Cup of Coffee

November 3, 2011: Anniversary

100 Comments

My Dad's been married for 23 years today. I don't celebrate that in and of itself necessarily, but it's the 23-year anniversary of me gaining a stepsister that became a great friend, and who survived two brain surgeries this last year shortly after becoming a first-time mother. Cheers, Rallista.

100 thoughts on “November 3, 2011: Anniversary”

      1. Happy anniversary, Will. Happy anniversary to Mr. Milk, too. I'll try to remember to note those on the birthday list next year.

    3. It does, man. I'm coming up on eight years here in a month and a half, and even though the second longest relationship I ever had was just one year, this one doesn't feel like it was any longer than that.

      This is a testament to how much I adore the Milkmaid: time does fly, and I never think "Wow, we've been together forever."

      1. True true. Sheenie and I have been together for almost 11 years. We can always date our relationship by presidential inaugurations because our first date was the Inaugural Ball for Dubbya's first election. Seems impossible to believe it's been that long.

  2. So free agency has officially been open for like 9 hours and Bill Smith hasn't signed a mediocre reliever to a bad contract yet. Things are looking up!

  3. There are two incorrect statements in the following paragraph from twincities.com . Only one of them involves Matt Capps.

    The five-day deadline for teams to bargain exclusively with their own free agents ended at 11 p.m. Wednesday, meaning longtime Twins Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel are free - for the first time - to sell their wares to any of the major leagues' 32 teams. Also available to the highest bidder is Matt Capps, a top-notch closer for the Twins in 2010 who fell on hard times last season.

      1. from what i remember hearing from the organization, i'm not sure he was ever really in the running.

        1. This is too bad, in my opinion. I think he's by far the best guy they had in the booth last year. At the very least, I had a good idea what was going on in the game. I hope that he's a part of the booth, even if he's not the official voice of the booth.

          1. i liked him too. i'd love for someone to prove me wrong, but i thought i remembered reading an article somewhere listing the possible candidates they were considering and his name not being on that list.

                1. Kind of expected that. Fingers crossed that Kris still gets some time in the booth with Cory.

                  First comment is "Thank heavens it's not Attebury." Really? I don't get why people would dislike him.

                3. Provus at the Cubs convention in 2009. He first talks about the 4 min. mark.

                  httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6GhOoJFV0c

      3. AttebERRy.

        He did a great job, and he wasn't afraid to probe Gladden for insight on why something happened (you know, why Dazzle's SUPPOSED to be there)...and he wasn't afraid to throw Dazzle under the bus re: Ichiro, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

        1. I don't think Atteberry was ever really in the running, other than as a fallback if they couldn't find someone suitable. If they'd really wanted him, they'd have worked him in more last year, rather than using Ted Robinson and Bob Kurtz. Atteberry's okay, but he benefits somewhat in our eyes from being in that category of broadcasters labelled "Not Gordo and Dazzle."

          If I've ever listed to Cory Provus, I don't remember it. Anyone heard him broadcast games? Do you have an opinion on him?

    2. since its not Atteberry, I wish it would go to Bob Kurtz. But that would probably mean giving up his Wild play by play job, and he is pretty good at that.

      Im glad its not going to be Ryan Lefebvre

      1. I like Kurtz, too, but I think he's up there in age. I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins wanted a young guy that could do this a long time.

      2. When Ryan Lefebvre was hired and spent two seasons in the Robby Incmientkiewicz role in the late 90s, the other finalist for the position was my cousin.

    3. speaking of Twins and broadcaster, saw this item in Sid's column

      Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven will return to the Twins' TV broadcast team for 2012 and beyond, but he might work a reduced schedule of around 100 games.

      1. Oh boy, I hope they can talk TK into showing up 25-30 times a year. He was fantastic in the booth last year. One of the high points of the season.

