I saw the worst part of last night's game. Just as the Wolves were mounting a fourth quarter comeback, the officials started making inexplicably awful calls against the Wolves costing them both points and momentum.
It reaffirmed my believe that LeBron and the Heat are to be protected at all times. I hate the NBA. Last night just let me remember why.
I KNOW the Wolves are awful, but making sure that the Heat win is just sad. Their "winning" streak is now at 15. I also saw first hand how they attained it.
And people tell me pro wrestling is fake.
At least we ALL KNOW THAT. It's going to take a little longer for pro sports fans to figure this out. They aren't as sharp as wrestling fans.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Cole DeVries
The Twins beat the Cardinals 7-0 yesterday in another exhibition game. The entire staff pitched well. Cole De Vries looked as good as he did last season before getting hurt. It's that kind of news that makes me at least a little optimistic about next season. I don't expect MUCH this year, but I don't think it's asking too much to have a slightly better starting rotation.
Maybe that will happen. I'm trying to be excited about the coming year. We're replacing FOUR starting positions this year (center, right, short, and second) while totally revamping our starting rotation.
Things like that don't usually go well for a team.
But it's not like we won the division the last two years, either. It would be hard to get worse.
And even if we do, it wouldn't be much different than the last two seasons.
Maybe that will happen. I'm trying to be excited about the coming year. We're replacing FOUR starting positions this year (center, right, short, and second) while totally revamping our starting rotation.
Things like that don't usually go well for a team.
But it's not like we won the division the last two years, either. It would be hard to get worse.
And even if we do, it wouldn't be much different than the last two seasons.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Moss a Free Agent?
Randy Moss appears to be parting ways with San Francisco. At 36, he says he's still good to go. We'll see if anyone picks him up this time. His play was average this past season for the Niners, BUT he was the model citizen and he still has more speed than any receiver the Vikings have other than Harvin.
More Vikings:
The Vikes have not designated anyone as their "Franchise Player" yet because of the cost involved. We don't want to designate Phil Loadholt because of the cost involved (almost $10 million.) If we gave him the designation, we wouldn't have any cap space for salary negotiation. As a result we actually may lose Loadholt to free agency.
Jerome Felton is in the same boat. He's a good blocking back BUT the Vikings don't want to pay him $8 million plus for that role if he is given the franchise tag. He, too may be moving on.
I absolutely HATE the business end of football. The Vikings are close to maxing out all they are allowed to spend and we still don't have any great wide receivers. Relying on the draft is iffy at best.
IF the Vikes give out a franchise tag, it has to be done by this afternoon.
More Vikings:
The Vikes have not designated anyone as their "Franchise Player" yet because of the cost involved. We don't want to designate Phil Loadholt because of the cost involved (almost $10 million.) If we gave him the designation, we wouldn't have any cap space for salary negotiation. As a result we actually may lose Loadholt to free agency.
Jerome Felton is in the same boat. He's a good blocking back BUT the Vikings don't want to pay him $8 million plus for that role if he is given the franchise tag. He, too may be moving on.
I absolutely HATE the business end of football. The Vikings are close to maxing out all they are allowed to spend and we still don't have any great wide receivers. Relying on the draft is iffy at best.
IF the Vikes give out a franchise tag, it has to be done by this afternoon.
Pelfrey Looking Better
The Twins lost yesterday to Tampa Bay's Cy Young award winner, David Price. That was kind of expected.
Mike Pelfrey got the start for Minnesota and even though his velocity still isn't where it was before his surgery, he did pitch smart for three shutout innings. That actually is great news.
Other pitchers had mixed to bad results. Trevor May, the OTHER pitcher we got in the Ben Revere trade pitched a shutout inning BUT issued two walks. Jared Burton who had a GREAT season for us last year in the bullpen was pathetic for his second straight outing this spring. Three runs, 4 hits, just one inning. He took the loss.
Spring ball doesn't mean much but our pitchers need to look like they are ready by its end. A few starters are looking like they may be major leaguers after all. It's the bullpen that worries me. THAT was supposed to be our one strength this season.
We'll have to wait and see.
Again.
Mike Pelfrey got the start for Minnesota and even though his velocity still isn't where it was before his surgery, he did pitch smart for three shutout innings. That actually is great news.
Other pitchers had mixed to bad results. Trevor May, the OTHER pitcher we got in the Ben Revere trade pitched a shutout inning BUT issued two walks. Jared Burton who had a GREAT season for us last year in the bullpen was pathetic for his second straight outing this spring. Three runs, 4 hits, just one inning. He took the loss.
