The Wild won 5-1 tonight over the Anaheim "Mighty" Ducks and I actually watched a good majority of the game. It was on Versus in HD so it made it a lot more interesting also with surround sound it was like I was at the game with the $80 still in my pocket. Brian Rolston is on a roll and has scored four goals in his last four games and is definitely living up to his label as a "streaky player." Gaborik also had a nice goal. If Rolston continues to play well I think the Wild will keep him around and not trade him before the trade deadline. Backstrom was also on point tonight but Anaheim, the defending Stanley Cup champs, are definitely struggling to score goals. Teemu Selanne rejoining the team for the Ducks who scored 48 goals last season, but did not play against the Wild tonight, should be a nice addition. The Wild need to win the division in order to get a good draw in the playoffs and not have to square off against a Detroit team that will destroy us in the first round. Just my opinion...
Times are sad when I am actually making it a point to watch the Wild play. I have never enjoyed hockey in my life, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I just hope my watching and cheering for this team doesn't jinx them and they end up tanking the season. With my luck it will happen. I just hope they can continue to win games and make it to the playoffs. I mean it is the "State of Hockey" that we live in so I guess it doesn't hurt to watch the hometown squad.
I thought about actually buying a Wild hat today, but that would mean a total collapse and we would probably end up trading Gaborik for some prospects. God help us all and I will hold off on the purchase.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Johan Santana, a Metropolitan
Another Minnesota superstar is moving on to bigger and better things.
Johan Santana is going to be a New York Metropolitan. The news broke around 2 pm this afternoon in an article out of the "USA Today" showing a deal that had been agreed upon by the two clubs (Twins and Mets) sending Johan Santana to the Mets for four prospects that "might" end up playing in a Twins uniform some day. This deal is pending Santana waives his no trade clause, passes a physical and agrees to a contract extension which is pretty much a done deal.
Being a Twins fan and a Minnesota sports fan for the most part in general, this is just another reason why my blog is titled the way it is. Loserville. In my opinion, this has to be the worst deal the Twins have received out of all of the speculation and reported offers that they were given. I think that the Twins new General Manager might have gotten his tenure off to a rocky start after letting this 2-time Cy Young Award winner get away for a couple prospects. Not even the Mets #1 prospect for that matter. In early trade talks between the Yankees and the Red Sox deals ranged from Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera to Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury who could have made an immediate impact and the Twins would have had a chance to win now, in suddenly an even more competitive American League Central Division instead the same old routine "develop more prospects" and maybe get out of the first round of the playoffs...some day. What this deal (if it indeed becomes final) tells me is that the Twins are once again looking to the future. Thanks Carl Pohlad, you can "kick the bucket" any day now.
After last weeks locking up of Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer to contract extensions totaling $104 million and looking back, the Twins almost had me a bit excited, but once again it ended in disappointment. I know the Twins made offers that matched Santana's per-year deal money wise but couldn't come through as far as longevity and I don't blame them. Six or seven year deals for pitchers now days is a bit ridiculous (thanks Barry Zito) because they will never last that long and the majority of their production comes in the first few years and the rest is just guaranteed money and they will probably just get hurt and not play anyway but teams in the large market are able to satisfy these players with these ridiculous contracts and leave other teams out in the cold. Baseball needs a salary cap in today's game because it is getting a bit out of control.
With Johan now gone, so is my interest in baseball this season before it even starts. Detroit has loaded up, Cleveland is coming off a season a win short of the series and the White Sox have also added players to help them win games. So have the Royals for God sake. I predict the Twins to finish 4th or maybe even be in a tight race for last with the Royals this upcoming season...how exciting. After today my potential attendance of Twins games at the "inflatable toilet aka Metrodome" went from maybe 5-6 games to maybe 1-2 (possibly in Milwaukee). Thanks Loserville USA, once again you came through to provide fans with a bad taste in their mouths.
To Johan Santana, enjoy the spotlight in the big apple and spend a bunch of money on strippers with your new huge contract. Hopefully you can follow in the footsteps of the rest of the superstars that got away and went on to bigger and better things: Kevin Garnett, Randy Moss, David Ortiz...just to name a few!
Go Wild! (Its really hard to say that) Nice weather tonight by the way...makes me sick.
