesota sports rants and raves with a sprinkling of general sports commentary and a pinch of jaded-malaise regarding the world around us

January 31, 2008

Here's how I felt after the trade was announced

Classic video...sums it up pretty well.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=BzjLlqIuVhI

January 30, 2008

First analysis that I was able to find on the web

I'm sure there will be many more to come, but Rosenthal gives a pretty fair assessment. It's too early to judge this deal, but it appears Bill Smith blew it by not trading Santana at the winter meetings, when the demand was much more frenzied. That said, he also points out that the Twins deserve the benefit of the doubt, given our strong track record of swapping big names for boatloads of young talent.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7734714/Twins-missed-out-on-better-Santana-packages-?MSNHPHMA

So, this is our Attorney General . . .

Take our minds off Johan for a second.

Saw this on cnn.com regarding Mukasey and waterboarding.

Sen. Edward Kennedy put it best. After Mukasey said that if it was done to him he would find it torture but, in general, still can't qualify it as torture is "like saying you're opposed to stealing but not quite sure that bank robbery qualifies."

What is also shocking is that in a CNN poll, 69% said it was torture while 29% said it wasn't. I'd like to strap down those 29%, put a rag in over their mouths, and pour water onto them to see if they would change their minds. You know that the 29% are men, live somewhere in the South, own all of Jean Claude van Damme's movies on DVD, and have a home address that starts with some reference to the wilderness (ex. "Tall Pines" or "Shady Valley") and ends with "Trailer Park."

Recap of the off-season

A quick recap of the Twins moves this off-season:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7735252/Twins'-off-season-has-been-a-wild-ride

January 29, 2008

It's done....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/01/29/Santana.traded/index.html?bcnn=yes


Not sure what to think... this is one of situations where we honestly will not know for years whether this was a good trade or not.. still, given that we do have the assets to compete now, it disappoints me that in return for the most dominant pitcher in the game, we received all prospects.

Johanathon

Not to have Johan's deal dominate the space today but did you read that the Twins are asking interested teams to make their last, best offers by today? (ESPN.com)

While no fortune teller, I'm gonna guess he goes to the Yankees as Hank Steinbrenner seems the most desperate.

Oh, and why doesn't Johan have a nickname?

January 28, 2008

More on CNBC...

Question, how can a news station, such as CNBC, not report anything about the logistics of the market? This morning the OPRA system, the system that connects the option exchanges, handles order routing and small details like that, completely went down. Every option exchange declared a fast market, aka a free for all. In a fast market quotes are no longer good, there are unusual market conditions which cause delays in executions. It was pretty big deal. As an investor watching a news channel I would think your average investor would want to know that their orders were being delayed and that the quotes they were looking at were no good. That might change the way I trade. CNBC did not mention 1 word regarding this, just like last Friday when the AMEX had system issues and closed early. Clearly the brass at CNBC has decided that they are an entertainment channel and not a news channel and that their scheduled stories and pre-arranged guests are not worthy to bump to report on real news in the markets. Idiotic.

Side note, if you have not seen No Country for Old Men go see it.

January 25, 2008

Twins to announce Morneau signed to a long term deal

I guess one year wasn't enough. Stay tuned. Press conference at 4pm. Rumor is Morneau signs for 5 years at $80M and Cuddy gets 3 years at $23M.

BTW - TwinsFest is going on right now. Listened to Gardy do an interview yesterday, said that Boof has lost 30-35 lbs in the offseason. I guese that means he's halfway to where we needs to be (insert 'rim-shot' here.)

The reach of "From the Land of Sky Blue Waters"


Just want to give you guys an update on how far our reach is with this blog. Through this analytics tool from Google that I installed I am able to see the states and countries (down to the city level) of where we are changing lives (well, not so much 'changing lives' but where people have at least hit our site and then, apparently, immediately 'bounced' out.)

We have hits from 6 other countries: Germany, Spain, Austria, Australia, Netherlands, and Canada.

