It's the Willmar Stingers. That's the name of the new Northwoods League Baseball team that will begin playing next June at Bill Taunton Stadium. I was asked to MC the festivities at their event last night at the Holiday Inn Conference Center before about 300 baseball fans and business people.
Team owners Ryan Voz, Marc Jerzak and Gary Posch all spoker along with league co-founder and president Dick Radatz Jr. who's father was a major league pitcher for the Boston Red Sox back in the 60's.
The field manager and players wil be announced as the off season continues. I had a great time last night despite not always being willing to do public speaking engagements. It has to be a crowd I think I can relate too, and a baseball crowd is just my thing.
How could he be any better?
11/23/2009
He of course is the Vikings 40 year old QB Brett Favre. After another superlative outing against an inferior opponent, Seattle, Favre has me gushing about him ever time I open the mic to do the sports.
More records are now his including first QB with 85% completions in two games in the same season. he also broke the tie with Dan Marino for number of games with at least 4 touchdown passes after hooking up with Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Visanthe Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian.
We had a station get together this weekend at Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center that was fun. It's nice to get together with my station friends in a relaxed setting, especially when the boss is serving up a spread!
Anyway while there the husband of one of our management team was asking me what I thought of Brett Favre now? He listens to my commentary I do with Paul Stagg at 5:35pm every weekday and remembered that I was less than enthusiastic upin the Vikings first signing Favre.
I often quoted the stat of his late season failures in recent years and his lack of results in the playoffs really since he led the Packers to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in the 90's.
I have changed my mind about that and am on the Favrewagon with both feet now. Obviously he was playing with inferior teams in those days and not the star-studded lineup he is today. He's never had a coach as wiley at play calling as Darrell Bevell and Brad Childress. He's never had a WR as dynamic as Rice or a TE as dependable in the redzone as Shiancoe. Okay I'm getting a little carried away but seriously he does appear as though he was indeed the missing piece of the puzzle for the Vikings.
Now as long as he doesn't fade down the strecth because after all...he is 40 years old.
Eight Things I would do with the Twins
(I wrote this column before the Gomez for Hardy trade)
1. Sign Joe Mauer to whatever deal he needs. Mark Teixeira signed a 8 year $180 million dollar contract this year with the Yankees. It will take at least that to sign Mauer after 2010. I think he'd sign with the Twins for less, let's say 8 years $160 million. He'll want the Twins assurances they'll spend the savings on upgrades to the team.
2. Sign an ace starting pitcher. There are only two that fit the bill this offseason so you might wait a year to do it. If Mauer wants to see action this year sign Jon Lackey from the Angels. He's had some elbow issues the last two years. It hasn't been anything serious he's come back after beginning the year late and pitched well. He was dominanat in their Game one win over the Red Sox in the ALDS. Price tag will probably be 4 years, $50-$60 million.
3. Trade Carlos Gomez. If he's going to develop as a player he needs to be in the lineup every day and that's not going to happen with the Twins. Then make Delmon Young rthe everyday leftfielder. He needs to play everyday to improve as well. (This happened just the other day.) I like the trade I'll explain later in this post.
4. Give Danny Valencia the ab's every day at third base. Also Luke Hughes is in the mix there. Can either of them play 2nd base? Don't make Nick Punto an everyday player. Whenever he's been asked to do that his bat goes right in the tank. He's a grwat utility man who can play any IF position with aplomb WHEN injuries happen, that's valuable. Also get him to stop diving into first base.
5. Resign Orlando Cabrera. I wouldn't normally be in favor of this. He's average at best defensively and only average with the bat but the organization is vacant of upcoming SS. He's playing in Tampa Bay. Apparently Trevor Pluoffe isn't going to be ready anytime soon to take over. His overmatched at the plate and makes too many mistakes in the field.
5a. Apparently the Twins felt the same way I did as they did not bring Cabrera back after they traded for JJ Hardy of the Milwaukee Brewers. I thought Bill Smith got an F for his offseason after 2007, a C- after 2008 and during the 2009 season. At this point I would give him an incomplete but off to a good start this offseason, this trade is an "A" for the Twins because Hardy has proven talent, he's a major upgrade at SS. The Twins have been sorely lacking there since they dealt Jason Bartlett to the Rays.
6. Get Francisco Liriano a sports psychologist. It appears to me that he still has winning stuff but not the toughness menatlly to handle the postion. Star Tribune columnist Pat Ruesse says he's out of shape and that's why he's good for four innings and then boom! He's in the locker room and sees these guys without their uniforms on so I'll go with that too. You would think that would be a given, apparently not with the Twins. How many guys have they had recently who needed a little less home cooking the last few years.
7. I'm torn on Joe Nathan. Nothing tears the guts out of a team more than losing games in the ninth inning. Nathan has been second only to Mariano in the American League since he became the Twins closer in '04. Even Jonathan Papelbon imploded for theRed Sox this year. However if they sign Mauer to a huge new deal AND sign a legitmate ace type starting pitcher they need to save money somewhere. So his $12 million annually is a ton for a guy who pitches 65-70 innings a year. Those are the most expensive innings in baseball and I've never been one to overvalue closers. So okay trade him.
8. Fix the minor league system. The Twins are now rated the 25th best minor league system in baseball by Baseball America in terms of available major league soon ready talent. A trade of Nathan could help that.
Nothing will happen with Mauer until after the winter meetings. The biggest thing to resign him is the for the Twins to show they intend to contend for a World Series title, not just a central division championship. He will wait until after the meetings to see just how serious they are. Everything they do during this offseason will be bent in that direction. Trading for Hardy and resigning Michael Cuddyer are two small steps in the right direction. mauer needs to be convinced he should take less money to stay with the Twins.
Give Favre an extra week off
11/3/2009
So Vikings Coach Brad Childress confirmed at his weekly press conference on Monday that QB Brett Favre played with a groin injury on Sunday in the win against the hated Packers. Does it surprise anyone that Favre is now playing through pain?
While Favre has been a true ironman throughout his career having never missed a game since he became a starter with the Packers way back when. He has played through injury at various times, sometimes he hasn't played all that well with those injuries.
In the last four games of the last four years of his career he has a passer rating bordering on being T-Jack comparable. He has thrown nearly twice as many interceptions as touchdowns during those games and his last playoff appearance with a 13-3 Packer team at the end of the 2007 season ended when Favre threw a big interception in overtime against the Giants as the Pack lost 23-20 in the NFC title game.
The history and stats are undeniable, Favre has worn down toward the end of seasons since getting north of 35 years old. He's not only been inneffective at the end of the season but destructive to his teams chances of winning the big games in December and January.
Now we know he's already banged up with a sore hip suffered against the Steelers, a very expensive game for him physically with 51 pass attempts, and now the groin strain that flared up in practice last week. Groin strains can linger if not given proper rest, just ask Marion Gaborik, and don't heal as quickly as athletes and their teams would prefer.
This is the perfect time for the Vikings bye week, but is a week of rest enough for a 40 year old warrior? I don't think so. The big games and still over a month away and many dropbacks and sacks from now. It's a long grind of a season, favre himself said he didn't know if his body would hold up for an entire NFL season.
I say give him the Lions game off to rest up and get ready for the rest of the year. That would give him three weeks between game appearances. The game after the bye is the Lions, if the Vikings can't beat them with aunt Mertel at quarterback they aren't going anywhere anyway in the post season.
This would also give Tarvaris Jackson a chance to get a game of playing time in just in case the indestructible Favre does break down to point of not being able to play at some point in the year. Some playing time for your backup isn't always a bad thing.
What about Favre's games played record? Who cares, he says he doesn't so why should the Vikings?
Do I think the Vikings will actually do this? No. It would be thinking outside the box and has Chilly ever given the impression that he's someone who does that very often, no he doesn't.
Hey I should know, when you get north of 40 a few weeks off can be just what the doctor ordered.
Nice win for Coach Konold and the Cards
10/28/09
The Willmar Cardinals football collected their first post season victory since the 2003 season with a thrilling 34-28 win at Hodapp Field over the Marshall Area Tigers.
I've had a great time calling the spread offense this year the Cards have gotten better at running it every week. The Tigers were only able to slow down the Cards for a short period of time in the middle of the game and then the Cards put things away with a time consuming, game ending drive that ran the last 5:50 off the clock.
It was fitting that the Cards ended the night with the ball inside the one yard line of the Tigers with no need to proceed further. They of course had been stymied inside the one at Rocori earlier this season in one of two frustrating overtime losses. many (including this writer) thought they had scored against the Spartans, but the ones that count didn't.
