It was also a global record in July, June, May, March, and February. I don't think that cooling off is going to happen for a while.
We certainly set no records in MO this summer.
Never fear, though. My mother told me last night that she heard on the Internet that the icecaps are refreezing and that there is no global warming.
It is no longer referred to (by scientists) as "global warming" -- "climate change" is the preferred terminology.
It must be true, though, if it was on the internet.
My mother, swallowed up alive by NEWSMAX and sites of that ilk. She comes with this, uh, stuff and expects me to take her seriously.
The Boy turns 21 today, and the Earth trembles.
Happy Birthday to the Boy.
My 21st was very low-key. Spring break of my sophomore year, but I was taking a wilderness firefighting training course and couldn't afford to be hung-over/sleepy.
He's an about-to-be senior. I'll take a wild guess that he's already familiar with alcoholic beverages, so I don't think he'll go to wild.
I misspoke - it was my junior year, but yeah, previous familiarity with alcoholic beverages rendered the need to go wild moot. Well, that, and the fact that I was straight-broke homey.
My 21st... I did the stupid "power hour" thing, drank far too much, and regretted it. Not responsible. Still ashamed of it to this day. I did not feel like drinking after that.
The actual birthday... well, it was May 17, 2002, and the Twins played the Yankees... that made me want to drink again.
My power hour consisted of a couple of quiet beers with the girlfriend at the Chatterbox.
The next night though...
My friend completely surprised me on my 21st. Showed up at my house totally unannounced from Minneapolis and took me out. We had one drink at the OB, then we went to Coaches where they had 3-for-1s. My three tequila sunrises sat on a table and we ended up playing Golden Axe until the bar closed. It's still one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me.
I was in NYC when my sister turned 21 and she wasn't planning to do anything. So I arranged for a group of (nice) guys we both knew to come "kidnap" her and take her out. (She was living with my parents that summer and I gave them advance warning.) It wasn't anything hugely crazy, but I couldn't stand the idea of her doing nothing. She thanked me later.
I'd gone out at midnight and bought a six pack of beer, and had dinner with my family, but my other plans for my birthday were to stay at home alone. This was far, far better.
Sounds like a wonderful friend!
I was a bit older than most of my good friends (except for those in the program for recovering addicts. One's advice to me: don't get hooked on drink, because then you can't ever have even another beer.).
I wasn't planning on going at all, but I ran into a few guys that were older.
At midnight, I went to Blondie's (now Triple Rock) and had a beer and a shot.
The day of my birthday I saw DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid at the Myth. I believe I had two Primos.
After the show, my of-age friend and I went to the end of Sunday Danceteria at First Ave and got upstairs and drank the complimentary bottle of Champagne they gave out back then.
As my birthday was a Sunday. I bought a case of Schell's Octoberfest at 9am on the Monday when Zipp's opened. I was there before the doors were opened.
The next weekend, though... I got out of a place just before I got kicked out.
Okay, there's, like, 20 things I'd like you to unpack here.
I went to this game with my family and fiance, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I did have a beer but I didn't really want to get drunk, since there was such great baseball happening.
Good thing you didn't have any obligations the next day...
Didn't we all go out to a movie that night, and then to the bar? Am I totally misremembering things? Were you just not part of that group because you had better things to do?
// We're getting old. Not as old as Stick, apparently, but... old.
I had a groom's dinner...
Here I was thinking you were trolling me, but, yeah, you guys probably weren't around for that. Bummer.
Did we not go to the groom's dinner? I don't remember it, so that's a distinct possibility.
Did you and your then-fiancee meet us at the Applebees to witness Giambi's grand slam? It seems like something like that happened.
I am not proud of mine. Beer and a bunch of shots from midnight to 2, then throwing up behind the Perkins in Menomonie and passing out in my bathroom. To this day, I will never get someone a shot on their 21st and have strongly encourage my brothers not to do the midnight thing.
The next night was the release of The Two Towers, so I had to watch a three hour movie while severely hung over.
I believe the number of different colors of shots I had on the actual 21st was around 5-6. That wasn't the total number of shots.
I'd done this for my roommate's 21st birthday, about a month prior to mine ... spent the night cleaning seafood linguini out of his bed and making sure he didn't have anything left to choke on. It was not fun.