        2. agreed. TK was a treat. I also liked Roy Smalley when he was in the booth. I wonder if Paul Molitor would do some booth work? I seem to remember he was very good at it

    1. Thanks for that link. My uncle used to say that he likes his woman just like his beer: stout.

    2. Speaking of stout, I tried this last night. Not terrible, but I wouldn't mind if they would just stick with what they're known for. Also (taking a page from the budmillercoors playbook) it has things like "cold brewed" and "drink cold" plastered prominently on the label. Maybe they're concerned about people thinking it should be consumed like their stout products. My first thought was "That's one of the biggest things that makes a lager a lager: the beer is brewed and stored at a cooler temp than ale." Well, that, and the lager yeast...but still.

      Also, as noted around these parts, "cold" is not a flavor. Now GOML!

      1. I had been thinking about trying that, but hadn't gotten around to having the money to be able to. However, speaking of stouts, I met hungry joe down at a Whole Foods with a bar (!) and enjoyed one of these on draft while my wife shopped.

            1. Wow. Teh Bros rated that as "outstanding"??

              I've had a couple cases of that over the years, and never thought of it as "outstanding." It's a nice, solid beer. Maybe I'm spoiled.

              1. i had one of these "excellent" bottles, which they have since added on tap. i don't remember this being "excellent", but i'm willing to try it on tap to double check.

              2. Oh, sheesh. I've had that too and it never even entered my rotation.

                Perhaps the Bros. tried it before their palates became what they are. Maybe they just ended up with the perfect sixer, 'cause yeah, I thought it was...not ungood. That's about it.

        2. Sampled that tasty 'milk' on my birthday last year...wish I could afford to have one every day.

          1. I really, really wanted to have a "black and tan" with the milk and the IPA, but the only one behind the bar was more barista than bartender and both didn't hear me and was kind of dumb.

            1. oh yeah. after sampling both, i think that would have been a very good idea. too bad the "barkeep" couldn't grasp that concept.

              1. I have bad luck in bars, and especially bars and grills. I ask, "What Pale Ales do you have?" and I'm met, 75% of the time, with complete blankness. They have no idea what a Pale Ale is. I can forgive that at Red Robin, but at a bar? C'mon.

                Granted, my sample size in bars over the past five years is extremely small.

    1. I'm not to be confused with any allegiance with the Gophs, but this is one weekend when I'm willing to say Ski-U-Mah!

      1. Gopher hockey leads the nation in scoring and power-play percentage. They are 4-0 in the WCHA, all on the road, including a sweep of the defending national champs, UMD.

    2. ok, I'll bite. Why the hell do Ron Santo and Gil Hodges deserve to be enshrined?

      Santo is 75th all-time in rWAR. Most of the players above him are either in or not yet eligible. One who is above him but long-retired and not in is Bill Dahlen (42nd-tied; 1891-1911; a long-time Cubbie, no less). Others include Lou Whitaker (56th), Barry Larkin (61st), and Bobby Grich (65th). Breathing down Santo's neck is Scott Rolen (76th-tied). I'm not seeing it for Santo.

      as for Hodges (226th on the rWAR list), being close to Kirby Pucket in rWAR is not enough.

      2. in his Abstract, Bill James listed Ron Santo as the sixth best third baseman of all time. In fact, I think most of his hall push (outside of cubs fans) have been from sabermetrics.

          2. That seems silly. Using excluded players as a way to exclude other players is sure to twist your arguments in knots. So we're to believe no Grich, no Edgar? How about no Grich, no Killebrew? Third base is a pretty underrepresented position in the Hall and unless they're going to start taking some first basemen out of the Hall, I think Santo has a decent enough case. Plus, Grich is only 1.2 rWAR away from Santo, which is easily a statistically insignificant difference between the two, given imperfections in our measurements. Santo had a 4-year stint where he had 7+ rWAR each year, including one year wtih 10+ rWAR. Grich only had one year with 7+ rWAR. Peak matters, too.

            Also noteworthy, Santo's rWAR gives him relatively little credit for his defense, which given his accolades, he could have been very good at. I think his case probably hinges mostly on how well you think he played defense. If he was poor defensively, then he slips down to sub-60 rWAR and I can see it being easy to exclude him there, but if you think he was very good defensively, then he could easily hop, say, Bobby Grich, and even Brooks Robinson. (I don't think anyone would argue that Robinson was a HOFer, but he's only 3 rWAR ahead of Santo.)

