Cup of Coffee

Cup of Coffee: August 21, 2020 Wolves

131 Comments

They moved up. They had good luck? Are they now gonna be well run? Will have to see whether Papa Glen sells the club and to whom. Counterpoint: the last time they drafted right before the Warriors, it did not end well.

131 thoughts on “Cup of Coffee: August 21, 2020 Wolves”

  2. Had another good game-time Zoom again last night. I don't recall the full roster, but we had people dropping in throughout the game. And when anyone ever asks us in the future, "where were you when the Timberwolves finally won the draft lottery?", we can answer, "I'm sorry your honor, I don't recall"

    1. When they finally moved up. They won the draft lottery in 2015, but they also had the worst record in the league that year. It was a busy moment. I was watching the Twins, had the lottery on with no sound and was chatting with folks. It was unclear to me at the time that they were actually down to the last two teams when they flashed the GSW placard, but when only D-Lo was on the screen it finally dawned on me that they had done it.

      It was a pleasure to "meet" two more members of the WGOM world last night. My recollection is that we had at least 7 different people check in.

      1. Here's what I'm patiently waiting for though. I want to see Andrew pop in so that I can hear about maps.

      2. But didn't they have the exact same odds as the two teams ahead of them? So can we really say they moved up? More like "they didn't get worse than expected." Which is really all we can hope for anyway, right?

      3. Nice to meet Stick, Mike, and meat for the first time on the zoom last night. Thanks again for hosting, Rhu!

        1. After all these years, I got to talk to NBB and NBBW had a cameo! That was really fun. Also, Mike it was a pleasure to meet you and talk stars. Very enjoyable to meet both of you.

                  1. I'm bummed that I didn't get a proper introduction. We've communed via email a few times, and I was able to hook him up with my UCLA buddy in LA a few years ago, but that would have been the first face-to-face. 🙁

                    Next time, Good Sir Meat.

                    1. He told that story last night and gushed about the experience. Kardashians! I'm not sure you were on when he was.

                    3. Your man mike booked us up. I was supposed to show him a good time in New Orleans but hurricane issac ruined his travel plans.

  3. I missed last night's game because I was letting my wife trick me into buying a new car. So now that we have a mini-van, we're ultra-suburbanites, I guess.

      1. Despite the tone of my post I am very much pro-minivan. I was trying to get her to get one when we had our first kid, but failed.

          1. Maybe, but with the added cargo space and the fact it has a trailer hitch means it will probably maintain significant usefulness to us even when we don't really "need" it for the kids anymore.

  4. Agreed. I was hesitant, but when we got two kids we had to. And I wish we had gotten one with the first kid.

    First time I drove a minivan was in the 90s and I found it very difficult to drive. But nowadays with the backup cameras it's glorious. Plus, I no longer need to borrow my dad's truck when I need to purchase big items.

    1. We bought a 2016 Kia Sedona and traded in a 2016 Sorento and there really wasn't much difference in driveability. Its just a hair bulkier, but not by a lot. It's exactly like this one (even down to color).

      We actually went because my wife was "curious" and found a 2020 on their lot (in that same color) and I relented to "checking it out". When we got there, we saw what we thought was the new van and I pointed it out to the sales person, so we were a little confused at first when we saw the 2016 sticker. We decided to just test drive it anyway and ended up being more impressed with it than the 2020 since it was the super loaded model while the 2020 was an EX, plus for a four year old car it only had 37k on it and Kia's are stupid reliable. This van has way more crap in it than I ever thought I would get in a vehicle.

      1. The Dodge Caravan really was a game changer back in the day; before then, minivans were built on pickup frames, and many didn't like the feel when driving it.

        If they ever do a cash-for-clunkers type program again, save your bench seat(s) for home office furniture! 😉

        1. I might pull one of the seats out and use it for a racing rig with the steering wheel set up I bought this summer!

          1. You've wandered into my lane, so time for questions!

            Which wheel?
            What games are you playing?

            I am ***thisclose*** to upgrading to a Fanatec wheel, I got a Logitech G920 as a "got a new job" present for myself years and years ago and didn't use it much until we got a PC and I could dive into iRacing. Now 90% of my gaming is spent on iRacing...at least until Flight Simulator came out this week, it is now eating into my limited time. Just need to sell a few more things to get the funds built up, thankfully old gaming gear is pretty easy to sell at a good price these days.

            1. Well, I tried to buy a Logitech G920 on Ebay so I could use it with my Xbone, but the prick sent me the PS4 G29 instead. In the end I decided to just keep it because I only have Wreckfest on the Xbone and that's plenty fun with a controller.