Within the U.S., aside from Minny, Georgia, Cali, and Illinois, we have hits from: New York, Michigan, Tennessee, New Jersey, Wyoming, and Arizona.

We have a total of 408 'page visits' (and 907 'page views') with people (probably us) doing an average of 2.22 pages/visit, spending an average of 6 minutes 10 seconds on the site, 11.03% of the visits are new visits, and a 51.23% 'bounce rate' (meaning people leave the site from the opening page.)

Of the 408 'page visits' - 328 (80.39%) are coming in from 'referring sites' (basically us going through blogger) 68 (16.67%) from direct traffic, and 12 (2.94%) from search engines. I don't really know what that all means as I am just starting to get at what the analytic tool is telling us and I think the bulk is obviously us but it is interesting to note that there have been 4 referral visits coming from CNN.com and apparently someone searched "Christie Brinkley" and went to our site (that's all LH.)

So, at the end of the day are we changing the world? I say 'yes.' Whose world are we changing? Looks like ours. But it is pretty cool that 2 people in Germany went to our site (granted they most likely didn't understand a thing.

Blog on my friends. Blog on.

January 23, 2008

A couple good links

I haven't found Bill Simmons all that funny lately (in fact, I think he's either lost his touch, or his material has become old and over-used - another topic altogether, I guess), but his playoff awards are pretty good, partially because he too alludes to Peter King's overt man-love affair with Favre.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080122

Also, here's a good update on the Johan trade talks. Very interesting. Although a trade with the Mets wouldn't give us major league-ready talent, I kind of like the idea of getting him out of the American League. It also alludes to the fact that the Yankees are very unlikely to just sit on the sidelines if things heat up again.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/01/23/scoop.Jan23/index.html?eref=T1

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Jim Cramer, Bear?

I can't stand Jim Cramer. My main gripe is that he does not admit he was wrong, he always claims that he is always on the right side of the market. He reminds me of guys selling football picks. He is loud, pushy and always going 14 of 15 or some ridculous number. For example, 3 weeks ago he was on CNBC touting Apple, Research in Motion and Google (he did say he would shy away from Amazon) as buys at their current prices. Now the 3 stocks have had the sh*t kicked out of them along with most of the market. I have yet to see him step to the plate and address the bad calls. Yesterday, Rick Santelli called Cramer out when Cramer claimed he had been a bear for the last 7 months. Someone spliced together the conversation along with dated clips from Mad Money. I thought it was very funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGkrNJ19DSU


On a side note, I saw Rick Santelli speak at a conference. In a half an hour speech he said "Keep in mind" 16 times and conundrum 8.

Getting closer: Twins Stadium update


Well, they are laying the concourse today for the new ballpark, heard on the news that it is enough concrete to lay a two lane road from Minneapolis to Da'lute. Here are some images to whet that appetite (slideshow). I'm as giddy as a little girl.

January 22, 2008

Barack v Clintons

Alright, from the debate last night I am getting tired of the Clinton's going after Obama. I agree with Edwards that the debate should be a discussion of policy and pointing out differences between the candidates but how long does Obama have to sit around and take Bill and Hill's crap?

I am losing a ton of respect for Bill as he has become a hired gun for Hillary. Obama pointed this out that he feels like he is running against both of them. Is this really what he should be doing as an ex-Democratic president? Isn't he better served using his energy going after the Republican's? Let Hillary fight her own battles.

Granted, I see this through my "Obama for President" glasses but at the same time it weakens the Democrats message as we get lost in this back-and-forth. Wasn't a truce called at some point?

January 21, 2008

Collective Sigh of Relief

Alright, let's just all exhale together. The Pack is not going on to the Superbowl and the greatest human being to ever grace a football field let alone our pathetic lives Brett Favre turned in a forgettable performance which might just shut up Chris Berman, John Madden, and all the other jackals who want to rub butts with him. The G-men deserved to win that game, pretty much dominated the Packers in the second half. I think we all knew that when the going got tough Favre was going to try to do a little more than he should and turn the ball over, thankfully that happened quickly in the OT.