Heh, I actually survived the evening remarkably unscathed. The only 2 victims were the city of Minneapolis (during afterbar migration, stole a tall traffic cone thingie while walking back to my place for some reason), and my roommate's girlfriend (received several vulgar dismissals of her noise complaints as well as invitations to kindly remove herself from the area; we all haaaaated her, so everyone was pretty much behind it).
My movie the next night was Attack Of The Clones, so I think I win for painful movie...
Ouch
On my 21st birthday I was alone in my college apartment, not drinking. I think I didn't get drunk until I was 24. At a work party. And I got on a table and danced for some older nurses. Professionalism wasn't my forte yet at that age, though I'd like to think the company's administrator getting hammered wasn't the best modeling behavior for an impressionable 24 year-old. I had also already put in my four-week notice, so I was senior sliding things.
I'm so old that the drinking age in Minnesota was 19 when I was in college, so 21 was not a big deal.
I sent a note to my Dad asking if he felt old - Highway 61 Revisited was released 50 years ago yesterday, Help! hit the states 50 years ago on August 13th, and Out of Our Heads dropped on July 30th. He was just coming into prime music consumption age in 1965.
All in my lifetime.
And I'm older than you are.
We're both of a certain age, though.
I saw a picture of myself today and thought, "I look old enough to be somebody's grandpa." Then I realized, I am old enough to be somebody's grandpa. Oddly, that made me feel better. At least it's normal for me to look that way.
19? I'm so old that I thought it was 18.
It was 18 for a while. But, 19 by the time I got to college. And 21 for my brother, who is two years younger than me.
The drinking age was 18 when I moved from Colorado to Minnesota in 1977 at the age of 18. For me it just meant the difference between buying 3.2 there and strong beer here.
my brother (4 years older than me) was in the group that got "grandfathered" when they shifted the drinking age up. I'm a couple of years older than Stick and, therefore, so old that I don't remember what the legal age actually was when I was in college. Was it really 19? I hit that the summer before what should have been my sophomore year. I was in N'field, playing softball with my lifer-housekeeping crew buddies, drinking my share, losing a lot of weight, and getting ready to move back home to go to Spamtown CC for a year.
Lowered to 18 in 1973. Raised to 19 in 1976. Raised to 21 in 1986. I turned 21 in 1985. So I had that going for me. Which was nice.
For my 21st birthday, my mom took me out to a steak dinner, and I tried a Strawberry Daiquiri (I was NOT a drinker back then... actually still not). Then I went bowling with friends where I tried an amaretto sour (so awesome). That was the extent of my drinking. But the fact that I still remember it this long after must mean I think it was at least memorable.
mmmm. Amaretto stone sour. Mmmm. I haven't had one of those in 35 years.
I once bought a bottle of cheap amaretto. It doesn't work out that well.
My own 21st was less exciting my sister's. A friend who was of age took me out to Bryant Lake Bowl after midnight for a couple beverages. The next night, my roommate and I hosted a little party at our funny little apartment (the lower floor of a house that has since been torn down). We had food as well as drink; it was low-key but still a good time. What I mostly remember is that it was a funny convergence of friends from different parts of my life who hadn't met before.
Mags (or anyone really) - plans fell through for the other couple(s) who were going to use the other pair of tickets I bought for the Merle, Kris & Sturgill show. Plaza seating - Left Center section.
Shoot me an e-mail if interested: bmjohnson327 at hot mail . com
I'll get a hold of FW and see what she thinks.
Update: Email sent.
The Wave gets trashed in Twins Daily. I totally agree with all points, but I also agree that it's fun for the young'uns. My suggestion is that it the ballpark make it a coordinated event, but BETWEEN INNINGS. This way, the fans can have their fun, and it doesn't take away from the actual gameplay.
I agree with your suggestion. It is fun, for a limited time, and at the appropriate moments. It looks kind of cool. If not at a sporting event, when are you going to get that kind of thing? It's the perfect setting, the timing just needs to be adjusted slightly.
During pitching changes would be even better.
Every game has inning breaks. Not every game has pitching changes. Don't want some poor kid driving several hours from outstate, only to have to sit through competing perfect games and not get to witness the wave.
Yeah, that would be a terrible fate. 😛
They could do it for both then. Not every break but use it occasionally for both.
I was at a game in '04 with a group of about 8 or 9 guys. There wasn't much going on in the game, so two of the guys went down to the first fully open row of seats in left center and started working the crowd to start the wave. It only took about five or six laps (running from one aisle to the next, choreographing the standing) before the thing took off. It was awesome.
