FTLOSBW - Not a Sports Blog

Here's a picture of Little Ms. Jan on All Hallows Eve. It's cute enough to make you forget, well, anything else that may have happened that day (particularly between 3:15pm and 6:30pm.)

FTLOSBW Tune o' the Day - Mumford and Sons

In an effort to not talk about sports here is the first installment of FTLOSBW's Tune o' the Day -

Click here

Better than thinking about any football happening this weekend.

"Sterger" Spelled Backward = "Regrets"

How appropo. Anyhoo, now that the No. 4 Experiment looks about ready to end and the "In T-Jac We Trust" Era ready to begin, let us look for levity in the proceedings. So as to avoid crying.

The SNL vid someone linked over to the right is a must-see if you haven't already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7mMwAKsqaY

Also, our QB was jabbed by none other than 30 Rock on its live episode a couple weeks ago (Kenneth to Jenna: "And a Mr. Brett Favre [pronounced 'Fahv Ray'] dropped off a picture of a hot dog!").

And now we're starting to see the t-shirts. A couple classics out there already:





















May as well laugh, right?

Vikes v. Pack Round 1 - 2010

Well, our chance to make a move in the NFC Norris has come and gone. I didn't see one play of the game but read enough to know that I missed Favre basically be Favre. If we can win at New England (and that is a big IF, believe me) we end up at 3-4 with 3 games left against the Packers and Bears (and both of those teams starting some tough stretches.)

I'll remain the true Vikes fan that I am and whistle past the grave yard and say we end up at 10 and 6 and the division title.

Ding Dong Brewster's Gone

So I was going to throw my two cents in and give a list of people who should be on the Gophers radar. While looking up the name of Temple's head coach, Al Golden, I found the Strib article:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/105148719.html?page=1&c=y

Mike Leach, who Tapani suggested is on there. Also on there is the idea of going gimmicky with the Air Force head coach, Troy Calhoun or Houston's Kevin Sumlin and his air attack.

I would add two names to their list Frank Solich and Mark Stoops. Solich is the head coach at Ohio and former coach of Nebraska. It is always tough to follow a legend as Solich did with Tom Osbourne. The Huskers slipped from what they were, but they were still good just not national title good. If they go with a retread I would rather see Solich than Dan McCarney or Phil Fulmer.

Mark Stoops is the defensive coordinator @ Florida State. This is his first year there but he was in the same roll at Arizona previously. He has ties to the Big Ten as he played at Iowa and was a graduate assistant there. One can't argue with the success of the family name.

I hope this is an exciting hire, much like Tubby Smith was for the basketball program. Whoever it is, they have to better than Tim Brewster. The bar is set pretty low right now. I wonder if Jim Wacker is mailing in his resume.

Vikes look like crap. Get Win. Packer Week.

Have to admit being pretty nervous during that game. Could our offense look worse? As a popular website once said "Holy Bejebus." We got the "W" basically because the Cowboys didn't try to take advantage of mismatches at receiver and because we have Percy and they don't.

NFC Norris Division - Nice of the Bears and Packers to both drop one yesterday to keep this division close. Bears play Washington at home next weekend and we travel to Lambeau for Sunday night*. I still feel like this Vikes team is due to hang a bunch of points on someone, I'm going with Sunday as that game (why not.)

Standings
Bears (frauds) = 4 - 2
Packers = 3 - 3
Vikes = 2 - 3
Other = 1 - 5



* Both DTK and I will be on overnight flights and missing the game. Can someone tape the game and then post it on youtube so we can watch in it's entirety? I know this violates all NFL copyright policies but we'd really like to see it upon our arrival. Oh, and make sure it's in HD. Thanks.

FTLOSBW Ponders Direction Change

Editors of FTLOSBW are contemplating changing the scope and direction for the site, no longer focusing on Minnnesota sports etc. and putting energies into the world's of scrapbooking, philately, and general botany. While none of these areas of concentration are interests of any of the current posters to the site they will serve as a calm distraction from the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. More to come . . .

