114 thoughts on “May 11, 2015: MOM”

        1. we got a little drizzle on thursday night, but less than a quarter inch (5 hundredths). Tahoe got over half an inch, however. Considering that their average for May is just over an inch, that's pretty good.

    2. I drove from SBGville to B-marck yesterday afternoon. It was surreal. I drove through about 80 miles of snow, with all the fields white and the snowplows out actually pushing snow off the road. On May 10th. Crazy. It was actually below freezing in the middle of the afternoon. It was worse than any driving I went through all winter.

    3. About five inches of snow overnight, after getting a couple of inches of rain earlier. We definitely needed the moisture.

      1. My parents complained that it has been very dry in the North Country where they lived. I laughed.

        1. No doubt. Although, we actually had Little League games rained out Friday and the morning games Saturday couldn't be played because of standing water on the fields. #babysteps

  2. I'm leaving Austin here in the next few minutes. A week in Iowa for family stuff, then to St. Paul Monday week

    1. For some reason, I have this perception that you've spent your last day in Austin for, like, the last four weeks.

          1. Certainly, what philo said. (at least, I hope I didn't come across as being annoyed by the updates.) I just have this funny vision in my head of you not being able to let go of Austin.

            1. You didn't come across that way to me. I just know that I get self conscious about my own unreqested updates, so I like to be reassuring to others.

            2. Don't worry, I didn't take it that way. I know people here are if, not interested, at least polite enough to let me carry on anyway. And besides, even if any if y'all did care, think that'd stop me? 😉

  3. If anyone is interested in an update on the Delmont tornado, there are articles here and here and a bunch of pictures here.

    I've been trying to figure out why I'm so affected by this. I mean, yes, it’s my home town, but what does that mean, exactly?

    Here’s what I’m trying to say. When my adopted home town of Wessington Springs was hit by a tornado last year, I understood my feelings. It’s not that many years ago we lived in Wessington Springs. We still go back and visit sometimes. We still have a lot of friends there. We have a lot of happy memories there. It makes perfect sense to me that I was sad to hear about the destruction there last year.

    But Delmont? I haven’t lived there in over thirty years. I haven’t set foot in the town for several years, and haven’t spent any significant time there since the United Methodist church closed and my parents moved to Armour. I haven’t kept in touch with anybody there. And, to be honest, I don’t have very many happy memories there. I have good memories of family times, but not of the town itself. Yet, hearing about the tornado has really affected me. Why should that be?

    All I can think of is that, for better or worse, Delmont was home. And no matter what home is like, it’s still home. Maybe we always have an emotional tie to “home”, regardless of how long it’s been since we were there and regardless of what home was really like.

    Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I ask that you continue them.

    1. I know what you mean, Padre. I haven't lived in Spamtown since the summer of 1984, my parents left in about 1992, and I've only been back once since, for a h.s. reunion. None of my family and closest h.s. friends live there anymore. But it still has a hold on me.

    2. One of the people in my Agar congregation is a Red Cross worker who's been sent to Delmont. Small world, and all that. Anyway, the town has been evacuated. No power, no water, and leaking propane tanks are the main reasons.

  4. It's like we needed a Clippers blowout to cleanse the palete. Wow, what a weekend of NBA basketball. Rose. Pierce. LeBron. And Memphis flexing their muscles.

    1. Houston, oy, are they ever laying an egg in this series.

      I still have hopes for the Warriors, but things are looking a bit dark for them as well. They have not played good basketball the last two games.

      1. Unfortunately, I've watched too much of that Clippers-Rockets series. The Rockets look like they just don't give a crap. Terrible, terrible basketball there.

        I haven't watched much of the Warriors-Grizzlies, but I really hope the Warriors aren't doing what the Rockets are doing and its just missed shots that are their problem. The world needs more Warriors in the playoffs.

        1. the Warriors were really sloppy with the ball last game. They missed a lot of open shots, and an uncharacteristic number of FTs. But they also don't seem capable of containing Z-Bo and Gasol in the paint.

          1. That's why I say Memphis is a matchup nightmare. Although I think the Clips match up with them.

      2. Of the remaining teams in the playoffs, Chicago (1998) has won a title most recently. This is the most wide open that the playoffs have been since, the 70s, I think.

        My rankings today of the remaining clubs (meaning who I think is most likely to win a title).
        1. Clippers -- The curse of Sterling has been lifted
        2. Memphis -- They are a matchup nightmare for just about anyone else
        3. Chicago -- Rose is back, baby. Gasol, if he gets right, is the missing piece for them
        4. Cleveland -- When Love went down, I thought they could still do it, but Kyrie is a shadow of his former self now, too.
        5. GSW -- If they can get past Memphis, they will vault back up this list. That's a big if.
        6. Atlanta -- If they beat Washington, Chicago or Cleveland takes them out
        7. Washington -- No Wall, no way.
        8. Houston -- They are not going to win another playoff game

        1. the worst thing about that Clipper-Houston series is Houston's indifferent play. The second worst is the Hack-a-Mason strategy employed on both sides. DeAndre Jordan had 28 -- TWENTY-EIGHT -- FTA in the first half yesterday. That. Is. Insane.