Came here this morning because my FB feed has a picture of my SIL holding a millipede that is as long as both of her hands. And she's smiling. Seemed like something Nibs would want to know about.
no pictures?
That'd just be cruel.
I don't know about that one, but here's a cute little bug that the boy found.
* Right-click, "open in new tab"
* Read tab name "suck-it-nibbish.jpeg"
* nope nope nope
1 millipede (at 12 o'clock), 11 centipedes.
That millipede looks a lot like the one my SIL was holding.
And let's face it -- while analysts such as my good friend Brian Kenny of MLB Network won't want to hear it -- the Twins succeeded in changing their culture by hiring manager Paul Molitor and signing Torii Hunter, even though Hunter's OBP is -- gulp -- only .290.
Souhan's Sunday column was about how big money equals big disappointment. Yes, of course, -1.1 rWAR Hunter was listed as a positive for his power and leadership. Also included was how Hughes, now that he had his money, decided to stop playing well.
I had the displeasure of listening to "The Common Man" in my car at lunch whining about how the Twins were sure to lose Sano when he hits free agency in half a dozen years. Yeah, I'd love the Twins to ink him to a smart, long extension. I want him in a Twins uniform for a long time. But let's not start on this crap for another 4-5 years or so.
He's just trolling. TSWoC really believes the 54!+ he's peddling.
Fair enough.
It's an established fact that listening to The Common Man talk about baseball makes you dumber. I've literally heard the brain cells die in my head.
And as soon as they do sign him to a long-term extension, he'll complain that he's overpaid because he's a slow DH that strikes out too much.
Precisely.
PunMan's Board Game of the Week
So far I've focused mainly on run-of-the-mill strategy type board games. Today I'm going to shift to something a little more on topic with this site. Bottom of the Ninth is a neat little baseball sim that I got to try out at Gen Con a month ago.
The scope of the game lies within the name, as you'll play the Ninth inning of a tight baseball game. The way the turns work is that first the pitcher will "place" their pitch by choosing whether to pitch low or high and away/inside. The batter will try to guess what the pitcher's going to throw. After the guess, each side rolls dice. The dice roll determines if the pitch was a ball or strike, and whether or not the batter made contact. If the pitcher fools the batter on pitch location, he gets extra bonuses for the dice roll. If the batter guesses the pitch, he gets bonuses.
While this is a cool little quick baseball sim, I don't think I could see this as a full scale baseball game. I don't think that's how it was designed though. This game was only for pre-order and is not quite available yet. The pre-order price is pretty cheap though, only $20 (cheaper at some websites). It's very expandable as well. I will most likely pick this up for its price alone, I just gotta wait for it to actually come out!
I played four new games with my brother this weekend: Evolution, Tokaido, Operation FAUST, and Class Struggle.
Evolution: You have an animal and get dealt traits. You can use your traits to either feed from the vegetation or on other players' animals. Last animal alive wins. Sorta fun, but we only got through one game. Need more reps to get a feel for it.
Tokaido: You are a character taking a walking trek along the coast of Japan, stopping at various types of waypoints. Not a speed game, but a contest to gain the most points along the way. Fun, but a little mechanically boring.
Operation FAUST: You are working on collecting stolen Nazi art. First one to $1M in art wins. But there is a lying element where you can claim to have whatever you want in your hand for action cards. When you're called on your BS, the winning person in the challenge (You if you told the truth, challenger if you were actually lying) gets 1/2 of the credits of the loser. This was probably my favorite game of the weekend in terms of gameplay. But if we're going to be lying like this, I'd rather just play "BS"
Class Struggle: (Previous mention) The only way I can describe it is "Preachy Marxist Monopoly". I mean, just look at this cover. What a beautifully hot mess. Here's a Mental Floss article about it. In terms of gameplay, it was awful - essentially "Chutes and Ladders" - roll a die, move your spaces, get credits/debits. The plan was to play it once then for the brother to trade it for something, anything. He's now free to proceed to the second part of that plan.
We were up a cabin celebrating my mom's 60th birthday and played a few games:
1. Pounce - great card game if you don't know it by whatever name you're family may call it. It's a solitaire game that involves playing off others' hands.
