186 thoughts on “March 11, 2013: We’ve Changed A Lot and Then Some…Some”

        1. Don't feel bad, I resorted to the interwebs to figure it out. Things are over my head about 6 days a week around here.

        2. Even after HJ's comment, I wasn't even thinking of the fact that there was something to 'get' until just now...

          *facepalm*

  1. We've got thick fog for the second day in a row (like, it has been here since yesterday morning without going away for any amount of time.) and I'm starting to get a little worried that Stephen King should be moved to the non-fiction aisle.

  2. One thing about Minnesota: they do a pretty good job of clearing the roads after storms. This situation out here in the Fatherland is ridiculous. The roads have been crappy for about four or five days straight. I guess when it thaws around here, they'll get better. But, not before, apparently.

  3. A note to the SBG fantasy baseball league. Keepers are due this Friday. I have the draft scheduled for late March, but it can be changed if necessary.

    1. I would like the draft moved, though when depends on everyone else's schedule. The first game is March 31 at 7:05 CDT, so even Sunday day would be possible, though earlier would be better. I will offer the 23rd or 24th as possible draft days.

        1. I've changed it to the 24th at 1:30. They have late times, but there are no drafts available between 4:45 and 9:30. I'll be happy to move it again to get the best participation.

      1. I think there is an option on each team page to designate keepers. Once everyone has done that, I can verify the selections and lock down the player pool for the draft.

        Of note is that the yahoo page will allow you to keep any players, but of course only the eligible ones will be allowed.

  4. I saw one of my old friends in the hallway just now and he was wearing a button that said "I love Eva" and it had a picture of a little girl on it. I said, "Who's Eva?"

    Answer: Eva is his 4 year old granddaughter who has an inoperable brain tumor. She has a 20% chance of surviving.

    Crap.

  5. Baseball Prospectus is doing a "Best Tools" series for subscribers. Hicks won Best OF arm. Buxton was 3rd.

  6. Just have to say, yesterday's CoC gamelong had me rolling. Seriously, I can't wait for the real games to start so I can follow along with laughter while keeping my half-bakef, uninformed, Stribbie comments to myself.

    1. And they've got #4 this year. Saw a mock draft a few days ago that had them taking Appel.

      1. That... would be amusing. Not sure if it's worth it, but his leverage in the 2013 draft will be dramatically lower.

        1. There's a long, long time to go before the draft, for other prospects to establish themselves and/or prove Appel to be a good option. It would certainly be interesting though. I have some sort of dread about it, to be honest.

              1. First 162 wins: regular season.
                Next three wins: Win ALDS 3-0
                Next four wins: Win ALCS 4-0
                That leaves 172-(162+3+4)=3 wins left. Those three wins would be games 1-3 of the World Series, leaving up to four remaining.

                1. The Twins would probably go 172-0, only to lose the remaining four decisive games.

                  I think Spooky was assuming that after a 172 game winning streak, the last one would probably be in the bag.

    2. Morneau's in the last year of his contract and appears to be healthy again. If he has a good first half this season he could bring a nice return at the trade deadline.

      1. Do the Yankees have any prospects? With Teixeira injured maybe they'll panic and overpay for Justin.

    1. In dramatic fashion according to MLB.com. I watched Cuba go ahead, Netherlands tie it, and Cuba go ahead again before having to head to work. Wasn't expecting live baseball at 7 AM, but I'll take it.

        1. I see no reason why he can't be wearing a headset for adding some color from the dugout. I didn't see one this morning, so I think the producers are unaware of his color commentary ability.

      1. I loved it last time, but the Milkmaid and I have been tightening the belt to crawl out of debt for a while now, so MLBN is a future thing. We've killed off 8K in debt in the last year and a half, which is a third of what we had. I never thought I'd see an end to it, but eventually we formed a plan.

        1. That's awesome, spooky. It's not easy, but it can be done. I'm down to where my only debt is what's left of my student loan from seminary. It's a good feeling not to have any others, and it'll be even better when that one's gone.