              I bought the steering wheel and the shifter mainly for American Truck Simulator. But the Steam summer sale was also pretty good to me so I picked up Project Cars 2 and Dirt Rally 2.0, and I've since bought BeamNG.Drive and Gravel. I am definitely terrible at driving games, but I'm working on it. One thing I want to do is build a handbrake because racing is so damn hard when the handbrake is on the wheel itself. Its a really fun thing to have, though.

        2. But seriously, this. The last time I remember actually riding in a mini-van was a 91 Chevy Lumina. Man, those were decidedly not the days.

      1. It's because many sites trick you into thinking you're viewing the image when it's a special page that embeds the image. Google Photos and Drive are some of those. It looks like the image has restricted visibility too. Try right-clicking on the image and selecting "View Image" to get the URL you need in order to share.

      2. That URL to a Google drive file isn't going to work, I think. Upload the pic here or to something like Flickr.

        1. Uploading the image here is probably the quickest method. It all depends on the workflow. A direct URL from Google Photos is easy to do but looks like Google Drive is a lot harder. Downloading the image and uploading here would be easier.

          2. For those that don't know:

            Back row: AMR, Algonad, brianS, SBG, banjo
            Front row: ben, freealonzo, E-6

            Nine years ago at Grumpy's in MPLS, I believe. Man, we need to have a get together when the flames have been doused. Until then, the zoom calls are pretty good! Thanks for this, Algonad. Makes my heart warm to think about all the joy this community has brought me.

            Also, man my beard has really grayed in the last nine years.

          3. First even SBG Convention

            From the caption:
            Back Row (L-to-R): John, Kyle, Will Young, Scot, Scot's new boy, Scot's wife Emily
            Front Row (L-to-R): StatFreak101, The Future Mrs. Hayes (Jo), CarterHayes (Wyl), Q, my empty seat, SBG, Aaron Gleeman

            3. 2nd Convention

              Standing (left): Algonad & Moss
              Left bench: Moss Jr, Andrew', GreenMachine, Banjo
              Right bench: Robbie, AMR, New Guy
              Standing (Right): Jon Marthaler, Gleeman, Nick N., SBG, Will, Seth

              Also present were Sheenie, ubelmann, and Q

              1. I wore my Babe Ruth jersey that day, purchased at old Yankee Stadium. I really debated hard about buying it. I wanted a souvenir from there and a Ruth jersey seemed like a good choice, but it had his name on it and that was a little tough to take. But, I bought it anyway.

              2. From your album, Sheenie's sister was also in attendance because she may have been picking her nose

            4. You wouldn't happen to have photos from the convention at Minnehaha Falls on your birthday, would you? That was truly a fun day. Also, we did it there the next year and banjo and I were there at like 6:00 AM. cheaptoy was there! Also, some young kid came up to us before anyone else showed up. He was pretty hungry I think and banjo was making breakfast, so he sat down and joined us. That was a good day as well.

              3. Also, some young kid came up to us before anyone else showed up.

                Sparrow?!

                I showed up late to both of the Minnehaha caucuses to I missed Ubelmann and Sparrow.

                1. It was pretty wild. I didn't know he was underage when I offered him a beer. There was also a Megadeth cover band playing behind us.

                  1. We were camping at a local park (Carver?) one time and a couple "kids" walked by with a bottle of whisky. I teased them about sharing so they stopped by to sit by our campfire and listen to my iPod. It wasn't until they commented on how much cooler my music was than their dad's that it hit me that these "kids" were underage! In my defense, I was already pretty drunk when they stopped by.

          4. This must have been after I stopped by. I don't recall why, but I could only visit for a short time.

          5. 9 years? Wow. My Twins hat was still blue.

            Didn't we have a smaller gathering over in Banjo's backyard around this time, or perhaps a little before that?

            1. That was before that. I had scored some tix to a game and four of us went. You, me, banjo and I don't remember the fourth. Before the game we did go to banjo's for a few beers.

              1. I think the below my is list of citizen run ins

                -meat
                -6
                -sbg
                -andrew
                -sean
                - new guy (probably on accident)
                -statfreak102

                I apologize for anyone I missed. Haven't been around much for the last 9 years.

                  1. Nuts! I knew I was going to forget at least one person !
                    Man, time flies.

                    1. it does, man, it does. I still remember those Gabriel's Gate wings and watching the Sabers at that bbq place, though. Buffalo was pretty cool.

                    2. I was in town one night for work. I was on the other side though and neither of us had access to a car (I had a work car, but wasn't going to drive it around the Buffalo bar scene).

  6. Neighbors coming over to hang on the deck in the humidity tonight. Jalapeno and watermelon in the fridge....

    Thanks for the recipe, Pepper!

