Cup of Coffee

January 29, 2018: Fun Filled Week

79 Comments

I bet all you, uh, Twin Citizens* are really looking forward to a week of congestion and price gouging, all the while putting up with our friends from Philly and Boston, amirite!?

*my new name for MSP people

79 thoughts on “January 29, 2018: Fun Filled Week”

  1. Just going to hang out here in the outer ring and wait for all that sweet NFL cash to hit the public coffers.

    1. I'll let you know when the NFL deposits the check and the funds are dispersed here in NOLA from the big game in 2013.

        1. I had not heard about this, though I did know that the St. Paul schools are facing significant funding challenges.

          Good luck to 'em.*

          *not holding my breath

  3. I heard from a friend who went to one of the free concerts downtown that it is a logistical train wreck.

    1. We were going to go to this coming Saturdays show (Jayhawks, Bob Mould, Soul Asylum et al...) but after hearing about logistics, probably not, even thought it's going to be pretty cold on Saturday and lesser crowds. We are still going downtown on Saturday to check out the scene and bars, just probably skip the music.

    2. My family of 3 took the bus to check out Super Bowl Live early on Saturday and it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded at the time, but I kept wondering how bad it might get later when the crowd is much larger. Nicollet Mall is awfully narrow once you add the BRANDS EVERYWHERE displays.

      Thankfully my office is encouraging everyone to leave by 4 at the latest and closing entirely on Thursday and Friday.

      1. I heard that the vendors have the entire Mall, so spectators are pushed to the sidewalks... but the sidewalks are for ingress and egress, so security then tries to keep people moving leaving them with no where to watch the show.

      2. Work, which moved to the Mall last year, has already declared "business as usual" for the entire week. Seems a bit dumb to not preemptively do work from home for at least Friday.

        1. I've heard Target is recommending people stay home Thursday and Friday, if possible. Thankfully my commute doesn't cross the Mall at all, the lane restrictions and 8th street closure are a real pain.

        2. We're allowed to work from home WThF, but I can't imagine that working well for me unless my wife and kids do homeschool elsewhere.
          I've got a HS friend coming in from Nashville who asked if I'd be around to do something during one of the days, so I might.

    3. When I bought the tickets to DBT, it did not occur to me that it was a "super bowl" concert. My wife works downtown and has underground parking, so I asked her what to expect. She said that Nicollet is pretty nutso, but that it wasn't bad otherwise (yet). The Wolves were also playing at home on Saturday night. I went to their game against Cleveland a few weeks ago and waited to get out of Ramp A for an hour afterwards. I bit the bullet and dropped $20 to park in a lot. The only times I've ever spent more on parking was for multiple days in the airport ramp, but I got in and out of downtown in a breeze.

      1. What did you think of DBT? I was a little disappointed. They sounded good but I didn't like their song choices.

        1. It was only their second show of the tour, so they certainly brought the energy, and even if they didn't play 'exactly' what I'd have liked, we had a lot of songs to enjoy, eh? I enjoyed the hat tip to Petty - first time I heard these guys live was opening for him at the X back in 2010. I'll be honest, I did not catch (or couldn't place) their rendition of Sign of the Times.

          There's always a half-dozen songs more that I'd like to hear; true for every concert. I agree they sounded good, ... a few of Patterson's antics maybe felt a little contrived? but other than that, no complaints. I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

    4. Naughty By Nature is playing at the Fine Line on Thursday night.
      I had an inkling of interest* until I realized it'd be SB crowds.

      *they were the first hip-hop I got into thanks to Michael Jackson and his older brothers singing the alphabet.

    5. one thing that New Orleans does well is host a party. The '13 big game (aside from the power outage...) went off pretty well from the stand point of visitors.

  4. So what level of irritation/anger will you have if the Twins don't actually sign Darvish? Does it change based on whether they sign Arrieta and/or Cobb after Darvish is signed?

    For me, I've kind of had a long-standing assumption, based on all the rumors, that they would land Darvish, but it's seeming less and less like that is a possibility. The time to strike was the past few weeks, it would seem. Just topping the market a little bit might have done the trick, right? But all the latest reports I've read indicate the Twins aren't actually willing to top the market - they're only willing to match it.

    That irritates me a ton. Almost into "angry" territory (that'll probably depend on Jim Pohlad's comments after the fact...). You?

    That all said, I'd be completely cool with them just going and signing Cobb before Darvish signs, or something like that, just because they feel that market makes more sense for them. But this half-hearted pursuit of the top guy is irritating.

      1. Given how long it took for them to actually communicate with Darvish's reps, the fact that the reports indicate they'll only go up to so many years, won't risk more, won't spend more, are willing to look at backup options... that seems half-hearted to me. We came into the offseason saying "the Twins have no money on the books in a couple years, and are able to spend, and are actually looking at the top guy". Right now, that just looks like lip service.

        1. If they lose out on Darvish, it won't be because they didn't communicate with reps right away, which pretty much everyone said wasn't a big deal due to Levine's previous experience with him. If it's because they only go up to so many years, then that just means they're not stupid, because pretty much everyone has said that isn't a smart idea. If they come away with nothing, I'll be upset, but right now I have no fault with what they're doing.

        2. are willing to look at backup options

          Wouldn't that be considered good negotiating? Darvish wants a bidding war and that would be the Twins opting out of that.

          1. It depends.

            If the goal is winning, then signing the right guy at a reasonable price matters most. Reasonableness of price varies from team to team. For a team like the Twins, with a young, controlled core, and very little committed money, and some of the wealthiest owners... they can reasonably absorb an extra year or two of declined performance.

            But, if the goal is making money, then signing an acceptable guy at a lower price matters most.