            Hodges, sure, the closest he gets to the Hall is the Don Mattingly Restroom.

            1. I'm just confused as to why there is so much consternation out there (not accusing you of this, ubes) about Santo but so little about Grich. Or rather, I get it, he was a Cubbie, whereas Grich played much of his career for the Angels when nobody cared about the Angels outside of Orange County.

              1. I think you're right, I'm sure it's the Cubs angle mainly. Secondarily, it is probably a peak performance issue. Really, I'm just on the "let's give 3rd basemen more recognition" bandwagon more than anything when it comes to Santo. If you go by the HOF toy stats:

                Santo/Grich -- Stat
                11/8 -- Black Ink
                147/40 -- Gray Ink
                88/42 -- HoF Monitor
                41/32 -- HoF Standards

                To the extent that these things measure much, they seem to measure the degree to which a player was recognized during his career. It is, after all, a Hall of "Fame" and Santo was more famous than Grich. Not that I think we should, ideally, view the HOF this way, but I think it's a useful perspective to have.

                I find it interesting that Santo's #1 comp by age, through age 32, at every age, is Adrian Beltre.

                It would be interesting to look at JAWS scores for these players. I like JAWS because it does something to credit peak rather than just total performance. I think peak matters, and had Grich come up with two monster seasons when he first moved to Cali, his career would probably be viewed differently.

    4. I always try to keep in mind that he didn't actually write those commercials, and furthermore, Taco Bell's commercials have been crummy and annoying for as long as I can remember.

      1. i heard a lot of complaints about his acting in that commerical, but i thought he was about 50x better than rivera and girardi.

        1. People complain about athletes' acting in commercials because it's fish in a barrel, but yeah, on the athlete-actor scale, he was average or so. Athletes just aren't meant for acting, just as I look like a gonad when I swing a bat.

          (...agreed on Rivera and Girardi)

        1. If I could provide a photo of the guy who wrote the drivel, would you shift your ire?

          I can't do that, but I'm always interested by the instinct to take it out on the actor. I've had to speak words so ridiculous that Ian McKellen couldn't have saved them (okay, I'm pushing it with him, but work with me here). It takes a village to make a commercial, The Dread Pirate. It takes a village.

          1. I'm well aware. I'm also not entirely rational sometimes. Plus, I find most of Wilson's "shtick" pretty annoying.

              1. You have to realize, I don't just hold it against the actors. For example, I have still never set foot in an Old Navy despite it being more than a decade since their godawful Performance Fleece commercials (and it took several years for Subway to get me back after "Wrap it up, just wrap it up...").

                1. Wowsers...all for having bad ad people.

                  But you're right about Performance Fleece. They still give me nightmares.

                  The girl on "Wrap it up, just wrap it up" is one of my friends (or maybe acquaintances, I guess). She eventually made something like $50k for that day of shoving a tortilla into a camera because that commercial wouldn't stop running. Then she became a costar on Reba and appeared on Fargo. She's one of the most hilarious people I've ever met. She's glad people don't remember her from the commercial. Every now and then people bring up to her how bad that commercial was, with no idea it was she. She simply agrees.

                  1. whoa. She gets paid per broadcast of the commercial?

                    I guess I'd assumed that commercial actors/actresses were doing "work for hire" and just got a flat fee for their time.

                    1. It depends on the commercial. For a regional, you get paid once about $3000 (Edit: this assumes you're the lead, and you have lines). If they re-up the use of the commercial, though, they have to pay certain people again (it's in the contract).

                      National commercial actors are paid according to how long the commercials will play as well - usually three months, I think - but if they're renewed, they get royalties. I don't know if that's what they're called, but...yeah.

                  2. Heh. I've met her, too. Saw a coupleof her showsat The Brave New Workshop back in the day - hilarious. I always remember the Subway thing beforethe Reba thing. 🙂

                    1. Missy's hilarious. She essentially did a stand-up roast during the retirement ceremony of our department's best-loved acting professor, and the place was in stitches.

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