        2. That's great. At one point, we'd been living above our means for a while, watched some Dave Ramsey on PBS (I think), bought some DVDs, tightened up, and got it all gone except for the two mortgages. We would have never been able to buy our new house had we not gotten that all done.

  7. twitter is all blowing up because the Vikings traded Percy Harvin to Seattle for draft picks.

      1. my opinion is 'oh well'
        I mean Harvin is great an all that, but he is hurt a lot.
        And if he was going to be a hold out because of contract issues, well the Vikings at least got something in return for him

        1. yeah, i'm not too broken up about this (though the return may slightly modify that opinion). still, i don't see this as addressing current offense deficiencies, though the off-season is young.

      2. I think the Vikings should just draft about six more offensive linemen and line them up at every position (including QB) not reserved for AP. Three tight end set and Hback. Hell, just direct snap to AP and run dual Hbacks.

    1. I felt it, but just barely. Only about half the people in our office felt it. It only lasted a few seconds.

  8. Grantland has a bracket to determine the most hated basketball player of the last 30 years. 32 players divided into four quadrants: 80s, 90s, 00s, and Duke. You can vote.

    So who wins? Well, Christian Laettner wins. But who makes things interesting before that foregone conclusion is up to you. Should you vote for a player who was hated in his time over a guy who just pisses you off? Your call.

    As you know, I think college basketball isn't about the players at all. It's about the coaches and I think I hate Rick Pitino more than any college coach, ever. Having said that, I hate Laettner for his Wolves career.

    1. I was just coming here to post the same thing. "and another for Duke Blue Devils" made me LOL.

      1. almost none of the guys outside of the Dook bracket were "hateable" as college players.

        1. I came here to say something about Tyler Hansbrough, but then I noticed you said "almost none".

  9. if you are jonesing for some baseball, ESPN is showing a spring training game between St Louis and the NYY

    1. wait, Kevin Youkilis playing for the Yankees now?
      and he looks about 17 years old because he had to shave.

      1. I know. its a shock.
        but at this time of the year Yankee baseball is better than no baseball.

    1. I hope that, when my time comes, someone eulogizes me in similar fashion - and I hope that I'll have earned it.

  10. Who said it:

    He never seemed real or unreal, which I unconsciously equate with immortality.

    Spoiler SelectShow

    Okay, this would have been too much of a clue, but just drink the following in:

    Spoiler SelectShow

    He gets paid to write that stuff.

        1. If participating in Spookymilk Survivor has taught me anything (besides the fact that Nibbish should just suck it) it's that if you have a hard time explaining the meaning of something it's probably because it's a stoopid idea and you have nothing really to say about the topic at hand. But then again I'm not an NYT ethicist, so what do I know?

              1. yea, if I'd looked up his history before making that comment, I wouldn't have made it. Nothing funny about that guy any more.

                1. I accidentally posted the Top Jimmy tweet there and then moved it. I wasn't commenting on what was above.

    1. I'm confused. If one unconciously thinks something, how does one know one has unconciously thought about said thing?

      1. Which is what prompted me to post this who said it in the first place. That and the whole not real or unreal and that's a definition of immortality. We should have a contest to see how many inanities you can pack into 12 words, that sentence being the Gold Standard.

        1. I got called out on misusing "real" by a judge once while I was clerking for the public defender.

          Prosecutor: blah blah blah blah blah [I can't remember what the argument was about]
          Judge: Mr. Young, any objection?
          Me: No real objection, Your Honor, but I would like...
          Judge (interrupting): You have an unreal objection?
          Me: Uhh....

    1. Real hard to make a guy eight inches and 80 pounds smaller than you look bad.

  11. I love that this site has no discussion of the Percy Harvin trade, but I couldn't pass sharing this tweet from Adrian Peterson. Oh. Oh.

      1. To be fair to free, the entire conversation was basically "hey, the Vikings did something. Huh."

        1. I'm waiting to see what cast-off WR rejects the Vikes sign and/or how they do in the draft before I get worked up over this. I'm disappointed that Percy isn't with the team anymore, and I wish it could have been handled differently, but Spielman worked out a pretty good trade.