            Everything I've read suggests that Darvish is far and away the right guy. Everything I've read suggests that there is a conformity of price/year points for Darvish. That leads me to believe that most teams aren't going to be sucked into a bidding war, such that just an extra year or a little bit more money might make all the difference. Seems like Darvish could be gotten for a reasonable price.

            Thus, when I step back and look at what the Twins are actually doing... it looks a lot more like trying to make money than it looks like trying to win.

            1. I read today that Darvish has always wanted to stay with the Dodgers, but the Dodgers would have to move a few players to afford him, and he's being patient with them.

    2. If we were still under Terry Ryan, I wouldn't have any feeling about it at all. But there have been all sorts of rumors about how the Twins were going to make a splash this year, and Falvey and Levine have done nothing to quash those rumors. I've said all along that anybody can talk, and I'll believe it when I see it. But if after raising expectations, the Twins' big signing turns out to be Addison Reed, the front office is going to get some criticism that they brought on themselves.

    3. I'll be disappointed for like 5 minutes because I was promised nice shiny things but the reality is that the regime will be "meet the new boss, same as the old boss". And life goes on.

    4. What do we suppose is the reasonable extent of the Twins’ window? Were I Falvey/Levine, I would consider going above market rate on a shorter deal ($85 million, three years? Or a longer deal with an opt-out?) to get Darvish for the window and keep him from hanging around too far into his mid-late thirties. Let him get one more free agency deal at 34.

      Of course, that goes against the priorities of ownership. The Pohlads aren’t going to change, and we’re probably not going to see an owner of the Twins who makes winning priority one in our lifetimes.

      2. I guess I don't see the harm in having a few players, particularly starting pitchers, who are hanging around for a few years. Better to have them continue past your window than not enter into it at all. If the contract is a Pujols type of thing, that really hamstrings an organization, sure... that's bad. So up the dollars on the front end, if you're worried about the back end. It would make them more tantalizing trade bait later too...

  5. unpaid endorsement time: if you're looking for a good screen protector for your phone, I can certainly recommend one. Here's the one I got for my S8+ -- it wasn't much easier than past phones to apply, but it was very forgiving bubble-wise, and in spite of a tiny bit of stretching at the bottom where I worked out a bubble (and which ended up really unnoticable unless you look for it) the final result looks wonderful. Has a very light matte feel to it, and even works well on the curved edges.

        1. due for fourth wave ska at some point, right?
          Hepcat's banking on it... still going strong.

          ... still waiting for that payday.

    2. I will go to bat for SNZ's "Hot" album. I love that album so much! And their Christmas album is fantastic.

  7. Chief Wahoo gone after 2018 season.

    I’m glad, but I don’t love that the logo gets a year’s warning. I’m already cringing at the thought of fans trying to give Wahoo a hero’s sendoff at the end of the season.

    1. Its about time.

      Also totally agree. You know the team will be wearing that thing as often as possible this summer, too.

      1. Can’t be too hasty in divesting their business of racist imagery. You know there are going to be people stocking up on caps & other Wahoo merch.

        I hope Thome’s HoF plaque bears the Block C (or, if it must, the script I).

      1. I find it boring and plain.
        This is much better.

        I also liked the script I because it tried to bridge the gap between Wahoo and a non-Wahoo logo, but that would have only worked if they actually phased out Wahoo.

          1. O.M.G.

            That script thingy is...awful. It's like a bent arm holding a tomahawk. Stick with the block C.

            2. It has its moments, but it was certainly worth the $1. Why DC goes with such dark color pallets is a bit annoying though. Guess they have to be Not Marvel.

    2. I can't read the article without subscribing, but I gather it's about Nik Turley's suspension. It's too bad. He was a pretty marginal player anyway, so this may well end his career. It may not, of course--teams always seem to be desperate for pitching, and as I've written in numerous biographies, he is left-handed, so someone may give him another shot.

      I'm not trying to justify what he did, but it's hard for me to be too critical of it, either. When you're that close to achieving something you've worked all your life for, and time is running out, and this might help you actually achieve it--well, the temptation has to be pretty strong. I'd like to think I wouldn't do that, but it's easy to say what you'd do in a situation you don't ever expect to face.

    2. Whoa. Is this the Pistons' bid to keep Andre Drummond, or is this just the Clippers deciding to rip it all up and start over? Because the Pistons are still gonna stink even with Griffin.

  10. My 6-year-old is off school today, so we've spent the day hanging out. Good news: had some fun playing baseball at the park. Bad news: I knelt in an ant hill, which I noticed when the swarm starting biting my leg to bits.

    So, I'm now covered with painful, burning welts. No me gusta.

    1. Seriously, they're about to lose to the frickin Hawks and it's 100% Teague's fault. Just awful.

      1. I only caught the end of the game, but I have to say that the 1-12 shooting from the box score understates how awful he looked in the few minutes I watched.

        Guys are going to have crap games, sure, but why would a coach decide that guy should play 34 minutes when there's a more-than-capable backup available?

        1. Hmm, good point. Maybe I shouldn't blame this entirely on Teague. I'll give Thibs some of that as well.

    2. I missed this game because I was Election Judging and sounds like I missed a frustrating one.

      1. What I read. Down by one with 15 seconds left and the Wolves gain possession and call a timeout. Teague couldn't get the ball inbounds out of the timeout. 5 second violation before he could call another timeout.

        1. I didn't get that far because I turned it off with a minute to go after he gave up a layups to Bazemore, then couldn't get out of his way for a dumb foul and a three point play. Which was after missing, like, three floaters in a row and stuffed by Bazemore on a layup.

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