I have not seen AJ Hawk, Brett Favre, or Donald Driver around the office today, they may call in sick.

BTW - KFAN today is terrific. So much Packer's hating going on; we're not alone. The entire state of Vikingsland is dancing on the Packer's grave.

January 18, 2008

Strahan, Farve lovers spat

Summary: Strahan is sick of the love Brett Farve is receiving. While I agree with him, you would think he would have a little more love for the guy that gave him the sack record he holds now. Now there is a record that deserves an *.

http://fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/nfl?cnn=yes

Question:

Which would knock down more free throws out of 10 - a blindfolded Richard Coffey shooting left-handed, or Spencer Tollackson on his best day?

Bottom line is this squad is just not very talented when you get right down to it. They could lose by 30 in Bloomington. Tubby's getting every ounce of blood out of Monson's stone.

Nonetheless, nice to see some national props and pub., including some good lovin' up of the ole' Barn on ESPN. When's the last time the Gophs have played a meaningful game in prime time on the big network? Also, I must add, just because of the social impact of it all, that Doris Burke is probably a better color analyst than 95% of the guys she competes with. It's refreshing to hear someone who sounds like she wants to jump out on the court and play. You can hear her love for the game, and her knowledge of it, as well.

More Packer news

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22711523/

Best line of the article:

"It almost sounded like they had heard crazy stories like this before,”

January 17, 2008

I knew Packer fans were a little too obssesed

The few times my daughter has thrown fits in public, I have wished there was Barney duct tape on the market. However, this Packers fan took it too far when he taped up his son for refusing to wear a Packer's jersey during last Saturday's game:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22689532/

I hope that this kid is more interested in band and debate as he gets older just to torture his dad. I am guessing that this marriage was already on the rocks since the wife did not step in on her sons behalf, but choose to take pictures of the dad taping him up. Sound parenting all the way around.

January 16, 2008

Randy being Randy


I don't really care if this is true or not (news item that Moss hit a woman; here is the video of him talking to reporters) but wasn't it a matter of time for him to do something that shows his true colors? What a talent and what a total d-bag. I liked how in the article he says "I didn't hit no woman, I've never hit a woman" - well, that's not really true since he hit that traffic cop who was a woman with his Lexus. Also, if you watch the clip of him talking to reporters, they all giggle and laugh as he is talking about this like a bunch of sychophants even though he is trying to be serious. I understand why Jesse 'the Mind' use to call them jackals.
He is reason #1 why I don't want the Pats to win the Superbowl. Can't think of someone less deserving (well, T.O. comes to mind.) What a f'er.

January 14, 2008

Hold on a second...

...I think I just threw up in my mouth. No, it's not residual "Delhi belly" from our trip, it's a result of the near certainty that the packers will be appearing in their 3rd Super Bowl of the modern era (I don't count the ones that earned them the stupid nickname of "Titletown", as there were like 12 teams in the league back then). Way to choke on applesauce, Cowboys, and give the fudge a smoothly paved road to the bowl. Sweet. As much as I've grown to hate the arrogance of the Patriots, it might be kind of fun to watch them dismantle the puckers. Part of me is trying to rationalize it by saying that "Favre is a great guy and an all-time great", but then the other part of me starts kicking the aforementioned part's ass. Okay...I'm still jet-lagged, so that probably didn't make sense, but needless to say I'm none too pleased. If they win it all, will he finally retire, a la John Elway??