2. Fall, Caesar - we got in a good game
3. Things - always fun trying to line up each person's answers
I went to the dentist today fully expecting to have a root canal. Once he drilled into the cavity, he decided that he could just go with a big filling. If it starts to hurt, though, I'll still have to have a root canal. That's a $1,500 gamble I'm willing to take.
If Kanye becomes president, will that make Kris Humphries the first eskimo brother?
I saw that on the interwebz. I think would want to go nearly everyone one of those shows. GBV/Pavement? Super Chunk/The Wedding Present? Dinosaur Jr/Kyuss? Yes please.
There's some schlub out there who sees this on the internet and realizes he had the opportunity to go to all of these shows, but he only went to one.
It was Dead Eye Dick (with special guest Huffamoose).
He had to wait until the encore to hear "New Age Girl".
The J&MC was touring with Mazzy Star for the album in which Hope Sandoval contributed vocals to "Sometimes Always".
She better have come back on stage for that song. Maybe for the encore, and then a cover with her as well?
Somewhere in the comments it mentions that, at that show, someone was heckling (?) or something, and Hope walked off the stage during MS's set. Then, she did come out with J&MC, but ended up walking off stage again. There doesn't seem to be a definitive account as it appears everyone's memory is a little hazy.
You read the comments?
You deserve a gold star.
It was pretty benign. The majority of the comments were to the tune of, "Hey, I was at one or two of these shows! ...I think."
October 1994 I had a 15 month old daughter. I have a feeling if I went to all these shows I wouldn't have had the opportunity to impregnate my wife in November of 1994 like I eventually did.
Because you would have been in Philadelphia?
Make sure your son knows the concert bills you had to pass up to make him.
I didn't mean that this Dead Eye Dick fan should have gone to all, but he had a fancy buffet set in front of him and he stuck to the iceberg lettuce salad.
I guess I should have said "...go to any or all of these shows..."
I would liked to have gone to a bunch of these. However, I was 8.
Well, when he was still making his AAA start today, I kind of expected this but it's still pretty damn frustrating.
Source confirms: No call-up for ROC RHP Jose Berrios, at least for now. Has 1 start left for Red Wings. #MNTwins
The rotation is a hot mess. He should have been up a month ago.
This is the player I've been most wanting to see, all season. I love amazing pitchers. Remember Santana? Liriano? Cripes, those guys were fun to watch. I miss having that.
LEN3 is reporting the call-ups are Tonkin, Vargas, Santana and Fryer. A spot on the 40-man will have to be cleared to make room for Fryer.
A spot on the 40-man will have to be cleared to make room for Fryer.
hooray!
I've been reading that they want to limit Berrios' innings. I don't know if that's a reason or an excuse.
I'm assuming, and hoping, there will be a few more call-ups once the minor league seasons are over. Even if the guys aren't that good, it doesn't make sense to call up that few people when the rules allow you to have more.
I'm okay with this. He's racked up innings, but I think he's a possibility for the bullpen in September. Let's not break this one -- he's been pretty special.
I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Over the off-season, though, there are going to be some interesting decisions made that will tell us whether this organization is willing to trust its young players or whether it's going to put its trust in mediocre veterans.
Well, Santana, Hughes and Nolasco are all signed to long-term deals that will be nearly impossible to trade for anything of value in the offseason. Count on those guys being in the starting rotation to start next year barring offseason injury. Milone and May are still cheap and under control. My guess is they will complete the rotation to start next year with Berrios in AAA ready to come up for the inevitable injury/ineffectiveness replacement.
So you think they're going to, what, non-tender Kyle Gibson?
Ground balls are overrated.
I understand their contracts, but in my opinion, a good organization will not let pitchers like Santana and Nolasco stand in the way of pitchers like May and Berrios. We could have a rotation next year, in whatever order, of Hughes, Gibson, May, Duffey, and Berrios, with Milone, Taylor Rogers, and Pat Dean ready if needed. In my opinion, it will not be a good sign if the Twins allow Santana and Nolasco (and Pelfrey) to stand in the way of that.
I agree with this. I will have more problems with the organization blocking pitching prospects than I ever had with them blocking position prospects.
It was also a global record in July, June, May, March, and February. I don't think that cooling off is going to happen for a while.
We certainly set no records in MO this summer.
Never fear, though. My mother told me last night that she heard on the Internet that the icecaps are refreezing and that there is no global warming.
