36 thoughts on “September 20, 2018: SA(I don’t k)NO(w about this)”

    1. A view from Chi-town

      Meanwhile in Chicago, the narrative on the trade has changed as well. Markkanen appears to be a piece the team can build around moving forward, Kris Dunn flashed much of what made him a top five pick in 2016, and the Front Office still felt strong enough conviction in Zach LaVine despite a down year while recovering from ACL surgery, to extend him for north of $75 million. Some of the same young players that drew the ire of Butler, such as Cam Payne, Denzel Valentine and Bobby Portis took large strides this past season with Butler removed from the equation. The locker room in Chicago has been a much happier place sans Butler, and now appears to be something people are happy to be part of.

      Whether or not the three players acquired for Butler will ever be the core of the next Bulls championship team is still up in the air. But what is clear now is that Jimmy Butler is a locker room cancer that the Bulls were fortunate to rid themselves of.

  3. Hey AMR, I was thinking on Saturday of going to Wolsfeld Woods to do some mushroom photography. Would the rain we've had these last two days and potential storm today destroy the mushrooms? Making it not really worth it?

    It's a pretty wooded area (one of the last remnants of the Big Woods in the metro area) so has lots of protection, but then again we've had a lot of rain too. Was thinking of riding my bike and while getting a good bike ride is never a bad idea, the mushroom photography part is the featured activity.

    Let me know.

    2. I've been there. I saw some really cool mushrooms and was bummed that I couldn't bring them home for better looks. Like a giant Hapalopilus croceus (18" wide at least).
      The rain will push up more than anything it's pushed over, unless it rains hard in the 12 or so hours before you get there (which is not forecast).

      If you're interested in ID, please get a few images of each. Looking under the edge of the cap at the gills or pores and whether there's any ring on the stem can help significantly.
      I assume you'll post some on FB and I'll come by to give you names. Not that you'd have to post all pictures, but having a few more angles in reserve is good.

        1. Another tip: Some mushrooms "bleed" when cut or "bruise" (change color) when bumped. Those features and the resulting colors can be a helpful clue in identification (and sometimes just look cool).
          I believe that the rules for SNAs are only that you don't remove anything, not that you don't pick anything (and leave it lay there). But I assume you're not looking for science but for art/fun, so whether you would do that is up to your discretion.

    1. I’d buy pretty easily an argument that Kepler’s glove is undervalued in popular opinion. Fangraphs’ fielding stats (DRS, UZR/150, Inside Edge) confirms that he has solid value, but I’m not sure that’s broadly appreciated, even among baseball writers. His lack of progress at the plate is likely keeping him under the radar. Assuming the Twins would be competitive in retaining his services, I’d much rather see Kepler realizing the potential he seemed to have after 2015, where he was drawing comps to the younger years of Kotsay, Damon, Granderson, Klesko, & Conine.

      One of the reasons Buxton’s struggles (health & hitting) have been so maddening is that they’ve prevented the Twins from playing their best fielding outfield, one that’s in pretty solid running for the best defensive outfield they’ve likely ever had. That’s not news to anyone here, but I think it’s sometimes easy to get wrapped up in just the effect on Buxton, rather than on the whole alignment of the outfield.

  5. Trivia for today: Name the tallest actor to be nominated for an Oscar, and the tallest actor to win an Oscar.

    Tallest Oscar Nominee SelectShow
    Tallest Oscar Winner SelectShow

    1. Interesting:
      1. MN is more western in affinities than most of Wyoming or Colorado.
      2. southern and southeastern MN is more insular than Metro/northern/western MN
      3. Douglas County, Wisc is effectively Minnesotan. As is Fargo.
      4. But southwestern MN is effectively SoDak.
      5. Confirms my observation that northern Idaho and southern Idaho are different states. (There's only one road that connects them!)
      6. The local connectedness map (with "white patches of Appalachia") should be normalized for geographic density. In some places out west, there may not be many additional Facebook users within 50 miles.
      7. Wish they would have included Canadians.

      1. I was a little surprised by the clear line between MN and WI but not the Dakotas. I guess we're the only direction you can go from the Dakotas if you're going big.

      2. Re: #5 - Saw a show on TV recently, can't remember what it was, but I remember this line from a female character: "I'm from Idaho. The potato part, not the white supremacy part."

        1. I guess I didn't realize they were different parts. But I guess that's more about the militants rather than latent racism, and they're usually close to the wilderness. Ruby Ridge was near the Canadian border.
          So that doesn't really fall into the north/south split, as some of the wild areas are to the eastern part (the southern area of the border with Montana). So by definition, few people are from the "white supremacy part". But there are enough people that are from neither that nor the "potato part".

  7. So, I got a hearing test at the ENT, and it turned out pretty decent. Doc handed me a new set of exercises* to battle the BPPV (which has gotten better; it's only one ear now and in limited types of motion) , otherwise nothing shocking to report, which is appreciated.

    *I've graduated from Brandt-Daroff exercises to Epley and Semont Maneuvers

  8. Apparently Thibs wants to leave if Butler goes.

    If I was calling the shots, there is no way I would hire a coach who is completely unwilling to go through a rebuild to a team with a young franchise player. If he feels that strongly about rebuilding, I don’t think he’d ever value young players correctly, and I certainly wouldn’t trust him to a GM role where he could just burn the place down and walk away.

    1. Sounds more like if all they get is draft picks or at least very young players and draft picks. Of course, getting comparable veteran talent for Jimmy would be very difficult.

      1. I mean, it’s probably even a bigger problem if your GM is only interested in getting veteran players back rather than best players available.

    2. Which is exactly the excuse Glen should use to get the hell rid of him. He's a terrible owner, though, so anything can happen.

  9. If anyone likes dingers, there is some awful pitching going on in Detroit (mlb TV free game of the day). Five home runs and it's still in the second inning.

    1. 11-8 final. After what the Tigers did against Twins pitching, that's some pretty bad pitching by the Royals. I noticed that the A's scored 3 TDs against the Angels.

    1. The image at 0:25 is across the street from my office. Pepper should recognize the "public art" that I call "Whale Ribcage".
      The next image, on a stairwell, is in my office building. I believe the last image in the set is right outside the building, to the north.
      So I believe the third image is crossing the street near my office.

      Bigfoot was in my building (0:38-forward). I think I remember this, didn't know it was a political ad.
      The signage at 0:45 was erected for the filming, Globopharma does not have an office in this building.

      1. Ha! A few weeks ago, I saw a teenage boy being photographed while sitting on the bottom of one of the "ribs". I got the sense it was going to be one of those senior photos where everyone involved was just trying too hard to make it look cool...

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