January 11, 2008

Hats Off to Thee

U 82, Wildcats 63
Is it too early to pick Tubby as coach of the Year in the Big 10? Of course it is, but I was impressed with their trouncing of the Wusscats the other night. In the past, when the gophers were faced playing a team of lower caliber they would play down to their level-- not so, the other night- thanks to Lefty McDoodle's (I just realized that this is him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJoxGpEswOI) sharp shooting. Definitely a good showing, and it was enough for sportscenter to actually discuss the gophers-- in a none ridiculing way, nonetheless. All of this is good press for future recruits. You know recruits watch sportscenter, and they notice which schools are talked about all the time. Clearly, that attracts them to that school-how else can anyone explain why someone would voluntarily go to Duke?

Knoblauch is a turd


So Little Chuckie Knoblauch breaks his silence and speaks about being named in the Mitchell report (ESPN.Com.) Here are a couple quotes that I loved:

"I've got nothing to do with any of that, I mean, any baseball. And I don't want anything to do with baseball."

"One of my strongest characteristics is not really caring what people think. I'm living my life. It's not going to change my life one way or the other. You know, I'm not trying to get in the Hall of Fame. I got one vote though."

Sounds like Clemens coached him about how to be a douchebag to the media. It was pretty obvious that something happened to Knoblauch when he went to the Yankees and kept overthrowing first base (remember the time he hit Keith Olberman's mom in the face in the stands?) I don't think he suddenly had a case of the "Rick Ankiel's" and totally lost his talent.

He remains one of the few 'beloved' Minnesota 'stars' who went to an evil empire team and got what was coming to him. Am I shallow to relish this whole saga?

January 9, 2008

Another Year, Another Snub, More Idiot Sports "Journalists"

As much as I love the politics, let's get back to our core competancy (bitching about MN-related sports, of course):

Every year when the Baseball Hall of Fame voting results come back, I get angrier than the year before. And, man, am I starting to get angry. Control of this process really needs to be taken away from sports writers and given to people who (i) know the first f-ing thing about baseball, and (ii) don't have philosophical axes to grind. They should review the votes of each voter every year, and if anyone's not within a prescribed margin of error from the other voters, they should have their balloting rights revoked.

Just two examples from this year: First, Jon Heyman of SI voted for Jack Morris (god bless him, Game 7 '91 was the best performance I've ever witnessed, but he had a career 3.90) AND DAVE CONCEPCION (!!!) but not Bert. He goes on and on about how for him career numbers don't mean much, it's whether you were "dominant" enough, specifically claiming Blyleven never had one truly outstanding season (we'll skip over debunking this for now), and then he votes for Dave Concepcion. A guy who hit .319 in his best season, and had a career OPS under .780. Good god.

Second, Rick Telander, for whom I normally keep my loathing in check, decided not to vote at all to protest steroids and Selig. He claims he can't judge anyone anymore, and questions whether even Tommy John's recovery from surgery might have been aided by HGH, and laments that we'll never know. I'm not even kidding. He also says, IN THE SAME COLUMN, that under normal circumstances he thinks John should be in the Hall (despite his numbers being clearly inferior to Bert's in almost every significant category) because he has a surgery named after him. No, really, he does.

The logical pretzels these guys tie themselves in to justify these choices made on "gut feeling" are so idiotic and inconsistent it befuddles my mind. Dave Concepcion. Seriously.

I'll try to publish a comment to this post tomorrow to link some of the plethora of sources of good material showing how easy a call it is that Bert Blyleven is a Hall of Famer. For the time being, I'll just point out that the next time I see a supposed expert on the game of baseball state that their reason for not voting for Blyleven is because he didn't finish high enough in Cy Young voting often enough during his career (you don't think that had anything to do with the fact he spent his entire career in Minneapolis, Anaheim and Cleveland, do you?), I might poke my eyes out. Talk about double jeopardy. Since when is past media perception a legitimate factor in determining real life quality?

Also, Tim Raines, probably the second-best leadoff hitter of the late 20th century, got like 20%.

What a crock.

January 8, 2008

Does anyone actually like Roger Clemens?