      1. My guess is that they overpaid to keep SF from getting Mr. Harvin. I'd rather have Percy than Boldin at this point, but I certainly wouldn't want to pay Percy top 10 receiver money. He has the production, but he's oft-injured and has a serious personality problem. More power to Seattle. Good luck.

  12. For those of us who like to watch train wrecks:

    Gophers Seeded Ninth in the Upcoming Big Ten Tournament
    Minnesota will Face No. 8 Illinois in the First Round

    If by some chance they beat the Illini, they next face IU. Hard to believe lightening strikes twice...

    1. I emotionally gave up on this team during late January.
      Didnt see it when they were winning, but Tubby Smith's offense is awful. Dribble until 10 secons left of the shot clock, then make some magic happen.

  13. So, you find it hard to believe that an athlete would ingest something without knowing what it was.

  14. first time Ive flipped on Twins radio this season, and the lead during the intro is 'its been a busy offseason with the Twins focused on pitching'.

    they are really pushing on the big acquisition of Kevin Corriea (Ive heard this big pitching hires push on radio commercials for season/single game tickets)

    1. I'd have liked some focus on middle infielders, but I shudder to think of what the second-base equivalent of a Correia signing would be.

      To be fair, they did trade for Worley, May and Meyer, plus pick up Pelfrey and Harden. Granted, not moves I'd be advertising to try and sell tickets for this year, but I guess they did sort of focus on pitching.

      1. I agree with you, but the way they are selling it it sounds like the Twins picked up Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Pedro Martinez in their primes.

  15. I just watched a Triple-D episode from 2010 that featured the Blue Cafe(? home of the Blucy). I could have sworn that AMR had a speaking role near the end. Also, Spam Bites.

    1. Blue Door. AMMMMMMMMMMAZING. I had the Lumberjack Blucy last month for the first time and am kicking myself for spending three years within 2 miles at the SBG College of Law and never having it once (only offered in February, and my few previous trips were all in other months

      Edited to add: However, when I worked nearby at Mac, the location was a really delicious Puerto Rican restaurant, so it's a slight bummer that a really good place got pushed out for another really good place.

      1. I had the lumberjack a couple years ago and, my goodness, it was without a doubt the greatest thing I have ever eaten. A side of fried green beans washed down with a Furious? I've experienced all that life has to offer.

      2. I was so excited to go to the new one on the correct side of the river and... it wasn't very good. Hopefully it was just some new location kinks that need to be ironed out, because it was pretty much my favorite place in the world when we lived in St Paul.

        1. Yikes, I haven't been to the new one yet. (I also have yet to get a burger at Pat's Tap. What is wrong with me?!)

          1. Yes. Yes you do. If it makes it easier, we could have a lawyer-types something-or-other meeting there? I could write it up as a networking event and get less push-back from my boss I mean wife.

              1. There you go...of course, this one should not be lunch. Burgers from Pats demand cold beer.

      1. guy had a beard like yours and a Twins jersey on, at almost the very end of the clip. I didn't catch the jersey number.

  16. I'm just going to say that we've officially kicked off St. Paddy's by having Guinness stew for dinner. Tomorrow will feature steak and ale pies. Yes, this is not part of the WGOM fitness post for a reason.

      1. Yeah, no it won't. I'm going to wear sunscreen this time as to not repeat last years sunburnt drunk.

    1. I already put in my request for Guinness stew, but I have to wait until the weekend. And I have to save a Guinness for it. This is going to be a long week.

    2. Thursday is corned beef and cabbage night at the curling club and we bought a corned beef brisket that I will boil, glaze, and use for Reuben's on Wednesday. I balls March for cheap corned beef.

        1. Interesting. I will see if my wife can find enough in the house to do that since I don't think she'll be able to get to the store with a sick daughter. Even if its just in water, though, I think the whiskey glaze will make sure its still awesome.

