Oval racing is, in fact, really hard. Staying on full throttle for that long is exhausting and mentally draining for even the best of drivers.
But lawdy, is it boring to watch. (To me at any rate.)
However, I’ll make an exception for these guys, who decided to ditch the massive, 2+ mile long oval speedways, in favor of a banked version of your standard issue high school track and field oval:
Graves said he wanted me to write stuff about cars on here.
Now, I’m not a “car guy” in the truest sense of the word. I have never torn apart and reassembled an engine. I have never owned a muscle car. I find it exhausting talking about whatever exotic car is on everybody’s wish list because, seriously, how many of us will really ever own one? I can almost always identify the make and model of a car on sight, but hell if I can tell you what year or chassis number it is.
What I DO like, and most likely why Graves asked me to write stuff about cars here –of all places– is MOTORSPORT. I absolutely love watching, listening to, and reading about motorsport. Any of the various formulas, any of the endurance championships, any of the myriad touring car series, any of those crazy kids who race on two wheels, any of GT battles: I think it’s the best sport on earth.
Except NASCAR. Nobody likes NASCAR.
It’s Opening Night in Major League Baseball and that means I’ve got just enough time to submit my preseason predictions before I look like a total slacker.
You’ve all read about 10,000 of these by now, so there’s no real reason for me to get into what it’s all about. It’s just a big ole crapshoot and that’s the fun of preseason predictions.
Give ’em a read and feel free to let me know how wrong I am in the comments.
Have a great season everybody!
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.
I think I’m going to play in the Little League World Series.
Now I realize that there are “technically” some age limitations that will prevent me from doing so, but if the California team can get away with running Bradley Smith out there every game and parading him as a “13-year-old,” I can sure as hell get in the game.
The dude is 6’3″ and weighs 183 pounds. I’m 6’3″ and weigh 180 pounds.
Given that I’ve got this awful new haircut that makes me look like a cross between He-Man and the kid on the Dutch Boy paint cans and I’ve already got the body of a 13-year-old boy; it would seem that all I need to do is shave off my super-manly beard and I could totally pass as a “big for his age” 13-year-old and get into this tournament.
Does anyone know if Iowa is eliminated yet? I think it’s time they call in a ringer.
I guess my only real concern is that I might get completely schooled by some of these 13-year-old pitchers.
I’ve been playing slow pitch softball for nearly a decade now. The last time I swung at any real, live baseball pitching was when I tried out for the Minnesota State baseball team my junior year.
(Blogger’s Note: I crushed it that day, by the way. Just ripping line drives all over the field like you read about.)
Maybe I should hit the batting cages before I go jumping into the game on this one.
I don’t doubt that my defense still plays well enough to hang with these little leaguers, but is there anything more embarrassing than going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a weak pop-up to the 13-year-old on the mound?
I think not.
Dear Terry Ryan-
I see that you’re contemplating the merits of trading Denard Span to the Cincinnati Reds.
Before you do anything else on the trade market, I’d like to reiterate that Span is one of the few legitimately movable, legitimately valuable trade pieces we have on this team right now. He’s also young enough that he could be a part of the next good Twins team.
With that in mind, if/when you decide to move him…DO NOT F*CK IT UP!!
Sincerely,
Every Twins Fan
PS: Can we get re-dos on all of the Bill Smith era trades?
PPS: Do not under any circumstance get gamed by another GM if/when you move Willingham or the fans will rise up and burn Target Field to the ground.
PPPS: All will be forgiven if you work a trade to bring Lew Ford back to Minnesota.
My Faithful Readers, I come to you today with a heavy heart.
I’ve just received some news that can only be described as devastating, heart-breaking, gut-wrenching and/or super-duper sucky.
Boston’s blonde bombshell of baseball, Heidi Watney has officially parted ways with NESN.
Watney, whose contract expired at the end of the 2011 season, is leaving to work for Time Warner Cable in California. Heidi will work as a sideline reporter for telecasts of Lakers games, beginning with the 2012-13 season (assuming the NBA isn’t still embroiled in a lockout by then).
It’s hard to blame Heidi for leaving. She is originally from southern California and has a lot of history there.
In 2002, she competed in the Miss California pageant, where she was the first runner-up. She attended the University of San Diego on an academic scholarship, where she graduated with honors in 2003. Oh yeah, she was a National Merit Scholar too.