That's all forgetten now as the Cards prepare to travel to Hutchinson to take on the always tough and talented Tigers at 2pm on Saturday afternoon.
Head Caoch Jon Konold has also grown during his first year as a varsity head coach as he has added rinkles throughout the year to his vaunted spread. In the loss to the Spartans the Cards had the ball inside the one on third and fourth down but stuck with their spread formation snapping the ball in the shotgun formation five yards deep in the backfield and away from the goalline which was only inches away at the spot of the ball. That made getting the needed yardage more difficult.
Coach Konold recognized this and put in a short yardage package that included a power I formation and two tight ends this week against Marshall. Bingo! Two short TD runs by fullback Nathan Swoyer and a ball control final drive to put the game away.
Good thing the Vikings got some "Packer Luck"
10/19/09
The Vikings held on for a thrilling 33-31 win on Sunday when the Baltimore kicker missed a 44 yard field goal. That usually happens to the Vikings, not for them.
Good thing they have brought on a pair of Packers at important positions to help with their karma, or as long suffering Vikings fans say "Packer Luck."
For years when now Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was plying his trade in the frozen tundra to the east it seemed as though every break went their way. When now Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell was booting frozen footballs in cheese country he made those 40 plus yarders to beat the Vikings whenever called upon.
With each victory for the Vikings gain in incredible fashion more and more I feel like Charlie Daniels playing his fiddle with the devil down in Georgia. We may win now, but at what price to our eternal soul later!
Sidney Rice is looking like the Vikings best receiver, Adrian Peterson put together his best game since week one but what happened to the Vikings defense? They definately let their foot off the gas and allowed the Ravens back in the game in the fourth quarter. If they get a lead on the Giants or Saints in a big post season game in January, they better take care of business better than that.
Booing by fans late in the game when Chilly shut down the play calling and ran three times up the middle when the team got into FG range and settled for that with two minutes to play. Rightfully so I thought. Now...33 points shoule be enough to win and it's hard to blame the offense, but it was the always uber-conservative Childress and Bevell play calling that gave the Ravens the oppurtunity to only get to the 30 yard line or so with a chance to win instead of the endzone.
Obviously there was no guarantee that Favre would have chucked a TD, but you can't assume he wouldn't either. Why not give him the chance? Why shut it down the moment you're in FG range? That was the reason the crowd was booing Mr. Dierdorf, they just wanted their future hall of fame QB to have a chance.
It wasn't Pavano's fault
10/11/09
My last post I said I was confused why Carl Pavano would get the nod in game three of the ALDS and not Scott Baker, I still am. That's not to say I didn't think Pavano gave the Twins almost as good a chance to beat the Yankees as Baker did. Clearly Sunday night's loss to New York was not Pavano's fault, he pitched brilliantly.
The problem for the Twins has been the same it has been for years now. In the playoffs power wins. Power hitters, power pitchers. The Twins lack power pitchers certainly and without Justin Morneau, they lacked power hitters.
I think the Twins have power hitters with Morneau, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel. But those hitters and others in the Twins lineup feel like they have to do too much because they worry the pitchers will not be able to hold down the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels type lineups.
That has been proven true by their lack of post season success since they started making the playoffs on a semi-regular basis since 2001. TBS had a very interesting stat during the broadcast on Sunday night. They said the Twins have been outscored in the late innings (7th and after) in the playoffs since '01 by a count of 49-15!
Wow, for a team that believes they're never out of a game they have to concede, neither are their opponents.
This again points to the overuse of the bullpen by Ron Gardenhire and the lack of depth in the Twins lineup. Oh sure the bottom third had some quaint little hits against the big bad Yankees, but no real big hits.
They also have taken to following the hotdog antics of Gardy's favourite weak hitting utility man Nick Punto to closely. Carlos Gomez didn't trip when he rounded second base and was caught off in game two, he slid to stop his round of the base and couldn't get back.
Where did he get the misguided idea that he should slide to stop? None other than Mr. Head First into First Base Himself Punto. Any baseball analyst worth his soul will tell you one of the dumbest thing you can do is slide headfirst into first base. Not only is it dangerous, it's inneffective.
Even Rickey Henderson didn't habitually dive into first base. The reason you don't run though second or third base is because you can't overrun those bases. The only important reason to dive headfirst is to avoid a tag and there's no tag at first base plays. Unless it's a slow roller up the line and then it's to avoid a tag, then I say go for it but not on every close play like Punto does, it's just to draw attention to himself because he doesn't draw attention with his bat.
It was Punto who first did his hotdog slide to stop while rounding first base in game 163 against the Tigers. Gomez thought it looked cool so he did the same thing and it cost them. Then Punto blows through the clear stopsign from third base coach Scott Ulger in game three, HOT DOG, not hustle.
Okay I'm not here to rant against West Central Tribune Publisher Steve Ammermann's most disliked player, but somehow got off on a tangent.
Bottom line is the Twins need more power, especially pitching, that's expensive. Will they pony up? Don't bet on it.
I enjoyed the heck out of the Twin season, I always do. I'm what you call a fanatic, it should be spelled fanaddict when it comes to the Twins. I'm a guy who went to 35 games in 1982 and '83 in a dome wihtout airconditioning or wins.
I always keep my expectations low for the Twins, then I'm often pleasantly surprised (I picked them to finish third this year). I also always have high expectations for the Vikings, then I'm often bitterly dissapointed (I'm picking them to go to the Super Bowl this year). Time will tell.
Why Pavano and not Baker?
10/10/09
I guess I have to scratch my head a bit and wonder why Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has decided to go with Yankees castoff Carl Pavano as his starter in Game Three of the ALDS and not ace of the staff Scott Baker.
The Twins rewarded Baker with a brand new contract before the season that made him their ace of the rotation. Now they have a game that requires your ace be on the hill and you go with a guy that was pitching in Cleveland for the first half of the season?
I could understand if Pavano had clearly been outperforming Baker over the last few weeks of the season, or had been better in the big games the Twins have been playing of late, but he hasn't. The American IDLE, as he was nicknamed by New York papers when he managed just four wins in four years for the Yankees, has coughed up 19 earned runs in his last four starts.
Baker hasn't been a great deal better but didn't the Twins reup Baker's deal to give him the confidence to step up and be the man? Now you tell him you'd rather go with an aging vet. It makes no sense to me.
Baker would be on his routine with it being the fifth day since he last worked game 163. Baker finished the year with a whip (walks+hits/ip) of 1.19 which was 7th best in the American League for starting pitchers. He was 10th with 15 wins, he's your guy. Why Pavano on 7 days?
What does this say for the future of the Twins beyond just Sunday night's game three? How will Baker feel if he doesn't get to pitch at all in the postseason. Something that's fairly likely with the Yanks having a 2-0 lead.
This continues a pattern by Gardy over the years of his tenure showing that he panics in the playoffs and overmanages. I know this might be considered herecy to many Twins fans. But the numbers don't lie.
The Twins have won one fewer playoff series since 1991 than have the Timberwolves. They are a combined 5 and 11 in the playoffs during Gardy's years and haven't won a series since his first playoff appearance in 2002.
I know talent wins but how many times has he yanked starters early and gone to his late inning relievers an inning earlier in the game? He manages in the postseason completely differently than he does in the regular season. He puts pitchers in positions they haven't been in all year in the most pressurized games of the year and expects them to perform like they were in just another game. That doesn't work.
Who can forget the flameout of the bullpen against the Angels in the 2002 League Championship Series? That wasn't an accident. It was Gardy overworking the bullpen and it catching up with them at the wrong time.
I believe that Pavano probably gives the Twins almost as good a chance to beat the Yankees on Sunday as Baker, but Baker should get the start. Just saying.
Yeah Twins!...I guess
10/08/09
I will say it was a lot of fun watching the Twins make a historic run to the Central Division championship and game 163 win over the Detroit Tigers. My only problem is now we have to be reminded that we are second class citizens to the New York Yankees.
I'm not one who thinks there should be a salary cap in baseball and the playing field should be level. New York is a larger market they should be able to take advantage of that like any other business. I think the Yankees are good for baseball, every good story needs a villain.
Afterall how much fun would it be to beat the Yankees in the postseason when you get the chance. This is the third time the Twins have had that chance and after last night's 7-2 loss they now have one win and seven losses this century to the Bronx Bombers in the playoffs.
This years Twins team made history when they became just the second team since 1934 to rally from seven games or more behind in the division and win. The only probelm is that this year's Central Division may have been the worst division in the history of baseball.
Justin Morneau celebrates Twins division title with teammates
Only one team in the division had a winning record against either of the other two, Detroit went 22-14 vs. the West. The Twins went a combined 29-43 against the other two divisions. While going 46-27 against the central. Thank goodness they play in the central or we would have been talking about Brett Favre a whole lot more the last six weeks of the year.
