64 thoughts on “April 14, 2016: 73 Wins”

  1. At nba.com this morning, the big headline is Kobe Bryant scoring sixty points, with the Warriors' seventy-third win relegated to a sidebar. If I was more of a basketball fan, I'd be upset about that.

    1. I could certainly see that in baseball, too. If, say, the Pirates won 117 games, but someone like Derek Jeter hit three homers in his final game of his career, I bet the same thing would happen.

      1. Probably. And obviously Kobe getting sixty in his last game is a big story. But the Warriors have done something we may never see again in our lifetimes.

        1. Kobe getting 60 in his last game is the most Kobe thing ever. It seems as though it has ALWAYS been about Kobe for Kobe.

    2. I find it...disturbing that the NBA and the media decided it needed to rehabilitate and celebrate that man. I'm still stuck on the rape allegation and everything that surrounded it.
      That, and I never liked him to begin with.

      1. I hated him less when he started wearing tights. He looked nerdy and that made him much less hateable that the jock picture I'd had of him before.
        I haven't thought about my opinion of him in years.

        1. I can't believe the number of women sports writers / news casters / celebrities trotted out to praise Kobe. Redemption, thy name is a diamond ring and 'settled out of court'.

    4. I had the same initial thought, but I would say that GS dominated headlines throughout the season and their 73 wins will keep getting press during the playoffs.

      Also, the way that US sports go, I have a feeling that the playoffs will have a really big impact on how the 73 wins are viewed.

        1. Even in Seattle all the nostalgia is about The Double and beating the Yankees in the playoffs. 2001 is a complete afterthought if it is remembered at all.

          1. I understand The Double being more of a fond memory, but damn that 01 team was fun to watch even from out here.

      2. Oh, I fully agree with that. Seventy-three wins will be a footnote if they don't win the championship.

        1. Progressive record for highest winning pct:

          1947: Washington Capitols, 49-11 (.817). Lost to Chicago in semifinals.

          1972: LA Lakers, 69-13, won title.

          1996: Chicago Bulls, 72-10. Won title.

          The most wins in an NBA season without subsequently winning the title:

          Boston, 1973. 68-14. The Knicks (57-25) won the Eastern Conference Finals over the Celtics and won the title.

          Dallas, 2007. 67-15. The Spurs (58-24) won the title. Dallas famously got dumped in the first round by GS.

          1. That GSW team (07) was the year Baron Davis dunked over Kirilenko, if I remember correctly

    1. This... Does not surprise me much. Actually, I am surprised that it wasn't somehow football related. But yeah, it may have been a long time ago since I was there, but there were some over serious f*@kers in that city.

      1. yea, well, he's only won 2 state titles, and none since 2009. What's he done lately?

        1. If I ever get that upset about the won-loss record of the teams my kids are on, I'm pretty sure I'll kick my own ass.

          On a more glib note, I had no idea anyone in Stillwater cared about hockey.

  4. A few random observations from Target Field last night :

    1. Weird thing: not one player slid on the bases last night. I wonder how often that happens in a game. I doubt anyone else even notices quirks like that to keep track.
    2. A few rows in front of me, a fan was wearing a Rick Anderson jersey sitting next to a fan on a Tom Brunansky jersey. I kept wondering when the Scott Ullger fan would arrive.
    3. Plenty of good seats available. Last year's mirage isn't going to boost ticket sales much because the crowd already had no hope.
    4. The base coaches are struggling getting foul balls to kids with the new netting.
    5. Someone in one of the press boxes (two to the left of the Twins TV box) was showing some great moves when they played Michael Jackson's Bad between innings.

    1. Looks like the start has understandably deflated the ticket market. Seats on Stubhub start at $6 for today's game. So frustrating that I'll be in conference call hell only a few blocks from the stadium, it is a perfect day to skip out of work to go watch some baseball.

      1. I hear you. I was on deadline for two projects today and had to abandon hope of going to the game, and I'm also in easy walking distance. Made up for it with a couple Schell's Pils on a sunny patio at happy hour after work.

