123 thoughts on “March 3, 2014: Oh, Hey”

  1. Speaking of March Madness, I hear a certain mid-major from Fargo won their conference and is the favorite to win their tourney and get in the field at about a 12 seed.

  2. I mentioned a while back that the Lakers were pulled off of national TV a couple of times this year. The Knicks, at 21-39, a half game better than the Lakers, were on national TV three times in four days. I really don't get that. Hate the Lakers all you want, but they have won the NBA title 10 times in the last 34 seasons and have played for the title a handful of times besides that. They are the premier franchise in the league, no doubt. The Knicks have zero titles in the last 41 years, haven't played for a title in 15 seasons and have had one winning season in the last decade plus. And yet, they continue to be fed to us. I hope ABC choked on that game yesterday.

      1. To be fair, the swarming Knicks defense forced three turnovers. So, there's that.

        Edit: And actually, the Knicks only had 12 turnovers for the game, which is pretty low. They just came out and sucked for the first 10 minutes and the rest of the game was pretty much garbage time.

    1. Awful Announcing sums up my feelings in a tweet from yesterday

      Awful Announcing ‏@awfulannouncing
      God is smiting us with so many nationally televised Knicks games.

      1. I was enduring that game because I figured the next one would be better. But, no next game! Infomercial! Ugh.

  3. This is looking increasingly like one of the years I finish last in the standings because I will pick GW to win the tournament (mainly because they'll be in it).

  4. I restarted the March Madness thing, eh. Did anyone from last year get an auto-invite? In previous years that's happened, but I'm not seeing proof that it did this year. The league also seems to have lost my email list. I'll send out invites to those of you that I know (or suspect) play every year, but you may have to toss me an assist if I don't get an invite to some of you.

  5. Albert Pujols:

    "I think if there's a day I need to DH, I'll DH," Pujols said. "If I need a day off, I'll take a day off. I wish I'd have done that more earlier in my career. Because of the last couple of years I'm trying to be Superman and trying to play 162 games. It's cost me the last couple of years.

    #playyousissies

  6. Last week, I linked to Spritz.com, which is working on a speed reading app. I found one that's pretty similar called Readability. It was $10, so I thought I'd try it out to see what I think. Conclusion so far: the sample on Spritz was a lot easier than long articles. I have been reading articles at about 370 WPM. That's probably a little too fast, because there are a few words that slip past me, especially names with which I am unfamiliar. The Readability app is cool in that you double tap the screen to pause, you can move back in five word increments, and you can set the speed in five WPM increments (up to 800 WPM). I am going to continue using it and see where I end up. I doubt that I will read any novels using it ever, but consuming 10 minute articles that would otherwise take 20 minutes is pretty cool.

      1. Oops. I meant ReadQuick. I set up a Readability account because if you bookmark articles in readability, they show up in ReadQuick.

    1. speaking of Not Movie Day, I am just slammed, and won't be doing a book post.

      the floor is open to anyone with posting privs!!!

      1. I can do something for tomorrow, or next Monday.

        Inspired by Pepper's comment last month (2 months ago?), I read a poetry collection, so maybe we could have a "favorite poem" theme?

      1. Well, the special effects look very dated (though that's not really surprising), but the whole premise of the movie seems pretty flawed to me. In the first movie Doc harps over and over again about messing with the time continuum, no one should know their future, etc. What sets the events of the 2nd movie in motion? Hey, Marty, let's go mess with time!!!11

        (and then a bunch of other nit-picky stuff too, but that main point trumps all that)

        1. Well, yes. The contrivance that creates the sequel is ridiculous. What was supposed to be a joke at the end of the first movie, became the 2nd movie when a sequel was commissioned.

            1. If you could, go ahead about ten years and report back to Matthew McConaughey about his hero.

              1. Heh. I got that reference!

                for the record, I watched about half an hour of coverage last night (squeezed into an hour), starting just a bit before Bette Midler's cover of that Bette Midler song.