Maybe a Start is to Demand that they Add an Asterisk to the "We're Gonna Win Twins" Song *Song Applies to the Regular Season Only, Mostly Divisional

Ok. After several angry conversations with Jan followed by the obligatory statements regarding not caring anymore, i needed to just spend five minutes typing out a few thoughts, in hopes that it will serve as a sort of therapy, or perhaps just a bookend to this deja vu all over again season that was just as much a part of this fall as last year's was of last fall's and, well...you get the point.

As Minnesota sports fans we have become accustomed to the annual gut wrenching, knife twisting performances that leave us hunched on the ground holding our mid sections, but still extending our hands as we beg them to come back and help us up. And I guess, in a sense, that is ok. Other places and fans (I'm looking at you Tapani) can relate as much as we think we are unique.

As a vikings fan, for many of these painful years you have been brought to the brink and consistently screwed by a team that underperforms, over promises, underpays, misbehaves, embarrasses on and off the field, and is as much defined by a team made up of players you hate to love as the opposing players you love to hate. But with the twins, it's painful to look deep at where we are because for the most part, this is a great organization. The memories are of Kirby Puckett (yes, we block out the depression and alochol induced creepy sexual harrassment-- remember game 6?), Harmon Killbrew, Tom Kelly, Kent Hrbek fishing and a Minnesota kid and his canadian friend winning two of three MVP's while playing video games and drinking beers while the rest of the league was filling the tops of their order with roid taking womanizers playing for whoever threw them the most cash. We did it differently, and really impressively.

So you really want love them and you really want to see them do well. Almost in a sense, as much for them as for you. But all that said, I need to say a few things, and I will preface it with the following "I Love my Kids" disclaimer: I love this team. I love the way they never give up. I love the fact that they seem to actually love the game. I love that they have built a real organization that builds talent and doesn't just buy it. I love Gardy and his aw shucks routine and his midwest yada yada yada. I do. And Mauer and Morneau, obviously.

BUT.....the fact is that this organization's performance when it matters is not only unacceptable it's downright fucking embarrassing. They are one loss away from the worst string of playoff losses (12) in HISTORY (13). We're coming to get you, Red Sox. And that's not some crap stat over 75 years by teams taht have nothing in common. It's over the last ten. It's this team. This nucleus.

The fact is that this organization needs to take a deep look at what's happening. Maybe we don't understand that the championship is actually at the END of the playoffs, not the 162 games right before the playoffs start. We don't pay for division championships -- (note to twins management - it's not actually that hard to win the central division.)

And don't give me the "it;s hard to compete with NY and Boston money" bullshit. For one, we have one of the biggest payrolls, and two, that would be true, sort of, as a general rule, but even the royals win some of those series sometimes. No team, no player should be this bad when it counts this OFTEN and not start getting questioned. More importantly, so as to not allow the small ball thing as an excuse, This is not a bad team that's lucky to just be on the field with the Yankees. They are a good team with a good lineup that plays like shit when they get into real games. Joe Mauer is as good as any player in the last ten years. But He hit .250 in this series (he hit .182 in his first series and .450 last year). Kubel -- I don't know what to say. You actually outshittied your 9 strikeouts last ALDS by hitting .000. Cuddy - .182. Pitching -- some good starts that got us almost there and then so predictably fell apart to be surrendered to the best bullpen in baseball the second half that, predictably, crumbled and left us behind again the last third of the game. The point is, all things that we did well in the regular season and terribly in the playoffs. Again.

I don't know what it is, but it starts somewhere and that might as well be the top. Teams take on a little of their persona from their manager, and a little from their leaders, of which they frankly have none -- who on that team is going to come in like Kirby and say get on my back. Jan and I were joking that it would be funny if Tolbert did it, but frankly, I am not sure there is a single guy you could point to that it wouldn't sound a little funny coming out of their mouths.