      1. They made them for Rick Anderson to wear. I could have bought a game-worn one years ago at Twins Fest for $100 or so.

    3. And the Rick Stelmaszek fan! (The Twins' website still lists Stelly as a current coach along with Anderson, Ullger, Jerry White, and Steve Liddle, despite TR firing them all in the last few years.)

      If I were to wear a coach jersey, I'd be hard-pressed to find one better than Terwilliger's 45. But it's have to be a custom job – there's no way I'd fit into one of his game-worn units. I'd be tempted to go for a baby blue '86 model.

      1. I'd take an Al Newman jersey. I went to a game specifically for Al Newman bobblehead night once.

      2. If I were picking a manager's jersey to sport I think Wayne Hattway would be my choice.

  6. The gumball was removed from my knee this morning. Everything went smoothly, and now I'm all hopped up on Mountain dew narcotics.

          1. Where's that like reaction button?

            Glad to hear it went smoothly meat. Best wishes for a quick recovery.

  7. It is me, or is there zero buzz for the Wild playoff game that starts in a half hour.

    1. It's tough to be positive/excited about any MN sports outside of the Wolves. (holy crap, did I just say that?)

      1. This...is true. Confession: I watched way more of that Timberwolves blowout win than the Twins game.

        I also read the schedule wrong. Start time at 8:30. Im not a big fan of the later start times.

  8. so, I've had a pretty crappy last couple of days. Stayed home yesterday with stomach flu. Woke up this morning with terrible back pain, thanks to spending most of yesterday in bed. Went to work today, and mashed my passenger side mirror on a pillar in the parking garage trying to get my car in close enough to give me room on the other side to get out. Oh, and one of my better staff members gave notice today and one of my job candidates who looked very good ... turns out to have a very troubling work history. Oy. I went home early, defeated.

    2. Having been around enough people who clearly must have been only good at interviewing because they're terrible at their jobs, I have concluded that I never want to be involved in the hiring process.

      1. One time I got to chair a hiring committee (not by choice), and, at the end of the process, the organization chose to ignore our recommendation and hire a candidate that we interviewed and recommended against. That candidate subsequently lasted less than a year in the position. I never understood the point of a committee if it was going to be ignored.

      2. We were asked to ramp up and hire literally dozens of people on a couple of occasions. I wasn't a people manager (it is not for me!), but since I was part of the management team, I was asked to participate as one of the people on panel interviews. The interviews basically took up our entire day for several days, and it was the worst. The things that people wanted to redline candidates for were... frustrating to say the least. One manager didn't want to hire someone since they smelled like they had a cigarette before the interview (this meeting to discuss hiring was directly after said manager's smoke break, FYI). Another who seemed qualified and sharp they didn't want because she "seemed too shy" (for a position that was going to be them sitting alone at a computer all day). Someone else fought hard to try to hire someone who was... not very qualified and probably not going to be a fit for a number of reasons because they looked at our company's website before the interview. It's always a shit show.

        And now that I'm graduating and applying for jobs, I am really not looking forward to being on the other end of that again. Sigh.

    3. Not sure what "very troubling" looks like to you, but as someone who has come out of a difficult work environment in a less than ideal way, and then had to subsequently leave employment because the boss just wanted to go a different way, I feel like I could easily get categorized that way. So... I guess I find myself empathize get with the candidate. I've been darn good at my job and work very hard, but that hasn't stopped the troubling from happening.

      1. this "very troubling" included several leaves of absence, an AWOL stint, multiple job moves in a short period and no work history for the last ~3 years. I knew about the multiple job moves and no recent work history, but not about the former stuff. Which makes me pretty leery.

  9. On the one hand, my wife wants me to go with her to a "craft fair" in Lincoln, CA on sunday as partial payback for missing her birthday (to go to a funeral). On the other hand, there's this near Lincoln, CA.

    I told her that as long as the "craft fair" included craft beer, I was all hers. 🙂

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