Johan Santana is going to be a New York Metropolitan. The news broke around 2 pm this afternoon in an article out of the "USA Today" showing a deal that had been agreed upon by the two clubs (Twins and Mets) sending Johan Santana to the Mets for four prospects that "might" end up playing in a Twins uniform some day. This deal is pending Santana waives his no trade clause, passes a physical and agrees to a contract extension which is pretty much a done deal.
Being a Twins fan and a Minnesota sports fan for the most part in general, this is just another reason why my blog is titled the way it is. Loserville. In my opinion, this has to be the worst deal the Twins have received out of all of the speculation and reported offers that they were given. I think that the Twins new General Manager might have gotten his tenure off to a rocky start after letting this 2-time Cy Young Award winner get away for a couple prospects. Not even the Mets #1 prospect for that matter. In early trade talks between the Yankees and the Red Sox deals ranged from Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera to Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury who could have made an immediate impact and the Twins would have had a chance to win now, in suddenly an even more competitive American League Central Division instead the same old routine "develop more prospects" and maybe get out of the first round of the playoffs...some day. What this deal (if it indeed becomes final) tells me is that the Twins are once again looking to the future. Thanks Carl Pohlad, you can "kick the bucket" any day now.
After last weeks locking up of Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer to contract extensions totaling $104 million and looking back, the Twins almost had me a bit excited, but once again it ended in disappointment. I know the Twins made offers that matched Santana's per-year deal money wise but couldn't come through as far as longevity and I don't blame them. Six or seven year deals for pitchers now days is a bit ridiculous (thanks Barry Zito) because they will never last that long and the majority of their production comes in the first few years and the rest is just guaranteed money and they will probably just get hurt and not play anyway but teams in the large market are able to satisfy these players with these ridiculous contracts and leave other teams out in the cold. Baseball needs a salary cap in today's game because it is getting a bit out of control.
With Johan now gone, so is my interest in baseball this season before it even starts. Detroit has loaded up, Cleveland is coming off a season a win short of the series and the White Sox have also added players to help them win games. So have the Royals for God sake. I predict the Twins to finish 4th or maybe even be in a tight race for last with the Royals this upcoming season...how exciting. After today my potential attendance of Twins games at the "inflatable toilet aka Metrodome" went from maybe 5-6 games to maybe 1-2 (possibly in Milwaukee). Thanks Loserville USA, once again you came through to provide fans with a bad taste in their mouths.
To Johan Santana, enjoy the spotlight in the big apple and spend a bunch of money on strippers with your new huge contract. Hopefully you can follow in the footsteps of the rest of the superstars that got away and went on to bigger and better things: Kevin Garnett, Randy Moss, David Ortiz...just to name a few!
Go Wild! (Its really hard to say that) Nice weather tonight by the way...makes me sick.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Working for the Weekend
Saturday night I met a group of friends for an early birthday bash for the notorious Jon Schley. I headed over to Plymouth to Schley's place for a few beers and to watch the Gophers/Ohio State game (some people called it a game I called it a laugher) before we headed downtown Minneapolis. So over a few beers and some frozen pizzas Schley style, Matt Balt "The Birdman," Schley and wife Jodi, Schley's sister and her boyfriend piled into Schley's car and headed downtown to the ACME comedy club to get our tickets for the 10:30 show. There we met the rest of our group which consisted of 20 or so people over some drinks before the show. After getting a solid buzz pregaming it was showtime. The show was pretty decent with two comedians (Miss Shannon from B96 and some funny older mom who talked shit about WalMart) opening before the main guy Ian Bagg . Dude was freaking hilarious and seemed to go on forever. He went on a little after 10:30 and didn't finish until close to 1 am. With plenty of crowd interaction and ripping on guests, Bagg seemed to improv for the last hour or so which I thought was pretty impressive.
After more beers and Red Bull vodka's during the show it was time to depart from ACME and the question now arose..."where should we go." After a few ideas thrown around it was decided to walk over to Club Jager. The walk over would provide for some entertainment as Devin decided to make like Jason Bourne and flee the scene only to arrive later at Jager with an explanation and stories as only Devin could tell. Interesting place to say the least...it seemed to be a mix of old school Germany and the Adams Family from what I remember. Plenty of interesting "individuals" and you almost felt out of place if you had a normal job and didn't have red hair or were "trying to make it as an artist." Not sure how things jumped off after that but all of sudden everyone in our group was on the dance floor doing their best "white man dance" and making fools of themselves during the drunken stupor. Great time and plenty of great pictures I am sure after Alison conveniently had her camera handy. It was then 2 o'clock and after Devin pleaded to the DJ to play more music and after actually physically playing more music himself via his own route to the DJ booth and being scolded shortly thereafter by the DJ, it was time to get the hell out of dodge.
