100 thoughts on “March 19, 2012: Our Wives Are Safe”

  4. Beau gets engaged and Nishi gets sent to AAA. Coincidence? Who knows?

  6. I see that commenters are blaming the whole Nishi saga on Bill Smith. Sure he's the guy in charge when Nishi was signed but isn't this more a failure of the Twins scouts? I see this as an organizational failure, not just the failure of one (over his head) GM.

    2. If JJ Hardy played in Baltimore the way that he played in Minnesota people would be much less upset about this.

    3. People were pretty happy about that signing at the time. It hasn't worked out, but that happens sometimes. There are things to be down on Bill Smith about, but I really don't think that's one of them.

      1. I think the signing was a decent risk, but putting all their eggs into Nishi's basket was a very poor move. It put more pressure on Nishi, and eroded any middle infield depth they had.

        1. Yeah, it would've been nice to have Hardy and Nishioka. If anything, Casilla could easily have been penciled in as the backup MI--I'm not the world's biggest Casilla fan, but he has three seasons of 1+ fWAR at this point, so I don't view him as a bad depth option. Certainly the price is right.

  10. Also, this may be obvious, but if people could avoid saying anything on my Facebook wall until I've had a chance to tell my parents.

    1. heh, i love how much news gets broken on the WGOM before family and friends know.

      1. I am probably most guilty of this, mentioning LBR less than 24 hours from the positive test, yet waiting until the first trimester was well over to tell the world.

      2. I'm thinking of announcing my death on WGOM. But don't tell my family, they don't know yet and it would weird them out when I come walking in the front door tonight after work.

      3. well, in this case, there was a special reason for it, since the proposal happened at Spooky's site

            1. Wait wait wait.

              That was the actual proposal?! I assume it happened offsite, and this was just a story about it to let us know.

              My site doesn't know its own strength.

              1. Assuming it was the actual proposal was 50% of why I was so excited by it.

                In a way, this was the 3rd proposal I've been involved in (mine - which was impressive - I'll have to talk about it sometime, Beau's, and my sophomore-year roommate, who, when I was passed out, suggested that his gf draw on my face, as a distraction so that he could get the ring out and propose. Yup, with me there, passed out, in the room.).

                1. I've been involved with several mainly because Sheenie has a family friend who is a jeweler (meat met him the other day), so I just connect my buddies/brothers with him and they got wayyyyyy more bang for the buck on their engagement rings.

                    1. Yeah, the part where he took off his briefs made me wish someone would think of the children.

                    2. No, no, I mean the part where I got eliminated was objectionable. The part where he took off his briefs was beautiful.

  11. Huzzah, Beau! Although I won't be raising a glass anytime soon. I am still hungover from St. Patrick's Day. Seriously.

    1. strangely, what made me feel old was waking up sunday morning as right as the rain.

    3. From a witty facebook friend:

      This is actually a happy day for Tim Tebow...every rational Denver fan now 100% believes that there is a God. Souls SAVED, Tebow out.

      1. on the bright side, Alex Smith might also leave, now that he's pissed about his agent two-timing him in SF with Manning. 49ers also were low-balling Smith (with good reason, IMO).

        1. I'm thinking Smith will come crawling back. Being on that team helps cover up a lot of the flaws in his game (basically "quarterbacking" in general). His best shot at continued NFL employment is basically being a game manager on a team like the 9ers. I'm torn on which would be more hilarious, honestly. Smith giving the 9ers an "eff you" or the 9ers comitting to a QB as mediocre as Smith for several years.

          1. they have Colin Kaepernick waiting in the wings. Dude has a cannon arm and is very athletic. Once he learns the pro game, he could be a stud. So I don't think the 49ers are keen to commit "long-term" to anyone else.

            still, Smith deserves some props. He's had some crappy coaching and a lot of instability in the 49ers leadership to deal with, and he's had some injuries. But his numbers the past three seasons are remarkably consistent -- around 60 pct completion rate, around 7 yards/passing attempt, around 6 net yards/passing attempt (subtracts sack yardage).

            The major difference this past season was his interception rate -- 1.1 pct, vs around 3 pct the previous two years. I doubt that that lower rate is sustainable. But if he could hold his interception rate to around 2 pct, he'd be among the league leaders. Aaron Rodgers is the active leader at 1.8 pct; Brady is second at 2.2 pct.

            Smith is only coming into his age-28 season. I wouldn't count him out just yet. He has at least average QB tools. He can be a successful QB in the league for another 5-8 years.

      2. Plus, they added a decent WR in Mario Mannningham...and some other former Viking WR

      1. Not for another couple of seasons until he's almost entirely washed-up, so they can ride him for one decent year and then be left holding the bag when he croaks. See Favre, Brett; Cunningham, Randall; Moon, Warren.