Now I don't expect the Twins to spend money like the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Mets or Cubs. Five of the top payrolls in baseball. I do think they should be spending at least to their market size which would be the 15th largest payroll. They are 25th this year and the highest they've been in recent years was 18th in 2007.
For this season that would have meant an additional $15 million in payroll, think they could have been better? Now they may tell us they have been shorting us on their payroll because of the financial structure at The Dome. That excuse expires after this season. It's also not true. There have been many reports saying the Twins have been well in the black the last several years and they have been receiving an average of $5 additional per season since baseball instituted revenue sharing several years ago.
The Twins sold us all they needed a new stadium to "compete" in major league baseball. They didn't say "win" now did they. They believe they are competing right now, so will they really increase their payroll to at least market size? We'll see.
Also if you are going to beat the big boys with a smaller payroll you need to spend and trade really smart, is Billy Smith, Twins GM the guy to do that? He hasn't proven so far.
I'll still enjoy watching the Twins, like I have since I was old enough to know what a fielders choice is, I'll continue to spend my money on the Twins (I went in with a group for season tix next year) like I have since I was going to 20-30 games a year with my dad in the 70's and early 80's. But I'll also continue to be frustrated by management always thinking money first, winning second. What choice do I have, they're my team.
Cardinals, Vikings, Gophers, Twins
9/29/09
Bill Dean and I have been calling the Willmar Cardinals football games for the last 15 years now. I can't say enough how much I appreciate having Bill traveling to games and doing a great job on the color.
Through the years and states that I've called games it sometimes can be difficult to find someone who can understand what it means to be the color man for game broadcasts, Bill having done play by play for many years is very adroit at getting in and out when he needs to, thanks again Bill.
We are having a great time calling this year's team, we do every year, but watching the spread offense of new head coach Jon Konold has been entertaining.
What a great job Mark Dunham has been doing this year. Six touchdowns and just one interception, no fumbles lost and an excellent completion percentage. Mark had a tough time as a junior QB last fall but has really matured and gotten a great deal more confident with his game this year, much to the benefit of his team.
What can you say about the Brett Favre show this season for the Vikings?! He has been everything the Vikings could possibly hope for in the first three games. Setting a team record for completion percentage against the Lions and most importantly taking the team 80 yards in a minute and a half for the game winning touchdown against the 49ers.
I always thought Favre would start fast, I do have reservations about how long he can stand up to the pounding of a very long NFL season. The offensive line needs to get better, or the blocking schemes do. One thing the Vikings could do to preserve their aging (old) QB is to run more maximum protection blocking schemes.
That means keeping the tight end and running back in to block instead of flooding the pass routes and depending on three receivers to get open fast enough for Favre to gtet them the ball. Even going with 2 TE's and having just 2 receivers out in the pattern. To do that you need two premiere receivers and I'm not sure the Vikings have one.
I have to admit I have never watched as much Gopher football as I have this year. It's never been appointment TV for me in the past mainly because the Gophers have at best been mediocre my whole life and often have been terrible (2007).
This year the new stadium is beautiful on television and the Goph's are decent. They aren't any better than the teams Glen Mason was putting on the field during his tenure, buit there's some potential.
The offense has struggled with the exception of Cold Spring and ROCORI nativeEric Decker. He is a first round NFL draft pick in next year's draft if he chooses football over baseball, which I think he will.
I remember calling his games against the Cardinals and marveling at his athleticism. One playoff basketball game at St. Cloud State he grabbed a rebound on the offensive end and just leaped straight up without a setup step and slammed dunked the ball with two hands. Wow I thought, this kid's going places.
The Twins need to take 3 out of 4 games with the Tigers this week and the rainout on Monday doesn't help their cause. It's very difficult to sweep a doubleheader, especially on the road. So that would mean one loss the first day of the series, can't afford any more after that.
Brian Duensing has saved the Twins season and is the biggest reason they are still in contention the last week of the season. He's been a revelation in the rotation, the Twins would be five games back instead of two right now if it weren't for him.
Why was he in the bullpen when he first came up? He's been a starter his whole life and struggled in the pen. It's a completely different mindset relieving compared to starting and I think the Twins sometimes do a disservice to their youing pitching prospects asking them to not only make their major league debuts, pressure enough, but do it in an unfamliar role.
Well I wrote the Twins off weeks ago and I hope I've been wrong, even though they would be huge underdogs to the Yankees in the playoffs it would be fun to get the chance.
Favreulous!
9/21/09
I have to admit I wasn't sure just how much of a difference Brett Favre would make with the Vikings. Afterall the Vikings won ten games and made the playoffs last season with a combo of Gus "The passing mule" Frerrotte and T-Jack as the QB's and Favre is 100 years old in quarterback years.
I may have been wrong. I know, I know "is he really admitting he may have been mistaken?" Yes I am. There is no way the Vikings would have only one turnover through two weeks with either Jackson or Sagenfels as their leader this season.
Watching Favre carve up the Lions isn't like him doing that to the Patriots, Colts, Giants or one of the elite teams of the league, but it's only week two. I also like seeing him head for the sideline with a lead and time remaining, an old guy needs his reast if he's going to last for a whole season. One which isn't just 16 games, but 19 games long including a trip to Miami for the the Super Bowl. (Keep those fingers crossed)
I also love seeing the Vikings not overwork Adian Peterson this early in the season against an inferior opponent. If you can beat the Lions with AD (All Day)only carrying the ball 15 times, great. Don't overwork him ealry so he's fresh later in the year and the playoffs.
Chad Greenway should be the defensive player of the week this year. Earlier I posted I thought the Vikings already had a very talented team with several Pro Bowlers and a few who could be as early as this season. Greenway is one of those budding stars of the league, he was all over the place against the Lions with two picks and a fumble recovery.
Brad Childress just can't seem to help himself. He's a control freak who wants to play a very conservative game and he did again yesterday. It's working but at some point they are going to need Favre to win the game, not just manage it. I think he's up to it, but will Chilly allow him? We'll see.
For now I'm dreaming of Miami with our 40 year old QB and bearded head coach, evenj the Fire Chilly people have cooled off their retoric some, ahh winning, the magic elixir. I wonder what it would do to the H1N1 flu?
Open Mic for 09/09-09/18
09/09/09
Wednesday: Mike Syverson from the Alexandia offcie of the Social Security Administration
Thursday: Celebrate Art, Celebrate Coffee
Friday: Bill and I will be at Atwater Threshing Days for a live broadcast
Monday: 09/14: Bunny Johnson talking about Alzheimers Support
Tuesday: Folks from the Barn Theatre talking about their next production
Wednesday: JP Cola hosts the guys from the Willmar Economic and Develpoment Commission
Thursday: The Willmar Kiwanis Club talking about their YMCA mentor program
Friday: Sports Talk day, we'll also introduce a football picks show the second half
Twins game and some great schwag
9/3/09
I had a chance to attend the Twins game on Saturday night against the Texas Rangers with my Dad who was invited by the University of North Dakota. He's an alumni from there and he was invited to sit a suite along with a guest, and that was me.
We had a great time, the suite was directly down the leftfield line so we had a straight look in to the field. Nice since I went to Dr. Fischer for laser eye surgey or it would have been a little far away, but still enjoyable.
I also wound up with quite a schwag haul as they had some very nice gift bags for us in the suite. Besides the usual programs and UND mini-banners there were two boxes that contained bobbleheads! Wow not one but two nice bobbleheads, Gary Gaetti and Brad Radke. I am a huge fan of both, but not quite as big as the guys of the Gary Gaetti Cult.
Not only that but they had a drawing during the game for two door prizes, an autographed Justin Morneau bat and an Morneau autographed ball, I won the the ball! Sweet!
So thanks to the fine folks at UND for the great evening and all the great gifts, but unfortunately I will not be seeing you at homecoming as many said at the end of the evening, I'll be busy calling the Cardinals games!
Open Mic for 8/31-9/4
Monday, Aug. 31st
Monday: Open Date
Tuesday: Leroy Dahlke and Conservation Conversation/ DNR Today
Wednesday: Open Date
Thursday: Harvest Community Church Clothing Exchange with Cindy Albin
Friday: Open Date
New Cardinals season upon us
8/29/09
I had a chance to check out the 2009 edition of the Willmar Cardinals football team on Wednesday nighyt as they held a Red v. White scrimmage. It was kind of funny I was on the golf course at Eagle Creek that afternoon getting in a pleasant weather 18 with Bee when my cellphone rang.