That’s right folks not only is Heidi gorgeous, but she’s all-kinds of smart and knows baseball. Let’s pretend any of us stood a chance trying not to fall in love with this gal.
I’ll always remember our time together, Heidi, and I’ll never forget the words you said to me that day on the field:
Cap’n Charisma: “Heidi, can I get your autograph?”
Heidi Watney: “You know I don’t play baseball, right?!”
Or what you said to me later that day in your security-protected parking garage:
Cap’n Charisma: “Heidi, will you marry me?!”
Heidi Watney: “Holy hell, how did you get in here?”
Cap’n Charisma: “…in where, your heart?!”
Heidi Watney: “No, my parking garage you psycho! I’ve got pepper-spray!”
Cap’n Charisma: “…and I’ve got more love than my heart can handle!”
Heidi Watney: “SECURITY!! SECURITY!! SECURITY!!”
Ahhhh…memories.
I’ll miss you Heidi. Restraining order notwithstanding, I hope to see you again soon. Very, very soon.
It is entirely possible that I’m being just a tad hyperbolic, but let’s make one thing perfectly clear folks, Bostonians—especially those shell-shocked by an unanticipated collapse in an athletic endeavor—are a fragile group of people.
Last night, as many of you know, the Boston Red Sox put the finishing touches on an epic choke job as they pissed away the last of a seemingly insurmountable nine game lead in the American League Wild Card race by losing—in heart-breaking fashion, I might add—to the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
About ten minutes, give or take, later the upstart Tampa Bay Rays propelled themselves into the postseason—in place of the aforementioned Red Sox—when Evan (NOT Eva) Longoria ripped a home run over the left field fence to win the game.
The Red Sox, who were deemed by many—this guy included—to be the favorites to win the World Series back in Spring Training and throughout much of the regular season, will be watching the playoffs from their multi-million dollar palatial estates…just like the rest of us.
If one took ten seconds late last night or early this morning to check in with sports talk radio, various online message boards and/or legitimate media presences in the Boston area, they’d have learned one very clear lesson…folks are not handling this loss well.
The fine folks at Boston.com have opened up a free(ish)—thankfully they do edit what gets published—forum for fans to “Rip the Red Sox” following the collapse and things have covered pretty much the entire spectrum of human emotion ranging from…
Note: All of these responses are reproduced in all of their typotastic, grammar-lacking glory or [SIC] if you prefer some professionalism around here.
…the downright logical:
“The Red Sox did not do well. That is unfortunate.” – Stephen – Boston
…to the simply upset:
“Poor decisions made by the front office! Drew, Lackey, Crawford? None worth HALF the money thrown at them. How can homegrown gamers like Youk and Pedroia get peanuts while these 3 clowns get piad handsomely. Poor, poor decisions by Theo.” – Drucker – Boston
…to the shortsighted and reactionary:
“I hope to never see Carl Crawford in a Red Sox uniform again.” – Ashley – Boston
…to the delusional:
“This team lacks starting pitching, guts, and athletes who are willing to trim down and man up (see: Youk). Injuries are not bad luck; get in shape, tubby! Don’t blame Theo or Tito. Even Ellsbury, with his talent, was not a smart baserunner. He should have a much higher steals percentage. I have to admit that I missed the days when they found magical ways to break our hearts. Now if they win one, we’ll really appreciate it!” – Brian – Rochester, NY
…to the overly dramatic (and wordy):
“To the Red Sox Staff: This is worse than the Buckner tragedy: that was ‘Shock and Awe’. This was not just another “Oh no, not again?” late fall moment, it was ‘Disgust and Outrage’. We saw this fall into the abyss coming so fast and drastically in September that it was surreal. This was like the McNamara, Houk, and Williams days of leaving the pitchers in TOO long (Terry: Again, what were you thinking?). This was beyond any low in our generation, because our expectations were earned high early on from good work, and the incredible, insulting demeanor of play (by most players) is so unforgiving by the fans. I’d rather watch College, or little league Baseball, where there is real heart presented. We could not see the heart on their faces because they gave up. Millions and Millions of my insanely high ticket prices wasted on low grade, poorly managed talent. What I make in a year of hard work, they make in a day. I actually took the Red Sox license plate holder off of my car at 5AM this morning, because I’m so beyond disappointed. What happened to the leadership that managers, coaches, and players need to get motivated? I can’t wait for spring time to tune the Sox out, shut off the radio, turn off NESN, not go to the new Spring Training park, and most definitely not support your advertisers (gee: maybe then you’ll get it.). Mr. Henry: This stinks like Pepe LePew. Heads need to roll out of Beantown big time. Please bring on some fresh leadership, better managers, and young aggressive beef. Oh well: You’ve lost a lifelong fan now.” – Bob Belliveau – Naples, FL
