Thanks Boss, that was interesting. I've always liked Rick Anderson. I have no way to judge how good he is at his job, but I'd hope that an analysis like this isn't too "wonky" for him.
Missed this one. An interesting read. Makes you wonder if the PCoach is clicking on every warm up and foul.
Not that that has anything to do with the article.
Everyone is good at something. We may not be great or elite, but we all have something we can do better than anyone we know… It could have to do with genetics or just hours of practice, but there’s something.
When I was a kid, I learned how to do this thing where I could run over the top of a soccer ball or basketball and then use one foot to pick up the ball onto the other foot, then using that foot to flip the ball into the air, over my head and in front of me. I actually got pretty good at this, and could often make a shot in a basket ball court.
OK - Fast forward to Poland, 1980. I was there with a UMD choir visiting various cities across Poland, and doing what visiting foreign choirs do.
One time while we had a break in the action, me and some other baritones were over shooting hoops in a basketball court behind the medical dormitories where we were staying (in Gdansk). There was a group of Russians and North Africans playing soccer next to us (think Cold War, the Enemy!).
Without being able to speak in the same language - finger pointing and such - as a group we came up with the idea to play a game (that we later called 'Socketball') where the idea was to use a soccer ball in a basketball court, but kick it down to your basket and have to kick it in to make a score.
When I was a kid, I learned how to do this thing where I could run over the top of a soccer ball or basketball and then use one foot to pick up the ball onto the other foot, then using that foot to flip the ball into the air, over my head and in front of me. I actually got pretty good at this, and could often make a shot in a basket ball court.
Like this?
It's called a rainbow.
Wow - cool pix - thanks for the validation, Mags!
I've never pulled one off, so good on ya.
If I tried that, I'd be lucky to come out of it with only a sprained ankle. More likely I'd have torn tendons and maybe a concussion.
I can get it up on my heel, but it's the over my head part that I always mess up. I just fling it at a 45 degree angle up and away from my butt.
Wild Playoff Watch: Now Who Are They Playing? Edition
The Wild win. Again. A win against Nashville on Sunday gives them only the second 100-point season in franchise history. (Fun fact - The only other time the Wild topped 100, they were the 7 seed)
That win implies a Blues loss, which, when combined with Colorado's victory over Vancouver, puts the Avalanche at the top of the division. The race for the conference top spot looks like this:
ANA - 112 points
COL - 111 points (holds tiebreaker over StL)
STL - 111 points
*all teams have 2 games remaining
If I told you that Colorado and Anaheim play on the final day of the season to potentially decide who gets the 1 seed would that pique your interest? Or would you rather hear about the race for 8th?
On that front, Phoenix lost. So the Stars' magic number for the 8 spot is down to 2. Both teams kind of stumbling to the end here. Exciting stuff.
GAMES TONIGHT:
Dallas/St. Louis -- Dallas clinches a playoff spot with a win.
Colorado/San Jose -- If Colorado wins their last 2 games, they are the top team in the West.
The Wild's opponent cannot be decided until Sunday at the earliest. Also, Sunday at the latest.
Sunday. We'll know then.
For those that didn't catch the Men's NCAA Hockey Semifinal game last night, (or haven't already weighed in) the Gopher's Justin Holl, a senior defenseman with 8 career goals and none this season, netted the short-handed game-winner against North Dakota with 0.6 seconds left in a tie game (1-1). Minnesota had spent the previous minute-and-a-half on a penalty kill, with all the momentum tilted towards ND.
With about 6 seconds left in regulation, Kyle Rau won a face-off in the Gophers end and he and Holl carried it into the offensive zone before Rau took a wrist shot that was blocked by North Dakota's Jordan Schmaltz. Fortunately for the Gophers, Holl had jumped into the offensive rush and the puck deflected back to him. Using his skate to corral the puck, he immediately flicked a shot that beat a screened Zane Gothberg glove side, sliding just inside the post as time was set to expire. There are some great .gifs of the rush and goal here* and a write-up here. A recap of the game can be found here. A recap of the idiocy of the college-aged male can be found here.
Minnesota is returning to the NCAA Championship Game for the 11th time in program history (5 Championships), and for the first time in 11 years. They face Union (who beat Boston College 5-4) on Saturday night.