          But with both teams having core players who can't make FTs, what are you gonna do defensively? Thank goodness that at least Doc hasn't gone completely to reciprocation, since Houston has both Howard and Josh Smith. Games could be reduced to a back-and-forth FT parade (and have been at times). Just awful to watch.

            1. Heh.

              I cringed at Pop's use of it, but I understand the strategy. Unlike Shaq, who seems to think everyone should just Man Up.

              1. My prediction: Silver is gonna get this out of the game this off-season. That SAS/LAC series was the tipping point. Fouling off the ball to gain an advantage is not basketball and needs to be eliminated stat.

                1. I agree. This is in the same category with stalling. The league addressed the stalling issue in the 1950s. They'll have to find a way to fix this one now that Pop and others have blown the lid off of it.

                  The first step will probably be to eliminate back-court, off-the-ball fouls by making them one shot plus the ball. Eliminating off-the-ball fouls in the front court is a bit trickier. I mean, should you really get a shot plus the ball back for fouling a guy on a screen?

                  Maybe they could allow the offense to choose the FT shooter on all off-ball fouls. That would directly address the strategy and not necessitate the shots-plus-ball remedy. I don't particularly mind NBA teams trying to extend a game at the end by fouling, and would not want to eliminate that as a strategic option. I just want to get rid of the Hack-a-Chump.

  5. I see that Seth is advocating bringing Hicks back up. Dude is hitting 330/412/553 with 20:15 K:BB in 119 PA at Rochester so far.

    Meanwhile downstream, Jordan Schafer has "hit" 217/250/261 with 23:3 in 74 PA and Shane Robinson 315/362/333 with 9:4 in 58 PA. And Eddie Rosario has 5K in 20 PA.

    1. Schafer is doing what he should've been expected to do. Robinson is actually doing better than he should've been expected to do. It's all about whether, this time, Hicks is ready. I don't know, but ultimately, there's only one way we're going to find out.

      1. Schafer also has been brutal in the field. Robinson has been very good. I would like to at least see Robinson get more playing time against righties, especially when Hughes starts and if Malone comes back up.

    2. I was just looking at his stats this morning and noticed the .965 OPS. I think give him until the end of May and then install him somewhere in the outfield for the rest of the year. Arcia can platoon with Robinson and Robinson can double as the fourth outfielder. Schafer can be either the fifth outfielder or just be released. He's a career .228/.308/.307 hitter.

      1. Yea, I'm kind of at the same place. Let it run for another week or two, then bring him up.

        On the other hand, what Jeff A said. They need to know whether Hicks can play at the Major League level. Every player has slumps, so what's another week or two going to prove?

        1. I was thinking service time but he would have to be in the minors for a while. He has 1.067 right now and 172 days counts as a full year. The best he can end with is 2.067 and that will fall short of super two status. The next goal for the team would be to keep him from reaching 2.000 so he needs to accrue fewer than 105 days. I don't know when the calendar ends for service time purposes, but July 1 through end of the season (October 4) is 95 days. That is a long time to wait.

    2. '#2' SelectShow

      (Also: Hi, I'm Mike. Lurked for a long time, always meant to sign up to join in but never actually did it. For some reason figuring this out got me to finally do it.)

          1. Implements seem appropriate in light of the film he mentioned . . . Oh wait, this is not that kind of website.

            Welcome to you, 50 Shades of Mike!

      2. Welcome Mike! Are you bald with kids or do you have a beard with kids? (Sorry, this is a WGOM Facebook group inside joak... not a normal WGOM inside joak.)(FYI, I lurked and didn't join for a long time too, because I was intimidated by inside joaks. Such as the spelling of "joke".) So... welcome! Always nice to have another citizen.

        1. Thanks for the welcome, all. And sorry to disappoint, but no beard, and not bald, but I do have two kids. Close enough?

          1. I... never noticed. He must spell it that way often enough that I just assumed we all did. Whoops.

            1. joak
              "Joke," as intentionally misspelled by brianS. Why does he do it? You'll have to ask him.

              I thought we'd updated that list semi-recently,* but we don't even have "half-bakef" or "Rifding Homke" on there.

              [edit]*then again, I thought this conversation was a more recent vintage too, so what do I know?

                1. everything's circular: Cuddii became the full-fledged FOTF and ii is now back with the club...

                1. I remember when it appeared. Or I think I do. I think I remember the general idea. But I also felt like I had missed something when I first saw it, so maybe not.