While there are times when I leave the cell in the car when on the course I was expecting another call from Chad Abbott of KFAN and the Vikings radio netwrok so I happen to have it along and the ringer on Wednesday.
Anyway I pick it up and hear "Todd? Middleton here." It's Rand from the West Central Tribune. Had to wonder what was up right away, Rand and I have a good relationship and often chat when at games but I was still curious why he was calling.
"Are you going to the Cardinals scrimmage tonight?" I was planning on attending, looking forward to seeing the new Cardinals offense, no huddle, four wides "The Spread" offense pretty much.
"They need a public address announcer, can you do it?" "Absolutely, that's be fun," was my response. I love to get a chance once in awhile to do the public address, which is more laid back that doing play by play. Don't have to talk all the time, at least you shouldn't be!
I have heard more than one PA guy doing play by play over the speakers, people don't want that, just give 'em the ball carrier, pass thrower/catcher and who made the tackle, penalties. Throw in a little personality and you're ready to go. Please don't give the yards gained and down/distance every time. If you are doing that, be accurate.
Enjoyed the scrimmage, had fun on the mic and watched the players for the upcoming season. Just eight seniors this year, but a big junior class of 32 I think Coach Jon Konold told me. Actually that's ideal for a new head coach putting in a new system, he doesn't have to reteach it all over to most of his players next year. Many will have a season under their belt already.
Mark Dunham will be the starting QB this year and after getting some experience running the show ealry last season I think he's prepped for a big year. I love his delivery, has his arm set at the perfect angle to be an accurate passer, he doesn't have to overcome his mechanics.
With 6-6 WR Taylor Filipek back for his senior season to throw some red zone TD's too, the Cardinals will be fun to watch this year. First game of the season is next Friday at Hodapp Field in Willmar, 6:40pm pregame the kickoff is set for 7pm.
Bill Dean and I will be broadcasting our 15th season together of Cardinals football and you can hear all the broadcasts no matter where in the world you with our webcasting right here on kwlm.com.
Open Mic for 8/24-28
8/24/09
Monday: Open Date, taking your phone calls!
Tuesday: JP Cola hosts his guest is Willmar Schools superintendant Dr. Jerry Kjergaard
Wednesday: JP Cola hosts with Willmar Chief of Police Jim Kulset
Thursday: (TBA)
Friday: Open Date
The Weekend
8/24/09
The weekend starting on Friday was a nice relaxing one that started with battling a tough cold/allergies that kept me at home in front of the tube on Friday night. I planned on heading up north to Menahga right after work but was feeling so puny I decided to wait until Saturday morning.
Did watch as Brett Favre made his Vikings game debut on Friday night. It was probably underwhelming for those who bought tickets for the game following the big announcement of his return earlier in the week. Brilliant marketing by the Vikings to get him a few snaps to keep the faithful happy.
Have to admit it was pretty exciting watching him under center even if for just a couple series that went nowhere. Really weird seeing him in Vikings purple!
As long as he can hand the ball to Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor 40 times a game he'll be fine. The Vikings may have more Pro Bowlers on this team than any in the NFL. Many have already made Pro Bowl appearances and a couple are on the verge of their first of what could be several.
Saturday headed north to see Mom for her birthday, stopped by a flower shop along the way, already had the card. Gotta visit your Mom on her birthday if possible. Happy Birthday again Mom, and thanks for all the homecooked meals this summer!
Met Bee in Sauk Centre Sunday afternoon on the way home and played Greystone Golf Club. I hadn't played there this year yet and enjoy the layout. With a pretty stiff breeze the conditions were tough and the greens tricky, have I made enough excuses for the round I shot, yecch! If I hadn't finished with four pars it would have been really bad. Oh well it's just golf right &%^$#@(*&!
With Favre Vikings become "marquee" team in NFL
8/19/2009
It all happened so quickly yesterday once the news broke that Ziggy Wilf's private Vikings jet was making it's way to Hattiesburg, MS to pick up Brett Favre and his wife Deanna to bring them to Winter Park and sign a "two year" contract to quarterback the Vikings.
Of course there was the precursor the day before from Jay Glazer at foxsports that at the time was mearly speculation. Glazer said just from his chats with those involved he always believed Favre would play this year for the Vikings, and he wrote that in his column on Monday morning, Tuesday morning it happened. Talk about boosting your cred!
By signing Brett Favre the Vikings become one of the favorites to win the NFC at least, but certainly become one of the most attractive teams in the NFL for the tv networks, a marquee team. With the NFL's "flex" tv scheduling these days you can bet the Vikes will be playing a few extra Sunday Night games.
I don't think Favre came back exclusively for revenge on the Packers but he can't say that had nothing to do with it, of course he'll be more pumped up to play the Packers. However I think the main reason he came back is because he still feels the need for speed, the need to play the game he loves and another chance to put his name with the great Super Bowl winners of all time.
When Favre said during his press conference that it's his legacy and he can do what he wants with it I couldn't agree more. I've never understood why people care about someone else's legacy. Besides he is thinking about it, he wants another ring and the Vikings give him the best chance of getting it.
While I'm excited that Favre has come to town I offer this caveat. He hasn't had any real post season success in many years. He holds the all-yime record for many things, including interceptions. In the last four years 2005-2008 he has thrown 13 TD's and 34 INT's in the last four regular season games of each of those seasons. What if those 16 games were last year? Would we still be excited to have him coming to the Vikings?
All I'm saying is be prepared to take the bad with the good from Brett Favre, Vikings QB.
Open Mic for Aug. 17-21
8/17/09
Monday: JP Cola hosts with Willmar City Administrator Mick Schmidt as his guest.
Tuesday: Trisha Appledorn with the Kandiyohi County Veterans service office.
Wednesday: News Director JP Cola hosts with Kandiyohi County Commissioner Harlan Madsen as his guest.
Thursday: JP Cola hosts with Kandiyohi County EDC Director Steve Renquist and City of Willmar Planning Director Bruce Peterson as guests.
Friday: Open date
Up close to Tiger and Paddy's blow up
8/17/09
I had a chance to go to the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Chaska on Sunday for the final round of the tournament that had a very surprising finish and champion.
When you say that a player had a chip-in on 14 for an eagle and hit a 205 yard hybrid from the first cut of rough over a tree to within 10 feet of the pin and then made the birdie putt on 18 to close out a major championship victory you'd say "Wow, Tiger Woods did it again!" Of course you'd be wrong, it was South Korean Y.E. Yang who hit those shots and vanquished the previously invincible Tiger.
Me, my Mom, stepdad and friend Bee headed down to the tournament on Sunday with a plan in mind, "We have to see Tiger up close for at least one shot." That's a lot easier said than done with thousands of people wanting to do the same thing. If you've never been to a major golf tournament I can tell you one thing, the worst place to watch the tournament is on the course.
Deep galaries and miles to walk are in store for you if you try to "follow" one of the major stars of the game especially Tiger or even Phil Mickelson. You might put huge effort in to try and stay with them and never really get that close. You'll be bobbing and weaving with your head like a prize fighter to see around all the people in front of you who got there in the predawn hours to get a spot at the ropes. It's tough to get the perfect seat or even one in the bleachers on any of the holes that have them, they don't all have them.
So why go if you can't really see the whole tournament, the experience. I had a blast and so did my family and friends as we arrived at the course around 10:30am and made about a half mile walk from where our parking shuttle dropped us off to the front gate.
Once inside the gate it's anouther several hundred yards to Hole #1 green, the first one we saw anyway. We grabbed our course maps and teetime sheets and immediately decided we had to see Phil hit a couple shots before we scouted our waiting-for-Tiger campsite.
We caught up to Phil at the 14th green and watched him hit his approach into a greenside bunker, then chip out and putt. The bunkers are deep at Hazeltine! All we could see from our vantage point behind him was his head and shoulders, yikes.
We scurried over to the tee at 15 from there and got a better look at him as he walloped a drive that he hooked a bit to the rough and trees on the right and had to hit out from there.
My Mom and Bee were certainly taking note of the outfits worn by the players and I have to say it was fun to see what they were wearing up close. The best pants award went to Brendan Jones, the young Aussie had on some very shiny "parachute" fabric silver pants that more than one lady in the gallery enjoyed!
From there we started to scout our campsite and decided that right next to the 8th green tee would be a wonderful spot to setup and enjoy the rest of the day. That was one of the few remaining front row seats and we got 'em. The par 3 8th was a playing about 171 yards with an elevated tee to a bunker and water protected green that had shifting winds all day and gave several players fits.
