Twins and the Season Ending Schnide

So, how do we feel about these Twins since clinching? Getting all this rest for our starters better f'ing help. Not panicking but I gotta say, when you stop trying to win it's a lot easier than when you all of a sudden need to pull together again to win. I was in the corner of not taking our foot off the gas but what do I know, right?

Monday Fun-day smorgasbord

First off, congrats to MCA on the birth of another mini-MCA. I'm told photos are pending.

So, maybe those ESPN commercials have actually hit on a key consumer insight after all!? Mondays are WAY better during football season. Tonight is the annual nuclear annihilation game...a.k.a. Bears vs. Packers, in which I wish they could tie 0-0, or have the game called due to lightning, or something like that (not just for my fantasy hopes, which rest on Rodgers having a stinker of a game).

Without further ado...on to the Monday grab bag of items:

1) Inauspicious weekend for the Twins. Pavano's turd sandwich on Saturday worries me a bit, even if the guys aren't fully focused right now. We're still in great position to grab the #1 seed in the AL playoffs. As our esteemed former pres-o-dent would say: Get 'er done.

2) Gophers. Wow. I didn't think it could get any worse, but it has, including Brew enduring chants of "Fire Brewster clap clap clap-clap-clap" from the student section. I actually the think the best move may be to fire him now, so that the rest of the season isn't a funeral march. Oh, and I will be in attendance this weekend when NU (or, Nerd U to the readers of the blog) visits the Bank. Kind of bummed that the gameday atmosphere will be subdued as a result of the team's record. These are the kinds of games that NU is known to lose, however, so Brewster may live to fight another day.

3) Vikes win. Ho-hum. Wake me when we beat someone good. Actually, things have a chance to stabilize over the next two weeks, given the fortuitous timing of the bye week. Also, Favre seemed to find a little chemistry with Harvin yesterday, and AP was an absolute stud-muffin. The 80-yard TD run was vintage AP. It was great to see him outrun the D-backs (something he didn't do last year).

4) Other CFB: Big Ten goes 6-2 against the MAC (thanks Gophers and Purdue). Purdue could be the most unlucky team in the country, as they've now lost their QB to a knee injury (for those counting at home, that's their starting RB, best WR and QB all lost to injury). Wisconsin destroyed Austin Peay (honestly, why are these two teams playing each other?). In other action, Stanford looked really good dismantling ND, Auburn pulled another one out and Alabama looked beatable, but Arkansas completely imploded. Also, Boise State appears to have confirmed that they are, in fact, very good.

5) Other NFL: at least the Vikes are a notch ahead of the Niners, who are 0-3 and fired their OC today. Yikes...things look dire out here. Chiefs 3-0. Really? NY Giants and Panthers both hideously awful (great FFL drafting, BG). Oh...and Michael Vick looks for real. Never would have imagined it...

Epic

New Twins song from Craig Finn. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect lyrically in a Twins song from Craig Finn. In honor of the early clinch and being tied for the best record in baseball with 10 games to go, here you go...

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog/archive/2010/09/dont_call_them.shtml

Happy to just ignore football a couple more weeks and put off the "should we go ahead and start T-Jac now?" and "is there any chance in hell Dungy would even think about taking the Gopher job?" discussions. Thank you, as always, Twins.

Also, look forward to a thread (possibly tomorrow) wherein I get off my chest some thoughts regarding the news of Penn State going D-I in hockey, and the Big Ten's immediate response of whipping out its big dick and threatening to toss some WCHA/CCHA salad.

The MAC Challenge

I am not going to complain about the out of conference games this weekend for the Big Ten. This year there were definitely some bigger games and bigger wins than in past years. I can understand 8 teams scheduling a MAC team the week before conference play begins. The match ups are:

Temple @ PSU -13 1/2 The marquee game on the slate. Temple looked good beating UConn and PSU is definitely not as good as they have been the last 2 years.

NIU @ MIN -4 night game. It is not a good sign when teams like MTSU and NIU are scary. They were not scheduled to be a test of how good the program is.

Ball St @ Iowa -28 I heard Iowa is looking for RBs. They only have 2 for this weekend. The Ox, Jan, can you come of retirement? I promise no one will intentionally hit you in the sports goggles like in Kenwood Park.

C Mich @ NU -6 1/2 CMU is not a scary as they have been. 3 of the last 4 years NU has dumped one they should win (Syracuse 2009, Duke 2007, New Hampshire 2006). Hopefully that is not the case here.

E Mich @ OSU -44 EMU has lost 15 straight. I would like to see Swoop, the EMU Eagle, go after Brutus like Rufus the Bobcat did. Beating up Brutus should become a weekly tradition in my book.

Toledo @ Purdue -11 1/2 We used to eat at the Bob Evans in Toledo when I was a kid driving to Cleveland to visit my grandparents.

Akron @ Indiana -22 1/2 Indiana completes a rigorous stretch of Towson, a bye, Western Kentucky and now Akron. They play Arkansas St later in the year. Assuming they go 4-0 out of conference, are there 2 wins in the Big Ten to put them in a bowl game? Minnesota is not on their schedule.

Bowling Green @ Mich -25 1/2 More of the Denard Robinson show. I am really glad Iowa faces Michigan the week after Michigan plays Michigan State and Iowa will be coming off a bye.

Unlined- Northern Colorado @ MSU and Austin Peay @ Wisco. Off- Illinois

Next week Gamblor will most likely be off as the Gamblor family is packing up the family truckster and driving down to Wally World.

Wow...that snuck up on me!