*not tech savvy enough to load them here.
UND pretty much pwned the third period and it was quite a defensive show by MN. I went to sleep disappointed.
Agreed on that first point. As for the second, I went to bed happy. I was on my first deployment when they won it all in '03, in boot camp for their Championship in '02 and still 2 months from conception during the 1979 title run. This will be the first NCAA Championship game for a University of Minnesota men's team I'll have the chance to watch.
A recap of the idiocy of the college-aged male can be found Most of the pictures in the accompanying slideshow are of women, some look like cops chatting up the coeds! The word "riot" was bandied about pretty loosely last night. Unruly and loud crowds of kids? yes. Rioters? Not really.
I didn't even look at the slideshow, but you're correct, college-aged females can be idiots too. Riots? Hyperbole. Too many people nowadays have no sense of history. This was a riot, and so was this. Of more recent* vintage, there was this one.
It's just kind of embarrassing to be going all crazy after the semi-final game. I spend two hours this year as a big time Gopher fan and I'm thinking, we need to act like we've been there before!
The problem is with the Vikings, Gophers Football and Basketball, T-wolves, Twins, Wild all in a period of hard suck, those 18-22 year olds haven't been there before.
An 18 year old would have been 11 when KG got traded and 8 when the Wolves made the WCF and six when the Twins last won a playoff series. Point taken.
I dreamed last night that Dave Hakstol had a heart attack and died after the game. That's pretty crazy, as I watched about three minutes of the game. My Gopher fandom permeated my being.
Trueblood is back to blogging, and went to the Twins game yesterday. I love reading his scouting.
I'm so disappointed we still have Pelfrey on the roster, let alone in the starting rotation.
I happened to read Nick Nelson for the first time in a very long time today. He was saying that he trusts Pelfrey more than Correia. I don't know what he's looking at. Correia is no great shakes, but he's a pretty solid mid to back end of the rotation guy, which makes him about the second best starter (or maybe the best!) on this staff. True, he's not in the long term plans, but he's also not the disaster that Pelfrey is.
Both pitchers have a career 89 ERA+. Correia has a career a 1.41 WHIP and Pelfrey 1.48. Correia is more fun to watch and isn't coming off TJ, but not a lot of difference there.
Unrelated to the Correia/Pelfrey discussion, this prompted me to go read Nick's piece on Joe being a lightning rod. I read probably two or three pages worth of comments and found some of the various hypothesis to be interesting and well considered while others...well, not so much. In general, it seems folks who follow the team - closely and with intelligence or not - appreciate Mauer and what he can do (v. what everyone seems to 'want' him to do). It reminds me that, even when they're terrible, this team really does have a fan base that would love nothing more than to pack Target Field every home game of the year. They (we) just want to see a good product out there.
I would maintain that all Minnesota Sports teams would have huge fan bases filling arenas to the rafters if it wasn't for the "hard suck" they've all experienced over the past 10 plus years.
Well, except the Lynx didn't sell out their home games during last years Championship.
But I agree with your larger point.
Part of the problem with the WNBA is that they play their games in the summer. Man, there's only so much time in Minnesota to go outside. To sacrifice summertime to go inside and watch basketball? That's a pretty tough sell.
When the Gophers' women's team was good, they drew. University and all, but also shows that there was a fan base for them.
Convert Target Center to a retractable-roof stadium--problem solved! That would also make it potentially the best NBA playoff venue. Downside: with a swirling wind, Ricky Rubio's FG% may drop to 0%.
Or it might improve!
Everyone's FG% plummets, causing Rubio's FG%+ to increase dramatically. Automatic increase in value!
I'd agree that there's an entire atmosphere being created by the collective suck. It's happened in other cities too. Philly and Cleveland come to mind.
I have found that Mauer's biggest problem has been his outreach to Minnesota's sports media personalities. Where are his media friendly cliche quotes? Why hasn't he called up one of them and dished on his teammates anonymously? Why hasn't he acquired the intangibles like vocal leadership and good pitching that led the Twins to so many AL Central titles?