…to the petty and pathetic:
“The Yankees Are To Fault – Where was RIVERA?? The League should fine them & GIRADI should be suspended for holding back. They didn’t play their best.” – Bill Kremer – Boston
…to the just plain stupid:
“Terry: thank for the memories. Theo: thanks for the mess that will take 10 years to clean up. Now both of you hit the road.” – Ian Roffley – Boston
…to the uninformed and half-assed:
“Adrian G’s lack of passion & heart contaminated the whole team.” – Chuck Keefe – South Boston
…to the bat-shit crazy:
“LOOOOSSSAAAAAA’S!!!!! An old quote kept ringing in my ears as this team died a long slow death – “They killed my father and now they are going to kill me”! I thought those days were over but I guess not! Sadly – looking forward it does not look much brighter! After 6 months and 161.9 games, they couldn’t manage to get out of Baltimore – Fricken Baltimore!!!! with a win! Fire’em all!!! Tito – Theo – and company. I would rather watch a Triple-A team next year than watch these heartless, no playing, overpaid, under performing, pathetic examples of athletes play again!!!!!! Keep PD and Elles and the kids and dump all of the high priced fat lazy “veterans”. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!” – Jim – Somerset, MA
Now let us not forget, that’s just the ones that they’d allow to be published. Between talk radio and the far less, um, “mandated” message boards the reactions were downright frightening. Many (read: way too many) fans were legitimately calling for violence and using so many curse words that I feel just a little bit like going to church today.
Despite all of this evidence of “super rage” griping the city, it didn’t really dawn on me this morning that I might want to put some real thought into my wardrobe decision for the day. As such, I reached into my top drawer (read: my baseball shirts drawer) and pulled out my old school purple Tampa Bay Devil Rays t-shirt and slipped it on.
I finished getting ready for the day and was just about to head out the door when I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the full-length mirror in our bedroom as I walked by. It was then that I realized I what I was wearing.
Back in 2008, I was innocently wearing this shirt and without thought wore it to a game at Fenway with my best friend who happened to be in town at the time, John Kunkel, esquire.
Perhaps y’all recall 2008? It was the year that the newly-christened “Rays” toppled the Red Sox to take the AL East crown and went on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Well, I got booed that night at Fenway…by an entire section of fans (all led by Mr. Kunkel) for simply wearing the shirt. At the time, Red Sox fans weren’t even taking the Rays all that seriously. They still viewed them as “that minor league team we play down in Florida.” Despite that fact, an entire section of Red Sox fans had no problem booing my face off and screaming an unpleasant chorus of obscenities.
…that was when both teams made the playoffs and no one really cared about the Rays.
This morning the Red Sox are done for the season and the Rays are headed to the playoffs…again.
Luckily, I caught myself, but that shit could have been deadly. Thanks to Twitter, message boards, sports radio and the aforementioned “publishable” Boston.com responses I’m operating under the assumption that there are large, inconsolable, irrational hordes of unstable Red Sox fans just roaming the streets BEGGING for a fight right now.
I assume they’ll be out there until the Patriots kick off on Sunday and they can all forget baseball exists again until March.
…until then, I’m thinking nothing but neutral colors without logos of any sort is a good idea for my wardrobe.
You know, just in case.
Many of you may not know this, but it’s actually a federal requirement for all baseball bloggers to post their misguided preseason predictions.
Okay, it’s entirely possible that there’s zero truth to that, but this is the one time a year when any ole blogger can feel right on par with the big boys in the baseball writing business and make a bunch of wild guesses based on such important factors as “intuition” and “coin tosses.”
My predictions from last year were—ahem—less-than-good, but that’s the nature of the beast with preseason predictions.
Ask any handful of people and most would have had the Philadelphia Phillies winning the whole thing two months ago. Nowadays the Boston Red Sox are the hot-to-trot team. Last year it was the aforementioned Phillies and New York Yankees in the driver’s seat.
In the end, the World Series featured the San Francisco Giants toppling the Texas Rangers. It’s all a crapshoot and that’s most of the fun.