It is no longer referred to (by scientists) as "global warming" -- "climate change" is the preferred terminology.
It must be true, though, if it was on the internet.
My mother, swallowed up alive by NEWSMAX and sites of that ilk. She comes with this, uh, stuff and expects me to take her seriously.
The Boy turns 21 today, and the Earth trembles.
Happy Birthday to the Boy.
My 21st was very low-key. Spring break of my sophomore year, but I was taking a wilderness firefighting training course and couldn't afford to be hung-over/sleepy.
He's an about-to-be senior. I'll take a wild guess that he's already familiar with alcoholic beverages, so I don't think he'll go to wild.
I misspoke - it was my junior year, but yeah, previous familiarity with alcoholic beverages rendered the need to go wild moot. Well, that, and the fact that I was straight-broke homey.
My 21st... I did the stupid "power hour" thing, drank far too much, and regretted it. Not responsible. Still ashamed of it to this day. I did not feel like drinking after that.
The actual birthday... well, it was May 17, 2002, and the Twins played the Yankees... that made me want to drink again.
My power hour consisted of a couple of quiet beers with the girlfriend at the Chatterbox.
The next night though...
My friend completely surprised me on my 21st. Showed up at my house totally unannounced from Minneapolis and took me out. We had one drink at the OB, then we went to Coaches where they had 3-for-1s. My three tequila sunrises sat on a table and we ended up playing Golden Axe until the bar closed. It's still one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me.
I was in NYC when my sister turned 21 and she wasn't planning to do anything. So I arranged for a group of (nice) guys we both knew to come "kidnap" her and take her out. (She was living with my parents that summer and I gave them advance warning.) It wasn't anything hugely crazy, but I couldn't stand the idea of her doing nothing. She thanked me later.
I'd gone out at midnight and bought a six pack of beer, and had dinner with my family, but my other plans for my birthday were to stay at home alone. This was far, far better.
Sounds like a wonderful friend!
I was a bit older than most of my good friends (except for those in the program for recovering addicts. One's advice to me: don't get hooked on drink, because then you can't ever have even another beer.).
I wasn't planning on going at all, but I ran into a few guys that were older.
At midnight, I went to Blondie's (now Triple Rock) and had a beer and a shot.
The day of my birthday I saw DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid at the Myth. I believe I had two Primos.
After the show, my of-age friend and I went to the end of Sunday Danceteria at First Ave and got upstairs and drank the complimentary bottle of Champagne they gave out back then.
As my birthday was a Sunday. I bought a case of Schell's Octoberfest at 9am on the Monday when Zipp's opened. I was there before the doors were opened.
The next weekend, though... I got out of a place just before I got kicked out.
Okay, there's, like, 20 things I'd like you to unpack here.
I went to this game with my family and fiance, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I did have a beer but I didn't really want to get drunk, since there was such great baseball happening.
Good thing you didn't have any obligations the next day...
Didn't we all go out to a movie that night, and then to the bar? Am I totally misremembering things? Were you just not part of that group because you had better things to do?
// We're getting old. Not as old as Stick, apparently, but... old.
I had a groom's dinner...
Here I was thinking you were trolling me, but, yeah, you guys probably weren't around for that. Bummer.
Did we not go to the groom's dinner? I don't remember it, so that's a distinct possibility.
Did you and your then-fiancee meet us at the Applebees to witness Giambi's grand slam? It seems like something like that happened.
I am not proud of mine. Beer and a bunch of shots from midnight to 2, then throwing up behind the Perkins in Menomonie and passing out in my bathroom. To this day, I will never get someone a shot on their 21st and have strongly encourage my brothers not to do the midnight thing.
The next night was the release of The Two Towers, so I had to watch a three hour movie while severely hung over.
I believe the number of different colors of shots I had on the actual 21st was around 5-6. That wasn't the total number of shots.
I'd done this for my roommate's 21st birthday, about a month prior to mine ... spent the night cleaning seafood linguini out of his bed and making sure he didn't have anything left to choke on. It was not fun.
Heh, I actually survived the evening remarkably unscathed. The only 2 victims were the city of Minneapolis (during afterbar migration, stole a tall traffic cone thingie while walking back to my place for some reason), and my roommate's girlfriend (received several vulgar dismissals of her noise complaints as well as invitations to kindly remove herself from the area; we all haaaaated her, so everyone was pretty much behind it).