The first group we saw from about 15 feet away with an unobstructed view was the 10:54am teetime of Ian Poulter and John Merreck. Poulter was wearing a muted salmon colored outfit that I didn't care for at all, neither did Jack who doesn't care for any of Poulter's outfits actually.
After that we watched as first Ben Curtis then a few others including David Toms made a double bogey 5 after hitting in the water on the right. But none of them had the horrible time at 8 that then in contention Padraig Harrington had, ouch.
After hitting a fat 7 iron off the bank on the right and toward the water Paddy left his caddie at the drop area and walked all the way up to where his ball ball had gone into the hazard to see if he could remove his right shoe and hike up his pant leg to wade in and have a whack. Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark had done that very thing just two groups earlier and came out with a par.
He decided he couldn't and trudged back to the drop area where his caddy patiently waited, you need patience with Harrington, he's very uh...methodical. Since he was taking his time playing partner Henrik Stenson made his way to his teeshot which was wayward to the left on the grassy hillside next to the bunkers. Little did he know he would have to duck the third shot of the World's #3 ranked player as it sailed right at him!
So lying three on the left in the roguh with a terrible lie Paddy hit his fourth shot...over the green and into the water hazard again. A drop for his fifth a chunked wedge for his sixth then a nice up and down for a snowman on a par three. From one behind the leaders to out of contention and we were there to see it in person, now that was fun, in a sorry about that kind of way.
Despite all the time Paddy took on 8 with his 8 we still anxiously awaited what we had been there for 3 and half hours for, the arrival of perhaps the most recognizable person on earth. The king's arival is announced by the armada of photographers, writers and tv cameras that get there just ahead of him, some setting up right in front of us!
With a little movement we had a clear view though as Tiger had honors and pulled his teeshot left into the rough next to the bunkers. I closely watched to do some lipreading and yes did see Tiger drop an F-Bomb under his breath, it wasn't out loud, very muted, can't say I haven't done the same with a lot less riding on my pulled shot.
Yang then hit the best shot we saw all day to just below the whole, but missed his short birdie putt for par. Tiger chipped all the way across the green to the fringe on the right and missed his comeback putt for a bogey, leaving them tied leaving the 8th. Tiger would never lead the tournament again, so you could say we saw the turning point hole.
Once they went through we looked at the throng moving to the back nine and decided that six and half hours of golf was enough. Besides we wanted to really see what would happen down the stretch so we headed for nice restaurant for our postgame meal and watched the rest on tv with our own gallery that were doing the same thing.
The best way to watch a golf tournament if you want to see every shot, on tv. The best way to get a real feel for the players on tv, get up close and personal on a hole because it's really a different thing and worth the experience.
Ready for the PGA and my game
8/14/09
I'm really getting excited about heading down to the PGA Championship on Sunday, I just hope Tiger hasn't taken all the drama out of the event by the time we get there! It wouldn't be the first time the best player in the history of the planet made Sunday irrelevant because he was so far in the lead.
Tiger attempts a first-round eagle putt on the seventh green.
I'm really hoping that Phil Mickelson can get his game together in time to make a run at getting into the final group with Tiger, but after a first round +2 74 that probably won't happen.
My strategy for seeing Tiger is setting up on a hole about an hour and a half ahead of his teetime and waitjng for him to come through, that's what I did in 2002 and it worked, sort of.
I set up about 320 yards from the tee on a par four hoping he'd hit to my side of the course, then he hit an iron off the tee and was well beck and on the opposite side, couldn't see him too well and he made a bogey, so at least I got to see him slam his club!
Played on Wednesday with Jack at Eagle Creek and finally put together a round like I used to shoot with some regularity, a 77. Now that was fun. I seem to play well when it's just my stepdad and I playing, we both play fast and have fun.
Only made one birdie, but lots of pars, almost chipped in for an eagle on the drivable par 4 17th and settled for a tap in par.
Par 4
Blue 300
White 284
Red 270
Played again on Thursday with a group of five that was the fastest playing five I think I've ever golfed with, we actually had six for the back nine and still played in just over three hours, wow! Clark Vollan from Lake Region Bank was the low man, we didn't really keep a scorecard but he had to be around par or just below for the round, four birdies that I counted. I didn't play as well, shooting a mundane 83 for the day. Had to go out and play again after the 77.
I love the hot and humid weather for golf, gets the 45 year old body to snap a littl;e quicker and hit the ball a little further!
Rambis and the PGA Championship
8/11/09
Finally Timberwolves hoops "man in charge" David Kahn has hired a head coach, no real hurry was there? Afterall they were the only team without a head coach for the last six weeks, everything in it's own time right.
While I and other Wolves fans were getting a bit impatient with the Rath of Kahn and his Billy Smith-like slow workings in the end he got the right guy I think. Of course we won't know if Kurt Rambis was a great hire for at least three to four years if you listen to Kahn. He has maintained since drafting Ricky Rubio that the Wolves can afford to be patient like no other team in the league because they know they are in the midst of a three year rebuilding project.
Really? Like 20 years hasn't been long enough to wait for a competitive team, except for one year with Garnett when the Wolves went to the Western Finals. It's not enough to just make the playoffs and then lose in the first round, I don't consider that competitive.
In case you forgot who Kurt Rambis was as a player, or maybe never knew he played, not an all-star, here's video of him getting taken down by Kevin McHale in the '84 NBA Finals.
Looks like Rambis gets the last laugh all these years later taking over for McHale with the Wolves. I think having a guy with some name recognition might help keep Wolves interested until the Pups are ready to challenge, although I have no idea when that might be.
PGA Championship: I'll have a chance to go to the PGA Championship this weekend on Sunday when the whole shabang is decided, really looking forward to doing that. Was able to get tickets from my boss so that's appreciated big time. I went in 2002 both Saturday and Sunday and watched Rich Beem win while holding off a late Sunday charge by Tiger Woods.
While watching this weekends tournament at Bridgestone a World Golf Championship event, which of course Tiger won I was shocked to hear from the announcers that Woods and Padraig Harrington had been "put on the clock" for slow play. They were 17 minutes behind pace and were warned they be docked a shot if they didn't speed up play.
What impresses Tiger Woods is how Padraig Harrington stops at nothing to get everything out of his game.
The defense of "it's the rules" by the tour is shallow and arbitrary, they should take into account the situation and let the players battle it out, not change the pace of play. Terrible. Watch for me on tv at the PGA this weekend, ciao!
Open Mic schedule for August 11-14
8/11/09
Tuesday: Local attorneys Dain Olson and Jim Johnson
Wednesday: The New London "Peer None Players" chatting about their upcoming production of "The Housekeeper."
Thursday: The Barn Theatre talking about their upcoming production "20th Century" JP Cola will be hosting.
Friday: MNN's Al Schoch live from the PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Chaska.
Stretch Drive Starts Now, the Weekend and the Fair
8/4/2009
Color me shocked! The Twins didn't make any significant deals at the trade deadline, nooo... Oh sure they picked up a 34 year old, no range, stiff handed, light hitting shortstop, and cash of course. That to me isn't a significant deal. It seems to be to the Twins, but I don't think the fan base is buying it or maybe they are judging by this year's attendance.
The Twins are averaging over 30,000 fans per game this year as the Dome sings it's swan song for baseball. I believe much of that is so people can get preferred seating for the new Target Field, not so much that they are thrilled with what's been happening on the field.
The Twins need to start getting it in gear if they are going to win the very mediocre Central Division, but that was made more difficult at the trade dealine. Not only did they fail to anything but pickup Orlando Cabrera but the two team they are in contention with both improved themselves where they, and the Twins, needed it most, starting pitching.
The Tigers added a veteran lefthander in Jarrod Washburn and the White Sox finally convinced Jake Peavy he'd be better off with then rather than San Diego. Both of those teams are better, the Twins are not. It's dissapointing once again this year that the front office seems content to just contend rather than make a legitimate run at trying to make the World Series.
Weekend at Mom's: Traveled to the lovely hamlet of Menahga this past weekend to see family. Mom and Jack are doing great and Grandma Deplazes was there as well, she's doing amazing for being 87 years young! Got a chance to see my Uncle Richard Deplazes and aunt Jeannie and their kids Darren and Neil and their families as well. Way too long since I last saw them, note to self, visit Rich and Jeannie more often!
Played golf at Blueberry while there and hit the best irons I have all year, several purely struck shots into the green, more birdie chances than I've had all year in any single round. Of course I putted poorly and only converted two of those chances into actual birdies, five of them became bogies as I managed five three putts! The most I've had all summer.
Posted a respectable 81 from the blue tees in Menahga. My stepdad Jack and I played in slightly less than three hours, good thing it rained hard moments after we left the course.