You're being very generous about your characterization of the comments. One of the major complaints seems to be drawing walks in critical late-game situations. None of them seem to consider the implications of saying that, namely 1) pitchers are more than willing to pitch around Mauer to face whoever is behind him and, 2) Swinging at hittable pitches is what makes Joe a good hitter.
I had to bail out of that thread after someone said Mauer had only one truly 'elite' season. Those other two batting titles must've been pretty average years then.
You're probably right - I guess I tend to skip over the ignorant ones without much thought. I was referring to stuff like:
In the case of Joe Mauer, just please add a smidge of perspective. A full time catcher has won a batting title six times. Joe has three of those. The first since the 1940's. In the last 50 years, five catchers have one [sic] an MVP. Joe was one of those as well. All before he was 30 years old. As of last May, he had the highest batting average of any active player (not sure if he is #1 or #2 now).
-tobi0040
and
That situation aside, a single is more valuable in general when considering only the offensive outcome. It moves non-consecutive baserunners and exploits the possibility of error.
But the tangible cumulative effect that walks have on starters in the age of hard pitch counts can be devastating. Math avoiders, avert your eyes:
Pitches/IP = 7.626 (K%) + 15.678 (BB%) + 13.518
It's from Fangraphs, not the Bureau of Weights and Measures, but the methodology looks sound and it makes intuitive sense: If a starter walks lots of guys, pitch count will catch up to him even if runs allowed doesn't.
Putting Mauer into the equation, his walk rate means that on average, a lineup of nine Mauers means the opposing starter will throw two more pitches per inning than if he put the ball in play. Big deal, right?
Except that two more pitches per inning means that the average starter probably leaves the game an inning sooner. That's huge.
Yes, I get that Mauer isn't single-handedly chasing starters. But adding to opposing starter pitch counts is a valuable and tangible skill.
-LaBombo
This is the one that made me refer to the comments as "well considered" - cmath's response to Brooks.
Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Brooks
"No, I don't disagree with any of that.
I just think people should be able to criticize certain aspects of his game without being burned at the stake, which is what is happening in this thread.
I don't understand why a person cannot BOTH think that Mauer is a HOF player, and also has flaws that he could work on, as I do."
Of course you can. No one said you can't . But you're not the audience we're talking about. Those who exaggerate his deficiencies and diminish his contributions contrary to science are. You started to go there when you analyzed a single at bat as a paradigm case of his deficiencies. I don't think it's all that helpful to look at one at bat in which the team is down by three runs and down to its last out as all that instructive. Especially his second walk of the day in which he went 2-5 with an RBI.*
Pick a larger sample. Look at tendencies. But most of all, put it into context. Even the best hitters make an out 60% of the time. The fact that Mauer has a better percentage than the best hitters almost every year, and from the catching position is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. So he's not a home run hitter. Many of the all-time greats weren't either.
The Twins ruined their relationship with Rod Carew by insisting that he hit homers. So one year he swung for the fences a lot, struck out more than normal, and had his other numbers suffered. They were more critical of him after the second year (as were the fan), and traded him. Mauer is similar. You can add homers, but you'll make him more strikeout prone and he'll roll over more balls to second. His OBP will drop below .400 and he'll be less productive overall.
It's a zero sum game. Stop trying to fix what is not broken. Start appreciating the history you are witnessing. That is all.
-cmathewson
*He was actually 2-4 with 2 walks - no RBI's yet, but they walked him intentionally knowing who was batting behind him.
Mostly correct, but that Carew trade line is wrong from what I remember. Yes, they wanted more HR (even I did as a kid), but the Twins didn't trade him because they were more critical of him after the second year, they traded him because Calvin Griffith couldn't afford him (and because he didn't want to be around an owner that could be a lout at times).
Yeah - there was a lot of Griffith discussion (veiled racism, couldn't/wouldn't pay/etc.) involved in the Carew & Mauer comparisons that I didn't bring over here, mostly because I have no firsthand knowledge of the Rod Carew era.
MN St.-Mankato fired their head football coach for having a video on his cellphone of his kids playing around, naked, after taking a bath, calling it child pornography. Even after he was cleared of any wrongdoing, the school refused to hire him back. Yesterday, they got him back and a hefty bill in back pay with interest and his contract through June 2018 was reinstated. Since he had taken a lower paying job at Minot State, if he chooses to stay there, MSU-Man gets to pay the difference.
