Lost Forest After Dark

Photo: Simon Guerra

So the Metrodome implodes under 2 feet of snow and frozen ice so a sad-sack Vikings team that is playing out the string has to play its last game at the Gophers home field, which itself is buried under 2 feet of snow and drifts up to 4 feet high. What could go wrong. Oh. It's one Monday night when then the temp at game time (8:00p) is slated to be around zero and only going down by time the game winds up at 11:00p.

So right now a crew is shoveling out the TCF Bank stadium and food service workers are de-winterizing the bathrooms and concessions

What is interesting is that the University plans for months for the football season. Traffic and security is in place, season ticket holders have designated and pre-paid parking, staff is instructed to stay away, games are on a low-traffic Saturday. Now Vikings and University officials have 5 days to plan, the snow has significantly reduced transportation and parking around the area, the Vikings have sold 14,000 more tickets than TCF holds, the Metrodome has 70 sold out suites, TCF has 35. Oh and the place doesn't serve booze. At least the semester will have ended and less students and faculty will be around.

So it's going to be a logistical nightmare. But it should be fun too. It will be interesting to see how hardy Minnesotans are with nearly 30 years of indoor football under their belt and the weather promising to be unforgiving. Also that the game is on Monday Night football means a national spotlight as well. In some respects it's the only thing that will bring interest to a team that is going nowhere. The Vikings should embrace the opportunity and make it an experience no one forgets.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

O.k. I am on record as being underwhelmed with the selection of Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill as the new football coach for the Golden Gophers. It's partially based on expectations. With the Mike Leach's and the Randy Shannon's of the college football world on record as being interested in the job, I (along with thousands of others) were hoping for a bigger name, someone who would instantly bring excitement to the team. A guy who would make you pick up the phone and call the Bierman building and get a couple of season tickets to next's years season at TCF. Jerry Kill just isn't that guy.

However Kill does bring some positives to the program besides a killer name (sorry). He's won everywhere he's coached and promises to bring a hard-nosed run and defense-focused effort to the Gophers. That's something they desperately need and an approach that Iowa and Wisconsin have proved can be quite competitive in the Big Ten. And it should be just as desirable to come to Minneapolis as it is for an 18 year old to come to Iowa City and Madison.

The biggest hit against Jerry Kill is that people (including me) are concerned whether or not he can recruit the skill players needed to compete in the Big Ten. Jerry Kill would do himself a lot of favors by again looking at what Iowa and Wisconsin does to get players to those programs. I for one know that Iowa fills a lot of its roster with Iowa kids. They may not be starters and the definitely don't have a future in the NFL but they are serviceable back-ups and great practice kids. Plus they bring a lot of in-state pride to the program as the "local kid is a Hawkeye" buys a lot of love. This attitude also helps sell the program to the High School coaches so that when they have a blue-chipper, the relationship is established and Iowa can then go in and make the sell to the kid, his parents, the coach and the community. Given the fact that the state's lesser division football teams have had a lot of success lately, there is talent to fill out a Big Ten football roster in Minnesota.

So Jerry Kill is what he is. A good coach but not a barn burner. After the all talk and no show Brewster years, it might be a relief. However, a couple of 7-5 seasons and Insight Bowl appearances are not what's going to excite this town. If I were Jerry Kill, I would hire the best recruiters I can, target a few good markets like Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and then try to get who you can from Florida and Texas and then fill the rest of the roster with Minnesota kids. Then coach the hell out of them. You do that, win some big games and just once or twice vie for a Rose Bowl bid, then we will be eating out of your hands for years to come.

Posted by Freealonzo at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Readers of this blog know that I like baseball better than football. Sure, I'll watch the Vikings and big games between exciting teams, but I enjoy baseball more, am more invested in how the Twins do than the Vikings. This doesn't mean that I can't acknowledge that professional football is more popular than baseball. It's an unfortunate but given fact.

Some have said that football is the perfect TV sport. A few seconds of action punctuated by delays so that TV can go over what happened and get ready for the next action. However you can say that about baseball too (but without the violence). I think the main difference is that the NFL long ago learned to market the entire league to the American public. Sure there are glamour teams but all teams are created and marketed equally. Compare that to baseball where the Yankees and Red Sox get most of the attention, followed by the Mets, maybe the Cubs and Dodgers, then all the rest. It can be maddening if you're not a fan of those few teams. Unfortunately MLB perpetuates this focus as well.

No better example is last year's Super Bowl vs. this year's World Series. This past Super Bowl had two very small market teams (New Orleans and Indianapolis) playing for the championship. Sure you had a nice story with New Orleans and its 40 plus years of futility and the issues related to Katrina, but still two pretty unglamorous markets as far as sports go. But it doesn't matter for the NFL, the game got monster ratings, some of the highest ever.

Now compare that with this year's World Series, which is already getting slagged as boring because there's not a big market involved. Fact is there are two huge markets involved. Dallas-Fort Worth is the 5th largest market in the U.S. behind NYC, LA, Chicago, and Philly. San Francisco/Oakland is sixth. So we are talking big markets here. Also California and Texas are the two biggest states in the union, and undoubtedly there will be folks from Houston, Austin, LA, San Diego, etc., tuning in. In short these are two large market teams, vying for their first Championship and MLB has focused so long on Boston-NYC that it can't figure out how to get people excited about any other team or match-up.

Unfortunately, the non-ESPN media has bought into the Yankee-Red Sox as well, even to their detriment. I was in Chicago this weekend, and some of the local sports talk shows were discussing "worst World Series ever?" topic. Chicago! If there ever was a market that would want to break out of the eastern seaboard mentality of ESPN and Fox Sports you would think it would be Chicago.

Now I don't know how to fix this. Sorry. But I know I will be watching, I'll be excited even if my sports media overlords aren't. And when the poor ratings come in, instead of thinking of ways to increased the likelihood of a Yankees-Red Sox World Series, perhaps MLB should think of ways to market 30 teams across the country. Ask the NFL how they do it.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

You know I had a bad feeling about the Twins chances during game 1 last Wednesday night when Span got that leadoff hit and Hudson immediately bunted him over to 2nd. Why were we giving up an out in the first inning of the first game? If we wanted to stay out of the GIDP why not have Span steal off a noodled-arm Posada? I was worried right then and there that the Twins did not have the right kind of attitude to win a series against the Yankees.

It's a pisser because they obviously brought the moxie when they faced the White Sox in mid-September. By all accounts the Whities needed a sweep and the Twins, who could have easily survived by winning one game, went out and took down the Sox all three games. Maybe it's the difference between the White Sox and Yankees. Maybe they turned the switch off and couldn't turn it back on. I don't know. Oh and also, the loss of Justin Morneau finally caught up with the Twins.

IT was a fun season, especially putting the pedal to the metal during August and September. But the playoffs were a major buzz kill. This team will look a lot different next year, hopefully with a couple of players with a little grit and fire in the belly.

Posted by Freealonzo at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo: Jared Wieseler

Even though the playoffs start on Wednesday, we've finished one year of regular season baseball at Target Field and it's time to evaluate some of the myths that cropped up in the planning and design of Target Field and how they actually played out over 81 games and 6 months.

Myth #1 - No Roof means rainouts.

Fact - There was one official rainout and one suspended game this year, actually below league average. Rain had practically no impact on baseball played at Target Field this year.

Myth #2 - O.k. no rain but it will be cold in April and October.

Fact - Opening day saw temperatures in the 70's. I went to two games this past weekend (Oct. 1 and 3rd) both days were quite pleasant, yesterday was quite warm. Two playoff games are scheduled for later this week. Forecasted temperatures those two days? Low to mid 70s.

Photo: Ballpark Magic

Myth #3 - Target Field had to be shoe-horned into a small space. It will be a bandbox with lots of cheap homeruns hit.

Fact - Target Field had dimensions quite similar to the Metrodome and had the 3rd least amount of homeruns hit of any Major League park this year.

Myth #4 - I can't believe they built Target Field next to a garbage burner. It's ugly and going to smell like rotting garbage.

Fact - Funny how not one word has been written about smelly garbage once 3 million plus people started showing up. This was and is a non-issue.

Myth #5 - Twins will make a lot of money at Target Field but the Pohlad's are cheap. They aren't going to spend any money on the team for a couple of years to "make up" for the lost opportunities at the dome (Dan Barreiro was a big proponent of this one).

Fact - Twins payroll went up nearly 50 percent this year and is around $100M with all indications that it will continue to stay at this level if not higher for the foreseeable future.

Photo: Ballpark Magic

UPDATE! One more Myth:

Myth #6 -- Downtown Traffic is going to be a bear during Twins games, it can't accommodate all that Twins traffic.

Fact -- Traffic was no issue, even when there were events at the Metrodome, Target Center, etc. People used public transportation, bikes, and parked all over downtown to get to the game. I went to 13 games this year and I drove, biked, carpooled and took the bus. I found it was easier to get out of downtown this year then in past years at the Metrodome. And this was with full houses every game.

Clearly the ballpark haters were wrong on all counts. Also I haven't heard of any family going bankrupt paying 15 cents to help fund the ballpark every time they buy $100 worth of electronics at Best Buy in Hennepin County. Target Field has been a huge success aesthetically, the way it plays on the field, national exposure, and for the Twins bottom line. The Twins and Hennepin County hit a home run with Target Field and it look forward to enjoying it for many many years to come.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (32)

Photo by The Daily Gopher

So you say the Gophers, Vikings, and Twins all lost this weekend (Twins 2 of 3)?. Doesn't matter. The USC Cheerleaders Song Girls were in town. That will always brighten a sports weekend abyss.

btw, make sure you click on the pic to enlarge, the Song Girl in the middle is particularly beguiling.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Given their recent track record against the White Sox in August and September, it comes as no surprise that , with the season on the line for Ozzies Boyz, the Twins come into Chicago and lay a death blow to the White Sox season.

Wednesday it was Jesse Crain and striking out Ron Paul Konerko and Manny with the bases loaded. Yesterday it was Joe Mauer showing off his man muscles and hitting a key three run homerun. In each instance you could see the Sox deflate and basically check their watch for the rest of the game. It's over. The Twins can smell it, the White Sox have accepted it, and all of a sudden the national press has noticed the Twins and wonder if they can compete in October.

You gotta love the killer instinct of this Twins club. Coming into Chicago with a 6 game lead, they really didn't need to win a game and still would have been in the driver's seat. But that's not the approach they took. Denard Span said after Tuesday's game that they wanted to kill the White Sox' chances and by winning the first two games, effectively did that.

So it would be nice to win tonight's game too, just to rub their nose in it. But it doesn't matter if the Twins win or not tonight. Sometime in the next week or so they will have clinched the AL Central Division and then set their sights on the playoffs: Rest some players, get their pitching match-ups in place, scout the Yankees and the Rays. It's all looking good and we'll be playing baseball in a chilly but rocking Target Field this October.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You have to admit you saw it coming. Last year's close call at home against South Dakota State. The loss of key personnel from a mediocre defense. The lack of a shred of evidence that Tim Brewster can actually coach a big time football team. But when it happened, when it finally was undeniable that the Minnesota Gophers lost at home to a team called the South Dakota Coyotes, well it still was a blow to the solar plexus. You had to admit to yourself that it's going to be a long time until you see a good Golden Gopher Football team.

What was so frustrating about Saturday's game (and there was a lot to be frustrated about) was that at times it seemed like South Dakota had better athletes than Minnesota, especially when it was the Coyote offense v. the Gopher defense. That is inexcusable from a team that is bigger, faster, and more highly touted than their South Dakota counterparts. It really comes down to coaching.

There's that old saying about Coach Bear Bryant: He could take his team and beat your team. Then turn around and take your team his beat his team. It appears that Tim Brewster is the antithesis to Bear Bryant: He can take his team and lose to your team and then take your team and lose to his team. It's just not Brewster either. Obviously Defensive Coordinator Cosgrove has no clue how to evaluate talent, put a defense game plan together, or make adjustments mid-game. Some of that is on Brewster, but it also lands on Cosgrove. It's no secret why he was run out of Lincoln NE. There were other questionable coaching calls all throughout the Saturday's game. Decisions that really make you wonder if Brewster understands the game at all.

So what do we do now? If this was Japan Brewster would have resigned out of embarrassment. Well this isn't Japan and Brewster's not going anywhere unless shown the door. It's probably too early to fire Brewster but the knives should be sharpened. No one is anticipating a win against USC, but Northern Illinois at home is coming up, then Northwestern for homecoming. Away at Wisconsin and Purdue after that . If the Gophers have not won a game through Purdue, it's time to cut the cord. The season will officially be a lost cause and it will be time to move on.

The Gophers have a beautiful stadium, modern facilities, a grand tradition, and play in a big time conference. Its fans are hungry for a team that can compete. It really is incumbent on the University to find a coach that matches all that Minnesota has to offer. Obviously Tim Brewster is not that coach.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tonight is the start of the football season for the 2010 Golden Gophers of Minnesota and most pundits and fans don't give the Gopher's a whole lot of respect or think they will win a whole lot of games. Coach Brewster has yet to demonstrate that his coaching ability can match his enthusiasm and the Gophers, to be frank, have a hellish schedule. I am in agreement that five wins will be hard to come by this year.

The Gophers should win tonight at Middle Tennessee State, especially since their stud QB is suspended. Wins at home against South Dakota and Northern Illinois should be givens (if Gophers lose tonight or against Northern Illinois, it's going to be a long season). USC at home should be a fun game and USC has a depleted team and idiot coach, but they are also playing with a chip on their shoulder and will be looking to kick some Big Ten butt.

The home Big Ten schedule is especially tough with a potential win slated against Northwestern but home toughies with OSU, PSU, and Iowa. Purdue and Illinois are winnable (especially Illinois), but on the road has been tough for Brewster's boys. At Wisconsin will be tough too.

So I predict five wins (MTSU, SoDak, No Ill, Northwestern, Illinois). That means no trophy wins for the 4th straight season, no bowl game, and a lot of pressure for Tim Brewster to be shown the door. Alas, we still have a beautiful stadium to watch games in (although that November 27 Iowa game could be coooold!). Will Brewster survive the season? Will the Gophers surprise? How can this team be turned around? Tonight the discussion starts.

What do you think of the Gopher's chances this year?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If it's late summer it must be time for the White Sox to curl up like a little baby and allow the Twins to stomp all over them (Note, 2005 is the exception that proofs the rule). Sure enough after having a 3.5 game lead just a few weeks ago the Whities are now looking a a 3 game deficit with three more games here at glorious Target Field.

Twins should easily take 2 of three, although a sweep would be a lot of fun and not out of the question for a team that lacks any intestinal fortitude when it comes to playing the Twins. I'll be there tonight (and Saturday and Sunday against the Halos) so it should be fun times.

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I will never get tired of watching that goal. The outlet pass from Tim Howard was amazing. This right here is why a 1-0 game can be real exciting.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Source: Bergerson Photography

We are 1/5 of the way through the Twins 2010 season so let's take a look at where they are at and what can be expected from here on out.

New Ballpark. Surprise surprise, everyone love Target Field and outdoor baseball. Even with this last homestand, which was generally cold and wet, Target Field has become a big hit. Surprisingly to some, the field has played pretty fair, with fly balls dying in the gaps and center. Once it gets warmer, we should see more homeruns and I think we may have Wrigley situation on our hands: Pitcher's park on the spring and fall; hitter's park in the summer. Overall a wonderful place to watch a Major League Baseball game. Overall Grade: A

Pitching. Aside from a Crainwreck here and there, the bullpen was been quite stellar and that's with Pat Neshak being injured. Neck Tat has taken over the closer role quite admirably and Guerrer, Duensing, and even Mayhey and Burnett performing nicely in their roles. The starters have been pretty good too, with a every starter having some real nice outings sandwiching a poor effort. I was unfortunately at the game where Carl Pavano gave up 7 runs in 4 innings. He's been lights out ever since. Slowey has been troublesome in the middle innings so hopefully that improves. Overall Grade B+

Hitting. Morneau's having a monster season, Jim Thome and O-Dawg have done everything we wanted from them and Delmon has actually been quite good. Mauer has been a good hitter but the power we saw last year seems to have disappeared again. (1 HR in his last 150+ at bats). Jason Kubel has been dreadful and if he can get it going look out. D-Span has been a great lead-off hitter and generating lots of walks. Unfortunately the Twins batting average with the bases loaded has been atrocious. Hopefully a regression to the mean is coming soon. Oh and Hudson, no need to bunt early in the game with runners on base. Let's get some hits and not give away outs. Overall Grade: B

Fielding: Fewest errors in the majors. Hardy has been much better in the field than advertised and say what you want about Punto's lousy performance at the plate, but he plays a mean 3rd base. Even Delmon Young has shown some improved tracking skills in the outfield. When you see how devastating a bad fielding team like the Tigers or Royals is to a game one appreciates the importance of a great fielding team like the Twins. Overall Grade: A

So just past the 20 percent mark and the Twins are 10 games over 500 or on a pace to win 105 games. The Central Division title should be no problem but the team and fans have much greater expectations than another one and done in the playoffs. The team now heads off to road games against the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Red Sox -- places where they've had trouble winning in the past. While none of these games will have a major impact on the final standings, it would be nice to send a message that the Twins are serious about contending late into the fall this year. Should be fun, I can't wait.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ford Field -- Detroit, MI

With only three weeks left in the Minnesota Legislative session, we were promised details of a Vikings bill sometime soon. Given the late date, extra-ordinary parliamentary procedures will be needed to get a Vikings bill on the floor of the Senate and House for a vote. The public has not seen any bill details whatsoever. There has been no public debate. As a reminder, 4 years ago when the Twins ballpark bill was approved, the details of the financing plan had been made public for 13 months, there were numerous public hearings about the details and anyone who was interested knew how the ballpark would be financed. Just sayin'.