One sure thing for me while golfing, there will always be at least one aspect of my game that is AWOL, Friday it was putting. Yesterday (Monday) it was everything! I played Rich-Spring golf club with a couple of my coaching buddies "B" and "Wils". Couldn't do anything with any club in my hand and staggered to an 88 on a much easier course. I used to believe that I always played better in the heat, not sure that's still true. It wasn't that hot on Monday but I was worn out after the round, 45 feels older than it really is.
Kandiyohi County Fair: Check out Bill and I and several of our cohorts at the fair on Thursday afternoon at 5pm at the dairy barn as we try our hand at milking a cow. I made sure to get a couple tips from my Uncle Richard, he has lots of experience. My late Grandpa Bernard Deplazes had Brown Swiss for many years and my uncle got lots of milking experience.
My mom was the president of the North Dakota state 4H back in the day, so there is farm background in my family. Me? Kind of a city kid growing up in the Twin Cities, but I'll give it my best! See you att eh fair!
Open Mic schedule for Aug. 3rd- 7th
08/3/2009
Monday: News Director JP Cola hosts as Willmar City Admistrator Mick Schmit comes in for his twice monthly visit.
Tuesday: I host the guys from the Minnesota DNR. Leroy Dahlke is my guest the first Tuesday of every month and he usually brings along some his colleagues.
Wednesday: Open Date...for now, may be a guest scheduled this week.
Thursday: It's KWLM and senior day at the Kandiyohi County Fair. We'll be doing the whole midday show live from the fair on Thursday.
Friday: Open Date, I'm working on having someone from the PGA Tournament with us for a short segment.
at 5:30pm Dinner Alfresco at 414 served by Culinary Seasons *with music by Margie Brunn* (exclusive pianist for the Utah Jazz)
7:30pm a live concert at the WEAC by Rocket Club a twist on American music
It's all scheduled for Thursday, Aug 13th
Tuesday: We'll chat with Willmar School District Superintendant Dr. Jerry Kjergaard about district business.
Wednesday: Willmar Chief of Police Jim Kulset stops by the studio.
Thursday: We'll talk with Cheryl Johnson and friends about the upcoming Kandiyohi County Fair. The fair is next week already!
Friday: An Open date I'd love to have some phone calls!
If you have an idea for an Open Mic show call the station at 235-1340 and ask for Todd, or e-mail me at toddb@kwlm.com .
Golf and Wolves
7/21/2009
I had a great time playing the Litchfield Invitational golf tournament over the weekend and even played like I'm capable on Sunday. Saturday was another story however as I shot a miserable 89 on a par 70 course, yecchh.
It wasn't the fault of my playing partner Keith Johnson who escorted me around the course for both my practice round on Friday and then our qualifying round on Saturday.
What a fun guy he was to golf with for two days, lots of humorous stories and good natured encouragement while I was hacking my way around the 18 hole course on Saturday.
Keith was the marching band director at Litchfield High School for 35 years and is now retired to the golf course. He's the next door neighbor of our salesman Mike Miller who's cart we toured around the course. We played with one of Keith's sons and a couple of his buddies on Saturday.
I like the Litchfield tournament because it's three days of golf, a dinner and lots of prizes for players including not one but two cuts. That means when you play like a donkey on Saturday you can still compete for some nice prizes on Sunday if you play better, which I did.
I started play on Sunday in the Vice Presidents flight, still seven shots off the lead in the bottom fligh of those who chose to play championship flight. There were 15 golfers in the Vice flight and I started Sunday in 12th place there, eek!
A better 83 on the first 18 Sunday and then a nice 36 on the final nine including a birdie on the second toughest hole on the course #14 a 430 yard par four and I leapfrogged nine players to take third in the vice presidents flight and $100 gift certificate.
I golfed on Sunday with a young fella named Nathan Nelson who's parents used to run the Invite back when I was playing in the late 90's. They should be very proud of him, a real gentlemen. His brother was a nice kid too, he was Nathan's caddy all day.
The thing they do in Litch that I really like is they buy a gift certificate for you wherever you want with your winnings and then send you a certificate from there so you don't have to pick through the pro shop for another three golf shirts or balls or what have you. Great idea that other tournaments should adopt.
I wish I could tell you who won the tournament but I haven't been able to track down the results. One of the guys I played with on Saturday was in the final group on Sunday after he shot a 71 with us on a tough scoring day. Todd Lagergren could hit the ball a mile and was a fast player who was really fun to watch play, but I don't know how it went for him.
Dkv Joventut's Ricky Rubio (R) vies for the ball with Lottomatica Roma Brandon Jennings (L) during their EuroLeague basketball Group C match at the Olympic Stadium in Badalona on December 11, 2008. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)
If they get Rubio signed you might see a starting lineup at this point of Rubio, Flynn, Richardson, Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Young but exciting.
Back to work and some politics
7/16/2009
I've been back to work for the week and I don't mind saying I could get used to being on vacation. Sleeping in was growing on me but I know I'd spend way too much money.
I've never really had the chance to be what I always felt I could have been really well, either a trust fund baby or a kept man! I guess I could still make the second thing happen on my own but I was told last night at the cardroom "you aren't going to find your sugar momma sitting here playing poker against nine other men." Good point.
So this is my plea, if you know a wealthy widower or divorcee who likes to laugh and doesn't mind someone withoutBrad Pitt's face or Matthew McConaughey abs send me an e-mail at the above address!
Seriously though I was awake most of the night on Sunday night/Monday morning worrying if I'd be able to wake up again at 5:30am. I hadn't risen before 9am for two weeks and usually it was later than that.
Lots of golf played lately, I'd love to play golf every day if I could, when I was a member at a course I'd play five days a week and had my handicap at a nifty 6.7 at it's lowest, I'm nowhere near that now. I haven't broken 80 all summer so I hope I can pull that off this weekend.
I'll be playing the Litchfield Invitational, the first play your won ball tournament I will have played in about three years. My friend and coworker Mike Miller is a member there and always lets me use his golf cart when I play that tournament, thanks Mike!
Got an e-mail from a friend and he alerted me to a youtube video that was posted about four months ago and has received over six million hits during that time. Here it is:
While I don't agree with everything that has been said by the above author Bob Basso I do believe in what much of what he has said. I'm not in favor of getting rid of the electoral college for one. If we did that and just went to a popular vote the coasts would elect every president and we'd probably never have another Republican as our president.
What he says about forcing our elected officials to become one of us again is dead on! Apparently because of the popularity of this video President Obama summoned Mr. Basso to meet with him at the White House because he was extremely upset that someone would dare take he and his policies to task, and gasp.... others would agree! He also tried to make sure that Basso's visit was not made public and told his staff to make sure it was not talked about or that the media be made aware of his visit.
I remember when Obama said there would be "transparency" in the office and that all people who visited the White House would be made known to the public, just one of many already broken campaign promises by the administration and Obama, what a shocker! Politicians will say whatever it takes to get elected and then do whatever they want once in office.
What's laughable is that Obamanation actually believed that there would be change, it's business as usual. He's proving to be not just another politician, but by far the most liberal president ever elected. To my friends on the left, careful what you wish for.
Still on Vacation
07/04/2009
Just thought I'd write a quick post about being on vacation, right now at Mom's in Menahga. Enjoying the time off but thinking about returning to do the Open Mic Show on Monday the 13th. I'll be taking a smaller role on the Q102 Morning Show so I can concentrate more on Open Mic and here on my blogumn. Beautiful cool weather and enjoying seeing the family.
Started vacation last weekend meeting my uncle Richard Bergeth in Grand Forks on Saturday for a movie and some dinner. "We" went to see the new Transformers movie. I say we because my just turned 81 year old uncle decided after about 15 minutes that wasn't the movie for him, lol. I thought he was just headed for the restroom for a minute and he never came back! Too "unbelievable" for him he said.
I enjoyed all the hi-tech CGI and found the explosions very real. Of course a variety of attractive young actresses including of course Megan Fox. Don't know if she's here for the long term yet, but we can enjoy watching her for awhile anyway.
I have to admit I haven't been a big Shia LaBeouf fan untiul I saw him recently on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. He was easy going, light hearted and genuine so I'll cut him some slack.
Headed for Devils Lake, NoDak after that and arrived late Saturday night. Called and talked to my grandma Deplazes that night. She did mention that she was going to the 10:30am mass at St. Joseph's in the morning and planned to leave a little after 10, hint hint. So I was a good grandson and took my grandma to church in the morning.
The interesting thing was the sermon. The priest was holding his final mass' that day and kind of let the congregation have it. Haven't seen that too much before, he kept me from thinking about my golf game during the service that's for sure!
