38 thoughts on “April 19, 2016: Golden Sledgehammer”

  1. I am far more of a Toby Ziegler than a Josh Lyman, but after my neighbors and I defeated a gas station proposed for the entrance to my neighborhood (right next to the senior apartments) by a multi-billion dollar convenience store chain & my alder at the City Planning Commission last night, I feel just a little bit like this today:

    httpv://youtu.be/NBqokPYnhhE

      1. Honestly, planning looks like a seriously cool gig. One of the earlier items on their agenda was the remodeling of a hundred year old building on a major street into a mixed-use building, plus the construction of a second residential building on the same site. It'll add 140+ residential units to our downtown, including a bunch that will qualify for rent assistance through a novel, semi-obscure program the developers found. When a bunch of people are getting priced out of that area by bigger luxury condo/apartment developers, it was really cool to see one that wanted to try to maintain access to that part of the city for lower-income residents. I'm sure there are mundanities that come with a planning gig, but there are really cool things, too.

        Then again, I'm told my enjoyment of attending meetings is abnormal.

        1. I'm told my enjoyment of attending meetings is abnormal.
          I've been to City Council meetings in New Ulm and Brooklyn Park, MN.
          I can tell you that you've been informed correctly, you weirdo.

          1. I attended a lot of city council meetings as city attorney for Wessington Springs. I don't miss them a bit.

          2. I have been to many city council meetings up here too. I do find some of it very interesting. I do find a lot of it frustrating. We have some...um.... issues on our council right now. The challenge with any boards, councils, etc is to get everyone to interpret their responsibilities or mission the same way. City councils are often susceptible to agendas. Agendas stink.

        2. I went to a city council meeting last year. One of the worst experiences I can imagine. They pushed the issue to the very end so my neighbors weren't allowed to speak until after midnight on a weeknight. All but one person there spoke out against the plan. The city council went ahead with it anyway. Total waste of time and a total sham. It was obvious that many on the city council didn't even know what they were talking about.

    3. I don't often look to writing about sports for insight into the human experience. This one's going to stick with me for a good while.

  3. H/T to DPWY - thanks again for the ticket. Hope your hearings run smoothly today.

    Rain shortened game allowed us to watch the end of the Wild game on the jumbotron at Target Field. I still don't think the Wild have enough juice to win this series, but considering I got to watch a win for the local nine* and a playoff win for the Manbearpigs, I'll call it a win-win.

    The mammoth homerun by Park, an opposite field blast off the facing of the second deck in right center, was amazing. Also amazing:

    Brewers reliever Blaine Boyer faced his former team in the sixth, allowing two runs on back-to-back RBI doubles from Dozier and Mauer. It was Mauer's 1,711th hit of his career, moving him into fifth on Minnesota's all-time hit list, passing Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew.
    -Rhett Bollinger on MLB.com

    #witnessinggreatness

    *Didn't know they'd won when I left - hadn't called it yet but.

    1. Pssht. Of Killebrew's 1713 hits as a Twin, 475 were homers. How many homers has Mauer hit?!?!one? /strib

      Seriously, though. Mauer's 5th in the franchise (i.e., including Washington) for doubles (345) despite not cracking the Top 10 for plate appearances (he's 13th). Of post-1961 Twins, only Puckett (414) is ahead of him.

      (And yeah, Killebrew's 1:3.61 homers/hits ratio is obscene.)

      1. I was listening to the game on the radio last night and after Mauer's double that moved him up the standings, Dazzle was talking about how he'll have a statue at Target Field one day and they'll need to find a Gate 7. I was glad to hear someone associated with the team say it, because it's pretty sad to see how underappreciated Mauer has been.

    1. I've seen those when over dams and waterfalls before.
      Wait, that's not the same thing. I'm pretty sure I've seen it though, when fog is burning off or getting into or out of fog through elevation changes.

  5. Trey got his first hit of the season last night! He singled up the middle and also struck out. His Astros team won 18-2 to remain undefeated. They hit 6 home runs in the game.

  9. Re: Golden Sledgehammer
    Park will get some cheap home runs and bring his average down. Therefore, I find the concept as given mathematically unsound.
    Better might be to average all homers over 400 ft or some similar distance.
    Better yet would be to square all homer distances over [400 ft] and add that up. Plusses for more production and distance. No penalty for shorter homers.
    1 homer of 500 feet worth 400 homers of 405 feet, 100 homers of 410 feet, 25 homers of 420 feet, etc.

  10. I picked up a sixer of Grain Belt Lock and Dam lager over the weekend. I like it, hoppier than I expected and more to my tastes than the Nordeast, but the original Friendly Beer is still my go-to brew.

      1. meat - You have my email. I don't have your Crescent City address. Let's remedy this conundrum.

  11. Watching Los Gigantes game. They flash a graphic. Guess who is the active leader in batting average with 2 out and runner (s) in scoring position?

    'Hint: boooooooo' SelectShow

        1. 229 RBIS in 686 PA. 178 hits, including 42 doubles, 5 triples, 10 HRS, 149 BBs and 78 Ks.

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