My prediction is that there won't be a Vikings stadium bill this year, it's too late. However the work that is being done and the bill promised will set the groundwork for a bill next year. That way we will have the 13 month review process, public airings, etc, that the Twins bill was afforded.

Right now the Vikings are publically promoting a $670M open air stadium. The Vikings have said that they would pay for 1/3 of the cost. Also a retractable roof is projected to cost another $200M and the Vikings have stated that they wouldn't pay for that as a roof would be a state resource, and unneeded for the Vikings. But why do we need a retractable roof? A movable roof, while kind of cool, is a lot more expensive than a fixed roof, and given the record of retractable roofs in baseball and football, the roof is usually closed unless there is absolutely glorious weather. Plus a retractable roof takes up more real estate.

Below is a chart of some recently built stadiums, including roof, year built, and cost. Now of course different stadiums have different amenities attached and inflation on half-billion projects adds up fast, but still it is interesting:

Dallas - 2009, Retractable Roof, $1.3B
Indianapolis - 2008, Retractable Roof, $720M
Arizona - 2006, Retractable Roof, $455M
Detroit - 2002, Fixed Roof, $430M
Seattle - 2002, No Roof, $430M
Houston - 2002, Retractable Roof, $352M

The last two stadiums in Dallas and Indianapolis were a lot more expensive than the previous stadiums. Now the Dallas stadium is huge and has many amenities but I think the Indianapolis stadium is a good benchmark. Compare that to the fixed roof stadium in Detroit. Granted it opened 6 years earlier, but inflation was relatively modest during this time period. Ford Field in Detroit has been give relatively good reviews. Why can't we build something like that for around $600M? See if we can get the Wilf's to pitch in 250M and that leaves "only" $350M to raise publically. That's similar to what the Twins got from the public and is easily digestible.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Here's a pretty good article from the SPP. Based on this article I don't see a Vikings bill happening this session. Not enough details worked out and too little time.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

When I first started this blog nearly 4 years ago, Target Field didn't exist (in name or physically). It was only a gleam in our eyes. Sure a ballpark bill had been passed but we didn't quite know what we were going to get, except that we would finally have baseball outside. My 3rd blog post was about the new Twins ballpark and that some people were still complaining about a roof.

First Pitch At Target Field

As everyone well knows we now have our ballpark and everyone is in love with it. Even the folks who wanted a roof have either been converted or are keeping quiet until a crappy day ruins a game. Sixty-five degrees and party sunny opening days will do that. Don't worry, the haters will be back.

Harmon Killebrew

I haven't done a lot of talking about the new ballpark lately and what it means because Rick over at Baseball Magic has done such a great job, with wonderful pictures, that anything I would write would be derivative of what he already produced.

Is this Minneapolis or is this Wrigleyville?

Yesterday was in a nutshell why I was such a huge new outdoor, roofless ballpark rube. The atmosphere in and around the ballpark was electric, bars were full of people and sometimes it felt like downtown Minneapolis would challenge Wrigleyville for urban baseball atmosphere. The game was wonderful as I was sitting in shirtsleeves for most of the game and then put on a long sleeve shirt for the later innings. Sun dappled the field, and funky shadows danced across the outfield as the day went on. Oh and the Twins won.

Homer Hankie Shirt

For too long we were embarrassed about out baseball stadium. It's Teflon roof, it's antiseptic, plastic atmosphere, its freaky bounces and speakers in play. The Twins deserved better, baseball deserved better, we deserved better. Finally, it is here and I couldn't be happier.

Late Afternoon Shadows

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tomorrow will be the official opening of Target Field as the Twins play an exhibition game against Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals. I'll be there.

As is typical with any opening of a new ballpark there will be a pre-game ceremony honoring those responsible for making it all happen, including Twins officials and various elected officials. Some are very deserving such as Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat who came up with the financial strategy to pay for the ballpark and Representative Brad Finstad who, a lowly backbencher from the minority party, introduced the bill at the Legislature and saw that it got passed -- even though it wasn't always popular with other more senior legislators (and the Governor), or his constituents back home. Those two men richly deserve to be saluted.

However there is one person who won't be down on the field getting accolades but should be. That person is Shane from the web site Greet Machine. Many people don't realize how instrumental Greet Machine was in getting the ballpark bill passed. The most important thing he did was put together a legislative scorecard of who was supporting the ballpark and who wasn't. Through Shane's work it came to light that most legislators actually supported the ballpark legislation. He listed their names and where they had signaled their support.

Now you wouldn't think this is a big deal but it was huge, and something that lobbyists charge tens of thousands of dollars to produce. But here it was for free for anyone to see. And more importantly it was accurate. If I recall correctly not one legislature denied their place on the list either for the ballpark or against it. It is well documented that this scorecard was used in legislative meetings regarding the ballpark bill and all legislative leaders knew of it.

Not only did Shane develop the legislative scorecard, Greet Machine became THE place on-line to discuss the ins-and-outs of the ballpark legislation, who supported it, the politics, etc. It was a nice place for joe-citizen ballpark supporters to get together and discuss the various ballpark scenarios - this during a time when most of the media was focused on those loud and shrill voices opposed to a ballpark. But more importantly, it became such an important site to the ballpark approval process that elected officials, lawyers, and the landowners started privately feeding Shane information to put on his blog. Many people read Greet Machine during this period: from rubes like me, to politicians, city officials, print/TV journalists, and the surrounding land owners. I truly believe, and I am not alone, that without Greet Machine and Shane's efforts a new Twins ballpark would have never happened when it did.

So when you see the celebration of those responsible for Target Field, remember that one person is missing. Now I'm not surprised, I am sure these days public officials are too embarrassed to admit that a mere blogger played such a key role in getting a $500M ballpark approved -- no way could they acknowledge that now. And Shane is way too modest to demand such recognition or even ask for a t-shirt for his efforts. However to those us who watched the ballpark come together, we know. And I for one will be tipping my hat off to Shane tomorrow afternoon as I will have the distinct pleasure of sitting next to him as the first Twins home baseball game in over 28 years is played outdoors.

Thanks Shane!!

Other Accolades are coming in!

Here
Here
Here
Here

Posted by Freealonzo at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Lots going on over the last few days, let's review:

Twins sign Joe Mauer. Eight years at $23M per year. Probably not a hometown discount but a fair deal nonetheless. Twins have proven that with their glorious new ballpark, they are willing to spend money, which some dunderheads thought wouldn't happen. After a slow start, gotta give Twins GM an A- for his off-season efforts to improve the Twins. Also open houses at Target Field have people jacked up for the Twins. Given that Wild, Twolves, Gophers are done, the field is wide open for a lot of Twins love.

Health Care. Obama has done something that has eluded Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt. In a couple of years we are going to be asking what the sturm and drang was all about regarding this debate. Fascinating politics and policy discussion for those interested in watching.

March Madness. My bracket is blown up as I had Kansas winning it all. However even before that I was in deep trouble. My upsets didn't come through and I missed the upsets that did happen. Big Ten has three teams in sweet 16 so let's put to rest the discussion that Big Ten basketball somehow isn't as good as other conferences. Also can we start calling the Big East the Big Least? Tubby went one and done again although Xavier looks like a team that could do some more damage. I was disappointed in the Gopher's season and although respect Tubby as a program coach, have some serious questions about his in game coaching decisions.

Video Stores. Our local Hollywood Video is going out of business which means we have to join the world of Netflix. It is sad because the loss of the local video store means one less place for human interaction. Invariably we would run into friends and colleagues at the Video store, can't do that on-line ordering a movie. Pretty soon the only time you come across a human will be at their funeral.

Alex Chilton. Lots of good articles if you want to search. Paul Westerberg had a nice remembrance in the New York Times. You can read it here.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I got another private tour of Target Field on a glorious Monday. Here are some cool pics I took.

From the Metropolitan Club

Nice Big Scoreboard

The middle black flagpole came from the old Met Stadium

From the pressbox

The Killer

Celebration sign and downtown skyline

Those last two are the view from my seat

The view from the $375 $275 seats

Welcome to Target Field!!

There are a lot of real nice details throughout the ballpark. I think people are going to be blown away once they get inside. I can't wait.

Posted by Freealonzo at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Everyone is up in arms (ha ha) over Joe Nathan's season-ending, if not career-ending, injury. While definitely a blow to the Twins chances, as Gleeman points out here, it's not the end of the world. Of course any blogger worth his or her stripes has put out an analysis of the Twins bullpen and who should be the closer. Jon Rauch is seen as the logical choice, however Francisco Liriano has emerged as a dark horse. I think everyone is on the same page that we want to limit the Crain wrecks to the 7th or 8th inning. And please let's leave the John Smoltz discussion at home.

In my opinion, a key to the Twins success this year is that Liriano is lights out for 200 innings, so unless he clearly demonstrates that he can't pitch for 6-7 innings, I don't want to see him in the bullpen. I'd love to see a bullpen by committee approach, at least early in the year. The role of the closer is kind of weird anyway. Sometimes the key inning to shut down your opponent is the 7th or 8th inning. Why should your best short-inning pitcher be limited to the 9th? Why not take a "Stopper" approach where your best pitcher is put out in the where the match-ups favor the pitcher. If the 4, 5, and 6 hitter are up in the 8th inning, I want my best bullpen pitcher out there. Save the 7, 8, and 9 hitters for someone else.

Unfortunately Gardenhire seems to take a more traditional stand in his managerial duties and I am guessing he will go with one designated closer. Probably Jon Rauch until the wheels come off. However he and the Twins may be better served by a Stopper approach and not the traditional Closer approach.

What do you think?

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night in the half pipe competition Sean White was already assured a Gold Medal but still had one more run yet to complete. On top of the hill, celebrating his Gold Medal White had the following discussion with his buds/coaches on how to approach the last, meaningless run:

"Do whatever you want man."
"What do you think?"
"Do whatever you want, have some fun, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know man, fly down the middle?"
"Nah."
"Drop a Quad Mick?"

Now of course Drop a Quad Mick means spinning 1260 degrees including a head over heals flip about 25 feet above the top of the half pipe. No one else can do this and it absolutely has no bearing on whether or not he gets the Gold or not. Who cares, drop a quad mick.

He nails it, it looks cool as hell and Sean White, already a huge star, cements his place along Lindsey Vonn as the star of the Olympics.

Now I would love to include a video of his run but NBC only has a 10 minute clip and there is no way to embed it. And NBC doesn't allow any coverage to show up on youtube. So if you didn't see it, go to NBC.com, it's easy to find there. Also I am sure it will be shown over and over on the Olympics coverage. It's well worth it.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's becoming a lost Winter here in Dinkytown as we look at the Golden Gophers. The hockey team is barely middle of the pack and can't even get two wins against a lackluster Alaska team. A NCAA playoff run is a pipedream at best. My how far this mighty program as fallen.

As for men's hoops this was supposed to be the year that the basketball team competed in the Big Ten, get a decent seed in the NCAA tourney and actually make some noise. With about a month in the season, Tubby's team has yet to have a signature win, is losing key players to academics and crime, and the Sophomores haven't shown a whole lot of growth (I'm looking at you Ralph Sampson and Colton Iverson). NIT is staring at this team real hard.

Finally Gophers football. When we last saw this team it was losing a boring game to a very average Iowa State team in a minor bowl. Since then a number of players have had runs in with the law, Coach Brewster got a contract extension that made the fan base feel worse about the program, and national signing day came and went with a lackluster recruiting class.

Of course the big news was the loss of Seantrell Henderson to USC. This one doesn't bother me as much. If the football big boys want one of our players, it's going to be hard to stop them. USC, Ohio State, Texas, Florida, Notre Dame just offer too much compared to what Minnesota can. Although, Brewster did say that he'd get some of those guys once in a while. But we're still waiting. What really bothers me is that we lost some of the "border battles" too. Beau Allen was a nice defensive linemen who is going to Wisconsin. The Gopher should be getting the Beau Allen's over Wisconsin as they have nothing that the U of MN can't also offer. Tobi Okuyemi going to Nebraska is another example.

In fact if one looks at the Gophers recruits, there's not a whole lot to get excited about. Many of the players who signed here really had no place else to go in D-1. Minnesota was their only D-1 or big time school offer. Now the reason Tim Brewster is the Gopher's coach is because he reportedly could recruit. Unfortunately the reality of his poor record and lousing coaching is catching up with the bullshit he slings and 18 year old kids are seeing through it (something I think will happen to USC's Lane Kiffen too - Good Luck Seantrell). Also having a middling recruiting class is o.k. if you can demonstrate an ability to "coach 'em up." Brewster has shown absolutely no ability to come close to taking o.k. kids and making then good players.

So it's dark days as far as our sports teams go here in Minnesota. The Vikings crushed our soul. Again. The T-Wolves show no glimmer of hope, the Wild are middle of the pack, all Gopher's mens teams have major major issues and Lindsey Vonn (above) states, right be before the Olympics, that she's a Coloradan, not a Minnesotan. Thank god for baseball, where pitchers and catchers report in 15 days. Boy do we need it.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Lover,

there will be another one
Who'll hover
over you beneath the sun
Tomorrow
see the things
that never come
Today

When you see me
Fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over, it's over.

Nestled
in your wings my little one
This special
morning brings another sun
Tomorrow
see the things
that never come
Today

When you see me
Fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over, it's over.

This past week I picked up two excellent Neil Young releases: Live at Massey Hall, 1971 and Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury Hall, 1968. Both are acoustic shows with Neil Young early in his career. They are melancholy and utterly compelling as Young, especially in the Canterbury release, completely overwhelmed me with their emotional impact. I listened to both releases all weekend and they kept my nerves calm as the Viking game approached Sunday evening.

Unfortunately the Vikings game was perfectly predictable. They were the better team on the field last night but the Vikings are fated to lose tragically in the playoffs. Now we have AP's fumbles, Favre's interception, bad calls by the ref, and a 12th man in the huddle to add to the canon of The Pushoff, 41-doughnut, Darrin Nelson's dropped pass, and Gary Anderson's missed field goal. I truly believe that the 12 man in the huddle was the ghost of Vikings playoff futility past.

I've been predicting something like this all season and realize that it's the fate of the Vikings to lose in such a manner. Unfortunately for many teenagers and pre-teenagers, this was their first experience of being let down by the Vikings. Congratulations. It's a rite of passage. You have taken another step on your journey of being considered a "real" Minnesotan.

Which brings me back to Neil Young. Right after the game I went upstairs and was cleaning the kitchen. I turned on the I-Pod and Neil Young's Birds came on immediately. What an appropriate song as it is a message (lyrics above) from someone who has either died or left a loved one. It is very sad and quite appropriate. If I had the time and ability, I'd put together highlights of last night's game and this song. Listening to it made me smile. Neil knows and so do I: It is the Vikings fate, embrace it, accept it.

Oh and don't fret, Joe Mauer will be signed this week.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Forty years of Viking choking on the big game has led to one established fact: The Vikings will disappoint, they cannot win the big game. It's pre-ordained, it's in their DNA, it's who. they. are.

Most Viking fans realize this but it still doesn't matter. They get whipped up into thinking this is the year, this time they might have a chance and then they allow their soul to be crushed by the inevitable stupid play calling, bad tackling, and gutless approach. It's pathological really. Why go batshit insane over a team you know is going to disappoint you?

Vikings fans need to take my approach. Embrace the dysfunction. Sure you watch, you swear at the TV when the Vikes go 3 and out (again) or give up a touchdown on 3rd and 26(!!!), but you also laugh. You are assured that everything is right in the world safe in the knowledge that the big loss is happening again you know it's coming. So sit back and watch the wreckage knowing that choking and the Vikings are two things that are just meant to be. How it could be otherwise?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Photo from Minnpost.com

I was a big supporter of the new Twins ballfield and the new Gophers football stadium. My support was based on purely selfish and aesthetic reasons: Baseball is meant to be played outdoors and college football should be played on campus. It was a mistake to move those teams into a domed stadium and felt that both should have their own place to call home. Also both those teams are close to my heart and allegiance so of course I wanted the best for them. It was especially frustrating for the Twins and almost every state/city was building a new, interesting ballpark for their team and the Twins were being left behind.

Also, while I understood and was sympathetic to the argument against public support of basically a private enterprise, that never entered into my support for these two teams. First of course, the Gophers are a public enterprise and deserve public support. However for the Twins, it basically came down to the fact that most other baseball markets had already decided that public support was appropriate for a ballpark. Basically the price of having major league baseball was public support for a ballpark. And given that the finance agreement for a new Twins ballpark was going to cost me probably less than $150 a year, it was well worth it.

