70 thoughts on “October 24, 2011: Tied Again”

  2. Went up to Farmington this weekend and came home with an addition to the herd:

    1967 Ford F100. Straight six, three-on-the-tree, manual steering, brakes, and choke. Decoding the VIN Saturday night I found it was built in St. Paul in March of '67.

          1. i say we all park a few blocks away from the field and go the rest of the way in the bed. for some reason, it feels more appropriate to begin a low minors game experience by hopping out the back of a truck.

    4. That's a sweet ride as is (love the white bumpers), but it must be hard to contain the urge to drop it and chop it. My brother had a 65 Ford pickup before he got his Cutlass way back in the day. Same configuration you describe, and he taught me how to drive a stick in it.

      1. Apart from a couple of minor rust areas, I don't foresee doing much body work. I was lucky because the previous owner was a snowbird, and the truck hasn't seen winter for 15-20 years. I couldn't in good conscience cut up such a straight, relatively rust-free survivor, even if I wanted to.

        Probably the first work I'll do to it will be retrofitting power brakes from a 1980s F150, simply as a safety measure. I intend to keep the manual steering, though. After that I'll look at upgrading to a four-barrel carburetor, as I hear the fuel economy of the Ford six actually improves a little bit if you use the right carb.

        1. Ooh, Offenhauser intake! Not sure about the fuel economy, but my brother's 1986 Ford sure got a lot more power when he put on the 4-barrel and exhaust headers. If he hadn't also put on a six-inch lift and 35" tires, maybe he would have gotten better mileage.

    1. true story. Joe Mauer and Nick Punto had the same fWAR this season. Obviously, the Cards were better off getting Punto for $750K than they would have been getting Mauer for any price.

      1. Real baseball players don't do commercials in the offseason, they just sit at the window and stare at the snow on the ground.

        1. (As an aside, the way that some pundits will deride players for being in commercials, you'd think that all commercials are broadcast live rather than recorded.)

    2. It's best to not even respond to stuff like that. As the saying goes, when an intelligent person tries to argue with an idiot, observers will have a hard time telling which is which.

      1. you just described a lot of the debate rounds I had in high school. Some kid would get up there, provide evidence that was clearly meant to help my side and not his, concede arguments that more or less gave me an automatic victory, or even so far as to read the wrong case. And I lost about half those rounds because I just could not figure out how to not sound like a dumbass continuing the debate.

    3. Oh I love the "Mauer wouldn't play with a head cold" meme. He played baseball with pneumonia, at a fairly high level, for several games. What point was there in Mauer being out on the field in a lost season where he was clearly never fully healthy? Well, besides the Stribbies having more ammunition to rip Mauer with if he somehow was injured further.

    4. What I think all the columns like this boil down to is that people hate it when other people make more money than them, especially if they feel their job is harder. So they then think they have the right to moralize every action that person makes. And hey, if I'm wrong, it's not like I'm causing them any problems. They got money. What do they have to worry about?

    5. Did anyone else the Reusse column in which he chastises Twins players from missing spring training games with various ailments when players from the Tigers were playing in the post season with injuries?

      1. I missed this one, but I had the misfortune of hearing Dan Barreiro interview "Black" Jack Morris on Friday. He was similarly GOML about players not playing through pain. He discussed Cuddyer playing after having his wrist fractured at the end of the season, and how he was trying to be brave to show the other guys in the clubhouse how it's done, etc. Not one single mention that Cuddyer was horrible after that injury.

        1. Cuddyer was one of the guys singled out in Reusse's column for missing time in spring training for having (a wart?) removed from his foot. Mr. Cuddyer helped create the Culture of Coddlement.

  5. Holland was absolutely dealing last night. I had fun watching him pitch, even though I think I'd rather see the Cards win.

    1. I struggled to watch him. The 'stache is Just. That. Bad.

      That said, I enjoyed the crowd shots of women using their long hair to pretend they had mustaches. I think I saw one or two fake mustaches and/or signs with mustaches on them. Mebbe the rangers' fans are in on the joke?

      1. It was one of the dirtiest plays I've seen in a long time, in a sport filled with dirty plays and players. I suspect that the next time Minnesota plays Green Bay, he might get chop-blocked a few times.

        1. On my drive back this morning, I heard about this. Seeing it is another story. Robison said he "wasn't aiming" to kick Mr. Lang in the bits, that his foot "just landed" there. That's incredible aim for not aiming!

          I wouldn't shed a tear if he were chop blocked a few time, but I'd prefer him to get blown up all game, and the ball to be run down his throat. That would require Mike McCarthy to call some running plays, so that seems unlikely at best.

          1. He moved his foot into position before kicking. Sure he wasn't aiming.

            Also, why would McCarthy call running plays when the Queens can't do anything to stop passing plays?