Spring ball doesn't mean much but our pitchers need to look like they are ready by its end. A few starters are looking like they may be major leaguers after all. It's the bullpen that worries me. THAT was supposed to be our one strength this season.
We'll have to wait and see.
Again.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Mauer, Morneau, and Perkins Gone for Classic
I'm glad this happens just once every few years. The Twins are actually playing really well this spring, almost surprisingly so. Now they'll be losing three of their crown jewels to the Baseball Classic tournament for the next few weeks.
I know every team is going to lose a few players and that spring games don't count, but sometimes just building a consistency in your team and a winning attitude is the difference between playing poorly or playing well when the season starts.
If anything, the Twins really needed to develop a consistency for THIS season. Now we'll have a ton of players that most will not recognize muddling their way through games waiting for the stars to return.
If any of our three stars get HURT during this Classic tournament I'll be even more upset. Baseball is never going to be a big deal world-wide. The chances of adding more major league franchises outside of the Americas is slim at best. Just the travel schedule of going overseas regularly will drain most players and makes the whole idea seem unfeasible.
Baseball has found a solid footing here and in Japan. The rest of the world loves soccer. That's not going to change with or without the Classic.
I know every team is going to lose a few players and that spring games don't count, but sometimes just building a consistency in your team and a winning attitude is the difference between playing poorly or playing well when the season starts.
If anything, the Twins really needed to develop a consistency for THIS season. Now we'll have a ton of players that most will not recognize muddling their way through games waiting for the stars to return.
If any of our three stars get HURT during this Classic tournament I'll be even more upset. Baseball is never going to be a big deal world-wide. The chances of adding more major league franchises outside of the Americas is slim at best. Just the travel schedule of going overseas regularly will drain most players and makes the whole idea seem unfeasible.
Baseball has found a solid footing here and in Japan. The rest of the world loves soccer. That's not going to change with or without the Classic.
Gophers On a Roll
Penn State has been dreadful this season, even though they did secure a huge upset in their last game.
The Gophers clobbered them yesterday. They looked just like the Gophers from earlier this year when they were a number eight team. The final was 73-44. Penn State didn't even SCORE in the first 11 minute of the game.
IF you are going to get hot and play well, it might as well be now. Madness is just around the corner, and THIS season, that tournament is anybody's game.
The Gophers clobbered them yesterday. They looked just like the Gophers from earlier this year when they were a number eight team. The final was 73-44. Penn State didn't even SCORE in the first 11 minute of the game.
IF you are going to get hot and play well, it might as well be now. Madness is just around the corner, and THIS season, that tournament is anybody's game.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
NHL
I rag on the NHL a lot, some would say rightfully so, but the weirdest thing they do is allow teams to have losses without actually registering those losses AS LOSSES.
Case in point:
The Wild have a WIN on their record this year AGAINST the Blackhawks, BUT, conversely, if you look at the Blackhawks record you will see that this team is 18-0-3. That's right, they have NO losses even though the Wild BEAT them.
How is that even possible?
It's simple, and as much as I see stupidity in just about everything the NHL does, I personally think this idea, which was implemented a few years ago, is pure genius.
The genius? If a game ends in a tie, each team is given at least one point, officially giving both teams at least a tie on their record. A first goal scored in O.T. or the most goals in the shootout gives one of those teams a win.
I've been saying for years that more games in all sports should be allowed to end in ties, but the NHL has figured out a way of crediting a team with success for playing a team EVEN while at the same time giving one of them the win for the extra effort in O.T.
If more NFL games were allowed to end in ties you wouldn't NEED stupid OT rules except in the playoffs. And teams that got ties would be credited with them instead of having to take heartbreaking losses. It would also make it easier to figure out the playoff picture at the end of the season.
Ties would mean that a team that's 10-5-1 would make the playoffs over a team that's 10-6. THAT extra measuring stick sure makes more sense than figuring out who had the tougher schedule or scored the most points or whatever other nonsense the league currently uses as a metric to determine playoff eligibility.
And BASEBALL REALLY NEEDS ties. I wish they'd do it more like the NHL. IF you make it through the ninth inning tied each team gets half a win. You play up to two more innings and if neither team leads at that point, both end with credit for half a victory. If one team is ahead after 10 or 11 innings THEY get credit for a full win.