        1. ...although the Vikes actually got two pretty good seasons out of Moon. (Pro Bowler after both 1994 and 1995; and he also made the Pro Bowl with Seattle in 1997).

            1. pro-football-reference.com ranks it as a tie (with 99 other seasons, including Cunningham's 1990 season) for 139th.

              2. I don't really know how much I trust Approximate Value. I understand that running backs are overrated, but Adrian Peterson's 2008 season (ya know, the one where he rushed for 1760 yards) didn't crack the top twenty. In fact, he's never cracked the top ten. Cunningham's season was fantastic. Not to be that guy, but the AV stat isn't going to take that away.

                  1. Yeah, I read that a year or so back, and it just feels really inadequate. It's a cool number, but as a truly advanced metric, it looks like it has a long way to come.

                    For now, I'll say that Cunningham's season was a bit nostalgia enhanced (he didn't actually throw 5 bombs to Moss a game, every game), but it was still pretty damned amazing.

    6. I feel like this is the location with the most humor potential, so I endorse this signing.

        1. among QBs who started at least a season's worth of games, the franchise leaders in QB Rating are, in order, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Jake Plummer, and Brian Griese.

          Just sayin'.

            1. so, you are saying that Cutler, Orton, Plummer and Griese are NOT first-ballot HOFers?

      2. I can only go by the eye test here, but I've never watched a QB play the position better than Manning. Elway won those Super Bowls on the back of Terrell Davis, and yes I'm still salty about XXXII.

        1. I've always thought Elway was overrated. Yes, great athlete, yes, great cannon of an arm. But I'd rather have a half-dozen guys, at least.

          1. quarterbacks I would take before John Elway:

            Jim Kelly
            Dan Marino
            Steve Young
            Joe Montana
            Brett Favre
            Phil Simms
            Warren Moon
            Tom Brady
            Peyton Manning
            Drew Brees
            Kurt Warner
            Ben Roethlisberger

            And these guys are just ones I've seen play. I might even add Aikman, Esiason, Kosar,and O'Brien

            1. I agree with your list except for Roethlisberger, who I'd probably replace with Aaron Rodgers. Still, that's a lot of QBs.

        1. I dunno, he might get more chances at a bad hop at third base, but a first baseman largely faces the same risks in fielding when the ball comes off the bat. Really where I would expect Cabrera to fail at third base is by having nearly zero range and also perhaps not a good arm (I haven't seen him throw in years so I have no idea what his arm is like.)

          1. Yeah, Cabrera at third is not going to be good defense for a few reasons. I think his arm is strong enough, but I'm not sure of his accuracy.
            Also, this sounds like it's more serious than I was thinking it was, once I went to the link and read it.

    1. I am. Done with class at 820, quickly going home to change and then off to the Fine Line.

        1. Alright. I'm hoping to be there by 9 (which looks like it'll be right before they take the stage (opening band starting at 8pm).

          1. A Place to Bury Strangers is opening that show? First of all, I'm jealous. Secondly, bring some earplugs! They rule, but that show shredded my ears.

        2. Sorry we didn't connect. I ended up watching near the bar upstairs. Really enjoyed the show (and the drummer was like a talented, funny Russell Brand - who knew such a thing existed?) and will definitely be catching them again on their next trip through town.

    2. I think that's as much about filling column inches as it is about style. Because from a style standpoint, ish.

      1. About the only thing that column accomplished was filling inches. Maybe Paige is trying to be the Seinfeld of sports columnists and write columns about nothing.

  21. This made me nod in agreement.

    Judging by comments from respected media critics like Richard Deitsch, I must be the only one who finds this amusing and doesn't think Knight's juvenile behavior besmirches ESPN's credibility. This is mainly because I long ago stopped harboring delusions about ESPN's credibility.

    1. Well, it is true that Kentucky is the biggest cesspool in major college basketball and their coach is a modern day Harold Hill, right?

  22. wow, its raining so hard right now I cant see the other side of my block. Spring is here!

  23. Congrats Beau from a dude who got married in '87 (think Kirby Puckett in an aviator cap - that's how I remember the year).

    1. That's sad. On the other hand, maybe the Twins could trade them Matt Capps. They'd surely give up a top catching prospect for him, wouldn't they?

    2. Yup, Surprise is just 20 miles up from me, and it's papered with Royals banners all along the streets. I think they have one of the fall or winter league teams, too, or maybe both. Surprise Saguaros, I think.

  25. Brad Miller to hang 'em up once the season is done. I guess being behind Darko! on the depth chart does strange things to a man.

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