Vikes v. Steelers Recap

Alright, we lost this one. I didn't think we'd win going in so I was happy to see a good game and the fact that we played tough. Our loss was pretty flukey if you ask me, the fact that two balls are returned in the 4th quarter for tuddies (one from a deflection from sure-handed Chester Taylor) doesn't happen very often. We played well, at no point were we dominated or did we roll over and concede. The kick-off return by Harvin and the subsequent defensive stand proved we've got "big game balls." That didn't feel like a loss as much as it felt like a tie. I don't know, in years past I would be throwing a rope over the rafters and stepping up on a chair but I feel okay tonight. Don't get me wrong, losing sucks and we had that game but I didn't think we'd be 16-0 either. Oh, and I'm not one to bitch about officiating (okay, I might be) but there were at least 2 calls that were blatantly home-town calls: the leg whip or whatever it was on Rice's tuddy and the defensive false start call was so unbelievable that that announcers had to look it up in the rule book to see what exactly was called.

Game Balls -

1. AP for this (click here); I can watch this over and over and over. I love him. I really do.

2. Sidney Rice for his 136 yards & that unreal sideline catch.

3. Percy Harvin (click here.)

4. Favre. Anyone just feel, well, confident with him? When was the last time you felt this comfortable with a QB? I'd argue never? Sure, Cunningham but that was pitch and catch this is different. . .

5. VIkes defense. We looked good and were inches from 2 or 3 more INTs. Like they way they are playing.

On a related note, yours truly and DTK will be traveling to Lambeau this coming weekend for the Vikes v. Pack Part Deux. We'll be arriving on Saturday night and staying at the Best Western Midway and staying thru Monday. Can't tell you how excited we are about this recent development. Got the tix from some guy in Appleton ($300/ticket) between the 20 and 30 yard line behind the Packers bench, 29 rows up. Neither of us have ever been but this just felt so right. I think AP is going to go nuts.

(Oh, and I read Peter King this morning, he can go eat a dick that fat piece of crap. Did he watch the same game? He writes this morning like we got our asses handed to us all day. What a douchebag.)

The Dose: I'm bored, here are some links

Welcome back to me. Yes, it was a terrific trip, drove from Alicante, Spain on the Mediterranean to Lisbon, Portugal on the Atlantic. Not to rub it in, well, yes, to rub it in, here is a picture of the house we stayed in to start the trip out (a wedding gift.)

Now the links -

1. I flipped by Versus channel and saw this. The "Florida Tuskers" vs. the "California Redwoods." Head coaches: Denny vs. Haslett. Yikes.

2. This happened. Probably happens more than we know.

3. AP and his shoes. $200k on shoes? Whatever the Purple Jesus needs.

4. Goldy is kind of a douche.

5. Funny, not in Wisconsin.

6. Kind of says it all about ARod.

Alright, not as bored any more.

What does your favorite NFC North team say about you?

What does your favorite NFC North Team say about you?

Detroit Lions- Life was not supposed to be this unfair. Your house was just foreclosed on, the flashy Ford Taurus you bought 10 years ago is now a rusted piece of crap and you would do anything to move to somewhere better like Cleveland. College was never a thought for you. Had it been, you would be rooting for Michigan, Michigan St or any of the directional schools and not give two sh*ts about the Lions. If you had been able to make it out of state you would have dumped the Lions and adopted that city’s team.

Green Bay Packers- Oh cripes you hate those simple yokels from Minnesota. The greatest vacation you took as a kid was to Chicago to watch the Brewers play the White Sox. One of your family trips to Mount Rushmore / Wall Drug is second. Your favorite clothes are sweats and you would have been into Zubaz if they had not come out of Minnesota. Your favorite college basketball team is Duke. Wisconsin sucked when you were growing up, so you jumped on Duke’s bandwagon. Of course you only care about basketball at tournament time, at any other time it interferes with a hunting season. You are 50 lbs overweight.

