69 thoughts on “September 19, 2011: Spread too Thin”

    2. so, what's the list of players done for the year? we've got mauer, morneau, kubel, span, blackburn, nishioka, i think. how about baker and casilla? haven't heard those names in awhile. i thought casilla was only supposed to be out a little bit. how long has it been now?

      1. shockingly, i didn't really pay attention to yesterday's game, but reading up on it now, i'm assuming we won't be seeing repko for the rest of the year either.

        2. Baker is available now out of the bullpen and Casilla has said he may be able to play Tuesday. I don't think Span has been officially ruled out, but that could be coming any day.

  3. The Cleveland Browns have a better record than the Minneosta Vikings. And yes, that's an indictment of the Minnesota Vikings.

      2. Only because the Raiders had the worst defensive second half in the history of the NFL. The Bills had five possessions that started on their own side of the field and scored five touchdowns.

        1. I think the real reason is because I jumped into the fantasy chat at halftime of the mornings games and proclaimed that the Bills getting the crapped kicked out of them by the Raiders was written in stone. (21-3 at that point.) The Bills then aimed to prove me wrong.

          1. You and nibbish had some special juju going yesterday. The Twins tanked as soon as nibs joined the gamelog.

  5. I'm legitimately bummed about Pitt joining the ACC. If Big Ten expansion is forced upon us, I wanted them to be one of the additions.

    1. Yea, they'd have been a natural rivalry with Penn St.

      How many more teams can the BigTen add before they would change their brand name?

  6. My mom saw a girl peeing in the side yard late Saturday night, so my stepdad went out to confront her while mom phoned in a complaint. When Pa told the girl to stay where she was he was attacked in their front yard by her three male companions, who came in off the sidewalk after repeated warnings not to trespass. One of the guys got behind him, sucker punched him in the back of the head, and after Pa hit the ground started kicking him in the chest. Pa wound up having to go to the ER to get an chest X-ray and EKG, and has a head injury from where he was hit (the ER staff said most people hit where he was it wind up dying, so we're lucky).

    Apparently not only public urination, but attacks on homeowners by Winona State students, is becoming endemic back home. Fortunately, the girl dropped her purse in the yard when they ran away, which had her driver's license in it. I haven't gotten an update, but my hope is that the cops are sweating her for the identities of her companions.

    There's nothing quite like being so far away, and hearing about it after the fact, to inflame the kind of helpless rage I've felt since finding out about the attack yesterday afternoon.

    1. Holy balls. My old man was a physician for years in rural Minnesota, and from time to time he served as the county coroner. One night, two dudes, best friends from all accounts, got into a scuffle, and dude number one landed a blow that killed dude number two. My old man had always told us that the movies weren't real, and that a fist fight could easily end up in tragedy.

      I'm glad to hear that your stepfather survived, but I'm horrified at the senselessness of his attack.

      1. Yikes. You hear about things like that occasionally, but it's hearing from someone in the legal or medical fields that really drives it home. I'm guessing Pa went to work today, even though he's not feeling great, because that's just how Pa is. None of the rest of us are too happy about it.

    2. Good lord. I hope he's ok. And I hope the cops squeeze the girl until she sings (else she's an accessory to multiple felonies??).

      1. You can't make this stuff up, however. From the Winona Daily News po-lice blotter:

        Friday

        10:00 a.m. -- Justin Eric Haage, 22, Winona, was cited for abuse of a toxic substance after being observed inhaling the contents of an aerosol can at Huff and Sarnia streets.

        1. winona isn't that big of a city, but huff and sarnia is definitely one of the busier intersections in town too.

        1. Expulsion was exactly what I was thinking. I can't imagine throwing my future away for something as ridiculous as that, but it sounds like its as much as they deserve.

          1. I don't think expulsion counts as throwing away your future. Now, a criminal record.. yeah that would have.

          2. expulsion would be getting off lucky. The punks are lucky they didn't do this across the river. Substantial battery with intent to cause bodily harm seems to me like the minimum.

            940.19  Battery; substantial battery; aggravated battery.
            (1) Whoever causes bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another without the consent of the person so harmed is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
            (2) Whoever causes substantial bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another is guilty of a Class I felony.
            (4) Whoever causes great bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another is guilty of a Class H felony.
            (5) Whoever causes great bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause great bodily harm to that person or another is guilty of a Class E felony.
            (6) Whoever intentionally causes bodily harm to another by conduct that creates a substantial risk of great bodily harm is guilty of a Class H felony. A rebuttable presumption of conduct creating a substantial risk of great bodily harm arises:
            (a) If the person harmed is 62 years of age or older; or
            (b) If the person harmed has a physical disability, whether congenital or acquired by accident, injury or disease, that is discernible by an ordinary person viewing the physically disabled person, or that is actually known by the actor.