So what do we think of Roger Clemens now? Just read this SI.com article and thought this whole taping a conversation with his former trainer was a pretty pathetic attempt to get his trainer trapped in some sort of lie. Is this a man fighting for his life and reputation or the kind of crap knuckleheads like this do when their backs are against the wall? I assume the latter. I kind of believed Rafael Palmeiro when he shook his finger at Congress (it was the mustache that made me believe) only to find out he was a dickhead and I was gullible. Shouldn't Roger just have let this one go like McGwire did and fade away forever? Or come out like Giambi and at the very least say the words "I apologize" (granted, Giambi he never said what he was apologizing for other than letting the fans, media, and Yankees down.) At the end of the press conference yesterday, Clemens rips the head off one of the reporters for asking about the Hall of Fame and acts as if he has never even thought about it again proving (to borrow a line from The Sheriff) he is the douchebag we thought he was.

One last note, in the SI.com article it says that Andy Pettite has hired the same attorney that Sammy Sosa had; thought a hilarious SNL skit would be Pettite walking into his Congressional hearing on his cell phone talking to Clemens saying "Roger, not to worry old chum. Nothing will come from these proceedings that will danger my future let alone your sterling reputation," then he sits down in front of the cameras and the dais of congresspeople next to an interpreter and says "Me pitch da ball. Throw ball hard. Strike out. World Series. Chimichanga. Me love beisbol" and then walks out.

January 7, 2008

Gopher Hoops - A moral victory?


So, the Gophers played Michigan State on Saturday night and came up short losing 65 to 59. This is the same squad that got blown out by 25+ last year to Michigan State. So, is this a moral victory? Are we 'for real'? Tom Izzo seems to think so: "I have to give a lot of credit to Raymar Morgan, to Kalin Lucas and to Tubby Smith. Even though we outrebounded them by 20, I felt they took it to us physically. That team is for real."

Also, I loved this picture of Tubby? Do you think he wants to win?

My Experience Voting in the Iowa Caucus

This probably could have been a reply to another post about the Iowa Caucus but I wanted to make sure you suckers read it, so I started my own post. In college I did actually vote in the Iowa Caucus. It was the campaign leading up to the eventual meeting of Clinton and Dole, I voted Clinton that year. At the time, I figured it was a once in a lifetime chance. Now, with my loathing of people reaching all time highs, Iowa might not be a bad place to move back to.

It was widely accepted that Clinton was going to run away with the Dem side, so I went to the Republican Caucus figuring there would be a little more action, I am using that term very loosely. I had to register as a Republican, sign away my soul and then was allowed into the school. Dole was the heavy favorite and Alex P. Keaton and the young Republican's club were there in full force with their Dole buttons and collared shirts and sweaters. We sat in a class room and there was a definite starting time for the caucus. Once that time arrived, everyone was given a chance to speak for their candidate. There was nothing really insightful said, kind of like pre-game football talk "i like my team and I think they will win." After the speeches we voted and that was that. I voted for Steve Forbes. It was clear Dole was going to win, so I thought I would be different and throw my vote towards the mad man, a method I still sometimes use (No, I was not in Minnesota when Jesse won.) I think the results were Dole, Alexander (remember that guy- ABC Alexander beats Clinton) followed by Forbes.

Dawn's experience was completely different as she was in a different precinct. It followed what I would consider normal voting, you show, you cast a vote, you leave. There were no speeches on behalf of candidates or anything like that. It took her all of 5 minutes, where mine was probably more than an hour.

From my experience the whole thing was kind of a farce. There was no uniformity and the candidates that come out on top are many times crushed soon after (see ABC). Obviously, I did not do my part to the help legitimize the whole thing either.

January 4, 2008

My Supporters Can Beat Up Your Supporters

So I was at the Gym last night, watching the results of the Iowa Caucus…I know, I know, but it wasn’t really by choice mind you- it’s just that the Young Men’s Christian Association that I belong to decided to devout 3 out of their 4 TVs to election coverage (the 4th TV covering men’s basketball- can’t complain about that) instead of covering one of the most important games of the college football season, aka the Orange Bowl.