Last year, I only predicted two division winners correctly (Philadelphia and Minnesota) and only four playoff teams (Philly, Minnesota, New York and San Francisco). This year, I’m going with less of my special intuition and going more on what the rosters look like and all that boring mumbo-jumbo.
Without any further ado, here are my undoubtedly incorrect 2011 MLB Predictions.
Regular Season
Playoffs
National League Play-In Game
Atlanta Braves over Cincinnati Reds
American League Division Series
Boston Red Sox over Chicago White Sox (3-1)
Oakland Athletics over New York Yankees (3-2)
National League Division Series
Milwaukee Brewers over Atlanta Braves (3-1)
Philadelphia Phillies over Colorado Rockies (3-2)
American League Championship Series
Boston Red Sox over Oakland Athletics (4-2)
National League Championship Series
Milwaukee Brewers over Philadelphia Phillies (4-3)
World Series
Boston Red Sox over Milwaukee Brewers (4-2)
So there you have it, folks…the Red Sox will topple the revamped Brew-Crew in Prince Fielder’s final season in the Milwaukee before he moves on to make big bucks elsewhere and breaks the hearts of Brewers fans and stadium vendors all over the Cheese State.
Just a note for those of you calling up your bookie right now, I want to make it clear that the incredibly scientific method of “flipping a coin” may or may not have been used heavily in making these decisions. Granted, I’m like 83% sure that this is exactly how things will turn out, so feel free to drop some big bucks based on these predictions.
While we’re at it, let’s take a stab at how the regular season awards will pan out.
Regular Season Award Winners
American League MVP: Adrian Gonzalez (BOS – 1B)
National League MVP: Ryan Zimmerman (WAS – 3B)
American League ROY: Mike Moustakas (KC – 3B)
National League ROY: Freddie Freeman (ATL – 1B)
American League Cy Young: Jon Lester (BOS – SP)
National League Cy Young: Cole Hamels (PHI – SP)
American League Manager of the Year: Bob Geren (Oakland)
National League Manager of the Year: Ron Roenicke (Milwaukee)
Once again, feel free to place your life savings and/or first-born child on any betting table as long as you’re rolling with my predictions. My prognosticationalization skills are top-notch, baby…top-notch.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Jermain Defoe (above, white shirt). During his career thus far as a striker in the English Premier League, he has scored 99 goals. A great feat, surely. Ninety-nine more goals than I have scored in my lifetime. Add to that 45 caps earned while playing for the England national team, and you’ve got yourself a pretty decent athlete on your hands.
Now, if you’d please turn your attention to the circle of detail in the above photo (kindly ignore the crappy photoshopping from the News of the World site I nicked this image off), you’ll see the offending item that has had certain corners of the Interwebs lit up with scathing commentary (“arrogant little runt,” “tw*t,” and “silly prat” were only some of the labels placed on Defoe).
As anyone with any knowledge of superstition and the phenomenon of jinxing would assume after seeing that undershirt (which reads “100 goals”), Defoe failed to score. He had plenty of chances, almost all of which needed only a gentle tap towards goal to seal the deal, but he just couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.
And I say, how could he have scored, blatantly jinxing himself like that?!
I’ve written before about my propensity for sports-related superstition. I know it’s silly, and yet there’s a part of my brain that can’t let go of it and all its magical hoodooishness. Sometimes there just seems like there’s something to it. And I feel like most people involved in American sports – be they athletes, fans, or commentators – understand that there are some things you just don’t do, or say, due to their levels of jinxability (I’m coining all kinds of new words today!)
When a pitcher is in the midst of a no-hitter, no one talks to him. It’s just understood; no one wants to jinx him. Certain stats just aren’t acknowledged vocally by commentators… good ones, at least (you know the kind of stats… “Pitcher X hasn’t allowed a run in his past 15 appearances”), because it seems inevitable that whatever run a team or an athlete is on will be broken within minutes of that stat being uttered. And if these things do get spoken, you can almost hear the groans and shouts from fans near and far who understand the weight of what just happened.
It is this type of phenomenon that seems to be unknown among those involved in the English Premier League. Sure, players can be superstitious, bending to touch the grass before stepping onto the pitch, wearing lucky boots, or, like hotshot-of-the-moment Gareth Bale, wearing that silly tape on their thighs because it “prevents injury” (read: it’s the footballers’ version of the Phiten necklace – the effects are purely psychological).