Played the Devils Lake Town and Country Club golf course a couple times while there. They have had many water issues with the club and it wasn't in the best shape. Mainly in the rough and I did enjoy the layout. I was a memeber there back in 1986 when I was working at KDLR, then the heritage station in the market.
Then went with my dad and uncle to Grand Forks again as I was on my way across northern Minnesota to play golf and stay at Fortune Bay and play The Wilderness. Now that was a lot of fun, what a beautiful and well maintained golf course. I intended to play Giants Ridge as well but decided to pocket veto that round.
In Grand Forks we went to see Public Enemies, a fun shoot 'em up that seemed to be historically accurate, art least from what I know about it watching the History Channel. It's the story of John Dillinger and Johny Depp was excellent as Dillinger. I always enjoy movies that are at least based on true stories.
Probably going to play in a small poker tournament tomorrow and play golf the rest of the week, aahhh....vacation! Don't forget about me while I'm gone, back on the 13th with an all new and improved Open Mic!
Scratching my head about Wolves draft
6/26/09
I hope the most important offseason in Wolves history doesn't wind up the same as the the most important offseason in twins history in 2007-08, that was an abject failure.
While the comparing losing/trading Randy Foye and Mike Miller to losing/trading Torii Hunter and Johan Santana is not equitable the need to do something to stop the talent loss is similar. The Twins failed miserably, how the Wolves have done has yet to be seen but at first blanche it looks like the Wolves have outsmarted themselves again.
ESPN.com draft insider Chad Ford said it was "..almost McHale-esque." that's not a compliment. He gave the Wolves a C+ draft grade and predicted that #5 pick spanish teenager Ricky Rubio will not play for the Wolves and will opt to stay in Spain. Then he doesn't have to pony up $6 million in buyout money to go a cold weather city. Don't underestimate the difference in climate from Minnesota to Spain when an 18 year old is the one deciding what to do.
Kahn himself admits he doesn't know what the contract buyout situation is with Rubio and said "we can wait a year for him." Really? So you trade up to #5 to draft a guy that at best may not even suit up for your team for a year, if at all? Rubio's father was also noncommital about coming to Minnesota.
Rubio has been saying all along he wanted to come to the NBA this year, but the Wolves seem to have hedged their bets when they took Jonny Flynn of Syracuse with the sixth pick right after taking Rubio, this had more than one observer wondering what was going on. Including Rubio, his followers and those watching at the Wolves draft party.
I love Flynn, I liked him better than Rubio if only because he's more of a known commodity having played at Syracuse for a coach in Jim Boeheim who has developed many a quality NBA ready player. The Big East has been one of the two best conference's in college hoops for several years along with the ACC so we know he played tough competition. What doi we know about the comp Rubio played against?
I also liked the Wolves choice to select and then trade Ty Lawson to Denver with the 18th pick. It was a point guard deep draft and he was the best player available, take him and get a first rounder later.
Wayne Ellington of North Carolina was another nice pick at #28 he's the scoring 2 guard they needed and played for a great coach in Roy Williams. Althougbn it seems he wasn't the guy the Wolves wanted, they coveted James Johnson of Wake Forest who went to the Chicage Bulls at #16. That again begs the question when you have additional picks to trade and your guy is there just two picks ahead of you couldn't a deal have been made to move up and get him?
The second round picks in the NBA draft are long shots at best so I don't have any idea about the guy from the Netherlands they took late in the second round and I doubt the Wolves do either.
Am I ready to condemn the draft of David Kahn as a miss, no. Can I offer a ringing endorsement again no.
The Rubio pick was not the one I would have made due in large part to the signability issues. Then if you think you can sign him you take another point guard in Flynn and say they'll play together, I don't think so.
Again I'm scartching my head and somewhere I know that Big MAC is saying "see, it's not so easy is it."
Another birthday passes, vacation just a day away!
6/25/09
Usually I take my birthday off to play golf, this year I took Monday off and played golf instead and worked on my birthday for the first time in a few years. It was fun, I had been keeping it to myself until my Mom called into the studio to wish me a happy birthday. We got some mileage out of it then on the Q102 morning show.
We have added another voice to the show over there with Abby Michaels joining the "boys." She's been a blast to work with so far, she's been able to dish out "almost" as much guff as she has to take. Give her your support and encouragement if you can, she's going to need it working with us!
I take off for North Dakota Friday morning as I begin two weeks of vacation, I cannot wait. I don't think I've taken two consecutive weeks off before since I got into radio...unless I was unemployed at the time.
I'll be meeting my uncle Richard in Grand Forks and going to the car races up there, he's a big fan. The over to Devils Lake to visit relatives that reside there. My grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins.
Of course what vacation would be complete without playing some golf, I'll try and get my uncle Bernie out on the course while I'm up there.
Then I'm planning on traveling across the state to Biwabik and play Giants Ridge and depending on if my neighbor can swing a deal for me head up to Tower and Fortune Bay Casino to play their great course The Wilderness which I hear is fantastic as well. I'll write up some reviews after playing these courses and let you know what they are like.
Of course I'm very anxious to finish upo the vacation at my Mom's house in Menahga and see my sister Stacey and her husband Tim and their three great kids. I guess my eldest niece Paige will have her soon to be husband along on the trip this year, it'll be my first chance to meet him.
Not sure yet how much blogging I'll be able to do while I'm gone but don't forget about me I'll be back hosting a slightly different Open Mic show on July 13th.
Better on Saturday, Goodbye McHale
6/17/2009
After shooting perhaps the worst round of golf of my life on Friday at the Tapemark, things got a little better on Saturday. My team missed the cut in large part due to my struggles on Friday, but our pro Chris Borgen made the cut and wound up fifth, so that was some good news for our team. Chris is the pro at Hastings CC, a very nice track from what I understand and if Chris is any indication it's a friendly and professional staff and club too.
Chris was a real gentlemen and good sport during his rounds with us, despite having to put up with me hacking it up on Friday and dealing with some big personalities. I enjoyed playing with the other two amateurs in my group for the most part, but then I can be a head case at times I guess too.
My thought on playing in a proam is don't make yourself a nuisance to the pro. They will say the right things so they don't make you feel bad about asking them for help, but don't make them read every put and pull every club and read every yardage for you. They are playing for a $5000 first place prize, you are playing for some proshop merchandise, understand that.
McHale Out: So new Wolves President of Operations (GM) David Kahn finally pulled the trigger on axing Kevin McHale. McHale said Kahn didn't explain his reasons but they are obvious to anyone except McHale apparently.
With McHale having been the face of the franchise since before he becamse the Hoops Ops guy (he was a very popular color analyst) for this to be Kahn's team and take a new direction McHale had to go. It really shouldn't have taken this long for Kahn to decide that and I believe it didn't. I think Kahn knew when he got the job that Mac would not stick around, but out of courtesy to his boss Glen Taylor he gave McHale a few dinners and lunches just to hear him out.
With the draft approaching Kahn wants the focus to be on his new selections, not on whether McHale will be back to coach the new players, so he had to pull the trigger now, despite what Taylor would have liked.
The latest mock draft by Chad Ford on espn.com has the Wolves taking Tyreke Evans of Memphis with the 6th pick:
Analysis: The Wolves really need help at center and point guard, but in this mock draft, there aren't any centers left worth taking. They've been looking at Evans here, but Stephen Curry is an option even if Evans is still on the board.
Both players can play both guard positions, and combined with Randy Foye could give the Wolves a pretty formidable backcourt. Curry's maturity, dead-eye shooting and name recognition would make him a smart pick for the Wolves. But Evans' size and versatility give him a very slight edge.
Getting short timers disease a bit now as I get ready to take two full weeks off starting next weekend. That will be the first timje I've taken two straight weeks off in several years, no big plans really, just visiting family and playing some golf, it'll be a good battery recharge, I can't wait!
Hacking and Chopping
6/12/2009
If you check my score for Friday at the Tapemark Charity ProAm at Southview CC in West St. Paul, you might be asking this question. Did Todd play blindfolded and left-handed? NO, I didn't, it was however the worst round of golf I can remember playing ever!! UGH!!!
What a time to completely forget how to hit an iron shot or chip. My driver was decent, the putter was passable but anytime I had an iron in my hand, I had butterflies circling in my stomach like a terradactyl in a porta-pottie.
I knew my game was in total meltdown after making a triple bogey seven on my fifth hole which was number 14 on the course. Since we started on the back nine. That was after I hit the best drive I had all day and only had 125 yards in and was dead middle of the fairway.
The Pro that played in my group is Chris Borgen. He shot a fun to watch 65!!