My movie the next night was Attack Of The Clones, so I think I win for painful movie...
Ouch
On my 21st birthday I was alone in my college apartment, not drinking. I think I didn't get drunk until I was 24. At a work party. And I got on a table and danced for some older nurses. Professionalism wasn't my forte yet at that age, though I'd like to think the company's administrator getting hammered wasn't the best modeling behavior for an impressionable 24 year-old. I had also already put in my four-week notice, so I was senior sliding things.
I'm so old that the drinking age in Minnesota was 19 when I was in college, so 21 was not a big deal.
I sent a note to my Dad asking if he felt old - Highway 61 Revisited was released 50 years ago yesterday, Help! hit the states 50 years ago on August 13th, and Out of Our Heads dropped on July 30th. He was just coming into prime music consumption age in 1965.
All in my lifetime.
And I'm older than you are.
We're both of a certain age, though.
I saw a picture of myself today and thought, "I look old enough to be somebody's grandpa." Then I realized, I am old enough to be somebody's grandpa. Oddly, that made me feel better. At least it's normal for me to look that way.
19? I'm so old that I thought it was 18.
It was 18 for a while. But, 19 by the time I got to college. And 21 for my brother, who is two years younger than me.
The drinking age was 18 when I moved from Colorado to Minnesota in 1977 at the age of 18. For me it just meant the difference between buying 3.2 there and strong beer here.
my brother (4 years older than me) was in the group that got "grandfathered" when they shifted the drinking age up. I'm a couple of years older than Stick and, therefore, so old that I don't remember what the legal age actually was when I was in college. Was it really 19? I hit that the summer before what should have been my sophomore year. I was in N'field, playing softball with my lifer-housekeeping crew buddies, drinking my share, losing a lot of weight, and getting ready to move back home to go to Spamtown CC for a year.
History
History.
Lowered to 18 in 1973. Raised to 19 in 1976. Raised to 21 in 1986. I turned 21 in 1985. So I had that going for me. Which was nice.
For my 21st birthday, my mom took me out to a steak dinner, and I tried a Strawberry Daiquiri (I was NOT a drinker back then... actually still not). Then I went bowling with friends where I tried an amaretto sour (so awesome). That was the extent of my drinking. But the fact that I still remember it this long after must mean I think it was at least memorable.
mmmm. Amaretto stone sour. Mmmm. I haven't had one of those in 35 years.
I once bought a bottle of cheap amaretto. It doesn't work out that well.
My own 21st was less exciting my sister's. A friend who was of age took me out to Bryant Lake Bowl after midnight for a couple beverages. The next night, my roommate and I hosted a little party at our funny little apartment (the lower floor of a house that has since been torn down). We had food as well as drink; it was low-key but still a good time. What I mostly remember is that it was a funny convergence of friends from different parts of my life who hadn't met before.
Mags (or anyone really) - plans fell through for the other couple(s) who were going to use the other pair of tickets I bought for the Merle, Kris & Sturgill show. Plaza seating - Left Center section.
Shoot me an e-mail if interested: bmjohnson327 at hot mail . com
I'll get a hold of FW and see what she thinks.
Update: Email sent.
The Wave gets trashed in Twins Daily. I totally agree with all points, but I also agree that it's fun for the young'uns. My suggestion is that it the ballpark make it a coordinated event, but BETWEEN INNINGS. This way, the fans can have their fun, and it doesn't take away from the actual gameplay.
I agree with your suggestion. It is fun, for a limited time, and at the appropriate moments. It looks kind of cool. If not at a sporting event, when are you going to get that kind of thing? It's the perfect setting, the timing just needs to be adjusted slightly.
During pitching changes would be even better.
Every game has inning breaks. Not every game has pitching changes. Don't want some poor kid driving several hours from outstate, only to have to sit through competing perfect games and not get to witness the wave.
Yeah, that would be a terrible fate. 😛
They could do it for both then. Not every break but use it occasionally for both.
I was at a game in '04 with a group of about 8 or 9 guys. There wasn't much going on in the game, so two of the guys went down to the first fully open row of seats in left center and started working the crowd to start the wave. It only took about five or six laps (running from one aisle to the next, choreographing the standing) before the thing took off. It was awesome.
Came here this morning because my FB feed has a picture of my SIL holding a millipede that is as long as both of her hands. And she's smiling. Seemed like something Nibs would want to know about.
no pictures?
