6 Reasons Why the Minnesota Twins can beat the New York Yankees
1. The top of the batting order will feature seven power hitters: Denard Span, Orlando Cabrera, Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, Jose Morales.
2. The bottom of the order features two scrappy gamers that have delivered clutch hits when needed: Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto.
3. The Twins have nothing to lose while the Yankees, well, they’re the Yankees and everyone expects them to win the World Series.
4. The Twins play stellar defense. Always have, always will.
5. Twins pitching is solid, the bullpen is rock-solid.
6. The Metrodome Curse. The Metrodome is very angry that the Twins are leaving for a newer, sexier outdoor stadium. The Metrodome has called down the forces of thunder and merged cosmic powers with denizens of the underworld. The Metrodome’s phantasmal horde will usurp the power and magic of all opposing teams and will lead Minnesota to a final World Series Championship before cursing the Twins and banishing them from playoff appearances until such time as they relocate to again play baseball on the Metrodome’s premises.
Running “All Day” on ESPN!
“All Day” Adrian Peterson Featured on ESPN.com
ESPN has started allowing embedded video links to be hosted at ESPN.com. Check out what they have to say about Minnesota Vikings rookie sensation Adrian Peterson.
I was at the game last Sunday when Adrian Peterson broke the single-game NFL rushing record. It was awesome!
Guess Why Kenny Is Wearing England’s Rugby Kit
It seems the Limeys have adopted “The Gambler” as their fight song while waiting for matches to begin. It has seemed to work as England have advanced to the finals of the Rugby World Cup after beating heavily favored Australia in the quarter-final match and France in the semi-final. England’s opponent in the final will be South Africa. It is hard to choose who I will root for…will it be the people who repressed the Irish for years and will not let the country be unified, or those responsible for apartheid? Whatever the case, I will be at Brit’s this Saturday at 2 p.m. to watch it — as of now. There is a $20 cover ($10 for students) free pastries, free parking and $3.50 Heineken specials.
Send me an e-mail if you are interested in watching Saturday…
Oh, and Kenny, enough with the face lifts, OK?
The World Series of Beer Pong
A buddy of mine at work today informed me that he would be out of the office “for the next few months.” (This was all by way, of course, of filling me in on what I need to know to finish up all of his current projects…). It turns out that in his secret out-of-the-office life he is co-founder and co-ruler of bpong.com, a site that has established league play for the Beer Pong community. The time my co-worker is taking off is to prepare for the third annual World Series of Beer Pong, held January 1-5, 2008 in Las Vegas, in which 1000+ people will test their mettle against teams from around the country (globe?) for $50,000 in prizes. Dang. My college drinking time could have been spent drinking and training, not just drinking and… draining?
Bonus: the Flabongo.
Le Tour Dog France
Poor Marcus Burghardt, good thing it wasn’t a German shepard in the French countryside. No telling who would have been fingered as the collaborateur. J’accuse!
Oh, and carbon-fiber wheels may be light, but they ain’t shit against a yellow lab!
It’s Velodrome Monday!
1982 World Track Championships Tandem sprint early round
Just watch the “brilliant piece of riding” at the end.
Oh, and David Beckham is coming to Metrodome in October.
Weird Day at the Landis Trial
I am not the biggest Greg LeMond fan, but, man, what a bizarre day of testimony for the guy, I feel bad for him. LeMond is a witness for the USADA at the trial of 2006 Tour de France quasi-champion Floyd Landis.
Landis, if you recall, is accused of doping during the Tour de France last year.
Anyway, in testimony today, LeMond broke down in tears when he testified his uncle molested him when he was a child. Why did this come out in testimony? Because last night he got a call from a man claiming to be his uncle saying, “I am your uncle and if you want me to finish this… We can talk about how we used to hide your weenie.” “This” being his testimony.