                1. Did it seem weird to anyone else to have her sing "Hero"* with Philip Seymour Hoffman,** who had just died of a heroin overdose,*** looming above her at the start?

                  *yes, I realize that was "theme" of the telecast so that everyone from the Terminator to Inigo Montoya could be referenced as "heroes")
                  **A little surprised that he edged out Peter O'Toole for the final shot
                  ***and yes, I realize that there is no mutual exclusivity between "heroes" and "people who overdosed on drugs
                  ****RIP, Dennis Farina

                  1. **It appeared the photo's were in chronological order of the actor's passing, not sure, but your larger point stands.

                    1. I think they always leave what is perceived to be the biggest loss for last. If it was chronological, it would have been Ramis last.

  7. Do foreign events counts as politics we're not supposed to wade into? Because, gee, Ukraine, right?

  8. Jeff Sullivan, perhaps the best baseball writer on the interwebz, with an article about last season's three bunt doubles. The dialogue and picture of McLouth's bunt is hilarious.

      1. And my dumb question was politely corrected, which is always a pleasant surprise compared to how some comment sections run.

      2. Raccoons are part of order Carnivora with Cats, Bears, Dogs, Weasels, Seals, etc.
        Much different than order Rodentia.

          1. I'm going on the record as saying that I resisted the urge to post a similar reply.

    1. It's a great article. I just hope Dick doesn't read it and infer the wrong idea. Also, nice PSA by Sullivan before the article got going:

      If this doesn’t interest you, that’s fine, and soon enough we’ll have plenty of other posts about projections of the future that will turn out looking lousy in retrospect.

      So, FanGraphs hasn't published their organization rankings for 2014 yet, eh?

      1. Oh boy, another umpire challenge. This might get old, especially in spring training where they have like 3 cameras.

  9. Closed circuit to MSP-STP Catholics:

    'Spoiler' SelectShow
    1. 'Still connected to the diocese' SelectShow
      1. 'WHY IT WASN'T DONE A LONG TIME AGO' SelectShow
  10. Kurt Suzuki sounds very well spoken in his interview with Dazzle & Provus, but he's already been indoctrinated into the Twins' "fundamentally sound/does the little things right" spew.

    1. Suzuki later replies that he's never been one to block the plate, so the new rule change shouldn't affect him.
      Dazzle: "So we can't depend on you with 2 outs in Game 7 of the World Series?"
      Suzuki: "Well, no, because the runner is automatically safe now with the new ruling."

      (Dazzle lowers his shotgun a bit in consternation)

    1. Unless he's learned how to throw a knuckleball, because a 81mph fastball sounds about right for Tim Wakefield.

      1. Plus he could be the first lefty knuckler in 25 years! And join the rare ranks of lefty knuckler.

    1. I like.

      I have to admit though, I'm more immediately excited by Gibson's 3 scoreless w/ 2 hits and 2 K's. And I got a chance to watch part of the game today (home, sick.), and what I saw looked pretty good. Spring, not a scout here, all the usual caveats, but... better than the alternative (which I assume is Tommy John).

  11. Interesting nugget from Mackey:

    Phil Mackey ‏@PhilMackey
    Rob Plummer, agent for Miguel Sano, says his client was 100% opposed to surgery, which is the main reason why it didn't happen in November.

    1. A year of lost development time is a pretty steep price to pay to avoid a what has become a fairly routine surgery & rehab process.

  12. I was in Virginia when the I-35W bridge came down, but I cross over the new span daily. Some of the statistics in this article are scary, but this one staggered me.

    Some 20,000 bridges around the country are labeled “fracture critical,” ... the entire structure could collapse should a single critical component break.

    1. Hey, I was in Virginia when the I-35W bridge came down.
      ...
      I have nothing else to add to this.

    2. Since 35W I think about this every time I drive over the bridge at Winona now. (That bridge has been closed for similar structural concerns.) I drove over that thing several thousand times growing up and never gave it a thought.

    3. 607,000 bridges in the US? That number seemed low, but Google confirms- full statistics here.