        2. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I have 20 people family members coming over on Sunday for the kids' birthdays. I don't have room for a sitdown for that many, so I've been wrestling with how best to serve the corned beef. I've pertty much settled on slicing it thin-ish and building your own mini-sammies. Tell me more about simmering in apple cider and whiskey glazes.

          1. I crock-pot for most of the day in enough apple juice to mostly cover, then transfer the meat to a roasting pan to finish in a medium oven for 45-60 minutes. Meanwhile with the roasting, I use the tasty juices from the crock to boil potatoes and carrots to nearly-done, then top with wedges of cabbage to steam for a few minutes until barely tender.

            Let the corned beef cool, loosely covered, for 10-15 minutes, then slice thin. Serve as desired (sammiches with sides of the veg, or skip the bread).

            Winner, winner, corned beef dinner!

          1. Oh, I would do that. But it's probably too outside the norm for St Paddy's Day. I'll save that one for a rainy day.

            I may do the cider thing. I'm going to make the day before so they're easier to slice. Serve with dinner buns for mini-sammies. Horseradish sauce, cabbage slaw, Dubliner cheese, spicy mustard, etc. for fixins. Colcannon annnnnnnnnd... something. Ugh. Stuck.

            1. But it's probably too outside the norm for St Paddy's Day.

              Just fill everyone full of enough green beer and they won't notice what the norm is for St. Patty's Day anymore. Then, you can enjoy your irregular corned beef.

              1. I have TOTALLY had the soda farts. Wait, whut?

                I should make a few loaves of soda bread. This looks much like my family recipe - none of that raisin bullshit in my house. For smaller groups I have made individual loaves that kind of resemble these here. It's the 20 people aspect that has me a little gunshy.

                  1. I can't serve anything political! It needs another name. Related: in Basque country they call a "tortilla espanola" a "tortilla de patatas". I like that they renamed the food instead of avoiding it all together.

                    Also related: it is impossible to explain to your wife that Black & Tans aren't a good idea for a St Patrick's Day drink without sounding like a crazy person.

                    Bottom line, I'd have to call it a Dublin Fry.

                    1. Irish Fry will work as well. Or, as they call it at the local, the All Day Fry.

                      Re Black and Tans, that's a sticky wicket. I did overhear this on the bus the other day:

                      Under 21 year old girl #1, "it's cool, I've got a fake ID and I'll be happy to buy the drinks..."

                      Under 21 year old girl #2, "awesome"

                      Under 21 year old girl #1, "Oh, and St. Paddy's day is coming up! There's this old Irish tradition where you get a pint of Guinness and they add a shot of whiskey... it's called an Irish Car Bomb..... they're totally awesome!"

                      Me, to Dr. Chop, "seriously?"

                    2. I believe it Niall of the Nine Hostages that first did that. They all looked at him like he was crazy when he told them what it was called, but who's laughing now?

      1. My father always purchases a year's worth of corned beefs around St. Patrick's day. It's one of his favorite meals, and he makes it all year long. May as well buy several and throw 'em in the freezer when they're cheap.

        1. I may do that on payday this week. Might make a bunch of kraut while cabbage is also cheap too.

  17. I think it's great that the one indo-european language that has a truly different word for baseball gets to play in the WBC finals four.

    In Spanish-language countries it's beisbol, which is just a phonetic translation.
    In Italy, it's baseball.
    In Germany, it's baseball.
    In Russia, it's бейсбол.
    In Greece, it's μπέιζμπολ. ("beizbol")
    In Portugal, it's beisebol.
    In Sweden, it's baseboll.
    In Croatia, it's bejzbol.
    In Turkey, it's bejsbol.
    In Finland, it's pesäpallo.
    In Estonia, it's pesapall.

    But the Netherlands? Honkbal.
    Netherlands wins!

    (Yes, yes, Turkey, Finland, and Estonia do not speak Indo-European languages. Also, it's yakyuu (or besuboru) in Japan, "Bàngqiú" in China, and Ya gu in Korea.)

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