And yet, I can’t count how many times match commentators have dropped a statistic such as “Tottenham haven’t allowed a goal in the past 475* minutes of play” (*statistic completely made up), only to see the other team score within 5 minutes. Or maybe it’s a factoid like “Peter Cech has never allowed a goal from West Brom during his entire career,” only to have him miss an easy shot and give up his epic clean sheet moments later.
It’s frustrating. Don’t these commentators see what happens when they run their mouths like this? Don’t they begin to put two and two together, and see that you can’t casually drop bits of information like that without there being consequences?!
As for Jermain Defoe… I have no words. When I heard about all his missed chances, and then heard about the message on his undershirt (there placed so that he could pull off his jersey upon scoring his 100th and run jubilantly toward the nearest TV camera), it made total sense: he clearly jinxed himself. Even the king of arrogant prats, Cristiano Ronaldo, wasn’t so brazen as to wear a “100 goals” undershirt on the day when he actually scored his 100th. How hard is it to understand that you just don’t do that?
Maybe it’s just me, having grown up a baseball fan in the heart of sports fan insanity (Boston), knowing friends who didn’t shower or change their clothes during the 2004 ALCS and having that seem perfectly normal, and appreciating having commentators like Jerry Remy and Sean McDonough who tended to know enough not to mention certain things during games. It doesn’t seem like it should be that hard to transfer a healthy respect of superstition to soccer, but as long as match commentators feel the need to ignore the unwritten rules of what not to say, and as long as people like Jermain Defoe continue to jinx themselves so ridiculously, maybe it’s just not meant to be. Or maybe I’m just mental.
Much of my adult—or whatever you call your mid-twenties—life has been spent dreaming of a career that involves either writing or baseball or—in some perfect world—writing about baseball.
(Note: I’ve recently made peace with the fact that I won’t be playing baseball or, more than likely, working in baseball for a living.)
Instead, I’ve made my millions multiple-hundreds in the “library services” world.
There was, however, a glorious period of time (ie: the fall/winter of ’09) in which my baseball writing was top-notch and I eventually become the top-ranked baseball writer at the burgeoning sports website, “BleacherReport.”
As is often the case, my writing was hindered by Christmas vacation and then was absolutely obliterated by a dang-near year-long battle with writer’s block.
As has proven to be the case in the past, a trip home to Iowa was enough to re-charge the batteries and get me feeling the need/urge/craving/etc. to write again.
Unfortunately, I’ve yet to really get my ass back into gear in regards to my baseball writing. Most of this is because my beloved Minnesota Twins haven’t really done a damn thing beyond trade away the shortstop I have a man-crush on.
Today, however, I received reason enough to get my shit together in the form of an email from the fine folks at BleacherReport that read:
“We want the members of the Bleacher Report community of writers to be the first to know about this coming opportunity.
Bleacher Report will start hiring a small number of writers for part-time paid writing positions immediately – a limited number at first, but more over time. These paid writers will be given specific assignments by Bleacher Report editors and be responsible for meeting goals – volume, traffic and engagement, and quality.
We will accept some external applications but, for the most part, Bleacher Report will look to source candidates for these paid writing positions from our existing writer base. Our best Featured Columnists will be considered for these positions.
Newer writers may qualify for the Featured Columnist program by proving themselves consistent contributors of high-quality entertaining content and demonstrating expertise in a specific relevant subject area.
There is no need to apply directly for these paid positions; over the course of several months, our editors will reach out to writers who qualify.”
I know, right?!
Now, I don’t want to get the cart ahead of the horse here, because I’m certainly not the world’s greatest baseball writer. I’m not big into sabermetrics and I’ve got no real cable, so I don’t get to watch 1,000 games a year, but I generally know what I’m talking about despite a lack of live games and ESPN-infused insight.
I’m a dude who does his research and legitimately loves the game more than he does some of his family members (sorry, Aunt Linda). This is all because of my Pappy.
As a kid, baseball was my major connection with my Pappy.
He is much, much, much more of a “manly man” than I’ll ever be and he has that particular connection with my brother, G-Doggy. I’ll never have that.
I’m not the kind of guy who wakes up at 5am, ready to go work and roof a house. I’m the kind of guy who wakes up at 5am and rolls back over to sleep for a few more hours before waking up and getting stoked to write about something moderately amusing that happened at his library job the day before.