No team should have to play 14, 18, or more innings just to determine a FINAL absolute winner. The season is long enough and bullpens shouldn't need to be depleted like that. You say fans DEMAND a winner? I say LOOK at the stands at the end of one of these marathon evening games. They don't demand a win, they just want to go home and go to bed. There was a 20 inning game a couple of years back where you literally could COUNT the number of fans left in the stands accurately in just a few seconds.
I don't demand it. I HATE IT when the Twins lose in extra innings on the road, especially when I stay up for the game. I would much rather see them eek out a tie and call it a night. Since a walk-off homerun or score is one of the coolest things in baseball, it would still be possible in the ninth, tenth, or eleventh inning. That wouldn't change. The only thing that would change is that team that played another team even for a regular game would get credit for that even play.
It's win, win situation AND play-off teams would also be easier to determine. A team with 9 ties throughout the season that played a lot of games close and even would get credit for those efforts rather than missing the playoffs to a team that won a couple more but didn't have any ties.
Some may complain initially, but it would be accepted pretty quickly, and fans could actually stay up to watch games finish KNOWING an end is ALWAYS in sight.
I should suggest this to the players association. If the union wanted it for safety reasons (worn out bullpens forced to pitch beyond what they should be forced to) it would be ratified pretty quickly.
Ties are good things. We just have to get used to the idea. And they are WAY better than a loss.
Oh, and the Wild lost last night 3-2, late. I just didn't want another headline like that.
Case in point:
The Wild have a WIN on their record this year AGAINST the Blackhawks, BUT, conversely, if you look at the Blackhawks record you will see that this team is 18-0-3. That's right, they have NO losses even though the Wild BEAT them.
How is that even possible?
It's simple, and as much as I see stupidity in just about everything the NHL does, I personally think this idea, which was implemented a few years ago, is pure genius.
The genius? If a game ends in a tie, each team is given at least one point, officially giving both teams at least a tie on their record. A first goal scored in O.T. or the most goals in the shootout gives one of those teams a win.
I've been saying for years that more games in all sports should be allowed to end in ties, but the NHL has figured out a way of crediting a team with success for playing a team EVEN while at the same time giving one of them the win for the extra effort in O.T.
If more NFL games were allowed to end in ties you wouldn't NEED stupid OT rules except in the playoffs. And teams that got ties would be credited with them instead of having to take heartbreaking losses. It would also make it easier to figure out the playoff picture at the end of the season.
Ties would mean that a team that's 10-5-1 would make the playoffs over a team that's 10-6. THAT extra measuring stick sure makes more sense than figuring out who had the tougher schedule or scored the most points or whatever other nonsense the league currently uses as a metric to determine playoff eligibility.
And BASEBALL REALLY NEEDS ties. I wish they'd do it more like the NHL. IF you make it through the ninth inning tied each team gets half a win. You play up to two more innings and if neither team leads at that point, both end with credit for half a victory. If one team is ahead after 10 or 11 innings THEY get credit for a full win.
No team should have to play 14, 18, or more innings just to determine a FINAL absolute winner. The season is long enough and bullpens shouldn't need to be depleted like that. You say fans DEMAND a winner? I say LOOK at the stands at the end of one of these marathon evening games. They don't demand a win, they just want to go home and go to bed. There was a 20 inning game a couple of years back where you literally could COUNT the number of fans left in the stands accurately in just a few seconds.
I don't demand it. I HATE IT when the Twins lose in extra innings on the road, especially when I stay up for the game. I would much rather see them eek out a tie and call it a night. Since a walk-off homerun or score is one of the coolest things in baseball, it would still be possible in the ninth, tenth, or eleventh inning. That wouldn't change. The only thing that would change is that team that played another team even for a regular game would get credit for that even play.
It's win, win situation AND play-off teams would also be easier to determine. A team with 9 ties throughout the season that played a lot of games close and even would get credit for those efforts rather than missing the playoffs to a team that won a couple more but didn't have any ties.
Some may complain initially, but it would be accepted pretty quickly, and fans could actually stay up to watch games finish KNOWING an end is ALWAYS in sight.
I should suggest this to the players association. If the union wanted it for safety reasons (worn out bullpens forced to pitch beyond what they should be forced to) it would be ratified pretty quickly.
Ties are good things. We just have to get used to the idea. And they are WAY better than a loss.
Oh, and the Wild lost last night 3-2, late. I just didn't want another headline like that.
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