LeMond testified that he told the story of his uncle to Landis in a phone conversation after Landis had been accused of doping. He used it as an example of what can happen when people keep secrets buried as a way of trying to get Landis to come clean. Apparently Landis replied, “I don’t see anything good that could come of [coming clean]. I would hurt my friends.”
The kicker? The caller who claimed to be LeMond’s uncle is a close associate of Landis’. The caller was identified by police as Will Geoghegan, who has been by Landis’ side throughout his defense of his innocence.
What a soap opera. I believe Lance Armstrong doped and I believe Floyd Landis doped. Pro Cycling is in serious trouble and is full of a bunch of liars and cheaters. I applaud LeMond for speaking out against these so-called champions. The sport needs to clean house and it can start with stripping Landis of his title.
Beware the Ides of March!
So before we start talking college hoops, let’s just let it be known I know nothing at all about who is good or who is bad. I like Marquette and NC State, but I think Ducks are cool too. So I have two brackets going so far this year, one I selected the Badgers and one I selected the Ducks. I have even considered doing a third bracket just so I can have one with all four number one picks meeting in the Final Four.
But speculation is not my purpose here.
My purpose is to ask a question:
Why would someone at work say they want to be in on a March Madness Pool, for $5 bucks even, and then when the e-mail is sent out they suddenly change gears and talk about being fired for gambling?
Some women at a company in the Twin Cities decided to run a March Madness Pool this year. They spoke individually to several people (including me) who all expressed interest in making selections and paying $5 in hopes of winning the pool.
Afterward, one of the folks who was very excited about making picks walked over to the woman running the March Madness Pool and mentioned that she could be fired for running a betting pool.
Technically, this is true if it is outlined in our company policies (which I have not seen covered anywhere) but why would you SAY that you want to do it, and then suggest that the person running the Pool will be fired for organizing it?
That’s just a mean double-standard.
Oh, and if you want to do the ESPN Tournament Challenge in a group, join the group named: Bongo’s House of Pancakes. The password is: beer. There is no buy-in for this group…it’s just for fun.
Superbowl Flashback
In honor of the upcoming Superbowl, eightandfive.com brings you the trailer for original Hunter S. Thompson film, “Where the Buffalo Roam” starring Bill Murray and Peter Boyle in a fantastic journey into the madness of Gonzo journalism while covering the 1972 Superbowl.
If you can’t stand football, and you would rather watch something other than Minnesota’s royal Prince…then you should check out “Where the Buffalo Roam.” After all, you can always DVR the halftime show!
Where the Buffalo Roam - 1 min, 45 sec.
NHL Realignment
I am sick of having to stay up all night to watch Wild games in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. I also grew up hating the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, Red Wings and Blues of the Norris division. Try as I might, I hate the Canucks and Avalanche — and have always hated the Oilers, but I miss the Norris division days. Therefore, I am going to make an appeal to Gary Bateman to bring back some logic to the NHL divisions.
First off, keep the West and East thing if you must, heck, I have forgiven you for doing away with the Patrick, Norris, Smythe and Adams names, too. But here is my proposal for the divisions:
West
Central
Wild, Blues, Blackhawks, Red Wings and Maple Leafs
Southwest
Stars, Coyotes, Ducks, Kings and Predators (sorry Nashville)
Northwest
Oilers, Flames, Canucks, Avalanche, Sharks
East
Northeast
Senators, Canadiens, Sabers, Bruins, Rangers
Mideast
Blue Jackets, Penguins, Devils, Islanders, Flyers
Atlantic
Capitals, Hurricanes, Thrashers, Lightning, Panthers
With this, you still keep some regional logic and keep rivalries, while renewing some. The only team that is screwed are the Predators in Nashville. Not sure what to do about them, but they need to go somewhere. And I am not sure about the names “Mideast” and “Southwest.”
Mideast kind of sounds lame and Southwest doesn’t work with Nashville, does it? Something else that could solve my Nashville problem is if the Penguins move to Kansas City. But there is something else that could solve my problem, too…contraction