That brings us to the Vikings. I've been pretty quiet about a new Vikings stadium. This has been for a couple of reasons. One, while I watch on Sundays, the Vikings rank below the Twins and Gophers in my opinion. Also, while not ideal, indoor football at the Metrodome for professional football is ok in my book. Finally given the dire financial situation the State is in, those complaints about public support have a little more resonance.

The Vikings of course are pushing hard for a new stadium. There is no argument that, when compared to other teams, the Metrodome is not professional football-worthy. Fan amenities are low and revenue generating opportunities are slim. The Vikings lease ends in 2011 and if something is going to happen, it needs to happen soon. Although I have to say, threats of moving to California are not that realistic.

Unfortunately $950 million for a stadium in this economic climate is really tough. So given the fact that I believe the Vikings need a new stadium, here are some criteria that I think the state should pursue when considering a new stadium:

1. The stadium should be enclosed, either through a retractable or permanent roof. I think football should be played outdoors, but 10 games a year is not enough activity to justify a Billion dollar investment. A roof allows the stadium to be used for concerts, trade shows, high school sports, etc. It will cost more, but will provide more public benefit.

2. Vikings need to contribute more of their own $$$. Right now the Wilfs are saying they will contribute $250M. That needs to increase. In fact from the Vikings own web site, they should new stadiums with owner contributions ranging from 50 to 30 percent. A minimal contribution of 1/3 should be negotiated, with 50% the goal.

3. Support needs to be statewide. Hennepin County took on the burden for the Twins, that can't/won't happen for the Vikings. Gambling is an easy way to pay for it. Taxes on hotels, taxis, sports jersey's etc., is another.

4. The stadium DOES NOT necessarily need to be located in downtown Minneapolis. Professional football seems more suburban in its fan base. If there is a suitable suburban location, the Vikings should pursue it. The failing Brookdale Mall area is a perfect location. Lots of transportation and utilities already in place. Also this is a part of the metro area that could use an economic shot in the arm.

With these criteria in place, I could support a new Vikings stadium. Over 2010, as this debate heats up, I will take a closer look at the Vikings stadium debate and hope to generate some discussion over this issue.

What do you think should be done about the Vikings and their need for a new stadium?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (39)

I don't post a lot about the Vikings because quite frankly I don't care that much about them. Sure I watch on Sundays but growing up as a kid and watching 3 Super Bowl losses and then as an adult seeing at least three NFC Championship games choked away has left me pretty jaded. Let's face it, the Vikings will lose sometime in January and break purple and gold hearts all across the State. Let's hope they don't do it in a fashion like this, however.

I wasn't able to watch much of Sunday's dismantling of the Bears, however I did hear a lot of it over the radio, including the post game. Since the Vikings win was so convincing, a lot of discussion centered around Adrian Peterson and his, for him, pedestrian game of 85 yards on 25 carries and 2 fumbles (one lost). Callers and analysts were wondering if AP was hurt, criticized the O-line, and whether or not AP was washed up.

What came out the next day, however, was really interesting. The Bears all but admitted that they set up their defense to stop AP, they weren't going to let him beat them. The Vikings recognized this and exploited it with pass after pass. Even after the Vikings had huge success with the passing game, the Bears didn't change their strategy.

After previous games it's been the same story. Defenses scheme to stop AP first, the pass second. Now I'm not a great football mind but given what Brett Favre and his arsenal of WRs and TEs have done all season, this seems to me to be short sighted. Sure, with all the offensive weapons the Vikings have, defenses are in a little bit of "pick your poison" mode, but one would think that after 11 games, defenses would figure out that the season Brett Favre has had isn't a mirage.

Actually I think it's all due to the first game against the Browns when AP went apeshit all over that defense, running over guys, tossing them aside like they were skinny high school players. Teams saw that film and said, I'll take my chances against a 40 year old gunslinger than a beast like that. Then when teams saw the huge hit AP put on that Steeler Safety (see above), those fears were confirmed. Fortunately for the Vikings, Favre has been able to exploit the defense emphasis on stopping the run.

So to answer my question above, I don't think anything is wrong with Adrian Peterson. Soon a defense is going to say, we can't let Favre beat us, and then AP will run wild. So enjoy the season for what it is. But in the end, don't worry, they will disappoint. They will lose a playoff game that they could have won. After all it's the Vikings.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Previewing the Gopher's football schedule back in September, I predicated a 7-5 season and said I wasn't expecting a Rose Bowl but wanted to see improvement. No more 55-0 losses to end the season. So the Gophers ended up 6-6 with only a 12-0 season ending loss. Is that improvement? No.

Basically the Gophers came close to my prediction. If they win the Illinois game, they would have been 7-5. My problem is that the Illinois game was extremely winnable, as was the Wisconsin game. In fact, the Iowa and Penn State losses were to teams that weren't that good either. The bottom line is that the Gophers were mediocre in a bad league, losing games to teams that are going to get trounced in upcoming Bowl games.

The Gopher's offense was putrid and got worse as the season wore on. No offensive touchdowns against South Dakota State. Shut outs against Penn State and Iowa and a garbage touchdown against Ohio State. The last two games were practically unwatchable: Poor offensive scheming, a bad offensive line, a quarterback who couldn't hit an open receiver, and receivers who dropped the ball when it did get to them. Adam Weber took three steps back in his quality of play this year and new Offensive Coordinate Jed Fisch demonstrated no ability to put a game plan together or to coach up his players.

The Defense seemed to play better at the end of the season, but the last 11 quarters were against Redshirt Freshmen quarterbacks who were thrust into their new roles. Time and time again the defense couldn't get off the field and basically if an opposing team needed a big play, they were able to get it. If the offense gets a D, the defense gets a C-.

Coach Tim Brewster is getting a lot of flack and the question of his future is getting a lot of play. Athletic Director Maturi didn't exactly give him a lot of support last week and I know for a fact that Brewster has more than his share of detractor's among University administrators. Although a decent recruiter, Brewster has shown no coaching ability, either from getting the most from his players or putting a game plan together to responding to game situations. He's a lot of bluster with not a lot to back it up. The problem is people are starting to see through his bluster. Sunday Brewster said he was happy with the progress of his team. If that's true, he's the only one.

I don't think the University will fire Brewster nor unfortunately should they. Three years is too quick to dump a coach and Brewster needs one more year to see if can really put this together. I would keep him on a short lease however and pull the trigger quickly if there is no improvement. Firing Brewster now would mean a couple more years of turmoil, plus a $800,000 buyout. Fortunately I am not sure Coach Brewster will be around much longer anyway. Word is that former Denver coach Mike Shanahan will have his pick of a number of NFL coaching jobs and that Brewster could follow him back to the NFL. That may be good in the long run but would mean the U would be looking for a coach in February.

So as it has been for the last 40 years, the Gophers end on a disappointing note, the football program is in trouble, the future looks bleak with no end in site. At least we have Gopher Hockey. MN Timberwolves. MN Wild. Oh never mind. When do pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Zach Grienke deservedly won the 2009 Cy Young even though he pitched for the woeful Kansas City Royals, winning 16 games.

It has come out that Grienke is not only a great pitcher but uses sabermetrics to help him approach batters. The guy uses his brawn and his brains.

So if you are a Major League Baseball player, making millions of dollars, awarded the highest honor for your position, and obviously extremely bright what else could you ask for? How about engaged to a former Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader?

Well done sir. Well done.

Posted by Freealonzo at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last week the City Pages used that term to describe Corey Brewer, the string bean of a forward employed by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Besides generating page hits through teh google, I thought that phrase perfectly captured Brewer and the potential of the Wolves.

If you haven't been paying attention, the Wolves have completely revamped their team once again in the hopes of creating something out of the big stinking growler left by the Kevin McHale regime. So far the results have not been pretty: a Detroit Lions-like 1-7 record including a record-breaking 146-105 loss last night against the Golden State Warriors, crowds at Target Center that are listless and sparse, and the team "savior" Ricky Rubio playing in Barcelona for another 2 years.

There is hope however. Kurt Rambis seems to be a good coach and has put together a pretty good coaching staff, including Dave DeBuscher Bill Laimbeer (God was that embarrassing). Just seeing those guys on the sidelines is a little comforting. Also Corey Brewer is one of those guys you gotta love, not necessarily for his basketball skill but for his ineptness. The guy can play defense -- he's all energy, and with those long arms and legs he is up in your grill in a flash. Problem is he can't shoot a lick, doesn't understand the offense, and is just as likely to throw the ball away, shoot an airball before his team is set in the half court, or commit a foul his body is out of control and the opponent takes advantage. He's one of those lovable losers that, when your team is bad, you have to embrace just for the futility of it all.

Now all isn't lost if you are a fan of NBA basketball. You can easily score tickets to any game you want. Last Friday, a couple of friends and I went to the Wolves-Bucks game and sat 6 rows behind the Wolves bench for $20. This was a Friday night against a Milwaukee team that will pull in some 'Sconi fans. I am guessing midweek games can be had for a song. Even with the Wolves as bad as they are, watching NBA basketball for that cheap and that close is a treat.

So go to a Twolves game. Cheer on Corey Brewer and his spindly little legs as he goes 1-12 from the floor. Watch all 5'-7" of Johnny Flynn flying down the court, getting hammered by much bigger opponents, see Stewie look-alike white Euro dude Percherov score 24 points against a nice Celtics team and then not even sniff the basket against a lousy Bucks team. It's all good. It's the 2009 NBA as we know it in Minneapolis.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last weekend was big plus rare with all four major sports leagues were in action. Here are some thoughts

Vikings-Packers. This was the biggie. Favre back at Lambeau. Opportunity for Vikings to put away the Pack and grab a stranglehold on the NFC North Division. A million words have been spilled on the event, I'll just add that the anguish Packer fans are going through (see image above) makes me even happier than the Vikings 7-1 start. Vikings secondary is still a big concern and I worry how they would match up v. the Saints or Colts.

Gophers v. MSU. A must win and a crazy game. How many times does a team commit 17 penalties and win? Plus the Gophers got a couple of key calls late. Go back to my prediction, I've practically nailed it. Gophers win next two and lose at Iowa. However, I would gladly trade those two wins for a victory against the Hick-eyes and ruining their national championship hopes.

Timberwolves Start Play. A miracle win in their opener followed by 3 loses. This team ain't going to win a lot of games, hopefully they will be entertaining.

Gophers Hoops. Three plays suspended. Ouch that's 25 percent of the team. Hopefully White and Bostick's transgressions are minor. With those three players, this could be a fun team to watch this year.

World Series. Jeez, Chase Utley is playing out of his mind, too bad it seems like the Phillies will need to score at least 6 runs every game to even have a chance at winning. It will be interesting to see if Girardi's strategy of using only three pitchers on three days rest backfires. Burnett looked awful last night.

Posted by Freealonzo at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I guess there is a reason they call him A-Rod! Also Robins Cano's facial expression is classic. Like he always suspected but seeing the evidence right in front of him was too much too take. Matsui's just playin' it cool.

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There's a hole where my heart did reside.
It was ripped out and smashed,
turned into hash
left on the road with no place to hide.

I believed in a team that just wouldn't quit.
Representing the masses, the verdant,
the unmonied classes
surviving on guile, guts, and wit.

Alas, fell beasts this earth still roam.
Crushing our hopes, they went bashing,
sometimes mashing
leaving us tattered, crawling for home.

But we will rise again to fight once more
We'll be noble, fearless, and strong,
nothing goes wrong
in our new field named after a store.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

They Just Don't Quit. It's been said so much about plucky, playing-over-their-heads sports teams for so long that it ranks among such classic sports clichés as "giving 110 percent" and "one day at a time." But clichés exist for a reason and if "They Just Don't Quit" ever applied to a team, it applied to the 2009 Minnesota Twins, especially over the last month of the season.

We all know the stats intimately by now: Seven games out on September 7th. Three games out with 4 to play. Last Wednesday it looked like the season was over, now, the following Wednesday, we're all hung over. Last night the Twins down early 3-0, they come back, They're down 5-4 in the 10th, they come back. Their worst pitcher has to pitch the 11th and 12th innings and he miraculously allows no runs. Two players picking splinters out of their backsides from riding the bench so much come up huge in the 12th and the Twins win. They just don't quit.

Some will say that is why Baseball is the greatest sport, with its long 162 game season and no clock, you can't quit. You can't just "run out the clock." Life is like that too. There is no clock -- it's not a race, it's a journey. Just think if we applied the mantra "they just don't quit" to our entire lives? Just think what we would accomplish. Who knows maybe even a trip to New York City.

Twins over the Yankees in 4.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Well wasn't that fun. Twins in the playoff hunt and win 2 of 3 from the Royals. Gophers win their Big Ten opener on the road and the Vikings pull out a last second win, with a no-timeout drive that we have only seen in these parts when the defense is on the field. Let's take them one at a time.

Twins. Although the Royals are wretched again, they tend to be spoilers in late September so it was nice to see the Twins win 2 out of 3 games over the weekend. The Twins have been surging of late and have been beating the teams they needed to beat in order to stay in the race. In fact before Sunday's loss, the Twins had scored 7, 8, 8, 9, and 11 runs. It would have been nice to win yesterday but going into the four game series against Detroit only two out is something I will take (especially considering where they were about a month ago). Winning 3 of 4 against the Tigers is key. Even splitting the series does the Twins no favors.

Gophers. It was nice to play Northwestern where the last play of the game didn't break your heart so the weekend was great right there. Gophers beat a team on the road they needed to beat in order to considered a legitimate team. It wasn't pretty, but you had the feeling that the Gophers were in control the whole time, even when they went behind early in the 4th quarter. Plus it was nice to see the Gophers run game get into gear. This team isn't going to a major bowl, but it's heading in the right direction.

Vikings. What can you say? When the Vikings got the ball back with a minute remaining, I said well, this is exactly why they got Brett Favre. Like I said above, it was nice to see a last second drive for a win when our offense was on the field, not the defense. Although it was a win, and the 49ers are a pretty good team, this game also shows that the Vikings still have some work to do on both their offensive and defensive lines. Also Brett Favre can't throw 47 times regularly and expect the Vikings to win or have him last the entire season. A good win, but definitely room for improvement if the Vikings think they have a shot in late January.

The thing is, even though it was a great weekend, next weekend should be even greater. Hopefully the Twins do well in Detroit and the last three games at the Metrodome have meaning other than being the last indoor baseball games in Minnesota. The Gophers take on the Wisconsin BADgers at home with the first Big Ten game at TCF and the Vikings take on the Packers at the Metrodome on Monday. Brett Favre v. the Packers. All three games/series are winnable and will tell a lot about the future of all three teams. I can't wait.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ten days left in the baseball season and the Twins are still in it which at various times in the season most people would have never hoped for. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a great Twins team and their semi-lofty status is all related to the fact that the AL Central is wretched. However, in baseball, more than any other sport, a team can do some damage in the playoffs, even if they have no business being there. So bring on the Yankees!

Now nothing gives me greater pleasure than a Twins victory that also pushes the Whine Sox to the brink of elimination, especially in their own park. Even a Twins win today won't mathematically eliminate the Whities, but they will be on the brink. I will definitely pay attention even for that.

So I will continue to enjoy the baseball season, at least for a few more days. Heck, a team that uses Brandon (Dirty Harry) Harris as the DH and scores 8 runs has some higher power looking out for it. Also Joe Mauer is having a season for the ages and if you don't like watching Joe Mauer play baseball, while then there is no hope for you.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So it finally happened Gopher Football back on campus. It was a great day with the entire campus decked out in Maroon in Gold. The stadium is fantastic and a Gopher win made for a great day.

There has been a ton written about Saturday's game so it's hard to add anything else. The stadium is very nice and there is hardly a bad seat in the house. The student section was rockin' and if one of the goals of the stadium was to bring a collegiate atmosphere back to the University, I would say Mission Accomplished!

It was amazing to see the campus awash with Maroon and Gold and there were people everywhere! It was a party, which I know is nothing to write about at most BCS football schools but something here in Minnesota. As a football stadium, TCF works great and the traffic problems that were anticipated were minor for what I could tell. However there were a few concerns:

Getting people into the stadium needs to be improved and quickened. Do we really need to be patted down before entering. There were still long lines minutes before the game started, and lots of people entered early.

Food service was atrocious. They ran out of food, the cash registers couldn't ring up orders, there were too few individuals serving food outside of the main food stands. It hurts that both the lower and upper bowls empty into one concourse, leaving little room for food service. It's probably fixable but the not enough food issue was just plain stupid.

But that's nit-picking. Overall it was a great experience and I can't wait to see how TCF Bank Stadium settles in to being the home of the Golden Gophers. Below are some pictures I took. Also I have some video on youtube. You can see those here.

Elaine Spending $$$ on Gopher Gear

Cheerleaders Proposing to Me

Goldy

Fans Coming to Stadium

Kick-off!

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The big story this year for Gopher Football is the return to TCF Stadium. As I have blogged before, the stadium is beautiful and having a real collegiate atmosphere is something I've been railing about for years.