            1. Because the Queens can't do anything to stop running plays, either. Or did you not see the Packers' last possession yesterday?

    2. Makes sense since the ones who designed the devices most likely designed the controls based on video game controllers.

  8. Nobody will watch if the Yankmes aren't in it.

    I don't always watch the post season and I figured that I might not this year with the hometowners laying a season-long egg, but I have been glued to the TV for this series.

    2. I've been enjoying it, too. But part of that is based on the fact that MLB games are now an extremely rare commodity until April 2012.

  10. Sheenie and I are going to Fogo de Chao tomorrow night for the first time. I cannot wait to get started on the meatwagon.

    1. i was just there a couple weeks ago in atlanta. never been to that type of establishment before, but it was pretty sweet. i'm not sure why i even bothered with the salad bar. ride that meatwagon!

        1. oh yeah, i have no idea why i even bothered with the salad bar. also, we were there with about 12 people, so there was always at least one person handing out meat at our table the entire time.

  11. Well, I recently signed up for Netflix streaming video when I discovered we could watch it through the Wii (SD only, but good enough for a trial). I'm pretty sure we are going to get rid of our cable (FiOS) and go just with streaming TV. We'll probably save $75 a month doing this. The biggest problem is we have no over-the-air stations in range of our house. If I get a roof antenna, we'll probably be able to get FOX, but that's about it, but we watch so little live TV anymore, I'm not too worried about it. We'll probably end up getting a better laptop (with Windows 7 to be able to network with our main computer) and a streaming media player. I've done some research and I want something that works with mlb.tv. I've narrowed it down to Roku or Boxee. Roku is cheaper but Boxee appears to have more options. Any thoughts or advice from that those that go this route?

    1. As someone who also just canceled their satellite, I will be interested in opinions as well.

      I did get some bunny ears that pick up about 15 channels, though, so my situation isn't as dire. I'm going to connect our laptop to the tv to watch tv shows online where possible, although we were looking at an apple tv. Some friends of ours have one and really like it.

    2. my ps3 can get netflix, mlb.tv, as well as access my computer's hard drive and play music and videos off of that. snoogins.

      1. I would like to get a PS3, but that's going to lead to a lot of expenses we don't want right now (controllers, games, etc.). I would need to get an older 60GB PS3, since that is the only one that plays the PS2 games. I would like to get it eventually, but we're gonna to stick with a streaming media player for now unless my in-laws decide to get generous for Christmas, but my MiL has had health issues this year, so I doubt they will do as much as they have in the past. I thought about going just the PS3 route and not getting a better laptop, but my wife is set on getting a laptop right now.

    3. I like my Roku (a Roku XD), but its sole function is streaming. Now, there are a lot of channels available for streaming just about anything, but that's it. Oh, and you don't have to watch any ads when using MLB.tv. That was nice.

    4. I use boxee and like it, but its not as user friendly. More options, possibly a bigger pain.

      1. considering that the NFL game was a blowout and that it was expected to be a blowout, I'm surprised that the ratings were that close.

  13. From wife's facebook page:

    Happy half birthday- 4 1/2 to our darling daughter Miss SBG! She informed me that she wants me to make a homeade chocolate cake, not Byerly's because mine are better! aaawwhh. Well, it's not really homemade out of a box but it's sweet she said that! She said the halloween cookies were so good. Those were homemade I guess. She's such a sweethheart! Love her to pieces!

    The next post:

    I brought out the chocolate cake mix and Miss SBG told me that she wants HOME MADE chocolate cake and is now searching for flour

    Lucy, you had better get with the program.

  14. I know that this won't be shocking to anyone here, but Frank Deford's lecture wasn't very exciting. A fair number of students left in the middle which I find to be one of the most rude things you can do. I'm deciding on if I'll go to the q and a to ask him why he simultaneously seeks to uphold the power of sports icons and chooses to tear them down. In an article he wrote about Bear Bryant's failing health, and was shocked with the vitriol that came in the mail. He exposed the fact that Bear's kidneys were essentially failing and that angered many fans, yet he doesn't understand why.

    He also said that he'll never understand why soccer is so popular because, "you don't even use your hands", and a moment later he answers his own question with an anecdote from his favorite story. He tells us of the 1982 world cup where he covered a match from the poorest part of Cameroon. He describes the abject poverty, but the overwhelming joy that the locals had when they took a brief lead and how devastated they were when the national team eventually lost. Soccer's popularity isn't that hard to figure out considering that all you need is a goal, your feet, and a ball.

    Frank, the game is popular because it's easy to play for lots and lots of people with little to no disposable income.

    1. I would ask him if he wants to be awaken now that four games have been played in the World Series. If Albert Pujols' epic game 3 was boring.

      2. and I would ask him if he times his hired help to make sure they don't stay on his lawn a second too long while mowing it

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