  7. SBG NBA Power Rankings: based on who I believe is most likely to win the title

    1. TOR -- think they have the best chance to make the Finals. Love this team, they have championship pedigree and were good before Kawhi. Yep, they don't have Kawhi or DeRozen, but this club can play.
    2. LAC -- probably makes the Finals, although it's a tough road in the West and they have drawn a very tough young team in DAL. Kawhi is brilliant, George is pretty great, but I think you can close your eyes and imagine him coming up small. Can be exploited by big teams, I think
    3. MIL -- they've been great all year, but underwhelming in the bubble
    4. LAL -- still have LBJ, AD when he's on is better than any other team's second best player. They are huge and can give teams who can't handle big dudes real trouble.
    5. BOS -- Tatum is a beast. Probably not gonna get to the ECF, though
    6. HOU -- crazy small. Harden is great, but he hasn't won big in the playoffs. They are on a collision course with LAL. AD might get 50 a game against them. Same for Harden the other way.
    7. DEN -- Good team. Not gonna take out any of the three teams above them in the WC.
    8. POR -- Bad night last night, but they are dynamic, Dame is a killer, and if they can get past LAL, could really do some damage. Best eighth seed you are ever gonna see
    9. DAL -- This team could really makes some noise if they can get past LAC. Tall, tall order, but they should be up 2-0, but for Zinger's ejection.
    10. MIA -- Jimmy Butler is a terrible singer.
    11. UTA -- Rudy Gobert is Geoff's new punching bag. Sorry Gordo!
    12. IND -- Meh.
    13. OKC-- Houston is gonna slice them up.
    14. ORL -- Nice game 1 effort. They are undermanned and the Bucks are gonna dispatch them in 5.
    15. NJN -- I think TOR is the favorite to win it all, but they've shown heart unlike...
    16. PHI -- This team is done.

    1. 4. Wolves! They're going to nail the first round pick and be in the finals the next five years!

          1. Yeah, I don't even know. I've been hearing rumors of the Sixers maybe blowing it up and Ben Simmons would like real awesome next to KAT.

            1. 76ers are totally toast. Team is lost. I wouldn't be surprised if they do take it down to the studs again.

                1. 1. Lose, lose, lose
                  2. Draft impact players
                  3. Trade for Jimmy Butler
                  4. Watch him walk out the door
                  5. Fall apart
                  6. Repeat and hope to avoid step 3

  8. Was talking with some guys earlier this week and the subject of fire extinguishers came up. Soon-to-be-retired friend Ross said he was taking his in to get it refilled.

    I had no idea that they lost their pressure over time. I looked at ours in the kitchen, and it said to push the green button in, if it doesn't pop back out, then it's fried.

    I just bought a shiny new one at Lowe's. I've never had to use one, and hope I never need to.

    1. great reminder.

      We used our kitchen extinguisher once a few years ago. Neighbor's pickup caught fire. Wife ran out with it to give to neighbor. Didn't have much effect. Truck eventually exploded with flames through the hood, leaving shards all over our front yard and the street. Luckily, the tree in our front yard (overhanging the truck partially) only got singed instead of going off like a roman candle.

    2. When I started grad school, we all had to take a 2-day lab safety course*, which included the chance to put out a fire with an extinguisher. I'm glad I've never had to do it in a non-controlled situation, but it was kind of fun to do it once.

      (*required even though my research "lab" was really just an office, and my "lab equipment" was a regular desk-top computer)

      1. When I worked for the city of Albuquerque I had to put out a fire every year as part of safety training. Don’t get me started about ladder training.

        1. I get to play with a forklift, boom lift, and telehandler every year. Gotta keep those skillz sharp for web dev!

    1. Not sure how I ever ended up doing that. There were some pretty famous people there! And then there was me.

        1. I didn't realize he or Jon Bois managed teams. They also had two of the three worst teams.

          1. The manager bio link is archived too

            Minnesota Twins
            Stick and Ball Guy (SBG) runs a Twins-centric website called SBG Nation and has done so for over three years. The SBG Nation features a variety of authors writing about the Twins and a lively and ongoing debate year-round about the Minnesota Twins and other related topics. SBG is married with a daughter and works as an attorney to pay the bills. He has been following the Twins for over 35 years.

              1. Yes, that is why I called the annual get together conventions and the smaller meet-ups caucuses.

                1. a variety of authors

                  This is either an overreaching compliment or a sarcastic slam. Either works.

  10. What,
    What is this thread?

  12. From the latest Complaint against Governor Walz about masks:

    Petitioner [redacted]’s sincerely held religious beliefs include that mask-wearing is sinful because it forces her to associate with false beliefs and deeds of darkness.

    What in the actual what? (Also, I redacted Petitioner's name. She publicly was willing to share her ... um ... "beliefs" but I see no need in singling her out.)

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