With blood alcohol contents ranging closely to the .2's and everyone closely at their fill we crammed six people into a cab destination Plymouth for a short night cap of mudslides, beer and little did we know...a shit load of pistachios. $50 later we arrived to our destination drunker than skunks ready to drink some more. Well drinking slowly turned to dominating the pistachios and passing out closely followed. Morning came quick and so did Balt's date with "breakfast with the Schley's" as Rick and Mary were in the area at a local Perkins to celebrate the birth of their young son and daughter over a "tremendous twelve" or two.
It is now Sunday night and Monday morning is inching closer and that thing called a "job" is looming to consume your week and life. The 80's band Loverboy did have it right after all...everybody is actually "working for the weekend" and it was a good one at that. Good catching up with everybody and hope to do it again soon!
S
After more beers and Red Bull vodka's during the show it was time to depart from ACME and the question now arose..."where should we go." After a few ideas thrown around it was decided to walk over to Club Jager. The walk over would provide for some entertainment as Devin decided to make like Jason Bourne and flee the scene only to arrive later at Jager with an explanation and stories as only Devin could tell. Interesting place to say the least...it seemed to be a mix of old school Germany and the Adams Family from what I remember. Plenty of interesting "individuals" and you almost felt out of place if you had a normal job and didn't have red hair or were "trying to make it as an artist." Not sure how things jumped off after that but all of sudden everyone in our group was on the dance floor doing their best "white man dance" and making fools of themselves during the drunken stupor. Great time and plenty of great pictures I am sure after Alison conveniently had her camera handy. It was then 2 o'clock and after Devin pleaded to the DJ to play more music and after actually physically playing more music himself via his own route to the DJ booth and being scolded shortly thereafter by the DJ, it was time to get the hell out of dodge.
With blood alcohol contents ranging closely to the .2's and everyone closely at their fill we crammed six people into a cab destination Plymouth for a short night cap of mudslides, beer and little did we know...a shit load of pistachios. $50 later we arrived to our destination drunker than skunks ready to drink some more. Well drinking slowly turned to dominating the pistachios and passing out closely followed. Morning came quick and so did Balt's date with "breakfast with the Schley's" as Rick and Mary were in the area at a local Perkins to celebrate the birth of their young son and daughter over a "tremendous twelve" or two.
It is now Sunday night and Monday morning is inching closer and that thing called a "job" is looming to consume your week and life. The 80's band Loverboy did have it right after all...everybody is actually "working for the weekend" and it was a good one at that. Good catching up with everybody and hope to do it again soon!
S
Friday, January 25, 2008
Screwdrivers
After getting home from work and working out I settled in for an easy Friday night due to the fact that I am a hired slave for Wells Fargo & Co. and I have to work tomorrow morning. I mixed up a few screwdrivers with my Ketel One Vodka and made myself comfortable on the couch for the Timberwolves journey to Boston against Kevin Garnett. The Wolves started out well and were in the game throughout and seemed to actually dominate at times.
Then reality check for Minnesota fans, 25 seconds left with the Wolves up by one and Corey Brewer who was inbounding the ball at mid court gets called for a 5 second call and cant get the ball in and the Wolves turn it over to the Celtics who then score to take a one point lead with 15 seconds left. Randy Wittman calls the timeout and the Wolves inbound again at mid court down by one point. The ball is thrown to Sebastian Telfair at the top of the key after a series of sloppy passes and Telfair gets the ball tipped away by Garnett to mid court and time expires as the players are sprawled out on the floor after the ball. The pups never even got a game winning shot off and KG gets up and is trash talking pointing to his white Celtic jersey as if he has earned anything for that team (see 10 points he scored which were all in the first half! By the way, he was guarded by Ryan Gomes the whole game, who? yeah exactly). Way to go Kevin you just beat the Minnesota Timberwolves (7-35), possibly the worst team in all of current professional sports and you didn't score a point in the second half like you never came through in all of the big games you played with the Minnesota during your tenure. "Come 4th quarter bring it to the ticket," sure Kevin if you would have not been a greedy salary cap hog that you are, maybe you would have won in the playoffs and made it out of the 1st round more than once in your career. I myself think the NBA is horrible in recent years and all the players are all overpaid WITH GUARANTEED MONEY! (See coming segment and Juwan Howard's past contracts) The Celtics have a good squad on paper yes, but I do not think they will win the big one this year and I could see them getting ousted in the Eastern Conference playoffs by the Detroit Pistons and Phil "Flip" Saunders from Minneapolis.