That'd just be cruel.
I don't know about that one, but here's a cute little bug that the boy found.
* Right-click, "open in new tab"
* Read tab name "suck-it-nibbish.jpeg"
* nope nope nope
1 millipede (at 12 o'clock), 11 centipedes.
That millipede looks a lot like the one my SIL was holding.
A giant millipede perhaps.
And let's face it -- while analysts such as my good friend Brian Kenny of MLB Network won't want to hear it -- the Twins succeeded in changing their culture by hiring manager Paul Molitor and signing Torii Hunter, even though Hunter's OBP is -- gulp -- only .290.
Oh my goodness, Ken Rosenthal.
Souhan's Sunday column was about how big money equals big disappointment. Yes, of course, -1.1 rWAR Hunter was listed as a positive for his power and leadership. Also included was how Hughes, now that he had his money, decided to stop playing well.
Jim Souhan, the Scott Walker of columnists.
Good god.
I had the displeasure of listening to "The Common Man" in my car at lunch whining about how the Twins were sure to lose Sano when he hits free agency in half a dozen years. Yeah, I'd love the Twins to ink him to a smart, long extension. I want him in a Twins uniform for a long time. But let's not start on this crap for another 4-5 years or so.
He's just trolling. TSWoC really believes the 54!+ he's peddling.
Fair enough.
It's an established fact that listening to The Common Man talk about baseball makes you dumber. I've literally heard the brain cells die in my head.
And as soon as they do sign him to a long-term extension, he'll complain that he's overpaid because he's a slow DH that strikes out too much.
Precisely.
PunMan's Board Game of the Week
So far I've focused mainly on run-of-the-mill strategy type board games. Today I'm going to shift to something a little more on topic with this site. Bottom of the Ninth is a neat little baseball sim that I got to try out at Gen Con a month ago.
The scope of the game lies within the name, as you'll play the Ninth inning of a tight baseball game. The way the turns work is that first the pitcher will "place" their pitch by choosing whether to pitch low or high and away/inside. The batter will try to guess what the pitcher's going to throw. After the guess, each side rolls dice. The dice roll determines if the pitch was a ball or strike, and whether or not the batter made contact. If the pitcher fools the batter on pitch location, he gets extra bonuses for the dice roll. If the batter guesses the pitch, he gets bonuses.
While this is a cool little quick baseball sim, I don't think I could see this as a full scale baseball game. I don't think that's how it was designed though. This game was only for pre-order and is not quite available yet. The pre-order price is pretty cheap though, only $20 (cheaper at some websites). It's very expandable as well. I will most likely pick this up for its price alone, I just gotta wait for it to actually come out!
I played four new games with my brother this weekend: Evolution, Tokaido, Operation FAUST, and Class Struggle.
Evolution: You have an animal and get dealt traits. You can use your traits to either feed from the vegetation or on other players' animals. Last animal alive wins. Sorta fun, but we only got through one game. Need more reps to get a feel for it.
Tokaido: You are a character taking a walking trek along the coast of Japan, stopping at various types of waypoints. Not a speed game, but a contest to gain the most points along the way. Fun, but a little mechanically boring.
Operation FAUST: You are working on collecting stolen Nazi art. First one to $1M in art wins. But there is a lying element where you can claim to have whatever you want in your hand for action cards. When you're called on your BS, the winning person in the challenge (You if you told the truth, challenger if you were actually lying) gets 1/2 of the credits of the loser. This was probably my favorite game of the weekend in terms of gameplay. But if we're going to be lying like this, I'd rather just play "BS"
Class Struggle: (Previous mention) The only way I can describe it is "Preachy Marxist Monopoly". I mean, just look at this cover. What a beautifully hot mess. Here's a Mental Floss article about it. In terms of gameplay, it was awful - essentially "Chutes and Ladders" - roll a die, move your spaces, get credits/debits. The plan was to play it once then for the brother to trade it for something, anything. He's now free to proceed to the second part of that plan.
We were up a cabin celebrating my mom's 60th birthday and played a few games:
1. Pounce - great card game if you don't know it by whatever name you're family may call it. It's a solitaire game that involves playing off others' hands.
2. Fall, Caesar - we got in a good game
3. Things - always fun trying to line up each person's answers
I went to the dentist today fully expecting to have a root canal. Once he drilled into the cavity, he decided that he could just go with a big filling. If it starts to hurt, though, I'll still have to have a root canal. That's a $1,500 gamble I'm willing to take.