So, It hurts to say it, but Gardy has to go. Sooner or later, when the same thing keeps happening year after painful year, almost to the inning and out, you have to say something isn't working. This is what happens when you take your foot off the accelerator, your eye off the prize and you say it's ok to play like bankers not athletes. You need to want it more, Gardy. You need to have more to say then we just didn't have it today and we didn't take advantage. That's not it, that's not news. You NEVER do. You've identified the problem, now fix it. When you lead the league in stranding runners, maybe you need to find a new way to get them advanced. Maybe when you keep hitting into double plays, you need to start sending guys. I don't know. I just know taht this isn't acceptable. In college I used ot have what I referred to as the most comfortable shirt on campus. I loved it. I wore it all the time. After years, It got ripped and torn and by the end was sort of a campus joke. People would come up and tear a piece off for fun. But eventually, it wasn't fun anymore, and I had to come to the realization that in fact, this shirt no longer achieved it's primary objective of covering my nipples or providing even the slightest modicum of warmth. So i painfully made the decision to make a change. I miss it sometimes. Sometimes I even want to bring it out of the drawer and put it back on. But I know it was for the best. Gardy is feeling like that shirt to me now. I don't accept this feeling, and I don't accept the twins pretending that it's ok, and we will just get em next year. And for the record, I don't think Bobby Cox is great. I think he is a winner when it's easy and a loser when it matters. That's his legacy because that's what he's done. And now Gardy is in that camp. I don't want him to be. but he is. And he hasn't even gotten as far as the world series. Make me eat these words, Gardy. I'm begging you.

Moving on: Vikes v. Jets

So, ho hum weekend in Minny sports. Ignoring all things Twins (I put away my TC hat, break that out next October AFTER the first round of the playoffs if we go) and focusing on all things Purple. Who doesn't love a circus? Except for the animals, of course. This Favre sexting thing is just great fodder for the game (coincidence with NYC media breaking this thing? I kinda agree with Chilly on that one.) Great match-up tonight, I kinda wish we just take them behind the woodshed and beat them silly so I'll go with that, of course remember what Burgess Meredith had to say about 'wishing' (click here)

Things That Were More Obvious/Predictable Than Last Night's Outcome And Being Dominated by A Certain Pitcher Who Is Actually A Zombie

1. Michael having Fredo killed
2. FDR winning in '44
3. The pairing of Paula Abdul with MC Skat Kat would mean the end of both of their careers
4. That's all I can think of, actually.

Game 2 Twins v. Yankmees: The Turd of October

Why do I like the word 'turd' to describe things like Twins or Vikings losses? Well, because it does so much and it's only four letters long.

1. Here is it defined.

2. Here is it being funny

3. And here is proof they can, in fact, be polished.


Oh, and fire Gardy. Sorry, just has to be done.

Randy Randy Randy ! ! !

Because the other team we root for is too depressing right now (funny, how these squads tend to take turns tearing our hearts out) I thought I would just post a couple links for 84.

Vikes home page

Randy's Top Ten Plays (BG, I remember watching #2 with you and going home so giddy I couldn't sleep)

I like him

Moss and Favre

Game 1

Wow, never saw that one coming (sarcasm font, bold, italic, frowning face, OMG). Seriously, this is so old. We jump out to a good lead. Blow it on a fluke triple. That ball looked like it was going to be a routine fly ball but it just kept carrying into the wall. Then we give up the homer, that if we had better luck would have gone foul. The only 2 surprises were that we tied it at 4 and that the blown call in the 9th was in our favor. As soon as the odds are out Gamblor is betting on the Yanks the rest of the series.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

Holy buckets, Batman! Did this seriously just happen? Are we going after Daunte, too? Can we pull Robert Smith out of med school?

What is the impact of this, besides for my FFL team, which may just have gotten light years better? Not that that's saying much.

Dear Roger Goodell - You sir, are no Pete Rozelle

I don't want to sound melodramatic, but this is the most misguided ruling since Dred Scott. So, the NFL just got around to realizing he's been doing this for seven years? Too busy tricking players into violating the substance abuse policy? I don't understand why this is happening. I like watching him rope imaginary cattle. I like imagining that he could rope a real cattle. I like that he may not know the difference. If Tom Brady was doing it, they would require every team to stop and watch quietly.

Let's get it on: Twins v. Yankees

Round 7 of this match-up, well, it feels that way at least. I like us, I like us a lot because we got Joe and we got Jim (and what the hell else am I suppose to do?)

Thoughts?


BTW - as DTK can attest, I am killing this song on heavy rotation (click here) but I can't get over it's hook. It's my unofficial Twins 2010 playoff song, odd, I know but . . .