Chicago Bears- The world revolves around you, your team and your city. You were born there and you will die there. Why would anyone want to live anywhere else? Regardless of being white collar or blue collar you and your friends are loud and obnoxious. You can win any argument with a reference to the Bulls 6 titles or the 85 Bears. If you actually live in the city of Chicago, you think that suburban people are posers. If you live in the city you actually like Old Style, but if you live in the suburbs you just drink it to look cool. If you are Italian you want people to think that you are connected.

Minnesota Vikings- The Vikings, like a cold Minnesota winter, have built your character and made you stronger. You are not as much of a loud mouth as the other fans in the NFC North, but you hate them as much as they hate you. You really hate those Wisconsin pecker heads that have come over for jobs. If you could break out of your Minnesota nice mold, you would slap the fat b*tch from HR that wears her Favre jersey on casual Fridays. You enjoy the fact that people think the state is full of hicks. The perception keeps them out so that you can enjoy the high standard of living without having to share. After a trip to Chicago, you really would like to have a good slice of Pizza; Davanni’s just does not cut it anymore. While you act like you will not be disappointed when the Vikings let you down, you really believe that this will be your year every year.

Thanks for the memories....

Goodbye Dome. While I hated to watch baseball inside of you, you nonetheless, have given us some great memories over the last 27 years. '87 and '91 were very, very special, so for that, I thank you and bid you well. Honestly, I think you're going to need it. Please enjoy these next couple of years as fully as you can, because you're days are clearly numbered. You've got until the end of the 2011 football season, and that's it.... then kablooeeey, you are history.


While not the ending we wanted, I wanted to take a minute and thank the 2009 twins for a good season. While you frustrated the hell out of me for most of the season with your drive to stay at .500, you certainly played hard all year, and to finish strongly as you did, without your 2nd best player, well that made it even sweeter to get into the playoffs. No. 163 was epic, and to be on the right side of one of the best games of the year, made all that season-long frustration more palatable. No. 165 wasn't too shabby either (though I was ready to ring your neck Go-Go), and would have felt even sweeter had the outcome been different. All in all, you gave me, the fan, all that I ask for as a fan of a middle-market team: you tried to add in the offseason (I know, I know, you certainly could have done more, but still...), you competed, you didn't give up, in an effort to make the playoffs you made moves that improved the team ( I certainly like punto better as a 2nd baseman than I do a shortstop), you made the playoffs and you competed with a 103-win juggernaut....

All in all, I leave the 2009 season hopeful for 2010, and I ask that do a little more this offseason than you feel comfortable doing. It's a big year, you're going into a new stadium, you have some young talent at their prime of their careers, and you have a a lot of great components to making a championship caliber team. Here's what I think you need to do: Sign Mauer up, don't let it go until next season, add a third baseman- not one currently playing in Japan, or that is going through therapy to repair a major injury- preferably a right-hitting third baseman, add a pitcher, the rotation is still a legitimate starter short, keep Cabrera- I like what he brings to the team- he feels like a good fit for the Twins, and try to fix Delmon, he showed a few glimmers of what he could be, but is still too inconsistent.

"Don't count us out" - Joe Mauer, postgame interview.

How much fun was that? Minnesota is the epicenter of the sports universe over the past 3 days and we delivered. Yeah, it's a division win but that ballgame was an instant classic. Gotta say, winning is fun. It just is. Say what you want about getting the Yankees and being 0-7 against them this year, I'd rather be us than Detroit.

P.S. I think BG should stay in Japan. Seems to be working for us.

P.P.S. I am going to Spain for a 5th year anniversary trip without the Ilsa. Be back on the 19th. Good luck, boys!

Vikes v. Pack Round 1

Great game and a greater outcome. Yes, Chilly did his "I manage a clock like a 9 month old baby" and went conservative at the end of the game but overall you can't argue with how the team looked and the fact that we stuck it to the Packers.

Game balls:

1. Favre - challenged to win a game with his arm and he did. Vindication.

2. Jared Allen - that big, dumb animal was scary good. 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble say it all.