After the game was over, I watched The Bourne Ultimatum in my home theater/surround sound system setup. Great movie with great action. I would recommend this movie if you have seen the first two (Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy). Last night I also watched Eastern Promises, which was also a decent flick. Go check them out.
Anyways rubes I am off to bed now as I have to get up in the morning and work for the "man." Peace out-
S
Then reality check for Minnesota fans, 25 seconds left with the Wolves up by one and Corey Brewer who was inbounding the ball at mid court gets called for a 5 second call and cant get the ball in and the Wolves turn it over to the Celtics who then score to take a one point lead with 15 seconds left. Randy Wittman calls the timeout and the Wolves inbound again at mid court down by one point. The ball is thrown to Sebastian Telfair at the top of the key after a series of sloppy passes and Telfair gets the ball tipped away by Garnett to mid court and time expires as the players are sprawled out on the floor after the ball. The pups never even got a game winning shot off and KG gets up and is trash talking pointing to his white Celtic jersey as if he has earned anything for that team (see 10 points he scored which were all in the first half! By the way, he was guarded by Ryan Gomes the whole game, who? yeah exactly). Way to go Kevin you just beat the Minnesota Timberwolves (7-35), possibly the worst team in all of current professional sports and you didn't score a point in the second half like you never came through in all of the big games you played with the Minnesota during your tenure. "Come 4th quarter bring it to the ticket," sure Kevin if you would have not been a greedy salary cap hog that you are, maybe you would have won in the playoffs and made it out of the 1st round more than once in your career. I myself think the NBA is horrible in recent years and all the players are all overpaid WITH GUARANTEED MONEY! (See coming segment and Juwan Howard's past contracts) The Celtics have a good squad on paper yes, but I do not think they will win the big one this year and I could see them getting ousted in the Eastern Conference playoffs by the Detroit Pistons and Phil "Flip" Saunders from Minneapolis.
After the game was over, I watched The Bourne Ultimatum in my home theater/surround sound system setup. Great movie with great action. I would recommend this movie if you have seen the first two (Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy). Last night I also watched Eastern Promises, which was also a decent flick. Go check them out.
Anyways rubes I am off to bed now as I have to get up in the morning and work for the "man." Peace out-
S
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Good Intentions
Every night before I go to bed I set my alarm to get up at 7 am. I feel good about myself doing it and it lets me sleep well at night for the most part. Then morning arrives and my alarm goes off and I turn it off immediately, not hit snooze, OFF! I have my alarm set to the AM radio station KFAN 1130 which almost always seemingly gets louder and louder every morning although the night before it seemed tolerable. I usually end up getting out of bed no earlier than 7:45 or so to which I start every day with a disappointment. Why is it that every morning you have to get up for work that it feels like you could just sleep in all day? Then a day hits where you can sleep in and you cant do it? I am sure I am not the only one with this problem but I do remember back in the good 'ole days when I would sleep into noon or even later no problem! This is only an indication of how old I am getting and how I do not look forward to the future of getting up every day early for the rest of my life not to mention working! If I could just come up with a modest $10 million or so to fit the lifestyle that I would like to live maybe I could regain the good 'ole sleeping habits of a college student with no responsibility. Instead I get up, shower and do the same old thing over and over every day accompanied by a good solid slew of traffic jams and morons driving to work just like me trying to live the dream! America....Fuck Yeah
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Gopher Football Recruiting Update
The Gophers just received another verbal commitment from running back Deleon Eskridge, a 3-star recruit from CA. This brings second year Head Coach Tim Brewster's recruiting class, ranked 22nd nationally, showing vast improvement heading towards National Signing Day on Feb. 6, two weeks from today. Recruits which have already signed letter of intent to play for Brewster include: Tramaine Brock, 3-star Dback; David Pittman, 4-star JuCo transfer athlete; Rex Sharpe, 3-star linebacker and 4-star Dback from CA Traye Simmons.