            1. IANALY, but in Minnesota, each of the three could be charged with third degree assault which is a felony, but generally with the presumption of only probation. Of course, they could all get an upward departure if the sentencing judge found the victim to be particularly vulnerable, etc., but that's still a felony conviction right there (if they find the guys, have admissible evidence, etc.).

              1. Thanks for the insight, Pirate. I'll mention to the folks that the charges could be more serious than standard assault & battery.

                Pa works on a criminal defense lawyer's car, and has run legal matters by said counselor in the past. I'm hoping that if this goes to court they retain the guy to basically argue the reverse of his usual line of work. He's a good lawyer, and I think they'd be more comfortable with him than a personal injury type.

                1. The key for criminal stuff is whether the injuries met the standard of substantial bodily harm.

                  "Substantial bodily harm" means bodily injury which involves a temporary but substantial disfigurement, or which causes a temporary but substantial loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ, or which causes a fracture of any bodily member.

                  I would think that there was some sort of temporary impairment, but that would be an issue the county attorney would need to consider. If the standard isn't met, there still fifth degree assault (a misdemeanor). Of course, the female can be charged with disorderly conduct (the catch-all charge for a) doing something stupid or b) pissing off a cop).

                  I have very little knowledge of the civil ramifications because I despised Torts with a passion. Still, I'm sure he'll get some good legal advice.

                  1. Ah, disorderly conduct. A charge with which I am a little too familiar.

                    As far as we know (and hope) there isn't any impairment, so in that respect they're liable to get off on a lesser charge. I do like the substantial battery with intent charge Doc found in the Wisconsin statues, but I have the feeling that you're on the mark with this winding up a misdemeanor instead of a felony, though I find myself wanting something heavier.

    4. that's awful. winona seems to be getting a little crazier than when i lived there, which wasn't that long ago. i think i've heard of some shootings and the like recently. i would read the police blotter every now and then, and it's kind of surprising what goes down there. my friends and i were lucky enough to never been involved in anything, but it was still odd to read about everything that was going on around us. if you don't mind my asking, what part of town do they live in?

      i hope they catch the idiots that are responsible. there's no excuse for anything like that, no matter what the circumstances are.

      1. They're on West Wabasha, in the area between the old junior high and public library and Winona State (old Maxwell Library). They've been in the same house since '89, but this this by far the worst it's ever been. I remember a few years where the partying was out of control and students were peeing in their own yards, but had the good sense not to mess around in the residents' yards. Apparently now they're even defecating in yards near campus.

        1. CH: delete this if you don't want it shared with the world

          Spoiler SelectShow

        2. really? yeesh. i was living in the washington crossing apartments in the old elementary school there. it was always pretty quiet when i lived there.

          1. Heh. I went to junior high there. The big smokestack in the courtyard had some bricks fall off it one year, which supposedly indicated that it would fall down during school. I see they weren't so worried about it falling down on someone while they were sleeping in their bed. Oh yeah, and all the asbestos, which was the pretense for building a new school.

            Quiet part of town is right. Not sure if the bar crowds from downtown to the dorms went by your place, but that was the typical sort of evening disturbance for the first couple weeks of school.

    6. Wow, big time condolences there CH. Some of you know Mr. Novak from Survivor...his Dad was randomly beat to within an inch of his life while on a bike ride in Coon Rapids in the late evening (it was still light out). Thankfully, he survived and I believe things are back to normal (this was a few years ago). Totally, freaking, random. Turned out it was drug money for marijuana, and they beat the living hell out of more than one stranger that night.

      I can forgive a lot of things, but assault of a stranger is one I really have a hard time with.

      1. My dad nearly took a beating while on a bike ride in Coon Rapids many years ago. We were walking our bikes across the dam when my dad accidentally clipped the ankle of some woman with the pedal of his bike. My dad apologized profusely and made sure she was OK before moving on. He caught up to us and we looked back and say this large man looking at her ankle. I suddenly went "Dad, that's Jesse 'The Body' Ventura!" Little did we know my dad had injured the ankle of the future First Lady of Minnesota. We didn't stick around to get an autograph. We left quickly instead since he didn't look very happy.

  7. Has Top Jimmy infected the entire STRIB sports staff, or do they just hire that way?

    The ACC is set to become the best league in college basketball. It's either been in the discussion or held the post for many years in the past. By adding Syracuse and Pitt (UConn, too?), however, the ACC will operate like North Korea's recent rulers: it'll be the lifelong dictator of college basketball.

    Are you serious? The ACC will be an even bigger monster now. Think "Transformers." Or a Justin Bieber/Lil' Wayne/Beyonce/Adele/Lady Gaga supergroup. (Not promoting the latter, just saying it would be a big deal.)

    1. As long as you can log in to steampowered.com and make the purchase, it'll be on your account forever. I did this last time it was free and I was unable to get to my computer at the time as well.

    1. Oh thank goodness that line was in the header. I didn't have to read any further to see where you got it from.

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