32 thoughts on “April 19, 2023: Versus”

1. Wild game 2 tonight.

   I looked this up two years ago; after the Wild won game 1 on the road in overtime:

   Road teams that win games 1 and 2 in the NHL playoffs win 80% of the series (79 out of 99 historically). Road teams that win game 1 and lose game 2 win 43.5% of the series (70 out of 161 historically).

   1. If the Twins game goes a bit long there is a potential to have the Twins, Wild, and Wolves all playing at once

      1. Last night's game was the first over three hours. Repeat that again and there would be some overlap.

2. Probably a good choice for avoiding spoilers. My wife and I have been making our nightly viewing choices based on how likely it is we will see something about it. Current prioritization is Succession -> Ted Lasso -> Yellow Jackets -> Perry Mason. Mandalorian is highly ranked too, but that’s one the kids watch with us, so not in direct competition with the others.

   I’ll be curious to hear what you think of the Mad Men finale.

   1. Mandalorian is highly ranked too,

      For me, its ranking has fallen this season. I've been watching Severance but I'll take a pause to finish Mandalorian since it's the season finale.

      I'm trying to remember the Mad Men finale. Without looking up the plot, I remember it being weird.

      1. I finally got to start Mando S3 last night. I know I'm supposed to have watched Boba Fett for continuity, but I just wasn't bothered with it.

         Spoiler	SelectShow
         Grogu is back, and I honestly don't care why or how. Just <handwave> whatever, it's fine.

         1. Mostly same. I skipped all of Boba Fett, so I read the plot summaries for the final episodes to get up to speed on Mando's part.

         2. I too didn't watch Boba Fett and just kinda knew that Grogu was somehow united with Mando. But whatever, didn't really care how. As for Season 3:

            Actual Spoiler	SelectShow
            I've been blowing hot and cold. While I like that they've gone away from Baby Yoda and Mando drop in on a planet and have an adventure like in previous seasons and I definitely think it's cool to see the New Republic try to govern after defeating the Empire, and not doing a very good job of it. However, some of the execution has been lacking. Not sure I'm buying the whole Mandalore rising plot.

      2. the best part of Boba Fett was

         Spoiler	SelectShow
         Space Raylan Givens

      3. On the Mad Men finale:

         Spoiler

         SelectShow

         I don't remember many plot details either, and I also remember the rest of the episode being a bit weird. The part that stuck with was the very last scene, which I absolutely loved. Hippy commune Don, seeming like his time in advertising is done. That look of peace on his face as he hears "I'd like to teach the world to sing," then watching the wheels turn as he comes up with the Coke commercial. He really can't change, even if he wanted to.

         1. Pure Spoilers

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            WFH today, so I watched it on my lunch break. I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I mean, it's the more realistic one, and I wasn't expecting him to have an epiphany and become a new person, but I guess I was hoping for something a little less cynical than that. (Also, like I said, it was 8 years ago, so I knew the end moment was coming, I just wasn't sure how they were going to get there.) I was a little worried that we wouldn't get much closure on the other characters on the show, but they did a better job of that than I was expecting. Peggy was kind of the most fan service-y, but who cares, she deserves it. I like that Kenny was the catalyst for Joan's new career. Pete* and Peggy's little moment was very nice. Melanie showing she's cosmically wiser than you'd think. Roger and Marie! ("I met her through Megan, actually. She's old enough to be her mother. Well, she is her mother.") Rooting for those two kids... *In the first season, I was like when the hell are they going to write this guy out of the show? One of the more surprising aspects of this show was his development. You didn't like him but still somehow maintained this strange respect for him. It helped that he got punched in the face a lot. I've been unhappy with how unkind the show has always been with Betty, and they gave her such a shitty ending. I mean it was done well, but I hate that they did it. There was that really nice moment between Don and her where they're talking about her going to school a couple episodes back. She seemed to getting to such a better, healthier place, and the writers were like, no, screw you, cancer! There were a lot of great little moments in the finale though. Some really biting lines. Stephanie telling him maybe forgetting isn't the way. The part where Betty tells Don she wants to keep things normal and that means he can't be in their lives was such a gut punch (amazing scene between those two). Anyway, good episode, great show. I was hesitant to start because of how big a commitment it was going to be, but I'm glad I watched it.