Other verbal commits that would make a large impact on the maroon and gold opening TCF Bank Stadium by signing on the dotted line two weeks from today include 4-star QB MarQueis Gray, 4-star WR Brandon Green from Chi-town accompanied by another 4-star wide out Vincent Hill from NY. Sam Maresh from Champlin a 4-star linebacker is also expected to commit.
It looks as though Brewster is starting to live up to his "recruiting guru" status and the question now remains whether he can coach and develop these players. I was never a big fan of Glen Mason from day one but you have to give credit where its due meaning he did pull some nice recruits (without a new stadium to sell and only the inflatable toilet aka Metrodome) and developed them nicely to play in the NFL. (i.e. soon to be Superbowl MVP Laurence Maroney and Cowboys fantasy football stud Marion Barber) Right now as it stands the Gophers are 4th in the Big Ten in recruiting behind Ohio State, Michigan and Ron Zook's Illini.
The challenge for Brewster following his 1-11 start to his head coaching career is to bring in his style of players that fit his spread offense and develop them in that system. What a lot of people don't understand about this past season besides the teams record is that Brewster was trying to run the spread offense with Mason's traditional Big Ten run-the-ball players. Defense was also a huge problem for the Gophers last year not being able to stop teams (see Bowling Green and NDSU!) and improvement on the that side of the ball needs to start immediately.
Gopher fans give Brewster three years and then start to judge (I will of course judge, don't get me wrong being the rube that I am). I think the Gophers and the Big Ten are in for a huge change in their style of play offensively after two embarrassing losses in a row by Ohio State in the National Championship game to superior athletes and teams in the SEC and with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan and Brewster in Minnesota, its time for the Big Ten to look in the mirror and adjust to the competition via the spread offense!
Now whether Brewster can get it done on the field...that remains to be seen!
-S
Other verbal commits that would make a large impact on the maroon and gold opening TCF Bank Stadium by signing on the dotted line two weeks from today include 4-star QB MarQueis Gray, 4-star WR Brandon Green from Chi-town accompanied by another 4-star wide out Vincent Hill from NY. Sam Maresh from Champlin a 4-star linebacker is also expected to commit.
It looks as though Brewster is starting to live up to his "recruiting guru" status and the question now remains whether he can coach and develop these players. I was never a big fan of Glen Mason from day one but you have to give credit where its due meaning he did pull some nice recruits (without a new stadium to sell and only the inflatable toilet aka Metrodome) and developed them nicely to play in the NFL. (i.e. soon to be Superbowl MVP Laurence Maroney and Cowboys fantasy football stud Marion Barber) Right now as it stands the Gophers are 4th in the Big Ten in recruiting behind Ohio State, Michigan and Ron Zook's Illini.
The challenge for Brewster following his 1-11 start to his head coaching career is to bring in his style of players that fit his spread offense and develop them in that system. What a lot of people don't understand about this past season besides the teams record is that Brewster was trying to run the spread offense with Mason's traditional Big Ten run-the-ball players. Defense was also a huge problem for the Gophers last year not being able to stop teams (see Bowling Green and NDSU!) and improvement on the that side of the ball needs to start immediately.
Gopher fans give Brewster three years and then start to judge (I will of course judge, don't get me wrong being the rube that I am). I think the Gophers and the Big Ten are in for a huge change in their style of play offensively after two embarrassing losses in a row by Ohio State in the National Championship game to superior athletes and teams in the SEC and with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan and Brewster in Minnesota, its time for the Big Ten to look in the mirror and adjust to the competition via the spread offense!
Now whether Brewster can get it done on the field...that remains to be seen!
-S
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Road Rage
Right now sitting on my couch watching the Aussie open wishing I was there extremely badly. I am considering quitting my job and traveling the world. This of course was triggered by the cold car after work and then after I "barely" pulled out in front of this soccer mom in her Ford Expedition only to be tailgated and flashed repeatedly. I of course responded with a nice big middle finger in my rear view mirror followed by a few enunciated f-bombs through the passenger side window as the lady sped away as if she had somewhere important to go.
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