But how good will the Gophers be? In my opinion, the book is still out on Coach Brewster. His recruiting efforts have been Tremendous! but can he coach? I'm still not convinced, but have an open mind. Having Duane Bennett back as RB should be a big help, but the RB depth is pretty thin if he gets hurt again. Adam Weber is a JR, three-year starter at QB and Grey will be an exciting addition in some situations. Decker could be an All-American WR. I am still concerned that Weber looks to Decker for his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd option. If a team shuts down Decker, Weber can look lost. Finally the defense is improving but has a long way to go.

As opposed to past years, the Gophers actually have a tough schedule this year (and in future years, yea!). In fact I think their schedule is one of the 10 toughest in the country, throw in the obvious emotional lift the new stadium will bring and one could make a legitimate case for 4-8 or 8-4. I will be mildly optimistic and predict 7-5.

Gophers will beat Syracuse, Air Force, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, South Dakota State, and Iowa.

They will lose to California, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State.

I think Syracuse, Air Force, Wisconsin, and South Dakota State are locks for wins, California, Ohio State, and Penn State are locks for loses, the rest are up in the air.

While I hate moral victories, I won't be looking for a bunch of wins this year, but for competitiveness. No more 55-0 loses at home. Playing Ohio State tough on the road would be nice. Taking a bad team like Purdue and making it a no-contest by the 3rd quarter is a must. If that's the season we get, Gopher future looks good. If the team is sloppy and losing by big margins in its new stadium, Brewster will have to go.

How do you think the Gophers will do?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The latest word out of Spain, (and who knows it might be old by the time this posts) is that Ricky Rubio, the basketball boy wonder, is signing with Barcelona and won't be available to the Timberwolves for 2 years.

For the national media, which doesn't necessarily have the T-wolves interests at heart, this is a disaster for the Timberwolves. Trades with the Knicks are being proffered that would include David Lee and draft choices. Such a trade (Lee is another Forward who is too similar to BAJ and KLove) would be the disaster facing the Wolves, not missing Rubio for 2 years.

Ricky Rubio is 18 years old and really no one really knows if he is ready for the NBA. Doesn't it make sense for him to play in Barcelona, get bigger and stronger, and let the Wolves develop their team? The Wolves will still retain his rights. If Rubio is a bust against better competition, we will learn that without having to pay him. If he is the second coming of Pete Maravich, we'll learn that too and Rubio could be the final piece that the Wolves will need when they start to compete in 2 years. It's almost as though the Wolves have drafted a young phenom and then put him in the minors for seasoning. Did anyone complain when the Twins drafted the 18 year old Joe Mauer and then sent him to Fort Myers to play single A ball?

From his public statements, David Kahn seems to realize this, but I am guessing the pressure is strong to deal Rubio to a team like the Knicks. Let's hope that Kahn keeps the Wolves long term interests at heart, is able to stave off the criticism that will come his way if Rubio does sign with Barcelona and builds a team that is able to plug in Ricky Rubio in 2 years and actually compete with the elite teams of the NBA.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

The big news this week at Target Field has been the grass. Every night since Monday, semi trucks of sod has been delivered to Target Field and installed over night. It's been 27 years since professional baseball has been played on grass in Minnesota so this is a big deal.

As of this morning, the outfield has been completely sodded and tonight the infield will go in. It's starting to looking like a real ballpark out there. Want to watch the progress, be sure to check out this webcam. Also take a close look at that last picture, it was taken from a spot pretty close to where our seats are located.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Old time readers of LFAD know I used to have a Brett Favre Interception Watch located on the right side of the page that was sadly lost with the re-design. So as with most Minnesota fans, I've had a love-hate relationship with Brett Favre. I love that he was a great quarterback on the field and hated the fact he played for the Packers and was such an egotistical drama queen. But I now love the fact that Favre is a Viking.

I love how this just burns Packer fans. I love how they have to choke back 16 years of Favre worship and now say he's washed up or that it's no big deal. I love that Packer fans have to admit what everyone else has said for years: Brett Favre is a diva who cares only for himself. I love the media circus and that KSTP followed Favre's car from the airport to Winter Park from a helicopter. I love that hundreds of rubes stormed Winter Park just to get a glimpse of Brett Favre. I love the fact that is a high-risk/high-reward gambit that will either be a glorious success or a spectacular failure and which ever way it goes it will be a blast to watch. So welcome Brett Favre. Let the spectacle begin.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

A few thoughts from the weekend...

District 9. Saw this movie on Friday and thought it was pretty good. Was it the best sci-fi movie since Bladerunner? Well no. It really took a while to get moving, specifically the faux-documentary portion of the first 30 minutes didn't quite work. The last 30 minutes was a thrill ride however. Couple of plot holes, but definitely recommended if you are into that kind of movie.

Pillars of the Earth. I am not a big fiction reader but enough people had read this book with glowing reviews that I thought I would spend part of my summer with this sprawling book. It is an enjoyable breezy read and I got through it's 980 pages in a relatively quick two weeks. It was a little too "soap operary" for me but there were some good page-turning moments as well. Lots of good detail on the architecture of 12th century cathedrals and how they were built. Oh and Ken Follet is obviously a boob man as practically every female's breasts were described numerous times in excruciating detail.

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm. Actually I have been listening to this for a good 6 weeks or so and never did a full review. Let's just say if you like Dinosaur Jr., you're gonna like Farm. With the classic J. Mascus and Lou Barlow line-up, it feels like 1988 all over again. Great guitars, this album is a blast.

Gran Torino. We rented this movie and I thought it was excellent. I don't understand how it didn't get any love from the Academy. Definitely worth checking out.

SBG Convention. The 3rd annual SBG convention was held at Minnehaha Park this weekend and I was finally able to attend. The Twins game was a buzz kill but we did get to see Delmon Young actually walk (and take the 1st pitch in three consective at bats). It was good to meet a couple of SBG citizens and I am looking forward to future conventions.

PGA. Tiger choked. PGA might be a little worried. First at least 50 percent of its popularity is tied to Tiger Woods. If he doesn't do well then the PGA doesn't do well (ratings, attendance wise). Also while it's great to see new faces win, a South Korean who doesn't speak English can be problematic. The LPGA has suffered greatly as it has become dominated by the South Korean's who aren't able to promote the game and the LPGA is losing sponsors left and right. PGA will have to worried whether it will experience the same on the men's side.

Kind of Blue. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue was released 50 years ago today. This article describes how and why it is the greatest jazz album ever. A must read.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Admittedly I wasn't very happy when David Kahn was named GM of the Timberwolves. He was out of the game for a while, had experience at the business side -- not the player evaluation side, and seemed like a reclamation project. So far I think I was wrong in the assessment.

Kahn has understood that he had to blow up the Timberwolves and basically start over. So goodbye Kevin McHale. Goodbye Randy Foye, Bassy, and Mike Miller. Hello banking draft picks, younger guys, and expiring contracts. The Ricky Rubio gambit may not work but I think Rubio wants to play in the NBA and even though there will be a lot of machinations, we will see the Spanish teen in a Wolves jersey this coming October.

Finally hello Kurt Rambis as coach. Rambis is definitely one of those rising assistants. He's coached alongside two masters: Riley and Jackson and was credited with improving the Lakers' defense this past season. He's been a winner at every level of basketball whether a player or a coach, even if it was a supporting role. Also he's a name that casual fans know and can get excited about.

Don't overlook that last point. Due to soul-draining suckiness, the Timberwolves have virtually no buzz right now in Minnesota. It's really too bad as this could be a rabid basketball market. High School basketball has never been played at a higher level and more kids are going on to D-I basketball than ever before. Gopher hoops and Tubby are always a tough ticket. Rambis, Rubio, Big Al Jefferson, Kevin Love won't win a lot of games this year but could create some excitement, some hope for the future. The fact that Kahn has put these first pieces into place has demonstrated that maybe he was a good hire. He has a plan, will it work out? Time will tell (See Minnesota Wild 2005-2009) but it at least it will be interesting to find out if it will.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The image above popped up on the Ballpark Magic site a couple of weeks ago. It is from the model of the new Twins Ballpark and is a close-up of the "signature" signage that will be located in centerfield at Target Field. This sign was a late addition to the ballpark design and I think will be an awesome feature. The supporting infrastructure for the sign is now up at the ballpark and I am guessing we will see the sign soon so I wanted to call this out.

The logo comes from when the Twins originally moved to Minnesota in 1961 and signifies the cooperation between Minneapolis and St. Paul to get a professional baseball team to the Twin Cities. It's one of those quaint 60's designs that time has been kind to. It's gone past the cheesy stage and is a now retro classic. Apparently the sign will be lit up. Unfortunately rumors that the "Twins" would shake hands animatronically whenever the Twins hit a homerun has been debunked as wishful thinking.

As you can see from the picture in this post, I love this logo and I really can't wait to see it at Target Field. I am really happy with what I am seeing at Target Field so far and think it will be a classy ballpark that will be a joy to spend a sunny summer day watching a game. Now if only the Twins could put a little more effort into developing a top notch lineup!

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

O.k. the title may be a shameless attempt to goose page views but it also leads to an interesting discussion.

Apparently some creep took a video of Erin Andrews -- the uber-hot sideline reporter for ESPN -- undressing in her hotel room. The video was taken through the door peep hole. Apparently (I have not seen the video nor will attempt to find it) one gets an unfiltered view of Andrew's unclad booty. Although if taken through a door peep hole, I can't image that the image quality is really worth the effort searching for it.

Obviously this is just downright creepy. Who would even think about doing something like this? I am not sure if they know the perpetrator but I hope that if they find him (and let's all acknowledge that this is undoubtedly a guy) he goes to prison and Andrews sues his ass for all it's worth.

But I am also worried that this will have a chilling effect on women, especially attractive women, becoming involved in the media. Let's face it Erin Andrews is easy on the eyes and I definitely stand up and take notice when she is at a television sporting event. I don't want her to go away or for others who have the same qualities to not purse this line of work because they are worried about the freaks and creeps. But at the same time I don't want to see her exploited without her permission. (However, if she chooses to do a Maxim spread on her own, that's o.k. in my book)

Unfortunately someone as gorgeous as Erin Andrews gets a lot of attention, much of it piggish, and some critics think that she is only on TV because of her looks. No doubt that plays a part but she is also a pretty competent sideline reporter who takes her job seriously. Let's hope the creeps keep away and the rest of us get to enjoy her attributes from the comfort of our sofa and flat screen LCD television.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Everyone is all excited that after 27 years, college football is coming back to the University of Minnesota campus with the opening less than 2 months away. The new stadium looks quite handsome and I can't wait to see a game there.

But let's not forget that the University of Minnesota had a classic football stadium for nearly 60 years right across the street where the new stadium is set to open. Fortunately University Libraries haven't forgotten and they have created a lovely archival website that looks back at "The Brickhouse" -- how it was built, who played there, as well as what a nice description of other activities that happened at Memorial Stadium (did you know there were labs in stadium?)

Since the site was created by archivists, there are tons of old pictures of the stadium, players, crowds, etc. Want to see the classic picture of Bronko Nagurski? Here it is. Want to see 1941 Heisman Trophy Winner Bruce Smith? Check out this video. Like to see stadium plans? How about the decision to move to the Metrodome and tear down the stadium? It's all there.

What I especially like is that this site is taking a web 2.0 approach allowing visitors to give their own stories and upload pictures. My family had season tickets in the 1970's and I know my parents have some pictures of the tailgating. I will definitely be adding those pictures to the site.

As with most Gopher fans I can't wait for TCF Bank Stadium to open, however with this new site, I can also go back to see what we've missed since 1981.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo via of MN Daily

For some reason June just blows by. It seems like the month just starts and boom, its gone and we are making plans for the 4th. This year was a particularly memorable June, here are the highlights:

Mr. Franken goes to Washington. It took over eight months but we finally have our Senator. The writing's been on the wall with this one for a couple of months now but the slow as molasses pace and then all of a sudden it's over was breathtaking. Sure Franken is a goof but he is taking the job seriously and has some bona fide political chops. I think Republicans will be sorely mistaken if they underestimate Franken's ability to do a credible job and connect with ordinary Minnesotans.

Michael Jackson dead (and Farrah, and Ed, and Karl Malden, and Billy May, and Jay Bennett...) Wow bad month for celebrities. I can appreciate Michael's obvious musical talent with the Jackson 5 and his early solo stuff but the guy was a confirmed child molester. The crushing weight of celebrity and his own demons turned him into a freak at the end so he gained some sympathy there but don't forget: the man slept with little boys.

Timberwolves and Wild changing gears. Man I wanted Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry together in the backcourt and was that >< close to seeing it happen. I am not sure if Rubio will play for the Wolves this year, but I think he will play eventually. This team still has a lot of holes but the excitement over Rubio should demonstrate to the Wolves "braintrust" that this is a real NBA market. Give us a team that is exciting, shows us some promise for the future, and we will come out and be there with you. Wild lose Gaborik which is no surprise. Now lets rebuild this team and get a goal scorer or two.

Twins. Aaron Gleeman has a good article describing the Twins first half of the season. Essentially Young, Tolbert, Punter, Buscher, and Gomez are a negative balance to the nice seasons Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and Cuddyer are having. The starting pitching are slightly coming around as are the relievers. A nice right handed reliever is still needed but the Twins are blessed by playing in a flawed division. However can they compete in the playoffs?

New Wilco album. I really wanted to have a review ready today but just haven't been able to give Wilco (the album) a good listen or two. Reviews are mixed and the first couple of songs haven't exactly grabbed me. I love however the first single, You Never Know. If the whole album is like that, I will be raving. Look for a review next week.

No Beer at TCF Bank Stadium. The state legislature says everyone gets to buy booze or no one does. The Regents decided no one. I don't have a problem with this as virtually no college football stadium sells alcohol to the general population. Legislators get on their high horse and say they are looking out for the "common folks" who can't afford a fancy stadium suite. Too bad they don't worry about the common folks when they pass legislation that favors corporate interests over working families so spare me your faux populism.

So 2009 is halfway in the books what else happened in June that I missed?

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today's the NBA Draft and without Kevin McHale at the helm, Wolves fan(s) are excited that an epic Taylor Hainsborough and $1 million dollar for Kevin Love deal is very unlikely.

With four number 1 picks (including #5 and #6) and a new GM who has promised to bring some excitement to the local NBA franchise, there is actual Draft anticipation and not dread out there. Now of course, in typical T-wolves fashion, they own 4 picks in a draft that by all accounts is considered weak.

The Strib's Wolves beat guy is tweeting the draft goings on and says that the Wolves are working all trade and pick scenarios hard so I am guessing we won't know the entire outcome of the draft until close to midnight. So when the dust settles on the 2009 NBA draft, here are my hopes and dreams and fears (ht Canis Hoopus).

Dreams
Rubio and Harden
Curry and Harden

Hopes
Either Rubio or Curry
Ty Lawson at 18
Harden and Flynn

Fears
Evans and Flynn
Thabeet
Any scenario that trades #5 or #6 and Kevin Love to get to #2

I really like Rubio because I think he could bring a level of excitement to Target Center. They aren't going to win a lot of games anyway so let's have some fun while we're losing. Curry is in the same level, but without as much buzz. Combine one of those and add Harden. That would be awesome.

Wolves please stay away from Thabeet. Sure you can't teach size, but I just don't see him as being tough enough to be an NBA inside player. And what the heck, if we can get Hainsborough with the 28th pick, I wouldn't even cringe.

What do you think, what should the Wolves do? What will this team look like tomorrow?

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

We were in Chicago over the weekend to see the Twin-Cubs play in the friendly confines on Sunday. Even though we are less than a year away from seeing outdoor baseball here in Minneapolis we didn't want to pass up an opportunity to see baseball played how it was meant to be played: In a outdoor, urban ballpark dedicated to the game and not squeezing every last dollar out of fat cat sometime fans.

Most have seen the coverage of the weekend with Twins fans coming out in force for the three-game series. Reading some coverage of the series, Cubs fans were saying that it was one of the biggest visiting team invasions they can remember in a long time. Apparently Wrigley was 1/3 Twins fans on Saturday. Sunday probably didn't have as many Twins supporters but there were definitely a lot of us.

Sunday was one of those great days to watch a game: 75 degrees with some clouds, and a bit of a breeze blowing in. We got down to the ballpark early (someone on the EL saw us and said "Piranhas on the Train!") walked around the ballpark and had a hearty omelet and hash browns at a cool little diner on Clark Street. The scene around the ballpark was electric with people hawking tickets and t-shirts, bars open to the streets, and lots of people watching. Some of the unofficial t-shirt sellers were the best and I had to explain to my 13 year old that Fukudome was a Japanese outfielder for the Cubs and not some sort of pejorative against the Metrodome.

We had awesome seats about 15 rows behind the Twins dugout and had a few foul balls hit in our general direction. We had full view of the game and the ivy-strewn wall and after about an hour we were bathed in sun for the rest of the game. Fans were passionate but were not obnoxious to Twins fans like they would be at Comiskey Park.

The game was close and well played and in the top of the 9th all tied up at two, the Twins had 2 guys on with one out and Mauer and Morneau due up. The Twins fans were really rocking the joint but neither came through. The bottom of the 9th was a Crain-wreck for the Twins and the Cubs prevailed. No problems though, Twins took 2 of three from the Cubs, we had a wonderful time and got to take in one of the ultimate baseball experiences: A game at Wrigley on a glorious summer afternoon.