If Kanye becomes president, will that make Kris Humphries the first eskimo brother?
So I take it he's not endorsing anyone for 2016?
I can't believe no one's thought of this before.
AP feature on Sano.
Leadership.
This is too good. Just perfect.
He was signed at age 16 as a shortstop, after all.
Nearly every single 16 year-old who's worthy of playing in the majors is a center fielder, shortstop or catcher.
Occasionally you'll have a slugging first baseman or a pitcher who can't play another position well, but for the most part, that's true.
Free: So, you turn the switch, then set the time machine to October 1994.
holy freaking hell
I saw that on the interwebz. I think would want to go nearly everyone one of those shows. GBV/Pavement? Super Chunk/The Wedding Present? Dinosaur Jr/Kyuss? Yes please.
There's some schlub out there who sees this on the internet and realizes he had the opportunity to go to all of these shows, but he only went to one.
It was Dead Eye Dick (with special guest Huffamoose).
He had to wait until the encore to hear "New Age Girl".
The J&MC was touring with Mazzy Star for the album in which Hope Sandoval contributed vocals to "Sometimes Always".
She better have come back on stage for that song. Maybe for the encore, and then a cover with her as well?
Somewhere in the comments it mentions that, at that show, someone was heckling (?) or something, and Hope walked off the stage during MS's set. Then, she did come out with J&MC, but ended up walking off stage again. There doesn't seem to be a definitive account as it appears everyone's memory is a little hazy.
You read the comments?
You deserve a gold star.
It was pretty benign. The majority of the comments were to the tune of, "Hey, I was at one or two of these shows! ...I think."
October 1994 I had a 15 month old daughter. I have a feeling if I went to all these shows I wouldn't have had the opportunity to impregnate my wife in November of 1994 like I eventually did.
Because you would have been in Philadelphia?
Make sure your son knows the concert bills you had to pass up to make him.
I didn't mean that this Dead Eye Dick fan should have gone to all, but he had a fancy buffet set in front of him and he stuck to the iceberg lettuce salad.
I guess I should have said "...go to any or all of these shows..."
I would liked to have gone to a bunch of these. However, I was 8.
Well, when he was still making his AAA start today, I kind of expected this but it's still pretty damn frustrating.
The rotation is a hot mess. He should have been up a month ago.
This is the player I've been most wanting to see, all season. I love amazing pitchers. Remember Santana? Liriano? Cripes, those guys were fun to watch. I miss having that.
LEN3 is reporting the call-ups are Tonkin, Vargas, Santana and Fryer. A spot on the 40-man will have to be cleared to make room for Fryer.
A spot on the 40-man will have to be cleared to make room for Fryer.
hooray!
I've been reading that they want to limit Berrios' innings. I don't know if that's a reason or an excuse.
I'm assuming, and hoping, there will be a few more call-ups once the minor league seasons are over. Even if the guys aren't that good, it doesn't make sense to call up that few people when the rules allow you to have more.
I'm okay with this. He's racked up innings, but I think he's a possibility for the bullpen in September. Let's not break this one -- he's been pretty special.
I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Over the off-season, though, there are going to be some interesting decisions made that will tell us whether this organization is willing to trust its young players or whether it's going to put its trust in mediocre veterans.
Well, Santana, Hughes and Nolasco are all signed to long-term deals that will be nearly impossible to trade for anything of value in the offseason. Count on those guys being in the starting rotation to start next year barring offseason injury. Milone and May are still cheap and under control. My guess is they will complete the rotation to start next year with Berrios in AAA ready to come up for the inevitable injury/ineffectiveness replacement.
So you think they're going to, what, non-tender Kyle Gibson?
Ground balls are overrated.
I understand their contracts, but in my opinion, a good organization will not let pitchers like Santana and Nolasco stand in the way of pitchers like May and Berrios. We could have a rotation next year, in whatever order, of Hughes, Gibson, May, Duffey, and Berrios, with Milone, Taylor Rogers, and Pat Dean ready if needed. In my opinion, it will not be a good sign if the Twins allow Santana and Nolasco (and Pelfrey) to stand in the way of that.
I agree with this. I will have more problems with the organization blocking pitching prospects than I ever had with them blocking position prospects.