                4. I once thot of writing a libretto for a Wgom opera called Rifding Hokme, but it's still in the idea generation phase.

                7. Re: Rifding hokme: I don't know for sure (as such, I've never used it). I think I always believed it was an LTE from someone here posting while driving?

                  Tangentially: Recently (as in, during the past 12 months) I thought someone was collecting new(ish) WGOM-isms for the lexicon. At first I thought it came up when we were talking about that fantastic work sean did on: fingerprint words (it wasn't), or perhaps it was an active request from hj for the fundraising bit (don't know, can't locate that at all), but does anyone else remember that?

                8. I was the one who tried to post "Riding Home" on my treo smart phone. Yes, I was driving. I had that phone back in about 2005 or so.

                  2. and some wise guy (I'm fingering NBB) almost immediately created a new account for Rifding and started posting. Hilarity ensued.

                  3. And now I finally understand one more bit of the lexicon around this place! The links to posts that predate my time here are also fascinating. (And time sucking.)

        3. Is it two of the three that people have? I'm bald and have a beard but we don't have kids. Feeling like an outlier.

          1. Zack - I'm bearded and have kids, but not bald. Don't feel like an outlier, the WGOM represents all segments of the population....well, except minorities, single women, school-aged or college-aged people, retirees ...uhm...nevermind.

      3. Welcome. Everyone usually finally signs up for something random like this. I think I finally did to contribute a 6 word description of Nick Punto.

          1. I remember the two I had that went over well.

            Johan Santana: "You don't mess with the Johan."

            Francisco Liriano: "Stop worrying and love the F-bomb."

      5. your next step is to get yourself an avatar that makes you memorable and likable!

        1. So, I feel like an idiot asking, since I know it has been explained before, but how do I do that again? I poked around a bit to try to do it myself, and couldn't find the right spot to click.

          1. Welcome! You can go to gravatar, sign in with the same username and password you used here, and then choose your photo. It'll go through all the formatting and stuff there, too.

            When you get back here (after the caches are cleared) your image will show up.

            1. Nitpick: you don't not need to use the same username and password. You should absolutely not use the same password.

              Steps (going off memory here):

              1. Get a gravatar account.
              2. Register/link/tie the email you are using here with that gravatar account. gravatar uses email as their username so if you use that email address to start with, then it's automatically tied to that gravatar account. Multiple email addresses can be associated with one gravatar account.
              3. Upload an image.
              4. Select that image to be used for that email address.

              1. Huh - half bakef, as they say. I was just going off of memory, and that makes sense from a security standpoint.

          1. Depends. I used to be TopJimmy and I was despised by all. Now I'm the dude and am only despised by some.

        3. The alternative, of course, is to just actually be memorable and likable.

            1. There was that one citizen... ol' what's-his-name. You know, the jerky one?

  9. Meant to mention, the neighbors drove down to Murray, KY to attend their daughter's graduation from Murray State University, and at the ceremony they ended up ~100 chairs short for their graduates. Oops!

  14. LOL.

    Seriously, Magic is a must follow.

    1. Magic gave the commencement address at Dr.Chop's university this year. She said he was a good speaker with a decent jokes.

      1. I never really cared for Magic when he played because Lakers, but I really dig the guy now. He is obviously trying to throw Blatt a little bit of a lifeline, but it doesn't quite come out like that.

        I'm sure Magic relates to all of this and sees it through his own lens. Magic was a coach on the floor, too and he's probably thinking, what's wrong with the greatest player in the game having some input on what the team does (after all, great QBs audible all the freaking time, right?).

        1. I don't see anything wrong with James having input, and in fact I think a smart coach would listen. I do think, though, that it served no purpose, other than to stoke James' ego, for him to tell everyone that he scratched the play his coach wanted to run and told him to just give him the ball. That seems like something that should've been kept in-house.

        2. I never really cared for Magic when he played because Lakers

          ????

          I was in grad school in San Diego 1988-93, so I got to see a LOT of Lakers games on local tv. I'd have thought that his brand of basketball would have been right down your alley, Stick.

          However, we used to joke a lot about Magic's quadruple-doubles (points, rebounds, assists, and turnovers).

          1. Dr. J was my guy. The Sixers were my team. Had to hate the Lakers and the Celtics.

            I'm pretty solid with the idea that Magic is one of the 5 to (at worst!) 10 players of all time. And I'm in the 1 to 2% who like Magic on TV.

            2. the greatest thing about Magic as a player -- forcing Paul Westhead out as coach because he wanted them to play too slowly. Hahahahaha!

  16. Aaron Hicks has been promoted to the Twins. No announcement on a corresponding move. I'm guessing Schafer will be moved, whether to AAA or the DL because of his ailing leg.

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