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (32)

It’s June which means finally we transition from Hockey and Basketball Playoffs to full bore Baseball some thoughts as it stays light to nearly 10:00 here in the northland.

Stanley Cup. I was disappointed that Boston or Washington didn’t get to the finals but a Detroit-Pittsburgh finals is a lot of fun too. Detroit just has too many tools, but if Crosby and Malkin turn it up a notch, it could get wild. With a 2-1 lead, I see the Red Wings winning in 6 games. I will definitely be tuning in.

NBA Finals. Yawn. Of course everyone wanted Kobe v. Lebron. Instead we got a bunch of no-names w/Dwight Howard against the Lakers. No way Howard dominates the paint like he did against Cavs. Lakers in 5. I won’t be watching.

Twins. Even though Mauer and Morneau had monster Mays (nice alliteration), the Twins were still under .500. Basically the bottom of the line-up is wretched with Punto, Delmon Young, Buscher, Tolbert, and now Casilla contributing nothing at the plate. Combine that with Baker and Liariano disappointing every outing, the Twins are struggling. Thankfully June brings lots of games against the AAAA National League so I expect a winning month. The highlight will be our trip to Wrigley to see the Twins-Cubs next week. The rest of MLB season has been pretty pedestrian. It looks like 87 wins will win the AL central.

Also Gardy is coming around as a manager. Mauer batting second, Nathan pitching in the 8th in key situtations instead of Crain, Gomez getting more playing time over Young because of his glove. These are changes bloggers have been pointing out for months. Gardy may be slow but he does eventually get it.

Soccer. U.S. gets ripped 3-1 in Costa Rica. We are now 0-7 at that crazy stadium in Costa Rica. Somehow I just don’t think the U.S. is still ready for the world stage. When will it be?

Golf, NASCAR, Tennis. Huh?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get a personal tour of Target Field. The ballpark is wonderful and I think people are going to be stunned when they walk into the ballpark for the first time. Seats on the 3rd baseline are going to be of a premium I think. Jeff T. of What Jeff Thinks has his thoughts here and I concur fully. Rick from Twins Ballpark 2010 was there and I know will have thoughts too. Of course Shane of Greet Machine has a nice review too. So I won't go into a big review, go to those sites to find out more about our tour.

I did want to talk about the fact that I have no pictures with this post. The Twins have a no picture policy and Rick has even run into problems trying to take pictures of the exterior from public places outside the ballpark. No surprise but I think the Twins are way out of line with their no pictures policy. Pictures by others create excitement for the ballpark that official pronouncements just can't match. Sure the Twins can't completely control the message but the they are missing out on the fact that the images are the message and the images are fantastic.

As comparison look at what the University is doing with TCF Bank stadium. There is no prohibition of photos, in fact they are encouraged. Goldy has a facebook page with 100's of pics from all over the stadium. Like Target Field, there are tours everyday and pictures are encouraged. Official and unofficial Youtube videos of the interior garner 1000's of views. They aren't just exteriors but also photos of areas that most people will never ever see, like the locker room and suites. I'll never be in that locker room but it sure is impressive and makes me excited for that stadium. Now of course I understand the University has a different mission and the photos play a role in recruiting as well. I get that, but there is no concern from the Athletics Department about controlling the message about the stadium, or saving some "aha moments" (and believe me the Athletics Department is very concerned about it's image, they are control freaks about that stadium).

Finally I think it's just great P.R. for the Twins. The ballpark was controversial to say the least and I don't think people understand how much more the Twins have put into the ballpark, how cool a facility this will be. By showing what the citizens are getting, what they are paying for, the Twins can only garner good P.R. Remember the images are the message and there are some great images at Target Field.

So no pics of my tour. But no worries. Next week is Construction Week at LAFD and I plan to take pics of the ballpark exterior, along with pics of TCF Bank Stadium and the University's Science Teaching + Student Services building. It should be fun.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Normally I don’t opine on the Vikings, especially during the off-season. But as someone who used to have a Brett Favre Interception Watch on this blog for at least two NFL seasons, I just can’t help but comment on the big news.

I for one thinks it would be great if Favre became a Viking. Not because I think he will necessarily deliver a Super Bowl to long suffering fans (although I think he’s a better option than T-Jack or Sage). No I want him here for the spectacle of the thing, for the machinations Packer fans will go through if Favre wears Purple and Gold. I want the drama that only a drama queen like Brett Favre would bring. I want Packer fans confused, hurt, angry.

Even the most dyed-in-the-wool Vikings fan had to admit that Favre was a great quarterback and secretly longed for someone like him at the helm of the Viking’s ship. We also knew he was a preening prima donna – something Packer fans could never admit. Now they are faced with the truth and what could be better than having #4, in purple, beating the Packers at Lambeau?

So I say, c’mon Chilly, get your butt down to Mississippi, kiss Favre’s ass and bring him back up to Minny. We want the spectacle. We want the drama. We want cheeseheads to explode in a gooey mess of melted Colby jack broken pretzels, and stale beer

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Minnesota Twins finish their first month of the season at .500, ½ game out of first in the AL Central. Considering that Baker and Liriano haven’t won a game and Joe Mauer hasn’t played one inning yet, these results are ok. However there are some troubling trends. Here’s a one month review:

The Good: Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, Denard Span, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey

The o.k.: Blackburn, Gardy, Morales, Punto, Delmon Young, Buscher, Harris, Liriano, Joe Nathan

The ugly: Baker, Casilla, Gomez, Cuddyer

The Twins have looked awful at times and Gomez, Casilla, and Cuddyer have been absolutely wretched. One hopes that Gomez and Casilla can turn it around. I think Cuddyer is destined to be a mediocre player. Hopefully with Mauer back, not only will we get more timely hitting, but our defense can improve too.

The A.L. Central is wide open and it should only take about 90-92 to win it all. Hopefully a little more consistent hitting, and better relief pitching can bring the Twins another Central Division championship. At least on May 1st, it’s still a possibility.

What do you think of the Twins chances?

Posted by Freealonzo at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm in Florida and it's 80s and muggy. I've kayaked and played golf today. But the best thing about Florida is that I haven't had to waste my time looking for the frakkin' TWINS GOLDEN TICKET. Which remains to be found.

So slow blogging this week, but to all who have stopped by to comment on the search, thanks for coming. I hope you check out the blog some more. I usually talk about music, sports, and other things of interest.

So go Twins, Go Go is gonna hit 20 homers this year and Slowely will be in the running for Cy Young. I can't see the game down here in Fort Myers but I will be rooting on those Spartans.

When I get back, let's form a posse and take out who ever came up with those Golden Ticket Clues

Posted by Freealonzo at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

O.k. now we're getting somewhere. We have three clues. Let's go list them in order:

Starting from the teflon roof, heading west would be a goof.

Get out and search and use those legs, but to the north there's just goose eggs

Further south of the second City the golden ticket shines so pretty

So we know the golden ticket is east and south of the Metrodome, and is located south of the second City.

Another key clue that is in the rules is that the ticket is located in Ramsey or Hennepin County. Which in this case is important.

So question, what exact is the 2nd City? Is it St. Paul because it's second in population to Minneapolis or is it Minneapolis because St. Paul is the capital. What makes this really important is that St. Paul is the southern most City in Ramsey County, so if the ticket is further south of St. Paul, that leaves very little room. Also given the fact that the Metrodome is in the east part of Minneapolis, there isn't a whole lot of place south and east of the Metrodome in Hennepin County either.

Look at a metro area map. Right now based on those clues I am focusing on Fort Snelling State Park area.

What do you think, am I missing something here? Hopefully Wednesday's clue helps then I'm going to start searching. Discuss in the comments.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE

Today's clue is killing me:

If you like your breakfast food, this path will get you in the mood

So we are looking for a trail that has a name related to breakfast food. Somewhere in the south east metro but in Ramsey or Hennepin County.

Right now I am stumped. Who knows a trail with a name like cereal, eggs, etc. I would go look by General Mills but that first clue says heading west of the dome would be a goof. Any thoughts, we need a trail name.

Posted by Freealonzo at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (348)

There's been some discussion this week that the lack of upsets has made for a boring NCAA tournament and that this year's Sweet 16 is boring because it consists of all 1s, 2s, 3s, and two of the 4 seeds. The Strib's Myron Medcalf stated that casual fans have no rooting interest in the remaining teams.

That is a bunch of garbage. This weekend's games are destined to be classics. If you aren't looking forward to Duke v. Villanova or UConn v. Purdue, then you don't like basketball. Tomorrow's Michigan State V. Kansas promises to be a war, and I can't wait to watch. Who wants to see Butler lose by 18 to Pitt when they can have a strong Xavier team instead. Also of some of the teams that were left out of the tournament like Creighton or St. Mary's, they couldn't even get to the NIT finals, I doubt they'd still be playing this weekend.

This looks to be one of most exciting final rounds in years and frankly I can't wait for the games to begin. I have 15 of 16 teams still alive in my bracket but I do have some worrisome games. I have Xavier over Pitt, Villanova over Duke, UConn over Purdue and Memphis over Missouri tonight. MSU over Kansas, Gonzaga over UNC, Oklahoma over Syracuse, and Louisville over Arizona. About 5 of those are locks.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

What could be better than 48 college basketball games in the span of 80 hours, all televised or available for viewing on your internet connection? How about the fact that everyone has a bracket, predicting the results so that everyone is invested in the outcome? They don't call it March Madness for nothing, and this year's version has been just a good as advertised.

I'm not a big rube for upsets as I would rather have the top seeds win and then play each other. I do recognize that upsets do happen and nothing warms my heart like seeing a Cleveland State take it to an over-confident Wake Forest, even if it caused a tremor in my bracket. I do like that all the Sweet 16 includes all the 1s, 2s, and 3s, and two of the 4 seeds.

The best part of March Madness isn't the upsets, it's when two good teams go at each other like a couple of heavyweights, each landing thundering punches but unable to knock the other out. The Michigan State-USC game was like that yesterday with each team going after each other and neither backing down until Michigan State pulls slightly ahead at the end. But what makes March Madness that much greater is that at the same time, Missouri and Marquette are going at as well and it comes down to a Marquette player accidentally stepping over the line on an inbounds pass with 5.5 seconds left. There were numerous games where it came down to the last few seconds, not a lot of buzzer beaters, but plenty of games that were in doubt until the very end.

I have 15 teams remaining in the Sweet 16 and am sitting pretty for a good run. When Gonzaga beats NC and 'Nova beats Duke, not only will the haughty ACC have no teams left, most brackets will be blown up and I will be sitting pretty with Memphis well on its way to a National Championship. That's why March Madness is one of my favorite things.

How's your bracket doing?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If you ask a Twins fan what is the thing that frustrates you most about the Twins, most will say it's unwillingness to spend more $$$ on payroll. However one frustration that will also rise to the top is Nick Punto's proclivity to slide into first base on close plays. As anyone who has played baseball or has a rudimentary understanding of physics, sliding into first is slower than running through the base, not to say anything about greater possibility of injury while sliding.

Apparently Nick Punto knows how we all feel and has heard the same from coaches on every baseball team he's ever been on. In the article Punto admits that people have told him sliding is slower but he replies "for some reason I think it's faster." No word if Nick Punto is a Republican consultant telling the R's that tax cuts decrease the budget deficit and more greenhouse gases in the air doesn't contribute to global warming.

Punto goes on to say...

"I think if I wasn't personable, and a guy who loves to work hard and loves his team, people would just think I'm a jerk," ....It's just one of those things. It's the only thing I'm hard-headed about in life. I'm a good listener. It's just that I think it's faster."

No Nick Punto we don't think you're a jerk, we just think you are stupid. The evidence is there both at a theoretical level and based on experience. All your "hard work" and "personality" can't change the laws of physics.

Obviously it appears that the Twin can't coach Nick Punto into not sliding into first. I like SBG's idea of fining him every time he slides. Maybe a hit on his pocketbook would do the trick. And if he get's injured while sliding, double the fine. At least with the extra cash the Twins could pick up that reliever they so desparately need.

Posted by Freealonzo at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Another Hall of Fame vote and yet another year that Bert Blyleven was passed over (this year by Jim Rice for Christ sakes). I’m not going to go into all the reasons why Bert deserves to be in the Hall, if you’re not familiar with his stats, check this site out.

What was especially disappointing this year is that it was generally a weak group of candidates. Ricky Henderson was a no-brainer, but after that… Jim Rice? Andre Dawson? Tim Raines? Allan Trammell? All good players but more likely candidates for the Hall of Very Good, not the Hall of Fame. Alas, Blyleven only got 2 more votes than last year and is about 70 votes short of getting in the Hall. Hopefully Jim Rice’s enshrinement in his last year of eligibility is a good harbinger for Blyleven. With only three years left, it’s about the only shot he’s got.

When 28 HOF voters don’t deem Ricky Henderson Hall of Fame worthy and Jim Rice makes it even though he had stats that were similar to outfielders who are a dime a dozen, you know something is amiss with the way we have baseball writers elect players to the Hall. Unfortunately I don’t know of a better way. I am not sure we want some sort of BCS-like computer program determining who’s worthy and who’s not and God knows we don’t want some sort of fan participation like they do with the All-Star game. I guess we just acknowledge it is a flawed system and hope that eventually those that are deserving, and Bert Blyleven is deserving, eventually are enshrined alongside the rest of their immortal baseball brethren.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

LeBron James and the Cleveland Caveliers came to the Target Center last night to take on the woebegone Timberwolves. No surprise with the outcome as LeBron drops 32 points and the Cavs win easily by 23.

Besides elevating himself as the best player on the planet. LeBron James also showed that he is the ultimate ambassador for NBA basketball, the role that Dr. J., Magic, Bird, and Michael used to take on but one that Shaq or Kobe haven’t. LeBron sang Christmas tunes during breaks, shot slick threes, threw no-look passes, and slammed thunderous dunks. LeBron knew the game was never in doubt so took it upon himself to make sure the NBA faithful in the arena at least got their money’s worth for one night.

In one respect it was sad. LeBron and the Cavs had the attitude like this was an exhibition game in a non-NBA market, putting on a show for those who rarely get to see the NBA. The problem is that this description is too close to the truth to be comfortable. On the other hand it’s nice to see LeBron have fun, be entertaining, and give some fans who have suffered greatly over the last couple of years an early Christmas present.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Last week I stated that the Gophers didn't suck. Well after Saturday's 0-55 debacle against Iowa I may have to revise that sentiment.

I'm not going to re-hash the game except to say that it was an embarrassing performance by the Gophers and this game and the Michigan games were god-awful to watch.

So where do the Gophers stand? On September 1st if you would have said the Gophers would be 7-5 and won two Big Ten Road games I would have been ecstatic. But given the way the season ended, it's a big let down. Here are some thoughts:

The Defense clearly improved. From last year's worst team ever to a decent squad this year. Hopefully more players come on board next year.

Offense regressed with no running game. Adam Weber is tough but needs a better line and better running backs. Dunbar's spread offense has not been too impressive. No tears shed if he doesn't return.

Coach Brewster still has a lot to prove. Sure he can recruit but the book is still out whether he can actually coach. Not only did the players not respond over the last four games, but the coach didn't either.

One good note. Saturday's "game" was the last one at the Metrodome. Somehow it is fitting that the Gophers go out 0-55. It's but a dirty coda on a sad chapter of Golden Gopher football history. Good riddance HHH Metrodome may your crappy atmosphere, too loud P.A., knee-shredding turf, and bad mojo never mar a Gopher football game again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Saturday the Minnesota Golden Gophers had an excellent chance to beat Wisconsin in Madison and bring home the Axe for the first time in five years. In fact at half-time the Gophers took a 21-7 lead and looked to have a lousy Badger team back on its heels. There was some concern that the Gophers left some points on the field when the didn’t try to score when they had the ball with 2 minutes left in the half but generally every thing was looking good.

A second half of mistakes, fumbles, and inspired Badger play gave the Badgers a 35-32 win even though the Gophers had a chance to win in the last minute. It was a very entertaining game, a frustrating game, and ultimately a disappointing game.

Some have pointed to the final result and say the Gophers never gave up and even though they tried to hand the Badgers the game on a silver platter, were still in it at the end. Others, like Dan Barriero, have said that Gopher fans are in denial, this was a lousy Badger team and a loss is a loss, especially one where you had a 14 point lead at half time.

I’m somewhere in the middle. This isn’t a good Gopher team. There I said it Dan Barriero, this Gopher football team isn’t very good. But you know what? I don’t care. Compared to where they were last year, the Gophers are light years ahead of where I expected them to be. This year is just gravy and the fact that the Gophers were competitive and never quit at Ohio State and at Wisconsin is something to hold on to and kinda feel good about. I’ve lived through too many Golden Gopher seasons where a 56-10 final score was considered a mercy killing to feel otherwise.

However, a improvement in play brings higher expectations and I expect the Gophers to win games like the Wisconsin and Northwestern games next year. This is based on the improved play, improved coaching, and promise of better recruits. This year I’ll cut them some slack, next year I’ll be a little closer to the expectations spewed by the Dan Barrieros of the world.