As an adult, baseball is just as important between me and my Pappy. I’ll never fully understand his stories about working in the cold to fix up a crappy run-down house and he’ll never fully understand (or perhaps really respect) my stories about working in a dusty old library, and that’s okay. That’s life. We live in different worlds.
The important thing is that when we’re chatting about who will be starting in left field for the Mets or who will be the Twins designated hitter against southpaws, we’re on the same page.
My Pappy is—without a doubt—the reason I love baseball as much as I do and for that, I am eternally grateful. There is nothing else in my life that is as simple and pure and beautiful as a game of baseball. It is the ideal way to spend a day/morning/afternoon/life.
As I said, I’m not the greatest baseball writer, but I’m also not the worst.
I’m sure I’m either far too technical and impersonal or way too personal and unprofessional—I have some serious troubles finding that middle ground—but I do know what the hell I’m doing.
And when I’m “on,” by golly I am motherf’n “ON.”
The problem is that I’ve yet to really get my shit together on the baseball writing since my recent battle with writer’s block came to an end.
I’m still incredibly overworked and likely in WAY over my head at work, but you know what…I’m gonna handle that like a champ. If I don’t, well then I’m going to go down swinging.
I’m going to find a way to factor what I really want to do—(ie: write)—into my ridiculously busy work life and also comically busy social life.
This is a legitimate chance for me to finally do what I really want to do and, by golly, I’m gonna make this shit happen.
…or go down swinging, that’s kinda my thing.
Let’s be honest, this is undoubtedly the best Minnesota Twins team that the club has had since 2006 and—arguably—the best overall team since the club’s fortunes turned around at the beginning of the last decade.
As such, I’ve decided to eschew my usual fears about angering the mighty Baseball Gods and I’m going to go ahead and show an overwhelming amount of optimism, rather than temper my enthusiasm in fear of “getting too cocky.”
With that in mind…
That’s right, my Faithful Readers, I’ve got four bottles of bubbly on ice and waiting.
One for when the Twins clinch the American League Central.
One for when the Twins win the American League Division Series.
One for when the Twins win the American League Championship Series.
…and one, glorious bottle that’s waiting—oh-so-patiently, mind you—for the Twins to win the World Series.
It’s tough enough being a Twins fan in Boston and having a very limited pool of brethren to enjoy this amazing season with, but I’m certainly not going to sit back quietly and let these major milestones pass with little more than an excited Tweet or Facebook post.
If When the Twins win, I’m gonna celebrate and I’m gonna celebrate right…by spraying champagne in my girlfriend’s eyes and screaming like a mad man…just like the pros!!
PS: Following tonight’s big come-from-behind win over the Indians, I’m currently watching the Athletics lay the smack down on the White Sox thanks to the fine folks at MLB.tv. An Oakland win clinches the division tonight!! Sure, sure…it’ll be like one in the morning before this is over, but whatevs…
PPS: It should also be noted that I’m watching the White Sox home feed of the game on MLB.tv, mostly because I’m hoping to hear Hawk Harrelson cry before the night is over.
UPDATE: OH HELLS YES!!! Let’s go ahead and run the B-Squad out there tomorrow when everyone has the “flu-like symptoms” (read: hangovers) and then let’s see about winning the whole f’n thing!!
15) Brett Favre throws for 5,000 yards and 22 TDs (in the first half…and then rests the ankle whilst T-Jax lets the Saints back into the game)
14) Adrian Peterson rushes for 1,500 yards, scores 11 times and… fumbles twice.
13) Drew Brees does something charitable. Likely ends up on Oprah before half-time.
12) Percy Harvin—on the receiving end of most of those touchdowns from Favre—misses the entire second half and all of weeks 2 through 11 with horrible migraines.
11) Reggie Bush leaves the team in the second quarter to reunite with Kim Kardashian. No one sees anything wrong with this decision.
10) Jared Allen kills a beer vendor, giggles like a school girl, and walks away.
09) Brett Favre retires.
08) Jeremy Shockey injures himself. Additionally, grass is green and water is wet.
07) One of the referees makes a call that someone watching the game vehemently disagrees with, they react inappropriately. Additionally, grass is green and water is wet.
06) Chad Greenway remembers he’s from South Dakota. He cries a little.
05) Pat, Kevin and Madieu Williams all realize they have the same last name and they form an exclusive club. I am not invited. Most likely, neither are you.