Dude got a raw deal. I was in peterville when the story broke, and felt pretty bad for the man.
America is certainly exceptional when it comes to over-reacting to stuff.
Okay, that was supposed to nest under the Boss's MN St.-Mankato LTE.
"America" is a pretty sweeping generalization, isn't it?
You might even say it was an... overreaction. QED.
No, it's pretty much exactly what I intended. If you'd like a macro example, I give you the entire decade following 9/11. That and the entire media outrage industry.
Just thinking that the portion of America that sits in my office chair doesn't have much over-reacting to anything. Maybe it's a scandinavian thing.
SSS theater and all.
not after the fish fry tonight...
Kevin Pelton names his NBA all-defensive first team. Hibbert, Duncan, George, Iguodala, and.... Rickey Rubio.
As a Viking observer, I really want this to happen:
8. Minnesota Vikings: Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M
Taking Manziel at this spot will require a leap of faith on the part of the Vikings' brain trust, as he presents a significant gamble because of his on-field decision-making and long-term injury risk. But if they hit on this move, it could turn things around for them in a hurry. New offensive coordinator Norv Turner has a strong track record of developing different types of QBs -- I've heard he likes both Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater -- and there's no doubting Manziel's physical tools. He has the strongest arm of the top three quarterbacks, and his ability to extend plays and improvise is second to none.
If he's a hit, well, that would be fun. If he's a bust, well, that would be perversely fun.
I'm taking web developer courses, and one of the assignments is to use the developer console in Chrome to redo a news website. I edited the Hardball Times to reflect my personal interests. Y'all might like it too. (Screenshot, not interactive - Click to embiggen)
Nice. I wish I could have clicked on those "More Top Posts."
very nicely Jeterless.
PSA
Reminder that the annual tax filing deadline (a.k.a. Tax Day) is next week Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Of note, next Tuesday is also the deadline in Minnesota for filing a refund request for political contributions made July 1 – Dec. 31, 2013. More information (and forms) can be found HERE.
Thanks for the reminder (or maybe not). I finished up the taxes a couple of nights ago. Thought I was going to have to pay about $700 (ergo the late filing, and I probably should have withheld taxes from unemployment compensation), but after running the error checker my federal bill jumped to $1,004. Oy.
Yeah, that non-witheld unemployment tax is no fun, that's for sure.
That bit was rather like the illegitimate love child of The Onion and Fox News.
Twins have three players that could be Super 2. Casey Fien almost certainly will be. Eduardo Escobar probably will and Darin Mastroianni probably won't, although, when Bartlett is healthy, the Twins may decide to stick with Maestro and dump Bartlett, or even keep Maestro and Bartlett and dump Escobar. I doubt they would go with just one backup infielder, however, although Maestro did play second in the minors.
Neither Escobar nor Mastroianni have played well enough to really care that much about their contract status--even in arbitration they wouldn't get huge raises.
With guys like that, you offer a deal and if they don't take it, you non-tender.
It still impacts how much they get paid. You offer the minimum or a few thousand more to non-arb, and a lot more to arb eligible depending on their production. I wasn't really worried about it, but just pointing out the Twins had three of them.
You know you've taken the good acid when you think your Twitter feed says that Corey Brewer scored 51 points tonight,
Fangraphs with a wonky piece on Phil Hughes.
Thanks Boss, that was interesting. I've always liked Rick Anderson. I have no way to judge how good he is at his job, but I'd hope that an analysis like this isn't too "wonky" for him.
Missed this one. An interesting read. Makes you wonder if the PCoach is clicking on every warm up and foul.
Not that that has anything to do with the article.
Everyone is good at something. We may not be great or elite, but we all have something we can do better than anyone we know… It could have to do with genetics or just hours of practice, but there’s something.
When I was a kid, I learned how to do this thing where I could run over the top of a soccer ball or basketball and then use one foot to pick up the ball onto the other foot, then using that foot to flip the ball into the air, over my head and in front of me. I actually got pretty good at this, and could often make a shot in a basket ball court.
OK - Fast forward to Poland, 1980. I was there with a UMD choir visiting various cities across Poland, and doing what visiting foreign choirs do.