So last game this week against Iowa. One last chance to get a trophy this year and last game ever at the soul-crushing Metrodome. I’d like to see a win so that I can hoist the Pig once again and update my picture with one showing off my new, svelte figure. If they don’t win, I’ll be disappointed once again but amazed that the worst team in football last year was able to win seven this year.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Another NBA season has begun and even though it is the middle of November, another Timberwolves season looks lost. The team is 1-6 after playing against a pretty ratty bunch of teams (overall record .263). Big Al Jefferson and Mark Miller can score but neither can play defense and the rest of the team is a bunch of plug-and-plays. What was hopefully looked at as a team on the way up with the modest goal of 35 wins looks like another lost season and a team that may struggle to win 25 games.

It’s really too bad because personally I could become a big NBA fan if we had a team worth watching. I think the Twin Cities area as a whole could be a vibrant NBA market too. High School basketball has never been played at a higher level in this state than right now and collegiate signing day finds scores of high school players signing at D-1 schools. Tubby Smith promises to resurrect the Gophers program and another top 20 recruiting class points to that promise being kept. Basketball fans are becoming more savvy and invested in the game. That’s why the Timberwolves 20 years of woe (minus 1 fun season) is so frustrating.

Now I’m not going to suggest how the Wolves could improve. I was glad they got rid of the old, over-paid players they were keeping and there doesn’t seem to be a head-scratcher of a contract on the team. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of personality or anyone who can spark this team either. Firing the coach could help, getting rid of McHale would definitely excite the fans for a week or two but other than that, the only light at the end of the tunnels seems to be an uncoming train.

So I’ll probably ignore the NBA for another year, look forward to the upcoming college season and shake my head as I look at another Timberwolves loss in the box score.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Golden Gophers Football team is 7-1. Not the Hockey team (although they soon may be too!) not the Basketball team, the football team. Of course the most optimistic fan would have never guessed or dreamed a 7-1 record after last year’s debacle of a season.

What’s even wackier is that it is the Gopher defense that is leading the charge. Last year the defense was the worst in the country and you could make a pretty good argument that it was one of the worst defenses ever. This year they are solid and improving. Clearly Defensive Coordinator Ted Roof is going to get a lot looks over the off-season, I hope the Gophers can keep him another year.

Another key has been the play of Quarterback Adam Weber. Clearly this guy is tough as nails and seems like a natural leader. The guy’s only a redshirt Sophmore so the Gophers have a couple more years of Weber, if he keeps his health. Eric Decker is a fantastic receiver and could be an All-American. Not bad for a white guy from Sartell, Minnesota!

The weakness by far for this team is the offensive line. Injuries and inexperience has taken its toll and let’s hope the o-line improves as the season goes on. Oh and penalties. Please cut down on those stupid penalties.

The Gophers have three of their last four games at home and should be the favorite. A 10-2 season is not out of the question. None of the four remaining teams are pushovers either, and losing 4 games shouldn’t be ignored. The next two: Northwestern and Michigan at home are definitely winnable. Let’s win those two and go from there.

So it’s Homecoming Week, the Gophers are a surprising winner and columnists and Coach Brewster-haters like Patrick Reusse and Dan Barreiro have had to grudgingly give props to the Gophers. The Jug, Floyd, and The Axe are definitely obtainable. What more can a Gophers fan ask?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Bush beats Gore. Saruman The White aligns with Mordor. Kurt Cobain gives in to his demons. Germany invades Poland. These were dark days when blackness engulfed light, when hope was all but lost and man feared for his suddenly trembling soul. Last night it happened once again as the black clad Chicago White Sox defeated those men in white, those plucky nine-ballers from the north, the lovable, the handsome, the wet-behind-the-ears Minnesota Twins.

Oh it was close, it always is when evil toys with good. Evil can never just roll over good. The outcome must always be in doubt, it must tease, give a smattering of hope. Then, at the most opportune moment, crush. This time it was a single shot, a mammoth shot that first lifted into the black Chicago sky and then fell gently back to earth into the black Chicago stands. It was as if Dr. Henry Holmes had risen from his dark South-side parlor to administer the lethal blow himself.

So evil stands again. But only to face another purveyor of good, another Ray of light. See that’s the problem that the forces of dark must face: it can’t sustain itself. There’s always another day, the sun comes back up again. And even for the Minnesota Twins there’s next year, a year that promises to be brighter than this year. With a pitching staff that is young and strong and wise. A line-up that is swift and strong and manly. And a team that represents the light, the good, and all that is worth living on God’s good earth.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

''It seems like they can't do anything wrong here,'' Buehrle said of the Twins, after admitting that the Sox do flinch a bit coming to the dome. ''Manager Ozzie Guillen calls them 'piranhas,' but I call them 'shitheads.' I would tell you what I really call them, but I know you couldn't print it. They get on base, bunt, steal, bloop singles -- it's fucking annoying.''

It’s a confirmed fact that the Twins have gotten in the White Sox heads over the past 6-8 years as it seems like when these two teams are neck and neck, the tighty whitey’s fold like a rolling cot in a flea bag motel. The last two nights were no different. After winning a laugher on Tuesday night, the Twins used bloop singles, situational hitting, and lousy Chicago defense to move runners into scoring position and then get them in. Couple that with a bullpen that seems to have showered off the gasoline and you have the White Sox reeling once again.

Tonight’s the big game because if the Twins lose, Chicago is back in the driver’s seat and the Twins must sweep the nothing-to-lose Royals. Let’s keep the tighty-whitey’s hands around their throats and wrap up this series tonight!

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

As mentioned Friday, here’s a link to the Twins new ballpark where one can see the different pricing levels and by clicking on a seat, see the view from that seat. It is a very cool interactive site and anyone interested in this stuff should check it out. Twins Ballpark 2010 has a nice little analysis (as usual) and talks about how the seating may create “neighborhoods� within the ballpark.

The site also gives the average fan a look at the new ticket prices that they will be paying at Target Field. Surprise, surprise, tickets will be more expensive at the new ballpark, however not as bad as expected. First the Twins have been keeping up with the Jonses in raising ticket prices at the dome. The Home Run Porch are $20.00, it was only a few years ago that those tickets were $7.00. The dome upper deck outfield are only $7.00 but those truly are not the greatest seats based on distance from home plate. The worst thing about the Dome is that there are lots of seats that are lousy but expensive. These are the seats along the first and 3rd base line that look directly into the outfield but still cost $30.00

The nice thing about Target Field is that the prices seem to match the quality of the seat. There are 27 different price levels, including premium for front row seats. Sure there aren’t as many $10 seats as you can find at the dome, but there are a lot more quality $20 seats. Plus the way the seats hang, I think if you are in the first couple of rows in the upper deck, your seat will be about the same quality as those sitting below you, even though they will be paying a lot more for the privilege. The picture above is from a $20 seat along the first base line.

Unfortunately gone are the days when you could walk up to a ballpark and drop $5-10 for an outfield bleacher seat. But compared to other sporting events, baseball is still a bargain. The Twins seem to have realized that and are pricing their seats to match. Only 18 months to this thing opens and I hear that by this time next year, we will have turf on the ground. This place is going to be great and I am counting the days until I get to watch baseball outside.

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Packer Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had so much time in the pocket against the Vikings pass rush, he found it difficult not to take a little snooze during the game.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Minnesota Golden Gophers come into the 2008 college football season after one of it’s worst seasons ever. A record of 1-11, including loses to teams that were considered cream puffs, a defense that ranked last in the nation, and basically a team that was blown out week after week. The team did improve as the season went on but no one can find a whole lot of positives out of the reeking mass of crap that was last season’s football team.

I was one who thought that former coach Glen Mason left the shelves pretty bare for newcomer Tim Brewster, but not 1-11 and bare. At least Mason knew what shortcoming he had on defense and that is why he ran a time-consuming, run-heavy offense. Brewster didn't seem to realize what he did and did not have. Everyone knew going into last season that Brewster could recruit but could he coach? Well after one year we still know he can recruit but we don’t know if he can coach. I hear other things about Brewster that worry me, but let’s see how the season plays out.

Things should be better this year for the Gophers. A decent recruiting class and a year of experience for both Brewster, and QB Weber should help. This team isn’t competing for the Rose Bowl or the Music City Bowl but is should win more games. I think a successful season would be around 5 wins with a sweep of the non-conference season and two Big 10 wins. Not getting blown out when the team loses would help immensely as well.

This team and Coach Brewster is at a crossroads. Brewster has to demonstrate that he has the composure and smarts to coach a big-league team. These high-faluting recruits need to demonstrate their ability on the field and keep their nose clean off. This is the last year in the dome and everyone will be excited for next year anyway. It would be nice to have a team that creates some excitement as well.

How do you think the Gophers will do this fall?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

When the Twins season started nearly 5 months ago fans were nervous. The team had an awful off-season, losing Torii Hunter to the Angels, trading Johan Santana to the Mets for a bunch of minor leaguers, signing aging, washed-up veterans Craig Monroe and Livan Hernandez, trading two promising youngsters to Tampa , and signing half of the Astros infield, both of whom didn’t offer a whole lot of promise. Most felt that this Twins team was slated for about 72-78 wins.

Most of our concerns have come true: Monroe and Hernandez added very little and have been released; after some early success, the only player in the Santana trade to be in the majors has struggled of late; former Astros Mike Lamb and Adam Everett have been non-factors too. Mike Lamb barely even plays anymore. Garza and Bartlett have helped propel the Rays to the top of the American League East while the players we got in return have been serviceable but not great. Oh and Michael Cuddyer has been hurt most of the year. As predicted, the Twins are at 72 wins. The thing is, there are still 36 games left to the season and the Twins are only a game out of first.

How did that happen? Well first and foremost the Twins starting pitching has been much better than expected. Five starters under the age of 26 and all have done very well. No one thought that these pitchers would do so well. Morneau, Mauer, and Jason Kubel have been stellar at the plate and Casilla and Span have surprised. The bullpen has been good, especially early, although causing concern now.

Now due to the Republican National Convention, the Twins are going on a 14 game, 15 day road trip to Anaheim, Oakland, Seattle, and Toronto. The next 24 of 30 games are on the road. In the next two weeks besides knowing who the Vice Presidential candidates are, we will know if the Twins have a shot at the playoffs. These next 14 games are crucial. Thankfully 7 games are against the stinky Athletics and Mariners, while the Angels have put it on autopilot and haven’t been playing as well. Toronto, well, they’re Toronto.

Twins need to win 8 or 9 games on this road trip to keep pace with the White Sox. Plain and simple. This road trip makes or breaks this season. They’ve surprised all summer, (or as Paul Allen says: “The Summer of Stun�) can they surprise one more time?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Stick and Ball Guy brought up the issue of who is/was the greatest Olympian: Michael Phelps or Carl Lewis. It’s a pretty good question, one ripe for discussion. SBG falls firmly in the Carl Lewis camp citing evidence that Lewis got his 9 gold medals over a longer time period, track and field is a more “prestigious� (my word, not his) sport, and that his performance in 1984 winning gold medals in the four most glamorous events (the 100, 200, 4X100, and the long jump). SBG also feels that the fact that swimming world records keep falling precipitously means that the sport isn’t as mature as track and field and clearly swimmers haven’t reached the full human potential for that sport. Compelling arguments I have to agree.

In Michael Phelps corner is the fact that he will have more Gold medals, is breaking world records by leaps and bound, as opposed the 1/10th of a second typically found in track records, and is doing his feat in a number of different events (Four of Lewis’ Golds were in the Long Jump). Also one has to wonder if Lewis would have done so well in 1984 if the Soviet Bloc countries had participated. Then again, would Lewis have won any medals in 1980 if the USA hadn’t boycotted those Olympics?

SBG makes a pretty good case for Lewis and right now I have to think he’s right. If Phelps comes back in 2012 and wins another 2-4 Gold Medals then I think it would be difficult not to label Michael Phelps the greatest Olympic Athlete ever.

What do you think?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

K.G. gets his Ring and can finally put to rest the critics like Peter Vescey and Patrick Reusse who have questioned his ability to be a Champion. Even though his antics after the game verged on the obnoxious -- with K.G. performing a free a commercial for Adidas screaming Everything’s Possible!! over and over again -- I am man enough to admit I teared up at the end of Tuesday’s game. One because I think K.G. is one of the greatest players ever, respects the game and himself, and gave his all to crappy Timberwolves teams for 12 years – he earned his ring. But second, because it just showed how screwed up the T-Wolves had been for those 12 years. If the T-wolves brain(?) trust had just managed to surround K.G. with players, there would be championship banners hanging in Target Center, not San Antonio, Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles these past few years.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well it's been two years since the financing for a new Twins Ballpark has been approved and one year since construction started. So where are we at?

First the ballpark is going up like spades and is on schedule and on budget. Rick over at Twins Ballpark 2010 has literally hundreds of photos of the progress and I urge you to check them out if at all interested. It's pretty amazing and you can start to see the outlines of a ballpark.

Steve Berg over at Minnpost.com got a tour last week and has only good things to say. I especially liked this quote:

"That's what makes this urban-style ballpark the most urban of its generation. There is no pause, no spatial gap between it and its surroundings."

The main reason I supported a new Twins Ballpark wasn't so much that I was worried the Twins would leave, but more that baseball is suppose to be played outside and that there was literally a renaissance going on all around the country in the construction of urban, human-scaled ballparks. It looked like the Twins and Minnesota were missing out. Now, I am thankful it took so long to agree on a ballpark. Because of that delay we missed out on the post-modern, faux-urbanity that mars places like Comerica Park and construction costs went up so much that we couldn't afford a retractable roof that makes places like Miller Park feel more like an upside-down fez than a ballpark.

Sure, the place isn't done yet and I am sure once it is, we will find something to complain about, (like ticket and food prices I am sure). But right now, it's looking like we will have a special, unique, urban place to watch professional baseball.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well the Timberwolves season came to a merciful end last night with a fun overtime win over the just as lousy Milwaukee Bucks. No one had a lot of hope for this season, only that it was setting a foundation for future glory. So what did we learn:

• Al Jefferson can be an elite player. He obviously knows how to score, now let’s improve that defense. Also the team needs to play him at power forward not center.

• Ryan Gomes can be a dependable NBA player, Randy Foye has some shimmy to him as well. Sebestain Telfair is a decent back-up point guard. Hopefully the Wolves can keep all three with decent contracts (I’m looking at you Sebestain Telfair).

• Corey Brewer has good defense but needs to bulk up. I am not convinced those skinny legs can support a bigger body. While the consensus best player at the number 7 pick, Brewer was a disappointment this year. Hopefully with some bulk and experience he can improve.

• How Marco Jaric ever was able to get that huge contract, I’ll never know. He has no touch around the basket and takes away much more than he adds to the court. No sure if Doleac can play defense. Mad Dog while lots of heart has no game. McCants is a head case that sometimes can play, Craig Smith is a center in a small forward’s body. Goodbye Greg Buckner, Chris Richard and especially Antawn Walker.

The biggest problem facing the Wolves (well beside the fact that McHale is still running the team) is that they play in the Western Conference where it takes 50 wins just to be a 8 seed. Even if they double their wins next year, they might miss the playoffs. Hopefully they get Derek Rose in the draft (not Beasely he overlaps with Jefferson too much). But more importantly they get another player who can contribute, is not a head case, and fills a need – of which the Wolves have in abundance. Oh and if the Wolves draft Ray Hibbard I’m going to shoot myself in the head.

What do you think about the Wolves season/future?

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Given that we’re currently amidst the “Winter the Wouldn’t Leave� and that the Twins had such a lousy off-season, it only makes sense that it is snowing on the opening day of the 2008 baseball season. Not only is it snowing, but we are expected to get 6-8 inches of snow! Today it’s just hard to get all misty-eyed about the beginning of baseball season representing rebirth when you can’t see 20 feet out your window because of the snow so I will spare you the sentiment.

Here are my thoughts on the Twins and baseball as we begin another season:

I think the Twins are on a 75-78 win season. About a month ago I wrote the following haiku regarding the 2008 Twins:

Michael Cuddyer.
Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer.
Delmon Young. Then what?

Those four batters should have a great season but there is no one else, maybe Go Go surprises in Centerfield but other than that a lot of questions at the plate and in the field. Couple with a pitching staff that will be mediocre at best, and we are looking at a sub-.500 season. Future may look bright, but not this year.

I don’t believe in the Tigers, the Cabera and Willis additions nonetheless. I think the Indians take the Central walking away. Red Sox and Angels also will crush in the East and West. Cubs and Brewers should battle in the NL Central, Mets in East, can Rockies catch fire again in the West?

Also I think Torii Hunter will have a monster season. Much like David Ortiz when he went to Boston, Hunter will see a lot of juicy pitches now that he is surrounded by a number of good bats (I’m looking at you Vlad). The Angels may hate that contract they gave Torii in years 4 and 5, but they are going to love what Hunter brings in these first couple of years.

Finally I can’t leave with out mentioning that the ballpark skeptics will be using today’s snow to say the Twins were foolish for not insisting and/or paying for a retractable roof but my mind remains unchanged on the need for a roof. First a roof would cost $125 million not including inevitable cost overruns. Second a roof would never have fit on the current ballpark site. 3rd in the future, Twins can start season on road if need be. Finally I would always be concerned that the Twins would get Miller Park disease and insist on closing the roof at any hint of weather below 60 degrees. Also Indians lost a few games to snow last year, didn't seem to hurt them on the field or at the gate. It's a non-issue for 95 percent of the games the Twins will play and $125-$150 million is not worth dealing with that other 5 percent.