04) Visanthe Shiancoe eats a live kitten.
03) Jonathan Vilma, sick and tired of being mistaken for Velma from Scooby-Doo, changes his last name to Williams and, along with sisters Venus and Serena, joins the aforementioned Williams Club.
02) Brett Favre un-retires and leads a drive to undo all the wrong that T-Jax did in the second-half. He gets the team within two points of tying it up.
01) Jim Thome—in town to acquire his favorite performance enhancing drug…shrimp gumbo—shows up and kicks the game-winning 103 yard field goal.
The Minnesota Twins drafted Ohio State pitcher Alex Wimmers with the 21st overall pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft.
This is the second-year in a row that the Twins have used their first-round selection on a highly-touted collegiate hurler.
A year ago the club took a gamble on injured Missouri starter Kyle Gibson with the 22nd pick. Gibson is now healthy and rapidly working his way through the minor leagues.
Keith Law of ESPN.com described Wimmers as “one of the most Major League-ready prospects in the draft.” This evaluation—from one of the top player evaluators in the business—indicates that Wimmers could be on a fast track similar to that of Gibson.
Wimmers was described by Baseball America as having “the best changeup in the 2010 draft crop” and that “few pitchers in this draft can match the depth of his repertoire.”
That repertoire includes the aforementioned changeup, a good curveball that he can throw for strikes, and a solid—if not unspectacular—low-to-mid ‘90s fastball.
His fastball currently sits right around 90-92 mph and touches 94 mph when he really dials it up. It is believed that he could add a little more velocity if he builds arm strength by using it more in pro ball.
He was described by John Manuel of Baseball America as “the closest thing to Brad Radke in this draft” and the Twins had some pretty good success with that Radke guy once upon a time. He is a reliable starter who throws strikes and likes to challenge hitters.
His three-pitch mix, solid command, and excellent presence on the mound should all help him move quickly through the system as he has been very successful throughout his collegiate career.
Wimmers won back-to-back Big Ten pitcher of the year awards after going 9-2 with a 3.27 ERA in 2009 and following it up this year by going 9-0 with a 1.60 ERA for the Buckeyes this season. He struck out 86 and walked 23 in 73 innings pitched this year.
The Twins have had a lot of success with players cut from the same cloth as Wimmers.
He is a strike-thrower who doesn’t have any overpowering raw stuff, but he possesses a very good total package that figures to project out well as a middle-of-the-rotation starter in the big leagues.
If his fastball can catch up to his other pitches in a hurry, it’s entirely possible that Wimmers could make his big league debut by late 2011.
The Minnesota Twins are often praised for doing things “the right way.”
This sentiment—although cliché and not entirely accurate—generally defines the organizational importance placed on pitching, defense, small ball tactics, and player development.
Although the Twins have seemingly eschewed the small ball tactics in recent seasons, the club still believes heavily in defense and pitching.
It would seem that the club has an abundance of outfielders already in the system with top prospects Aaron Hicks, Ben Revere, Max Kepler, and Angel Morales all seemingly within a few years of reaching the big leagues.
As such, the Twins could logically be expected to abandon the usual philosophy of drafting the best available player—no matter what position he plays—and instead opt to improve by adding a big-armed pitcher or another infielder to the farm system.
Minnesota possesses the twenty-first overall pick in tonight’s First-Year Player Draft and could use that pick on any of a number of players.
This year’s draft—after the projected top three picks of catcher Bryce Harper, shortstop Manny Machado, and right-hander Jameson Taillon—has been deemed “wide-open” by many experts.
In fact, in describing the quality of the draft pool after those three, one unidentified NL general manager said, “there’s virtually no difference between the fourth and 44th picks.”
With that thought in mind let’s take a look at fifteen players that could join the Minnesota Twins organization tonight during the opening-round of the First-Year Player Draft.
Check out the slideshow at BleacherReport.com.
Dear Mr. Kraft,
First of all, let me say that Gillette Stadium is quite an impressive structure. In fact, I was quite literally in awe of its immensity the first time saw it looming up out of the distance as I drove down Route 1. Loss of fan atmosphere and home-field advantage aside, I’m sure it’s a marvelous place in which to watch a New England Patriots game.
However, I have to say… it’s a terrible place to watch a New England Revolution game. Why, you might ask? Because it’s huge. Way too huge to play host to a Major League Soccer team.