One time while we had a break in the action, me and some other baritones were over shooting hoops in a basketball court behind the medical dormitories where we were staying (in Gdansk). There was a group of Russians and North Africans playing soccer next to us (think Cold War, the Enemy!).
Without being able to speak in the same language - finger pointing and such - as a group we came up with the idea to play a game (that we later called 'Socketball') where the idea was to use a soccer ball in a basketball court, but kick it down to your basket and have to kick it in to make a score.
When I was a kid, I learned how to do this thing where I could run over the top of a soccer ball or basketball and then use one foot to pick up the ball onto the other foot, then using that foot to flip the ball into the air, over my head and in front of me. I actually got pretty good at this, and could often make a shot in a basket ball court.
Like this?
It's called a rainbow.
Wow - cool pix - thanks for the validation, Mags!
I've never pulled one off, so good on ya.
If I tried that, I'd be lucky to come out of it with only a sprained ankle. More likely I'd have torn tendons and maybe a concussion.
I can get it up on my heel, but it's the over my head part that I always mess up. I just fling it at a 45 degree angle up and away from my butt.
Wild Playoff Watch: Now Who Are They Playing? Edition
The Wild win. Again. A win against Nashville on Sunday gives them only the second 100-point season in franchise history. (Fun fact - The only other time the Wild topped 100, they were the 7 seed)
That win implies a Blues loss, which, when combined with Colorado's victory over Vancouver, puts the Avalanche at the top of the division. The race for the conference top spot looks like this:
ANA - 112 points
COL - 111 points (holds tiebreaker over StL)
STL - 111 points
*all teams have 2 games remaining
If I told you that Colorado and Anaheim play on the final day of the season to potentially decide who gets the 1 seed would that pique your interest? Or would you rather hear about the race for 8th?
On that front, Phoenix lost. So the Stars' magic number for the 8 spot is down to 2. Both teams kind of stumbling to the end here. Exciting stuff.
GAMES TONIGHT:
Dallas/St. Louis -- Dallas clinches a playoff spot with a win.
Colorado/San Jose -- If Colorado wins their last 2 games, they are the top team in the West.
The Wild's opponent cannot be decided until Sunday at the earliest. Also, Sunday at the latest.
Sunday. We'll know then.
For those that didn't catch the Men's NCAA Hockey Semifinal game last night, (or haven't already weighed in) the Gopher's Justin Holl, a senior defenseman with 8 career goals and none this season, netted the short-handed game-winner against North Dakota with 0.6 seconds left in a tie game (1-1). Minnesota had spent the previous minute-and-a-half on a penalty kill, with all the momentum tilted towards ND.
With about 6 seconds left in regulation, Kyle Rau won a face-off in the Gophers end and he and Holl carried it into the offensive zone before Rau took a wrist shot that was blocked by North Dakota's Jordan Schmaltz. Fortunately for the Gophers, Holl had jumped into the offensive rush and the puck deflected back to him. Using his skate to corral the puck, he immediately flicked a shot that beat a screened Zane Gothberg glove side, sliding just inside the post as time was set to expire. There are some great .gifs of the rush and goal here* and a write-up here. A recap of the game can be found here. A recap of the idiocy of the college-aged male can be found here.
Minnesota is returning to the NCAA Championship Game for the 11th time in program history (5 Championships), and for the first time in 11 years. They face Union (who beat Boston College 5-4) on Saturday night.
*not tech savvy enough to load them here.
UND pretty much pwned the third period and it was quite a defensive show by MN. I went to sleep disappointed.
Agreed on that first point. As for the second, I went to bed happy. I was on my first deployment when they won it all in '03, in boot camp for their Championship in '02 and still 2 months from conception during the 1979 title run. This will be the first NCAA Championship game for a University of Minnesota men's team I'll have the chance to watch.
A recap of the idiocy of the college-aged male can be found Most of the pictures in the accompanying slideshow are of women, some look like cops chatting up the coeds! The word "riot" was bandied about pretty loosely last night. Unruly and loud crowds of kids? yes. Rioters? Not really.