      I remember hearing when I was in high school in the late '90's that the county I lived in (Fillmore, way down in the SE corner), had the state's highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges. Looks like they've improved since I left- take that, Mower county!

    1. If I re-up my MLB.tv subscription, my viewing priorities are the Twins, Billy Hamilton, and Vin Scully in that order.

  13. There's a lot of Novaks. This one, I'm actually related to (my dad's cousin).

    He actually did this once before, maybe 15 or 20 years ago. We drove over from my grandparent's place in Foley to check it out. Add internet and Yahoo needing content, and you get my relative making the "news".

  14. In the spirit of the movie thread above:

    I know its not music day, but the new Drive By Truckers album is on Spotify. Not as good as the run of albums from Southern Rock Opera to The Dirty South, but pretty solid.

  15. LeBron having himself quite the night against the Bobcats- 61 points on 22/33 shooting, 9/12 FT's. Wow.

      1. That said, they aren't going to blow this by letting Denver shoot 50 FT's in the last minute, are they?

        1. Amazing how when the Nuggets have four players with five fouls apiece on the floor, the referee's whistles suddenly go quiet.

          1. At least they're starting to win games that go like that now that they aren't playing every day.

          1. Heh, that's happened a few times this season. Hasn't helped the Nuggets record a whole lot.

      2. yeah, Ive been in and out of this game (thats why no game log) but man alive!

        I did see Gorgui with a sweet dunk

        1. I think Gorgui needs more playing time. Too many lineups with Rubio out there as the only capable defender (Brewer and DC are hit or miss, IMO).

            1. Gorgui seems like a good fit to play center next to Love. Turn Pek loose on the second string and let him obliterate the other team on pick and rolls.

              1. What Pek is great at is that he draws a lot of fouls on the other teams bigs. Love and Pek make a great tandem because Pek blocks out so many defenders for rebounds, Love gets better position to rack up his numbers. Gorgui couldnt do that.

                I think a Rubio and Gorgui on the floor together could be nifty for easy alley oops

                A line I would like to see more of is Rubio-Brewer-Shabazz-Love-Pek. Move Martin to the second line for scoring.

                1. Yeah, you're right about Pek doing a good job of drawing fouls, and sure, he's great paired up with Love. But if Pek came in with the second unit, he could draw fouls on the backups and handle the main scoring load, which Gorgui also can't do.

                  I think we're in agreement on the second line needing more scoring potential, and I like your thinking, since Martin and Rubio are having trouble sharing the ball. Unfortunately, Adelman seems to think Martin is in the right, so I don't see that happening. Too bad, because I like what Shabazz does when he gets playing time with Rubio and Love.

                  1. I think Gorgui is going to improve on the offensive end. I see some moves from him that, while a little rough, suggest that he's got an instinct to get to the hole. I think in a couple of years, he's going to be an okay scorer.

                    1. He is a lot like Pek was in his first year. Fouls a lot, but shows lots of potential.

                  2. Martin and Rubio are having trouble sharing the ball? Seriously, that's the meme?

                    I haven't seen a lot of Wolves games this year, but in games I've watched, Martin has not exactly hogged the ball. Nor has he had all that much trouble getting it from Ricky to do something with it.

                    1. I don't think I'm the only one who's seeing it that way. It's nice for Rubio to have a shooter like Martin to pass to, but I don't think pairing works as well as I hoped it would when the Wolves signed him originally. Martin isn't really a ball-stopper, but he does a lot of post-ups and dribble-drives, usually trying to draw fouls. He doesn't need to have a passer like Rubio on the floor with him to run those kinds of plays.

    1. You ain't kidding. How do the Wolves give up 45 points in the fourth quarter? That's insane.

      1. I can't think of any reason why it'd be a good idea to bring in Rubio when Denver is making all of the threes, Nope, not one.

    1. Good thing the Nuggets shot 64% from the free throw line, easily could have been a loss if they hit their freebies.

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