3. The Twins on over-the-air-tv?
   in this economy?

   The @Twins will host the Washington Nationals on Friday, April 21 — a game you can watch on FOX 9+. https://t.co/Qu8aeaGSHf

   — FOX 9 (@FOX9) April 19, 2023

   an aside, and this is something I've thought about since the BallySports bankruptcy stuff started to bubble up. I wonder if the local FOX affiliate has enough cash to strike a deal and bring all the games to FOX9+

   1. I read the Twins are in the final year of their current TV deal and are earning $40 million this year from it. Can any of the local channels fork over that much for the season? And this doesn't even touch on future seasons. I read the Rangers, who now also aren't being paid, are due $111 million this year in their deal.

      1. I wonder if the Twins even sign a deal, honestly. Maybe something short-term until a critical mass of clubs’ contracts are up and the league rolls them into a paid service free of local blackouts?

         1. From what I can tell, the Twins are the only team with Bally's that are on the final year of their contract. Selfishly, I hope the Twins become the founding member of blackout free mlb.tv. They have a smaller TV market so I assume the team is okay with an even split of revenues between participating teams.

4. Big curveball thrown my way last night. Found out the restaurant in the mall next to me is closing down for good on May 7th. Apparently the mall refused to renew the lease as they are signing a bigger tenant soon. The restaurant is the second busiest joint in town after mine and was in business for 33 years. I have a lot of friends who work there and my wife and I often would leave our joint on weekends and sneak over there for a cocktail and food. On one hand, my heart goes out to everyone involved. Sucks to be shut down out of no fault of your own. On our end, I am bracing for even more sales growth on top of the crazy numbers we have been doing. I was awake most of the night last night trying to figure out how to handle the sales increase. I assume from early May until late September we will now be full and on a wait probably all 7 lunches and dinners each week. I might have to shutdown one day a week this summer just to maintain some sanity for myself and my staff.

   1. Plot twist: you're the bigger tenant and taking over that restaurant as well

      1. Cliffhanger: P&P secretly bought the mall in a backroom deal last summer! Will it remain secret?!

5. Kepler back to leading off?! I can't wait until Kirilloff returns.

6. https://twitter.com/i_am_Bilby/status/1648736671360221196?t=zT2sisDk2fGu6xk1S6vDig&s=19

7. Arriving in Houston at 6:54. ‘Stros game at 7:10. Have to get to our lodging downtown and drop our bags. Kinda wishing for longer games this one night!

   (Plot twist, two of our group offered to gate check their carryon, and apparently now united sends those to the carousel rather than the jet bridge. Bleh.)

8. Question about Succession since it was brought up. What's the attraction to this show? I watched maybe the first 2/3 of the first episode and was not hooked. I see that the latest episodes are getting massive ratings, so I'm sure it picks up somewhere along the line. Is the strength of the show in the plot, the characters, the acting, the writing? Just curious.

   One thing that instantly turns me off to shows on streaming services and cable is when they throw out F-bombs every other word. I get it, it's an adult show. I don't mind a little here and there, but sometimes I feel like these shows use it so much to establish that it's an "adult" show that I lose interest in the plot. (I like to say that swearing is like a spice in cooking. A little here and there provides some good flavor, but too much overpowers the dish). Succession isn't the only one. I started Last of Us, and that had plenty as well, but I didn't feel like it was as overpowering.

   1. Logan Roy is a profane dude. His kids are monsters. King Lear disguised as Rupert Murdock. I love it but I don’t know why.

   2. I'm watching it but I don't love it. All the backstabbing ends up with quite a few twists, but all the characters are totally unlikeable. I don't hang out with too many billionaires but it seems like these are pretty much caricatures of rich people.

9. Hope, a deadly thing. Our counter offer was accepted. House is under contract. Inspection tomorrow am. The next 14 days are …. pins and needles. Burnt sage and burnt offerings appreciated.

   1. Congratulations!

   2. Yes!

   3. Good luck!

   4. Very good news. Maybe give the gangbangers a gift certificate to out of town for the next two weeks.

   5. Offerings of burnt ends? Sending good wishes downriver.

10. I don't know if they win but I think the wolves play significantly better tonight, not only because it would be hard for them to play worse, but also because their Whole Thing has been kinda doing the "atrocious showing followed by surprisingly good showing that gives false hope"

    — Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) April 20, 2023

    1. This tracks with what I saw tonight.

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