3. Sidney Rice - caught a tuddy and both onside kick attempts.

4. Winfield - Buffalo let this guy go.

5. You, the fans - we deserved this one.

Fare thee well, oh Metrodome

DTK and I attended the 162nd game of the 2009 Twins baseball season today. Last minute decision and it worked out perfectly as we found street parking a block from the Dome, paid $20 for General Admin seats, and walked in just as Kubel hit his first of 2 home runs. We sat in row 31 (yeah, the last row in the upper deck, see pic) which actually were decent as we had a view of the whole stadium and field (minus the JumboTron - btw: remember how big a deal that things was?) With a 13 to 4 win there were no lowlights to the day.

As a special commemoration they handed out homer hankies from every year they had them (kind of a crap shoot, DTK and I both got a 2004 homer hankies, the drunk old broad next to us got a 2006) and they also handed out a 'certificate of attendance' that basically says "Be it known to baseball fans everwhere that on October 4, 2009 (Insert Name Here) witnessed the final regular-season game ever played at the HHH Metrodome yada, yada, yada" signed by Dave St. Peter, Jim Pohlad, and Gardy. Kind of humorous and kind of awesome. Overall, it was an excited "playoff" atmosphere with "MVP" chants for Mauer, scoreboard watching and cheering for the CHW, and a lot of homer hanky waving. We both walked away feeling that there is a little magic left in that old place. Hang on to your hats for Tuesday!

Finally, because it was a special day, they honored Twins of the past with a huge ceremony with basically everyone you ever remember doing something for the Twinkies. Really cool as it not only brought back memories you had forgotten you had but it made you reflect on a team and a stadium that was, yes, special. They announced the 18 players who made the "All Metrodome Team" (see here) and played the final and top 3 greatest Metrodome moments (see here.) In all honesty, I got a little choked up and teary-eyed as they played a tribute to Puck and then had his son, Kirby Puckett Jr., remove the final number from the "Countdown to Outdoor Baseball." The finale of the ceremony was kicking it over to Target Field where Killebrew, Carew, and Oliva raised the flags that will fly over the new stadium. (Oh, and learned this weekend that a special feature to the new stadium will be in center field where there will be a huge sign of the Twins logo where the guys are shaking hands across a river (see here) and when a Twins player hits a home run the guys in the sign will shake hands.)

Metrodome Memories

http://www.twinkietown.com/2009/10/1/1065331/saying-goodbye-to-the-metrodome?ref=yahoo

I saw this article on the side of the Delmon Young posting. I thought maybe we could all share some memories of the Twins/ baseball in the dome (did that sound too gay?).

5. The original writer did it, so I will too. Due to the Halloween snowstorm of '91 we got to play two football games in the dome. Just like the late 80's Gopher football teams, we ran out of the the tunnel to an empty stadium. The other game we came out of the Twins dugout. There is my baseball tie-in. I still have a bitter hatred of Deer River.

4. I was able to go to the activities the day before the 1985 All Star Game. My childhood hero, George Brett, participated in the old format of the Home Run Derby. I still have the program.

3. After the Twins won the '91 series, those of us watching the game at Jan's house immediately went downtown and celebrated outside of the Dome. It was an incredible scene. We will not talk about how that night ended as that could be a blog posting of its own. Let's just say that FOB ER, cops and guns were involved. I still have twitches from the cop pointing his gun at my head.

2. ER's dad hooked the two of us up with tickets to game one of the 2002 ALCS vs the Angels. It is the only baseball playoff game I have attended. They won. I still have the plastic beer cup that says ALCS.

1. I went to my first professional sporting event with my grandfather and dad. It was the second Twins' game played in the dome. Hrbek hit a HR but the Twins lost 8 or 9 to 1 to the Angels. I still have the stub.

Can we talk Twins for a second?

Not that we really want to after that debacle last night by Pavano. Not sure why you leave him in down 4-2 and the bases loaded (again.) With 4 games left and 2 out - so you're saying we've got a chance . . .