What are your thoughts on the 2008 baseball season?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

There's a reason grown (and not so grown) men shed a tear when they hear the opening notes to One Shining Moment. It's because 3 glorious weekends of college basketball have just come to another conclusion. But no need for tears here. Those three weekends are about to begin. Got your picks in?

Like last year it looks like the top seeds should rule your brackets. Sure there are some cutesy teams like Louisville or Pitt, but if you don't have the big dogs in your final four you will be out of the money. Here is my sweet 16:

North Carolina
Notre Dame
Louisville
Tennessee

Kansas
Vanderbilt
Wisconsin
Georgetown

Memphis
Pitt
Standford
Texas

UCLA
UConn
Xavier
Duke

I have UCLA beating Texas and N. Carolina beating Georgetown in the finals. UCLA as champs.

Who do you like?

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Gopher men’s hockey team extended its disappointing season at least another weekend with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Mankato on Sunday. The undisputed star of the weekend has to be Alex Kangas who played all three games, only allowed 4 goals in something like 260 minutes and made some truly insane saves in overtime when a goal meant the end of the Gophers season.

The weekend series also demonstrated once again how punchless the Gophers’ scoring threat is. The Gophers went 0-12 in the powerplay and time and time again they would be in odd man rushes and weren’t able to even get a shot off, or someone was out of position, or if they got a shot, would miss the net. I’m not enough of a Gopher hockey rube to know if they have some scorers coming in next year, but I sure hope so. With Kangas, the Gophers may finally have that elite goalie they’ve been looking for, add some fire power and we may see a frozen four team once again.

Oh btw, can anyone now agree that the Wisconsin Badgers’ national championship of a couple of years ago was a complete fluke? They were lousy for years before 2006, they’ve been lousy since. It was a classic case of riding a super hot goalie to collect some hardware. Gotta wonder how many disappointing seasons Mike Eaves can squeeze out of his squad before he’s in hot water.

Gophers’ basketball had an amazing win on Friday and disappointing and winnable game on Saturday. No doubt that this team is NIT-quality only. It’s even amazing that Tubby was able to coax 20 wins out of a team that had only 9 wins a year ago. Although that may land more on Dan Monson that Tubby Smith. The Gophers offense was maddenly pedestrian at times this year and that really showed during the Illinois game. Late in the 2nd half when the Gophers needed a basket, all we saw was a bunch of dribbling while four other guys stood around. I hope that more reflects talent than coaching, I guess we’ll see next year when the talent level should greatly improve.

This week, Gopher wrestler’s defend their national championship, NIT starts, WCHA frozen five, and March Madness. Hopefully I’ll have my Sweet 16 up by the end of the week.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"Boo hoo hoo. The Packers didn’t sign Randy Moss, the Packers didn’t tell me they liked me enough. I 'm staying home and hunt me some possum."

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Over at Minnpost.com David Brauer has an enlightening slideshow demonstrating some of the features of the new Twins ballpark. What is really interesting is a comparison of the seats in the Metrodome v. seats in the new ballpark. Here's the link.

Of course there are features we all know about and have seen in newer ballparks such as open concourses, more restrooms, seats that actually face the field, and a gigantic color scoreboard. What’s more, from these slides you can see that the lower bowl seats will be much lower than the lower deck of the Metrodome. However, because of the club seats and suites, the last rows of the upper deck will actually be slightly higher. (Which plays right into the concerns Spycake brought up last week with this post). Less rows, however, so easier to get to the rest rooms or the concourses. Interesting note: The “tiara� of lights that will surround the ballpark is actually higher than the roof of the dome!

Anyway, I am excited and can’t believe that in two years from now we will be literally weeks away from the first outdoor Twins game in a generation. The ballpark looks like it will be gorgeous. Also, even thought it was frustrating waiting so long, I think the wait has ensured that we are getting a ballpark that is baseball focused. In the early part of this decade there were a number of new ballparks that opened that didn’t put baseball first. Instead the teams felt like they had to add other features or artificial quirks to their ballparks. I’m thinking of the amusement park in Detroit and the “hill� in Houston. Fortunately the pendulum has swung the other way for the Twins. No forced and artificial “retro� look. No quirky features meant to evoke the Green Monster or Ivy-strewn fences, no artificial or retractable roofs hulking over the site. Just a clean, simple design, with modern features; place to soak in the sun, sit back, and watch a baseball game.

What do you think of the design?

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)

Jay Weiner at Minnpost.com has an article up on the suites in the new Twins ballpark. Now Jay has been following the saga of stadium building in the Twin Cities for a long time but I thougt the slant of his article was a little too hysterical.

Basically it looks like the suites are going to be beautiful (see picture above). Nice cabinetry, plenty of flatscreen tvs, leather chairs, good sitelines, granite countertops, etc. The article has an attitude that this is a bad thing, maybe a sniff of ati-elitism going on. My take is who cares? I don't have enough $$$ for a suite but if others do and the Twins can sell them, that means they won't be looking to take as much out of my pocket when I go to the game.

It looks like the Twins have committments on 44 of the 55 planned suites. At $90,000 to $200,000 a year, that's not too bad. That's 44x$90,000 to $200,000 that I won't have to cough up. Who knows, maybe the Twins will be able to afford Delmon Young's next $150 million contract!

Bottom line is I want this ballpark to be top notch. I want it to be a beautiful place to watch Major League Baseball outdoors. If some corporate suits want to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilige, all the power to 'em. Just get me a ballpark I can be proud of.

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

This was going to be the week. The weather was going to be cold but we would warm up the stadium. Our team had been playing surprising well all season, much better than any one expected. Now this week we were home against a high profile team from the east. Win this week and we would be in the national spotlight, with a chance to play for a national championship. But alas we lost, our senior leadership let us down and although we played gutty, in the end we lost by only a few points to an opponent that was just a little bit better than we were.

I’m talking about the Packers right? Uh no. I’m talking about your Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball team and their gut-wrenching home loses to #8 Indiana and #10 Michigan State. Going into this week everyone thought that here was a perfect time to make a statement. Gopher basketball was back. Win these games and we would be a ranked team with a good chance to be invited to the big dance. We played well, kept the games close but ultimately lost and exposed this team for what it really is: An up and coming team that is probably best suited for the NIT this year.

Let’s face it Dan Coleman and Spence Tollackson just aren’t that good. Tollackson especially had brutal games. If you are then left to rely on Freshman, well you’re going to lose tough ones in the end. That’s what happened this week.

And just like those besotted Packer fans who are just now clearing the cobwebs from their pickled brains, we have hope for next year. Tubby is actually coaching some decent basketball and help is coming from a top 20 recruiting class. The Gopher fan base is actually excited about the basketball being played at Williams arena. Instead of this weekend being the beginning of good times for Gopher hoops we need to look at this weekend as the end of the dark times.

And if that doesn’t give you hope just think of this: Brett Favre’s rancid play kept the Packers from the Superbowl. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, you’re not a Minnesotan

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Remember when I said this?

Just forget that I said that o.k.?

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There is an article at MinnPost about further issues swirling around development rights and the new Twins ballpark. Now it’s obvious from the article (link) that the reporter didn’t speak to anyone representing the Twins and the reporter, G.R. Anderson, while generally pretty good, will favor one side over another in his stories. Given that, the article does not bode well for having the new Twins ballpark surrounded by new development.

Essentially the article states that the Twins don’t want any building obscuring the view of the Ford Center (owned by the Pohlads) or have any building allowing views into the new ballpark. If true, I think the Twins are being shortsighted. Besides being a lousy place to watch a baseball game, the Metrodome was a big disappointment in creating development around it. Part of that was driven by the Sports Facility Commission in not wanting any competition for its high price beer and hotdogs.

What will really make the new Twins ballpark a special place is if new development happens in and around the ballpark. This includes bar and restaurants, shops, transportation and housing. Give people a reason to come early and stay late, even if they don’t have a Twins ticket. Right now all we know is that the ballpark will be a multi-modal transportation hub.

The Twins should be encouraging development around it’s ballpark, not trying to minimize it. If a building, especially residential, offers views of the ballpark, who cares. It adds to the excitement, the liveliness, the overall vibrancy of the ballpark. Wrigleyville in Chicago is always given as a great example. Of course Wrigleyville has developed over 80 plus years. The LoDo area around the Rockies ballpark is a better example. The Rockies ballpark revitalized a tired warehouse area in Denver. There’s no reason why the Twins ballpark can’t do the same. Now if we can just convince the Pohlads…

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There’s something stirring and I’m not sure what it is. It’s like when you were younger and you come across an old girlfriend and you see her in a different light: she’s cuter somehow; nicer; sexier. You start to question yourself: why did I break up with her again? She wasn’t that bad was she? You remember fondly the good times, rationalizing away the bad times. You ask, should I try again? Do I risk the disappointments, the stupid decisions, the lack of performance?

That’s how I feel about the Vikings right now. Being a life long Minnesotan in my early to mid-40’s I’ve experienced just about every emotion with the Vikes, (except, of course, ultimate victory), but mainly I’ve experienced disappointment. It’s gotten to the point that over the past few years, I haven’t really cared. Sure I’ll watch the games if nothing else is going on but when they lose or play way under expectations, it’s something to laugh about, not get upset about.

Miraculously, the Vikes are playing well, heck, they’re even fun to watch. So do I get involved emotionally again? Do I start to care, rekindle an old love affair with the risk of having my heart crushed? Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect a “Superbowl homeboy.� But right now a playoff appearance and a good (but losing) effort against a good team is all I want and I’ll be hooked, cementing a solid relationship for next year.

So maybe I’ll try to kick it off with this new/old girlfriend once again. Hopefully smarter, more wary when those old habits start to crop up, but in full steam once again. Unfortunately we all know how it’s going to end.

What’s your opinion of the Vikings this season?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Gopher football season in the books and for the first time in years we aren’t looking forward to a minor bowl game in El Paso or Nashville. I have mixed feelings about the Gophers season and Tim Brewster. Although at times the Gophers play was embarrassingly inept, atrocious even, with poor coaching, poor execution, slow and overmatched athletes (especially on the defensive side of the ball) there were some glimmers of hope: We finished the season better than we started and played Iowa and Wisconsin tough, Weber appears to be a legitimate spread quarterback, and the word on the street is that Brewster is putting together a nice recruiting class for next year.

I hope this season was a humbling experience for Coach Brewster. The guy can talk but he needs action to back up those words or he’ll eventually be ignored. The book is still out whether or not he can coach a football team. At times his game plan was woefully inadequate, bad game time decisions were made and, even though there were a lot of true freshman playing, at times the Gophers didn’t seem ready to play (e.g the Illinois game which was homecoming!). Brewster will need to ask more of himself if he’s going to also ask more from his players.

One final word on the Big Ten Network. Thankfully a lot of people were not able to watch the Gophers season due to the fact that many games were on the Big Ten Network and not available to Comcast, Time Warner and Charter cable customers. However, I would have happily sat down in front of the TV to watch the Gophers-BADgers game if it were on TV, regardless of the Gophers' record or their chances.

I understand the reasoning behind the Big Ten Network: Much like Victory Sports of a few years back for the Twins, the successful establishment of these networks would help the team's bottom line. And I would love to watch the Big Ten Network among my regular basic cable choices. However Comcast has recently reduced the number of channels I get while increasing their monthly fee. So it seems quite unlikely that they are going to add an admittedly niche channel to their offerings. So while the Big Ten Network, in theory, adds $$$ to the University’s coffers and visibility to all the Big Ten teams, it is built on a seriously flawed business plan.

The same goes for the NFL network which you will be hearing about a lot in the next few weeks as the Dallas-Green Bay game will be only seen by a few handful of households that can get the NFL network at home. With the college basketball season heating up now, we are going to miss a lot of Gopher games on TV. Unfortunately there are more cable TV watchers who don’t care about sports or get their sports via satellite dish to cause an outcry. I see no change in this situation until the folks at the Big Ten Network and NFL network read the handwriting on the wall and go the way of Victory Sports.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

O.k. so I had my excellent cheeseburger and 2 strong, spicy Bloody Marys and I've settled into my seat at the Dome on a beautiful October day in October. First time all year to see in my own eyes Brewster's Gophers. Three plays later Gophers up by 7 and my thoughts about this game -- Gophers have too much speed and firepower on offense for the Bison -- are coming true.

Fast forward 3 plus hours and I'm dejected, sad, mostly embarassed because the Gophers lost 21-27 to the North Dakota State University Bison. The Gophers were overrun, outcoached and just plain and simple outplayed. It was disgusting. It was demoralizing, it was ...embarassing.

The Bison just over ran the Gophers defense. What is worse is that they pretty much ran the same 4 plays. Bison running backs were hardly ever touched at the line of scrimmage, Gophers couldn't or wouldn't cover their backs coming out of the backfield, and the Bison QB had no trouble finding wide open receivers. On Offense the Gophers were boring, couldn't execute when they had a good play called and seemed to be going through the motions.

Brewster apologists have said that Mason left the cupboard bare and I agree to a point. Also Brewster is playing a lot of Freshmen but plain and simple the effort and coaching just isn't there. We gotta give Brewster a couple of years to see where this is going but it's going to take a lot of success to wash the bad taste out of Gopher Nation's mouth.

Embarassing.

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Twins out of it in disappointing manner, Golden Gophers cough up a lung against Bowling Green, and Vikes look to another boring sub .500 team. Throw in a probably lousy Gophers b-ballers, mid-tier Minnesota Wild squad and a KG-less T-wolves, we truly are in the Sports Abyss right now. Here are some thoughts on the two currently disappointing teams.

Minnesota Twins. What’s so sad is that this team has a nice core and with a couple of real major leaguers at 3rd and DH, they might have been able to make some noise oh well. For the last few weeks of the season this is what I’d like to see:

No Punto or Tyner except as a late inning defensive replacement
Shut down Neshek.
Play Kubel every day and see if he is a productive Left Fielder or not
Play Casilla everyday and see of he is a productive 2nd basemen or not
Go with a 6 man staff (Santana, Boof, Baker, Garza, Silva, Slowey) to see if the young guns have what it takes
As much as it pains me rely heavily on Cali and Depaulo, see if they have what it takes to be a major leaguer.

Off Season:

Sign Hunter to 5 year $13-14M/year contract
Sign Silva to 2 year $3M/year contract
Sign Cuddyer and Morneau to long term deals
Get a real 3rd baseman and DH

Golden Gopher Footballers. Face it, Saturday’s game was a disaster. All of a sudden the kool-aid Brewster was serving us was the sugar-less kind. We know this team is going to be bad – Mason left the cupboard pretty bare. I don’t mind a 3-9 or 4-8 season but only if the team improves as the season goes on. If the defense toughens up, Weber improves and the Gophers lose hard played games, there’s hope for the future, if the Gophers look lost with no noticeable improvement into November, Gopher Nation will be awfully restless with Brewster’s smoke and mirrors.

T-Wolves. I’m actually intrigued. Beside KG, McFail got rid of T-Hud and Mike James, now if Ricky Davis and Jaric can go away, this might be a fun exciting team.

Oh yeah, the Vikings. I'm from Missouri on this team. Show Me and maybe I'll show some interest.

Posted by Freealonzo at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

It's no secret that I'm a huge supporter of the new Twins Ballpark and the new Gophers football stadium. In fact I participate/lurk on blogs dedicated to the subject including this this one and this one. However, recent evidence has been unearthed demonstrating that I'm not a newcomer to this outdoor stadium issue, no not me. Below is a letter I sent to the MN Daily that was published in October 1988!!

So Greet Machine, take that! while you were zoned out listening to Led Zeppelin on your parents hifi I was fighting the good fight. Click on the image below to see a larger, more readable version.

So there! In my 20's I was suggesting open revolt over the Gophers moving to the Dome! The thing is, although no one ever protested the dome, one can make a pretty good argument that Gopher fans followed my first line of attack. It only took 19 years but we're finally there.

Hope to see you at the Twins new ballpark groundbreaking on Thursday, I'll be the one protesting! :o)

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

First, if you're not getting your Twins fix from the blog Stick and Ball Guy, you need to get there. Good analysis of Twins, plus other fun stuff. If that's not enough to check it out, how about a feature on yours truly? Click here for the link.

If you are reading this after July 24th, you may have to click on the "know a citizen" link to see my feature.

Also look for my upcoming review of Bernard Malamud's book The Natural on SBG sometime in early August.

Posted by Freealonzo at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I went to Milwaukee this past weekend with Shane and Cheesehead Craig to check out the Twins-Brewers series. I’ve gone to Milwaukee 5 of the past 6 years and it’s always a great time. This year was different as the Twins were the team that was struggling and the Brewers were making some noise in the win column.

