64 thoughts on “January 19, 2011: Comeback”

  1. The Wolves are playing the Clippers on Friday night and the game won't be on local TV... because it's on the 4LTR. WTF?

  2. I'm wondering what, if anything, this article means regarding Ron Gardenhire's status in the organization. It's only one article, and I don't mean to make too much of it, but if it's right, the Twins seem to be relying on their former manager to restore fundamentals to the ballclub, rather than their current manager.

    1. Can't blame them. The fundamentals have deteriorated in each and every season under Gardy, so I wouldn't count on him to be the person to correct the problem.

      1. How much of that is the manager versus the minor league system though? I don't mean to imply that Gardy gets a free pass, but it seems like fundamentals are something that a player learns at the beginning rather than end.

        1. You're right in that regard, but I think seeing the focus on the big club is a subconcious mandate to the minor league clubs that they'd best get their acts together as well. And conversely, with the big league manager letting things slide over the years, the minor league clubs lose their focus as well.

    2. Yeah, the "little things" were infuriating, but there were some big things that were wrong, too and unless the big things are corrected, executing run downs won't matter much.

      But, I get what you are saying... things have gotten progressively worse for a long time.

      1. I fully agree that the big things are most important. My main point, though, was that it struck me as odd that Tom Kelly seems to be the spokesman for and in charge of a return to fundamentals, rather than Ron Gardenhire.

    3. I think Kelly also makes a good point that when you add big things, it makes little things all that much tougher because everyone now has learned a different style of play and didn't grow through the system together. The Yankees can get away with that, because even if their fielding sucks, they can mash teams to death.

    4. TK has always had a large role in spring training in the fundamental drills. I believe Gardy was the one that wanted the extra days for working on fundamentals. It seems to me this would be similar to using a drill sergeant in the military. Since TK has been Gardy's mentor, I really don't see it as a slight against Gardy. Assuming Gardy is all for this, it says a lot about him if he is asking for help from more experienced people even if it means a hit on his ego.

      1. I think socal is spot on about TK's spring training role. TK isn't retired.

        That said, shouldn't it be Gardy leading the way on emphasizing fundamentals, be it by bringing TK in or whatnot? Why is the organization making TK available to Powers without putting context around the discussion?

        2. Good point, especially since the organization seems to be pretty good at providing "context" for so many of the other discussions in the media.

  3. the Twins seem to be relying on their former manager to restore fundamentals to the ballclub, rather than their current manager.

    well, they decided to rely on the former GM rather than their current GM to make the necessary changes already.

    1. I am fighting desperately to not make this my life. That being said, watching this has just depressed the everliving hell out of me.

    2. That's one way to look at it, I suppose. On the other hand, I've done a lot of funerals, including one this morning. One of the things I've learned along the way is just how unique and special each human life really is. Everyone has a lot more to his or her life than most people realize.

      2. Thanks for that Padre...I was laughing nervously while watching that cartoon. It kind of caught me off guard.

  6. Whom do you trust?

    -Democrats trust everything- except Fox News. NBC does the best with them at +50 (67/17), followed by PBS and CNN at +49 (66/17 and 65/16 respectively), ABC at +38 (57/19), CBS at +35 (58/23), MSNBC at +33 (56/23), and even Comedy Central at +4 (36/32). Fox News comes in at -36 (25/61).

    -Republicans meanwhile don't trust anything except Fox News. PBS comes the closest to breaking even among non-Fox outlets, although not very close, at -30 (26/56). It's followed by CNN at -49 (18/67), MSNBC at -51 (18/69), NBC at -52 (17/69), CBS at -54 (17/71), ABC at -56 (14/70), and Comedy Central at -59 (12/71). But Fox News comes in at a stellar 73/17.

    Independents are with the Democrats. They trust everything except Fox News. Main takeaway from this poll: tv news has become just as polarizing as the political parties in this country.

    Apologies if this is seen as too forbidden-zoney. I thought it was interesting and worthwhile.

    1. i don't have too much to say that i will say except that the increasing preference towards news that reflects one's views, as well as the "entertainment-ization" of news is an extremely frightening prospect to me (this most definitely goes for both sides).

      1. I dunno. Getting the average person to watch the news is a losing proposition for the old-style delivery, characterized by the glory days of Cronkite, Chet Huntley, etc. Those guys didn't have much competition for eyeballs. Now there is ginormous competition, including lots of on-demand news available on the Interweb tubes.

        But people can actually learn a lot from watching talk shows and soft news programs.

        1. I school my parents on 1980s history trivia. I wasn't watching the news in the 80s. I picked up all my knowledge from SNL skits.

    2. Main takeaway from this poll: tv news has become just as polarizing as the political parties in this country.

      Did we need a poll to tell us that?

    3. I'm honestly a bit surprised the news is considered so polarizing. I'm always mad about it because there's either very clear, serious bias in the "reporting," or they just recite whatever other people say and don't bother putting that stuff into context. Blah.

    1. The last I read, it didn't seem like good news was on the table anymore. If he's destined to go soon, I hope it's as painless as it can be.

  10. Wow, do the Wild suck right now. Down 4-0 to the Leafs. They've gone from the biggest surprise in the NHL to the biggest disappointment.

    1. I was actually getting interested in hockey when the Wild were winning earlier in the season. Oh well. I've got the Timberwolves to follow for now, I guess.

    2. I really feel that I should be able to represent the Sabres in trade negotiations with the Wild fans here.

    3. I flipped it over at the beginning of the game and they score right away. I never flipped it back. sad.

    1. Argh...still haven't seen season two. It was a lot easier to keep up with TV before the myriad of options actually created spots for TV shows good enough to watch.

    2. The episode started out a little slow, but holy crap it ended fantastically.

      The best part of "Archer" is that I got Dad hooked and we can watch it together. It's odd for him to be laughing at this too.

  12. Kevin Harlan probably just said the weirdest thing ever to signify a good play on a basketball broadcast that I have ever heard my entire life.

      1. His first comment was something about a bag of potatoes and possibly being beaten with it. That is what I was referencing. He then followed it with this.

        httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dihVwDWniE&feature=youtu.be

        1. Heh. Channel 11 just played an interview with Jared Allen in which "he tells us all his thoughts about the Vikings new defensive coordinator."

          Q: Jared, what are your thoughts?
          Allen: I don't know. I've never met him. I had never heard of him until a day or two ago. I can't wait to meet him.

          Again, some hard-hitting journalism in this town.

    2. hes got a way better job nowadays, but I miss Kevin Harlan calling Timberwolves games. The blandnesss of Tom Hanneman is too much for me most nights. (I also enjoy Harlan's NFL work, even though he gets stuck with the 4th and 5th rate games)

      1. It's not just the blandness that drives me to distraction. He simply doesn't call the game that he's attending. Instead of calling the action, he's making random statements about players that are at odds with what has happened on the floor. Call me crazy, but I like the play-by-play announcer to actually comment on what is happening in the game.

Comments are closed.