Guys - quietest division-clinching night of all time? In my humble opinion, it's just the way we want it. All business...and when you win 6 division titles in 9 years, I guess people become used to it. Now, we need to get over the hump, like the White Sox and Tigers have done in 2 of the 3 years the Twins weren't in the playoffs. Sounds like Gardy has set the preliminary playoff rotation as: Liriano, Pavano, Duensing and Blackburn. Let's get some guys healthy while staying within a game or so of the Yankees. Target Field is too good of a home field advantage to give up on.

Vikes lose. News at 11.

Vikes are 12.5% thru the 2010 campaign and fall to 0-2.

The issue here is not whether Brett threw a few interceptions or made a few bad plays, he did. But you can't hold a whole team responsible for the behavior of a few players for if you do then shouldn't we blame the whole organization? And if the whole organization is guilty then isn't this an indictment of football in general? I put it to you, Greg, isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? You can do what you want to Brett, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you bad mouth the United States of America!

Or, to put it another way - (click here)

"I Hate the Twins"

OK, I couldn't find the Chicago Tribune from a couple days ago that had the picture of Buerhle and that quote but just love the fact that it is apparent we are in their heads. Twins take the first of 2 in a do-or-die series with the Southsiders, both in convincing fashion. Yes, the ball bounced right our way a couple times last night, we've had our share of games where it doesn't so. . . Pivotal moment for me was Jesse Crain in game 1 on Tuesday night striking out Konerko and Manny back-to-back with the bases loaded. Favorite moment was during Tuesday night's broadcast when the Twins went up 9-3 and the camera showed the fans leaving the stadium en masse and Blyleven said "Bye fans!"

Like Howard said this morning, clinch it like you own it.

Hey, Tapani, enjoying the ride yet?

BTW - Mauer collected his 1,000th hit on Tuesday night. That's his 1,000th hit in his 827nd game. I Heart Joe Mauer.

Do you ever get tired of seeing AJ get punched?

Gamblor speaks

This is my 3rd season as Gamblor. I have never posted a profitable season. I have yet to get a POW right this year. You all must say behind my back "No wonder he likes college football so much, he is surprised by the outcomes each and every week." Back in the day Gamblor used to have his bookie in college and eventually an offshore account (they used to send me a smoked turkey at X-mas). Let's just say these things were not done away with because I was running out of ways to spend the cash I made on the weekends.


The most annoying thing to a gambler (next to backdoor covers) are people who tell you "I can't believe you bet on team A, I WOULD have been all about team B." My response is that is great and all, but if there is no record prior to the game where you said that, then you didn't and I don't care. I am not saying a person has to wager anything to make their opinion count just voice it before the game is underway. Once I stopped betting, I became that guy with myself. I would see scores on the ticker and see all the winners I would have bet on and I rarely saw a loser. Along comes Jan with his blog and an outlet for me to put in writing all of these "winners" I was missing week in and week out. We can see why the offshore account has been shuttered and it has nothing to do with US laws against this sort of thing. Just for the record, the picks are my best effort each and every week.

Blue and Red Jesus?

When it was 11:55 pm and the Twins had gone scoreless against a lowly club for 21 straight innings, Matt Tolbert felt dark, afraid and alone. Turning to Jim Thome, he noticed only one set of cleat prints in the infield sand and said "I am afraid." Thome turned to the lad and said, "When you saw only one set of cleatprints, my son, thats when i was carrying you".

Then he smashed a 445 foot dong to center. Thank the lord.

Viking 2010: Get on board or get out of the way

Following the latest in a series of crushing defeats in the NFC title game, we come to yet another crossroads of our Viking fandom. Without re-hashing where we were in 1987, 1998, 2000, or 2009 when our collective jersey was pulled over our heads and we were beaten senseless (kinda felt like Dave), we embark on another journey to the Promised Land. If you read this blog, you're a cynic by nature but a rube at heart so get over yourself, get over Favre being Favre, get over hating Chilly, get over AP fumbling and put your heart on the line for one more year because, well, this could be it for a while. We return all of our starters from last year in one way or another (closed circuit to Sidney Rice "you sir, are a moron") and have an outstanding defense. Your choice is to turn tail and run crying to your mommy or put on the foil and stick 'em!



The picture was taken on a walk with my family last Saturday, I call it the "Football Angel of Mercy" who has come at last to bring peace and prosperity to our little patch of gridiron heaven.

Twins Analogies Thread

Complete the following analogy with your own take.

To me, the Twins are:

the Velveteen Rabbit. All tattered and shabby and torn and frayed. But, because we love them, THEY'RE REAL. And that's all that matters. Their eyeballs can be dangling off their faces, and they can be sent off to be burned behind the barn for the scarlet fever carried in their furry mustaches. But it won't matter. They'll live forever, dancing in a field of poppies on the edge of the (Great North) woods, under the moonlight.

Is it too early to get a Thome jersey? I'm not sure how this is different than Brett Favre joining the Vikes, except for the polar opposite public personae, but good lord, it's been 80% of one season and I'm already mancrushing on the guy. I want him back with this team next year to hit his 600th tater in a Twins uni. I know there are arguments against his pending Hall of Fame candidacy, but he's becoming more and more of a no-brainer every week to me. Especially poignant was the other night when he caught, and then passed Mark McSurly on the career homerun list with a completely pure, 40-year-old, 450 foot bomb to the upper deck in left center at Target. He's like 6th on the all-time no steroid taint homerun list now.

$1.5 million!!!!!

Twins and the Home Stretch

Wow was that a crap in a bucket last night. Let's not talk about it because if I do I might want to slap Gardy in the mouth. Injuries are gonna be a killer. Sorry, not much to say on this other than that.

But this will make you smile. (Click here)