We toured Milwaukee a bit and even went on a Miller Brewery tour. Saturday was a gorgeous day, 85 degrees a little muggy, very sunny. However as game time approached at about 6:00 a few clouds were rolling in. Imagine our surprise when we get inside the stadium and the roof is 2/3 closed! The Brewers were afraid of a little rain. By the 3rd inning the roof was entirely closed. After the game it appeared that maybe it sprinkled but only lightly and it was still easily in the 70’s. Oh yea, Scott Baker shut down the Brewers, Torii goes yard and the Twins had a nice win and take the first 2 games of the series.

Miller Park 2/3 closed, then closed!

Sunday was a much brisker day – windy and cold. It was probably around 50 degrees when the game started. Again the roof closed. Not my favorite but a little understandable. However by the middle of the game it was sunny and probably about 60 degrees. Did the Brewers open the roof? No. We had awesome seats, the Twins got out to a nice lead then Ortiz remembered who he was and gave up the lead. Twins lost.

Check out these seats!

Now it was bad enough to have the roof closed when it should have been open at least for all of Saturday and most of Sunday’s game but what was worse was the Brewers fans defending the closing of the roof! “It might rain on the field, it was chilly, fans expect to be comfortable…sniff� Remember these are people who would pack Camp Randall or Lambeau on a chilly November afternoon and think nothing of it. Clearly the roof at Miller Park is making Wisconsinites a bunch of weather wimps. Don’t be surprised if the Packers start looking into putting a dome over Lambeau, it’s only a matter of time.

Funny, you never see this side of Miller Park in promo pictures

The over use of the roof at Miller Park is one of the main reasons why I’m glad the Twins aren’t building a ballpark with a retractable roof. It’s too tempting to always use it, even at the slightest provocation of bad weather. In Milwaukee the roof closed pretty quickly and quietly. They have obviously fixed its problems. There is no reason why on Saturday night they could have quickly closed the roof if by chance it rained harder than expected. Baseball is meant to be played outdoors in the elements and the roof should be used only as a last resort. If my kid’s little league team can play in a drizzle or in 95 degree heat, surely the pros can too?

Anyone else go to Milwaukee this weekend? How was it?

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (3)

It's here!! The day we've been waiting for a long, long time. The Twins finally were able to unveil the designs of their new ballpark. Here are some first impressions:

Great: Finally outdoor baseball iwth no roof. 3rd base line will have nice view of the skyline. Car, LRT, Commuter rail, bike, pedestrian all terminate at the site. Real grass! Concourses that are open to the playing field on all three levels. 6th Street terminates right at the right field outfield, nice place for a public plaza (pictured above).

Good: Modern ballpark, not a quirky "retro" bandbox. Twins' Hall of Famers numbers will signify the gates. Left field bleachers look like they will be awesome seats. Heated field. The field dimensions are a little smaller than the Metrodome but still within the range of fairness.

Bad. 7th and 5th Streets look like they will be pretty bleak for pedestrians. Minnesota limestone has been overdone lately. Too much glass for my taste. Not a whole lot of foul territory in outfield. Most home runs will land in the bullpen, not in the hands of the fans.

Special shout out goes to Rick over at Twins Ballpark 2010 for suggesting that the old flag pole from the Met (currently residing at a Richfield VFW) be included as part of the design. Looks like the Twins are going to take him up on his suggestion. Way to go Rick!!

Wanna see my reaction to the designs on channel 4? Click here. The video is on the right hand side of the page. I'm toward the end of the piece, again, talking about that 6th Street plaza.

I for one will be counting the days when I can spend a glorious summer day outdoors watching a game. Go Twins!!

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Baseball season has arrived and brings with it all our hopes and dreams for rebirth and renewal. Not only is our favorite team tied for first, but memories of warm sunny days, grilling hamburgers, and the sweet, sticky smell of suntan lotion and bug spray once again enter our senses. With the umpire’s first “Play Ball!� we put away our mittens and scarves, the sleds are replaced by bikes, and sickly pale skin peeks out from beyond shirt sleeves and cutoffs.

I think the Twins are going to do pretty well this year. Their bats are going to be nearly unstoppable and if Gardy and Terry Ryan are willing to ditch the Carlos Silva experiment by mid-May, the pitching rotation should be a solid surprise. For that reason, Twins repeat as Central Division Champs. The order:

Twins (95-67)
Tigers (91-71)
Sox (89-73)
Indians (88-74)
Royals (75-87)

What's your prediction, how's your favorite team going to do?

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This weekend, the inevitable happened as the Minnesota Gophers wrestled its way to the NCAA Wrestling Championship. After a rough second day, the Gophers came back strong on Saturday punctuated by Heavyweight Cole Conrad's pin in the last match to secure his second straight individual title. Coach J. Robinson said "I think the true character of a team is when you get yourself in a hole and you have to dig yourself out, they responded when they had to and that's what champions do. This was a team win. All nine guys contributed to this and that's the beauty of this victory." Even in an individual sport like wrestling, it was a lot of fun to see the Gophers work as a team and have their team goal fulfilled.

In Hockey, the Gophers won WCHA final 5 in a fantastic game against North Dakota. The Gophers outplayed the Fighting Sioux whenever it was 5-on-5 and won on an incredible goal by Blake Wheeler (See Below). Now it's off to the NCAA's where the Gophers are by far in the toughest Regional and very well may have to beat North Dakota again to get to the frozen four. My prediction is that they tough it out and will be well positioned to win it's 6th National Championship. Go Gophers!

Contrast Goldy's weekend to that of Bucky who couldn't get past the 2nd round in roundball and who's men's hockey team couldn't even make the NCAA's to defend their fluke championship of last year.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

O.k. the NCAA basketball tourney starts on Thursday. That time of year when your wife asks are you watching basketball again? That's all you did yesterday! Anyway I won't bore you with my entire bracket but here are my final eight:

Florida
North Carolina
Wisc
Georgetown
So. Illinois
Ohio State
UCLA
Texas A&M

I have Florida beating Georgetown in the final. What are your picks? Got any inside information?

UPDATE: I chickened out and put Kansas in the final 8 instead of So. Illinois.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think everyone feels the same way this guy does because it is becoming increasingly clear that Hennepin County and the entity that owns some of the land slated for the new ballpark are coming to loggerheads over the acquisition of the last parcels of land for the new ballpark. The City Pages had a good article on this subject this week and my good buddy Shane at Greet Machine has been lamenting over the land acquisition for weeks now. To further muddy the waters, a couple of Hennepin County Commissioners said over the weekend that they are pursuing alternative ballpark locations within the County! Which if true would surely need state legislative approval and would definitely delay the ballpark opening at least one year if not two.

But is it true? Are the County/Twins really serious about a different ballpark location? Is the land acquisition process really in danger of slowing down or stopping the development of a Twins Ballpark at the Rapid Park site? I argue no it’s not.

First if you need some background on this subject, please go over to Greet Machine. Shane’s site is the only place where you are going to get all the inside information on the ballpark. Plus it’s well established that all the parties involved (County, Land Owners, Twins Officials, Sid Hartman, Politicians, etc.) read the site and from time-to-time and slip nuggets of information to Shane.

The fact is that the County/Twins are moving full steam ahead on the Rapid Park site. Just today there is an article in the Strib that indicates that the ballpark designers have come up with a solution to the bike trail that intersects the ballpark site. In addition, the Twins are still planning to reveal ballpark renderings on February 15th. But more importantly, the County IS quietly taking steps to acquire the Rapid Park site.

The fact is that the County will be able to gain control of the land through the Quick Take process. In fact I think LPII (Land Owners) has even agreed to this. That's the key. The County/Twins can go forward with design, move dirt around, put out bids for construction, etc. During all this somewhere in the bowels of the court system the eminent domain process is going through the meat grinder. Twelve months from now we will have a ballpark design, perhaps a ballpark name, City/County approvals are in place, permits issued, infrastructure being built, contracts being let, sales tax revenues being collected, and the eminent domain hearing will end. Either the County has enough $$$ or it doesn't. If it doesn't THEN there is consternation. Either we have to hit up the Twins for more land acquisition costs or go back to the legislature. It will be tough at the legislature but with the fact that the ballpark is a real deal now (designs, permits, contracts, etc) even the son of Phil Krinkie would be hard pressed to say no to authorizing the County to pay a little more than $90 M for land/infrastructure (I'm sure there would be no need for additional sales tax revenue).

Right now I think all we are seeing is some public posturing by the County and LPII so that they look like the heroes and the other guy looks like a goat when these bumps occur. It's something that happens every day in complicated real estate deals however with a high profile project like the Twins ballpark, it's just getting a little more sunshine. That’s all. Until I hear otherwise, I look forward to seeing the new renderings next week.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (2)

The University of Minnesota unveiled it’s new football stadium designs to mostly positive reviews on Wednesday. The biggest surprise from previous drawings was the turning of the field 90 degrees to a mostly east-west direction. This accomplishes two things: Gives folks in the stands a fantastic view of the Minneapolis Downtown skyline and it allows the open section of the stadium to become a plaza. Other key features of the stadium:

Evokes old Memorial stadium as it will be built mostly of brick and will include “arched entries� around the entire perimeter of the stadium.

Field will be eight feet below grade, allowing views of the field from the west end plaza.

Expansion-ready as more stands can be added along the top tied of the stadium.

Concourses double the size of the Metrodome and seats large enough to accommodate our ever increasing girths.

Of course, as with any stadium project (ahem Twins ballpark), costs have gone up. Some costs can be attributed to improvements made to the project (the wider concourses) while others are typical project increases such as soil corrections and inflation.

All in all a good start for a much needed stadium. I for one will be looking forward to opening day on September 12, 2009.

Posted by Freealonzo at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

If you're Gopher fan there's nothing better than beating Iowa in Football and Wisconsin in Hockey. Doing both in one weekend...priceless. The Gopher Footballers put the smackdown on resident Iowa brat Drew Tate in a nice 34-24 victory. What's more, it looks like the Gophers will have a legitimate big time running back again in Jay Thomas. With a couple of decent defensive players and a good quaterback, this team might show some promise in the next couple of years.

Every weekend we get more evidence that Wisconsin's National Championship last year was a fluke and on Saturday and Sunday the Gopher's icemen put it to Bucky in both games. Wisconsin seems to think that all you need is a goalie to play hockey but not even Brian Elliot can save Bucky from having a sub-par season this year. Meanwhile the Gophers have the most exciting freshmen class in college hockey. Looks like we'll be watching the Gophers in April once again.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Freealonzo at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Ron Gardenhire addressing his team after the Twins clinched a playoff spot:

"From where we started out to where we are now, it doesn't get much better, boys. It's all because you got behind each other, you pulled for each other, you cared for each other. Congratulations! It's a wonderful feeling watching you guys play the way you have. Continued success. We're not done, boys. We're not even close to done, boys. Let's go!".... The room exploded.

What else can you say?

If you like those musical montages that TV stations put together to celebrate a team’s success, this one doesn’t get any better.

Posted by Freealonzo at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It’s over! At last we can rest easy as the Hennepin County Board adopted the 0.0015 sales tax to pay for the Twins outdoor ballpark. As of about 24 hours after the vote, there still have been no reports of the constitution being ripped into shreds or Governor Pawlenty declaring martial law. Although given the testimony of the anti-ballpark folks, I'm sure it’s just a matter of time. So batten down the hatches, armageddon is a-comin!!

I have a feeling most people who check this blog are ballpark supporters as well, but I still want to go over a few simple facts. One the tax is merely 15/100ths of 1 percent. It doesn’t apply to clothing, it doesn’t apply to groceries, it doesn’t apply to automotive sales, it doesn’t apply to gasoline, and it doesn’t apply to most services. If you are in a family of 4 and have a household income of around $75,000 and you buy a new washer and dryer, you will probably pay at most $30 a year, all in little 3-12 cent drips and drabs (and remember, you won’t be a family of 4 over the entire 22-30 years this tax will be in place). Also approximately ¼ of the sales tax is paid by people living outside of Hennepin County.

Second, ballpark opponents have consistently said that they want to vote for the sales tax in a referendum. When confronted with the question of why pass this issue on to the voters when we don’t for any other issue, one Commissioner said that “capital� projects are brought in front of the voters. Oh really? When did we vote on constructing a new Hennepin County Jail? When did we vote on Light Rail Transit? When do we vote on the expansion of 35W? Surely these are all capital projects. The fact is that ballpark opponents want to pick and choose when they can vote for a project and when they don’t. I guess if you’re against a project, we should vote on it so that it can be demagogued to death.

Finally we are hearing a lot of talk about ballpark-supporting elected officials being booted out office. Funny, no one is running against the Minneapolis state legislators who voted for the ballpark. They’re obviously safe. Three of the Commissioners who supported the ballpark are up for election this fall and do have primary challenges. However all their challengers are poorly funded, one-issue candidates who stand very little chance of being elected. Right now there is no evidence that Commissioners Opat, Stenglein, or McLaughlin have any re-election worries.

So enjoy the rest of the summer, take in the very entertaining Twins season, and bask in the thought that in a few short years we’ll be spending glorious 75-degree August evenings outdoors watching baseball, not under a Teflon-covered dome.

Posted by Freealonzo at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well I've stayed away from the Hennepin County public hearings on the new ballpark sales tax. I have, however, watched them on TV.

As can be expected, the opponents have not come up with anything new. They still claim that the County is acting illegally by not having a referendum, ignoring the fact that the state law had a provision to waive the need for a referendum. Furthermore, it's a state law and the state legislature can change the law as they see fit. Don't like it? Vote them out in November.

Besides the usual sky is falling rhetoric from the ballpark opponents, there is always the one person who owns a small business and says why don't you give me some sales tax $$$, I bring jobs to the region, etc, etc. My response to that is this: Fine, when your business activity is so compelling that the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press assign two beat writers to cover what you do; and you inspire countless of other people to start up blogs to analyze and second guess every managerial move you make; when your employees are so popular and good at what they do that my kids want to buy replicas of their work uniforms to wear and beg for their autographs after their shift is over; when your retired workers are considered esteemed members of the community, constantly asked to attend community functions, and when one of them dies the whole town is in mourning; and finally sometimes, but not all the time, your business product is so good that the entire state is transfixed on every widget produced, every customer serviced and that when you are successful there is a genuine outpouring of community joy and happiness and we throw a parade in your honor. Once your business hits that level of community importance, then let's talk about how we can help you out. Until then you can wallow in your misery as the County collects another 12 cents the next time you go to Target.

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If the Yankees are the Evil Empire, then surely Yankee Stadium is the Death Star. Well it was hot enough Thursday at Yankee Stadium to destroy Algeron. But I was there to see the new pitcher Cory Liddle and RFer Bobby Abrea (The Twins couldn't use those guys could they?) dismantle the Toronto Blue Jays.

btw, it was 95 and sunny and the P.A. guys made sure to tell everyone to drink lots of water. However, it didn't stop them from selling bottled water at $4.50 a crack.

Click below to see some pics.

Continue reading "Greetings from the Death Star" »

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So it's a weekend of championship level baseball, with temperatures in the upper, upper 90's and the heat index over 100 -- a perfect time to watch baseball OUTSIDE!!!.

Yes, the Richfield little league playoffs were this weekend and we're talking 5 games in 3 days sitting on metal bleachers with no shade. It was brutal, it was hot, but it was fun. Wanna see Joe Mauer's replacement in 2018 smack a double....

I'm sure many people will say, see that's why we need a roof for the Twins new ballpark, for weekends exactly like this. However, how often do we have "weekends exactly like this." Once every 10 years? Is that worth $125 million dollars? I love this next picture, look closely, the tag isn't applied, but his foot isn't on the base, what did it end up being a run or an out?.....

Furthermore, there are ways to design a outdoor baseball park, with overhangs, and shady areas. Maybe we could even have a sprinkler in the an open area if people wanted to keep cool. Anyway I survived the heat, my face and arms are a little red, but it sure beats sitting indoors. I'll get plenty of that in a couple of months.

Oooh, this one the runner's safe, but look at that concentration. Joe Mauer, watch your back...

btw, they won the Championship with Charlie getting a Kirby Pucket-like 3 RBI's in the title game.

Posted by Freealonzo at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Nothing could be sweeter than sweeping the Whine Sox at their own crib. I'm going to try to stay away from in-depth analysis because you can get it a lot better here and here. I do have to say that I can't remember having this much fun watching the Twins. Bring on the Tigers!!!

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were fortunate enough to get free tickets to the Twins game last Thursday afternoon. It was a Noon game, the temperature was in the low 80's with a few scattered clouds and a light breeze. In other words a perfect July day to be stuck INSIDE watching baseball.

Fortunately the Twins will get a new ballpark, scheduled to be opening in 2010. Even though the ballpark legislation and the plan from the Twins and Hennepin County calls for no roof, there is still some yammering about maybe we can still get a roof or at least construct the ballpark so that a roof can be retrofitted later on. The good folks at Twins Ballpark 2010 have a timely discussion on why the new ballpark doesn't need a roof. However, the most compelling reason is that it won't fit on the site. Check out this link showing how other MLB parks would fit on the Twinsville site. Safeco in Seattle, which is considered the best ballpark with a retractable roof, absolutely overwhelms the Twins site.

Btw, if you want to tell the Twins what you think the new ballpark should look like, there are a number of places to make your comments. This is the Twins comments page. This is another place to make comments.

Posted by Freealonzo at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)