64 thoughts on “September 17, 2012: T.G.I.M.”

  1. Houston has pretty much locked up the #1 draft pick for next year because they are sitting at 48 (!!!) wins , but the 2-5 order is a bit murky. the Cubs and Rox have 58 wins, Twins at 60, and the Tribe at 61.

    2. Speaking of the Rockies, that pussy Cuddyer has only played three games since 7/31. He's earned $4.7 million of his $11 million contract and likely will not play again this year. Meanwhile, Mauer's earned $20.1 million of his $23 million contract and is still going.

      1. I love how on Baseball Tonight, Steve Berthiaume always refers to Cuddy as "former Minnesota Twins great Michael Cuddyer."

  3. Champions League play starts this week with very intriguing Man City-Real Madrid and Chelsea-Juventas match ups. I'm also looking for the Spurs match but can't find it. Is it on Fox Soccer Plus?

    1. Chelsea's coming off a triumphant draw against QPR more notable for its (non)handshake than for its gameplay, so they are in the driver's seat.

      And Spurs are playing on Thursday on Fox Soccer against Lazio.

      1. And Spurs are playing on Thursday on Fox Soccer against Lazio. Europa may be a cool moon of Jupiter, but it's not a very compelling soccer league.

        That Chelsea-QPR game was dreadful, two teams trying not to start a race war and not play soccer. Good thing Algonad didn't see that game, he'd never come back!

      1. Leave for the gym just before kickoff and when I arrive it's 1-0. Leave for home (still 1-0) and when I arrive it's 1-1. No luck today in terms of seeing goals.

  4. Just letting you know I'll be out of range of the internets for a couple of days, as I go to visit my parents. The birthday posts should come up at the normal time. I still intend/hope to put a few season-ending minor league posts, but it probably won't be this week.

  5. I just got an e-mail requesting that I return to the printshop that saved my bacon last year to teach a month long workshop on alternative litho process. They have a house for me again but this time they'll be booking my flights for me, and paying me quite handsomely. I'm thrilled to death, but this runs contrary to my current project to simplify my life.

      1. Yeah, Ireland for the month of October and part of November. LA is a whole other can of worms that has yet to sort itself out.

  6. After an absurdly busy week last week, I'm staring at what might turn out to be another one. I hope I'm able to be around a bit more this week than I was last.

    Also, my grandmother is in surgery right now (bypass) - if everything goes well, that should help. Prayers and good vibes appreciated. I've been incredibly blessed, that 3 of my 4 grandparents are still alive. I want it to stay that way.

    1. No doubt. Here's hoping.

      3 of my 4 grandparents are awful human beings. The one who isn't died a long time ago. I still consider myself quite lucky, though. I got to spend a lot of time with the one I did care about.

      1. All four of mine are excellent human beings (going back one generation, the numbers aren't perfect, but are still quite good). One, the best human of them all, died 11 days before Skim was born; the rest are still around and only one (the widower, as you might guess) has shown signs of slowing down.

        I remember as a young kid when I learned that some people have jackholes for grandparents. I was mystified. I just assumed grandparents were all really nice.

            2. Jackholes exist therefore grandparents who are jackholes exist. My sole remaining grandparent is a pretty bitter person. I'm not sure if jackhole applies, but bitter for sure.

              1. OK, so some have jackholes for grandparents has been proven.
                Does anyone have jackalopes for grandparents?

          3. I had one jackhole for a grandparent. My last memory of him was deriding me for how fat I was at the table for Thanksgiving dinner. The other three were all pretty good. I only have one remaining grandparent. She's past 90 now and very sweet.

        2. I was blessed with having grandparents who were old when I was young. As in, the youngest, my two grandmothers, were both born in 1900 (one grandfather in 1888, the other in 1896 or thereabouts). I have fond memories of all four, but not a lot of adult memories of most.

          I do recall that my grandmothers used to compete over holiday meals. I could easily gain ten pounds in a Christmas weekend, rolling from one house to the other (six blocks apart).

  9. Who wrote it?

    Mrs. Van Bleck
    Of the Newport Van Blecks
    Is so [redacted] rich
    She has gold plated sex.
    Whereas Miggles, and Mitzi,
    And Bitzi and Sue
    Have the common place thing
    And it just has to do.

    Yeah, he was a genius.

    Spoiler SelectShow

      1. My first guess was Shel Silverstein. There was no second guess because after the first one I looked at the answer.

  10. Who leads the Twins in rWAR this year?

    Spoiler SelectShow

    1. I'm in agreement.

      Spoiler SelectShow

          1. Well, I more mean that I think the Twins likely undervalue Span and overvalue Revere because of their aversion to statistical analysis. I don't think Ryan is going to trade Span for Trend Worse, but I also don't think they realize just how valuable he is.

            1. I think Span's injury history and impending raises lower his value. That is a big equalizer between him and Revere.

              I am not saying that makes him worth the same as Revere but it definitely narrows that gap.

              1. Yeah, I think Revere still being a serf greatly helps his value (and probably opens up more teams which could fit him in their budget).

            2. This is how I took your statement, and why I agreed. It's about the Twins' relative assessment, not the league's.

  11. It's getting closer: Hollinger has started releasing his player profiles today. Just wanted to go over one from last year.

    Pekovic fouled me while I was writing this. Twice. The burly Monteneg-goon celebrated his arrival by committing 8.16 personal fouls per 40 minutes, becoming only the 15th rookie since the NBA-ABA merger to average more than a foul every five minutes. Surprisingly, a few of them (Matt Geiger, Kevin Duckworth, Roy Hibbert, Malik Rose) turned into decent players.

    I'm not sure Pekovic will follow them. His translated European stats were really strong based on his offensive stats, but last season fell way short of that level. While Pekovic did produce some offensive positives -- he averaged 16.2 points per 40 minutes, he can finish around the basket, he draws fouls and he's a good foul shooter -- he can't just physically crush people the way he did overseas. Pekovic tends to pick up traveling violations trying to head fake around the basket, while his post-up "method" consists of swinging his arms into an opponent and backing up into him until the ref calls an offensive foul.

    Speaking of which, Pekovic is a horrid ball handler; the offensive fouls are only part of the problem, as he had the league's worst pure point rating in 2010-11 (see Dwight Howard comment). If he doesn't bring some refinement to his bull-in-a-china-shop approach, he'll be a career backup.

    So yeah, I can't wait to see what his profile is this year. The truly amazing thing about Pek was that he drastically reduced the fouls. Oh, and he proved that he could, in fact, just physically crush people the way he did overseas.

  13. If anyone is interested in getting T-wolves single game seats. I have the pre-sale code. The pre-sale is going on right now through Thursday when it opens for all. Code is: TCVIP

  14. I never want to see a NFL fan complain about how baseball take too long. The first quarter of the MNF game lasted about an hour (give or take a minute).

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