I didn't even look at the slideshow, but you're correct, college-aged females can be idiots too. Riots? Hyperbole. Too many people nowadays have no sense of history. This was a riot, and so was this. Of more recent* vintage, there was this one.
*22 years ago already...sheesh.
Or this.
Wrong post!
It's just kind of embarrassing to be going all crazy after the semi-final game. I spend two hours this year as a big time Gopher fan and I'm thinking, we need to act like we've been there before!
The problem is with the Vikings, Gophers Football and Basketball, T-wolves, Twins, Wild all in a period of hard suck, those 18-22 year olds haven't been there before.
An 18 year old would have been 11 when KG got traded and 8 when the Wolves made the WCF and six when the Twins last won a playoff series. Point taken.
You forgot to say "us" or "we."
we need to act like we've been there before!
Oops. Missed it!
Boy, looks like the cops had it tough last night in Dinkytown. I swear the MPD was looking to get laid as much as they were quelling the disturbance.
Huh, there was suppose to be an image there. Try this link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bk6wTizCUAAdTyD.jpg
I dreamed last night that Dave Hakstol had a heart attack and died after the game. That's pretty crazy, as I watched about three minutes of the game. My Gopher fandom permeated my being.
Trueblood is back to blogging, and went to the Twins game yesterday. I love reading his scouting.
I'm so disappointed we still have Pelfrey on the roster, let alone in the starting rotation.
I happened to read Nick Nelson for the first time in a very long time today. He was saying that he trusts Pelfrey more than Correia. I don't know what he's looking at. Correia is no great shakes, but he's a pretty solid mid to back end of the rotation guy, which makes him about the second best starter (or maybe the best!) on this staff. True, he's not in the long term plans, but he's also not the disaster that Pelfrey is.
Both pitchers have a career 89 ERA+. Correia has a career a 1.41 WHIP and Pelfrey 1.48. Correia is more fun to watch and isn't coming off TJ, but not a lot of difference there.
Unrelated to the Correia/Pelfrey discussion, this prompted me to go read Nick's piece on Joe being a lightning rod. I read probably two or three pages worth of comments and found some of the various hypothesis to be interesting and well considered while others...well, not so much. In general, it seems folks who follow the team - closely and with intelligence or not - appreciate Mauer and what he can do (v. what everyone seems to 'want' him to do). It reminds me that, even when they're terrible, this team really does have a fan base that would love nothing more than to pack Target Field every home game of the year. They (we) just want to see a good product out there.
I would maintain that all Minnesota Sports teams would have huge fan bases filling arenas to the rafters if it wasn't for the "hard suck" they've all experienced over the past 10 plus years.
Well, except the Lynx didn't sell out their home games during last years Championship.
But I agree with your larger point.
Part of the problem with the WNBA is that they play their games in the summer. Man, there's only so much time in Minnesota to go outside. To sacrifice summertime to go inside and watch basketball? That's a pretty tough sell.
When the Gophers' women's team was good, they drew. University and all, but also shows that there was a fan base for them.
Convert Target Center to a retractable-roof stadium--problem solved! That would also make it potentially the best NBA playoff venue. Downside: with a swirling wind, Ricky Rubio's FG% may drop to 0%.
Or it might improve!
Everyone's FG% plummets, causing Rubio's FG%+ to increase dramatically. Automatic increase in value!
I'd agree that there's an entire atmosphere being created by the collective suck. It's happened in other cities too. Philly and Cleveland come to mind.
I have found that Mauer's biggest problem has been his outreach to Minnesota's sports media personalities. Where are his media friendly cliche quotes? Why hasn't he called up one of them and dished on his teammates anonymously? Why hasn't he acquired the intangibles like vocal leadership and good pitching that led the Twins to so many AL Central titles?
You're being very generous about your characterization of the comments. One of the major complaints seems to be drawing walks in critical late-game situations. None of them seem to consider the implications of saying that, namely 1) pitchers are more than willing to pitch around Mauer to face whoever is behind him and, 2) Swinging at hittable pitches is what makes Joe a good hitter.
I had to bail out of that thread after someone said Mauer had only one truly 'elite' season. Those other two batting titles must've been pretty average years then.