Anyway, as I was watching Obama and Huckabee earning the nation’s respect instead of Kansas- suffering through speeches by candidates congratulating themselves and their supporters for getting out there and “rockin the vote”..I noticed an interesting, oh so subtle, difference between Senator Clinton and Governor Huckabee- mind you it had nothing to do with their opposing social/political viewpoints.

As Senator Clinton was busy telling her supporters that a 3rd place finish wasn’t that bad, she was accompanied by some of her most trusted supporters on stage- featuring, to her left, her husband, Bill Clinton- former President of the United States of America. To her right was Madeleine Albright, former United States Secretary of State

…and Huckabee?

Well, Huckabee, coming off of his grandiose victory over the devil’s brother Mitt Romney, was celebrating with his supporters as well. As he was up there thanking everyone for their help (God first, of course)…and laying out the plans for his future campaign victories, he too was flocked by his most ardent/key supporters- to his right Chuck Norris, former hawker of the Total Gym, and to his left Christie Brinkley, former co-hawker of the Total Gym…Seriously Huckabee, WTF? These are the people that you want the nation to see that are behind you? Now, I agree that Chuck Norris can kick some serious ass, and Christie Brinkley is still seriously hot, but strangely I don’t really value their political endorsements…Oh, and Chuck- thanks for taking the time to get dressed up for the event, but next time could you at least get the flannel shirt pressed?

Iowa 2008 - Awwww skippy

So, the results are in, and 347,000 Iowans have cast their ballot, or their caucus, or whatever that means and Huckabee and Obama are the cream that has risen to the top of the political milk jug. I, for one, feel a sense of relief that some slack-jawed yokels from down South have gotten it right in terms of voting for "change." As a card carrying Democrat (I actually don't have a card) having Obama's message resonate gives me hope for the future where trampling on civil liberties and water-boarding 'political combatants' are a thing of the past.

While there is still a long road to the White House and anything can happen, we may be on the verge of history. Sure, Hillarious Rodham Clinton is going to come out with her guns a blazin' and you can never underestimate the power of Republican party but for a brief moment in time we have a hope in one Barack Hussein Obama.

January 2, 2008

Champagne Wishes and Tuna Dreams

Appropos of nothing particularly germane to a Minnesota-centric board (other than the loose connection through our valiant Vikings, who play in the same league in terms of name, if not game), but who else here is incredibly relieved to NEVER, EVER, EVER have to hear about gatherings of 1972 vintage Miami Dolphins again?

Related note; Perhaps Not Terribly Bold Prediction: if it's bad weather (which I'll define as significant precipitation, high winds or temps under 40 degrees) in Foxboro, whichever of Jacksonville or Indy is given the chance first, takes out the Patriots.

2 quick rants

I somehow actually managed to find a couple of moments yesterday to watch part of the outdoor hockey game (Both bowl games I was watching must have been at commercial). It was pretty sweet. On Espn today they showed highlights of prior outdoor games. The first college game they highlighted was Michigan State/ Michigan at Spartan stadium. The second one was Wisco vs Ohio State, which the anchors referred to as ANOTHER BIG TEN MATCH UP. Ummmm as far as I know, there is no Big Ten in college hockey. Did the writer not know or did they dumb it down for your average non-college hockey fan or did they just make an off hand comment and I flew off the handle for no reason?

Second thing, going back to the good guy bad guy debate, I was disappointed to see Fran Tarkenton do the pre-game show for the Sugar Bowl. He is not exactly known as the most reputable guy in the financial world. I have seen the spam emails from his firm, the kind of stuff you see and wonder who does this work on? City pages claims he tried a pump and dump scheme costing Irwin Jacobs some cash:

http://www.citypages.com/databank/21/1009/article8564.asp?page=2