The Revolution consider a sellout crowd to be about 22,006. The seating capacity of Gillette is 68,756. Even if I’m in attendance at a sellout Revs match (which is highly unlikely, considering the overall average attendance at Revs matches is 15,844), it still feels like I’m only one of a handful that’s shoved into a corner of a vast behemoth of a stadium. Observe the seating chart for Revs games below (gray areas are closed-off during soccer games):
And that’s only the bottom bowl (and a tiny section of the second). Imagine, if you will, being a player on the Revolution. Perhaps you watched World Cup matches as a kid and dreamed of one day playing before a huge crowd of singing fans who wave their scarves and banners in support and chant your name. With that dream firmly planted in your mind, imagine stepping onto the pitch at Gillette for your first match. Not even half of the lower bowl of the stadium is full. The fans in the Fort (the 3 orange sections) are singing and screaming throughout the game, but the rest of the crowd could be watching golf for all the noise they’re making. Bit of a disappointment, huh?
Now, compare Gillette’s seating chart to that of Toyota Park, home of the Chicago Fire:
Isn’t that much more reasonable? Doesn’t that make so much more sense? That seating chart is the whole stadium. There aren’t two more bowls looming empty over the fans on game-day. The fans are all right there, as close to the action as FIFA regulations will allow.
In fact, 14 of the 16 current MLS teams have stadiums similar to Toyota Park (or will within a year or two). 11 teams have soccer-specific stadiums that seat 27,000 or less. Two teams (DC United and KC Wizards) are in the process of building soccer-specific stadiums, and one (Houston Dynamo) plays at a university’s football stadium that is at least of manageable size (32,000 seats).
The only other MLS team to play in an NFL stadium is Seattle. The Sounders play at Qwest Field (also home to the Seahawks), which has a similar seating capacity to that of Gillette. However (and that’s a big however, Mr. Kraft), Qwest was designed to be BOTH an NFL stadium and an MLS stadium. For Sounders matches, the people at Qwest adjust things (I’m not entirely sure how, though I’m guessing they close off the upper bowls) to bring the size down to a manageable 27,700 seats that (here’s the kicker) SURROUND the pitch. They don’t shove all their fans into one corner of the lower bowl.
Now, just amuse me for a few seconds and watch this video of Liverpool fans before a Champions League match against Barcelona:
How awesome would it be if Revolution matches were like that? I know, I know… soccer isn’t nearly as big in the States as it is in Europe, or, you know, the rest of the world. But the MLS is expanding pretty rapidly (two more teams will be added in 2011), and some MLS teams (I’m looking at you, Seattle and Philadelphia) have fans that are pretty freaking hardcore and dedicated. The Revolution even has two factions of fans – the Midnight Riders and the Rebellion – that are working hard to expand and strengthen fan support for their beloved Revs.
Wouldn’t it be nice to make the stadium more fan-friendly for them, and more conducive to the sort of electric soccer atmosphere that you witnessed in that Liverpool video? Right now, any noise that those in the Fort make just disappears straight up. Having the fans all the way around the pitch, nice and close to the action, not only makes it easier for those fans to see the game, but it also provides a tighter environment, brings fans together, and brings that Revolution player I mentioned earlier so much closer to living his dream of playing in front of a packed house.
A few years ago, Mr. Kraft, you and the city of Somerville, Massachusetts sat down and talked about possibly building the Revs their very own stadium. You made a good number of fans (myself included) very excited at the prospect of hopping on public transportation and making the short journey to our very own soccer-specific stadium close to the city. No offense to Foxboro, but it’s quite a haul and Route 1 is no fun before or after games. The proposed site in Somerville would be close to the T, right off a bus line, and within walking distance of many in New England’s most densely populated city:
In fact, I know of several Revs fans who say they would gladly purchase season tickets if it didn’t require regular trips down to Foxboro. If you don’t do it for the fans, Mr. Kraft, think of the revenues. Even the two 2011 MLS expansion teams have (or are planning to have) their own soccer-specific stadiums. This is a good bandwagon for New England to hop. You’ve got the location, you’ve got a good amount of support, God knows you’ve got the money. Now can you please get this going?
Cheers,
DGobs
BeantownGiant
dgobs
Andrew
Jesse Motiff
Justin Kunkel
Ryan
stevenkunkel
Jeremiah Graves
Cheap Seat Chronicles 