You're probably right - I guess I tend to skip over the ignorant ones without much thought. I was referring to stuff like:
and
This is the one that made me refer to the comments as "well considered" - cmath's response to Brooks.
*He was actually 2-4 with 2 walks - no RBI's yet, but they walked him intentionally knowing who was batting behind him.
Mostly correct, but that Carew trade line is wrong from what I remember. Yes, they wanted more HR (even I did as a kid), but the Twins didn't trade him because they were more critical of him after the second year, they traded him because Calvin Griffith couldn't afford him (and because he didn't want to be around an owner that could be a lout at times).
Yeah - there was a lot of Griffith discussion (veiled racism, couldn't/wouldn't pay/etc.) involved in the Carew & Mauer comparisons that I didn't bring over here, mostly because I have no firsthand knowledge of the Rod Carew era.
MN St.-Mankato fired their head football coach for having a video on his cellphone of his kids playing around, naked, after taking a bath, calling it child pornography. Even after he was cleared of any wrongdoing, the school refused to hire him back. Yesterday, they got him back and a hefty bill in back pay with interest and his contract through June 2018 was reinstated. Since he had taken a lower paying job at Minot State, if he chooses to stay there, MSU-Man gets to pay the difference.
Dude got a raw deal. I was in peterville when the story broke, and felt pretty bad for the man.
America is certainly exceptional when it comes to over-reacting to stuff.
Okay, that was supposed to nest under the Boss's MN St.-Mankato LTE.
"America" is a pretty sweeping generalization, isn't it?
You might even say it was an... overreaction. QED.
No, it's pretty much exactly what I intended. If you'd like a macro example, I give you the entire decade following 9/11. That and the entire
mediaoutrage industry.Just thinking that the portion of America that sits in my office chair doesn't have much over-reacting to anything. Maybe it's a scandinavian thing.
SSS theater and all.
not after the fish fry tonight...
Kevin Pelton names his NBA all-defensive first team. Hibbert, Duncan, George, Iguodala, and.... Rickey Rubio.
As a Viking observer, I really want this to happen:
If he's a hit, well, that would be fun. If he's a bust, well, that would be perversely fun.
I'm taking web developer courses, and one of the assignments is to use the developer console in Chrome to redo a news website. I edited the Hardball Times to reflect my personal interests. Y'all might like it too. (Screenshot, not interactive - Click to embiggen)
Nice. I wish I could have clicked on those "More Top Posts."
very nicely Jeterless.
PSA
Reminder that the annual tax filing deadline (a.k.a. Tax Day) is next week Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Of note, next Tuesday is also the deadline in Minnesota for filing a refund request for political contributions made July 1 – Dec. 31, 2013. More information (and forms) can be found HERE.
Thanks for the reminder (or maybe not). I finished up the taxes a couple of nights ago. Thought I was going to have to pay about $700 (ergo the late filing, and I probably should have withheld taxes from unemployment compensation), but after running the error checker my federal bill jumped to $1,004. Oy.
Yeah, that non-witheld unemployment tax is no fun, that's for sure.
Mauer Continues Silence On Cattle Mutilations
😀
That bit was rather like the illegitimate love child of The Onion and Fox News.
Twins have three players that could be Super 2. Casey Fien almost certainly will be. Eduardo Escobar probably will and Darin Mastroianni probably won't, although, when Bartlett is healthy, the Twins may decide to stick with Maestro and dump Bartlett, or even keep Maestro and Bartlett and dump Escobar. I doubt they would go with just one backup infielder, however, although Maestro did play second in the minors.
Neither Escobar nor Mastroianni have played well enough to really care that much about their contract status--even in arbitration they wouldn't get huge raises.
With guys like that, you offer a deal and if they don't take it, you non-tender.
It still impacts how much they get paid. You offer the minimum or a few thousand more to non-arb, and a lot more to arb eligible depending on their production. I wasn't really worried about it, but just pointing out the Twins had three of them.
You know you've taken the good acid when you think your Twitter feed says that Corey Brewer scored 51 points tonight,
I must have had the same batch.
The mental image of LeBron doing a cartoonish double-take is amusing.
Thats exactly how I read that tweet, with a cartoon double take at the comma.
late night trivia question: which ex-Twin is the subject of this statement?
heheheheheh.