Well, at least I should be able to do better tomorrow and no matter what I shoot, I am having a great time.
Thanks again to Shawn and the great folks at Bremer for giving me the opportunity to... publicity embarrass myself!!
Well I have to go since I am dictating this to my Mother while standing at the Chaska Ballpark getting to watch the MACCRAY Wolverine play for the state Class A Baseball Championship against Wabasha-Kellogg.
As dictated to Todd's Mom at his house!!
Charity Golf Tournaments
6/5/09
I had a lot of fun playing in a couple charity golf tournaments this past week. Starting with the United Way/Bremer Bank Classic on Monday at Eagle Creek Golf Club. It's become a tradition for me to play in this tournament with Cashwise manager Shane Theisen. Dan "Buckey" Colehauer was the third memeber of our trio. Most teams played the event with four players, some even had five, so that meant we took turns hitting an extra shot each time. Great fun, non-competitve event for us.
We enjoyed a build your own burger/chicken sandwich at The Oaks at Eagle Creek after the event where Stacey Roberts and Gina Lieser from United Way gave out plenty of door prizes. I won a nice pullover sweatshirt from Rambow Inc. We as a team finished back in the pack, I think we shot 65, seven under not even close to a winning score!
Then on Wednesday Lakeland Broadcasting is a proud sponsor of the RC Hospital and ClinicsHealth Services Foundation event at Olivia Golf Club. It's called the Lois Thompson Memorial and is run by an old family friend Sara Maher. She's the executive director of the health services foundation and is a big fan of the Tim and Todd Show on our sibling station Q102. Here's a picture from the event:
Olivia Golf Club Manager Ben Baumgartner, K-100's Chuck Blum and Me flashing the rabbit ears behind's Chuck's head.
I have played in this event with Chuck since it began ten years ago, how time flies when you're having fun! I have had my share of success in the event taking home some great prizes, twice winning the long drive and losing out this year by just a couple yards to former Willmar Cardinals star athlete Mike Negen.
I did manage to take home the closest second shot on hole #9 getting our team of myself, Chuck, K100 Morning host James Miller (a fellow rotobaseball fanatic), and retired BOLD school district teacher Tom Lingert to within about six feet.
We as a team wound up taking home second place and a nice cache' of prizes, as well as a great steak dinner. Thanks Sara for inviting me to play every year since 1999, it's always a pleasure.
Poker: Not much to talk about with last weeks poker tournament in Walker, played about four hours before busting. Just couldn't get any cards, on average you get about 35 hands an hour during live tournament play so I played roughly 140 hands. The odds you are going to have a pocket pair is about 16-1, so if you aren't lucky or unlucky just hitting the odds you shoud get about 8 pocket pairs in four hours of play. I got a big fat ZERO! I also only got one Ace-King and one Ace-Jack, so to say the least I was stone cold.
Now time to prepare for ther Tapemark next week. If you have any unterest in how I'm doing you can check out the live scoring on their website which I have linked here. Should be a blast even though I'm, not playing that well because of a lack of play, only four rounds all year so far, sigh....
Weekend at Menahga
5/30/2009
Made the trip to Menahga to visit my Mom and stepdad Jack this weekend. Always a nice relaxing time enjoying my mother's home cooking! For a bachelor son there's nothing like going home for some of Mom's cooking. Of course I took some grief from Jack because when Mom asked me what I wanted to have for supper after Jack and I played golf on Friday night I wanted some of the tuna noodle hotdish she's been maiking for me since I was a boy.
"You could have anything you wanted for supper," he said, "and you want tuna noodle hotdish? We would have made steaks, walleye, whatever you wanted and you want hotdish?!" What can I say, I love Mom's tuna noodle, well really anything she makes. Of course when you eat your own cooking or eat out as much as I do, she could fry up an old shoe and I'd gobble it down.
Got a chance to play Blueberry Pines yesterday and played okay, shot an 84 without making many putts. Still trying to get my game somewhat ready for the Tapemark in 2 weeks. Hit the driver well, kept everything in play if not always in the fairway. Iron play was sporadic as usual, but did stiff a 7 iron on number 14 for a birdie 2. Always nice to put a duece on the card. Missed about three putts of five feet or could easily have broken or at least shot an 80. For as little golf as I've played this year so far I'm not too unhappy about that.
Poker: Just a few hours now until I head over to Northern Lights Casino in Walker to play in a a Heartland Poker Tour event there. This will be the fourth time I've played in a Heartland tournament, so far no success, maybe today and tomorrow will be the day!
The structure for these tournaments is you get 10,000 chips for your qualifier and blinds start at 100/100 and they have antes starting on the fifth level, so it's pretty fast. You can't sit and wait for hands for too long or the blinds and antes will eat your stack faster than a son eats up his mom's hotdish! So I'll have to be aggressive and hopefully catch some hands today.
If I make the top 20% I make it to tomorrow's main event finals when you start with 15,000 chips with the same structure. The money can be big, I would guess first place for this weekend's tournament will be about $50-60,000, with payouts to the top 15% I think. Wish me luck, I'll need it!
NBA Playoffs: Well the Lakers did indeed dispose of the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals with a 119-92 thrashing of the Nuggets. I didn't have a rooting interest either way, so I just wanted to be right about predicting the Lakers would prevail.
After talking to my aunt Kathy though I wish the Nuggets could have won, she really is a rabid fan, who knew?! I did of course have to talk with her on the phone this morning and give her a little 'I told you so' so that was fun. Besides it's difficult for me to root to hard for Kobe, great player but questionable character. Oh who am I kidding? There's questionable characters all over the sporting world, bit what Kobe "allegedly" did was really despicable.
Fran Tarkenton recently used the word "despicable" to describe Brett Favre's antics over the last few years. I can't say I think that's the proper word but certainly it is self serving and egotistical. My thoughts on favre have changed slightly during this time of courting. I initially thought I don't want Favre because he's through being the Hall of Fame calibre QB he once was, he's now just run of the mill. Now I think at least the season would be more interesting.
I think if he did come back and play for the Vikings they would be the talk of the league good or bad. If Favre comes back the stands will be full of people wanting one of two things... Lead them to their first Super Bowl since 1978, or bust like the Hindenburg. Either way it would be fun to watch and certainly more intriguing than watching Sage Rosenfels, who?
Gotta go, time to play some poker!
Baker gives Twins fans hope
5/25/2009
Scott Baker finally showed up for the Twins on Sunday night, joining what is suddenly the hottest lineup in the American League. Baker pitched into the ninth having allowed just a run but tired a bit in the the last inning and had to have Joe Nathan finish up a nationally televised 6-3 win and a sweep of the three game series with the Brewers.
With ESPN televising the game it was fun to hear what the national broadcasters perspective is of the Twins. I like Dick and Bert but Orel Hershiser can articulate the finer points of pitching better by far.
Steve Phillips says Joe Mauer looks like he's about to become a 25-30 HR per year hitter. Wow, if Mauer hits 30 HR's and drives in 100 along with the great average and superior defense, he's MVP calibre any year he does that. Of corse the other M&M boyJustin Morneau has been putting up those numbers consistently the last four years plus. The grand salami he hit on Sunday night came right after Ron Gardenhire got the homeplate umpire to change his call of Mauer not being hit by a pitrch to "Oh I guess youy're right Gardy, give poor Joe first base, he was indeed hit by that pitch."
All in all a nice fourth straight win for the Twins!
NBA Playoffs: Both conference finals have been great to watch, buzzer beaters left and right. It looks like the NBA and ABC might not get their dream matchup of Kobe's Lakers and LeBron's Cavs in the Finals.
I really enjoy watching the playoffs because you get a chance to see adjustments made form game to game with the world's best players at work. People who criticize NBA players for not playing hard during the regular season may have a point, but they get after it in the playoffs.
Bryant had to be Superman on Saturday night to give the Lakers the lead in their series with the Nuggets. I have an aunt that lives in Denver who is a late bloomer sports fan. She is crazy about the Denver teams and I'm sure she was howling about Kobe getting all the calls on Saturday night! I think the Lakers will get past the Nuggets whewn the series is over, but it will probably go seven games.
While I think Kobe will arrive in the Finals after a very tough semifinal, I don't think LeBron is going to be joining him. Having won 7 of the last 10 games against the Cavs Dwight Howard and the Magic look like they are going to take the seat reserved for the King. The Magic have more options available to them offensively, the Cavs seem to have just LeBron to often.
Memorial Day: I would like to thank all the veterans for their service, I'm able to run my yapper and ramble on on this blog only because of the freedoms allowed me by our fighting men and women. My sister and her husband are both Marine Corps veterans, and I would like to salute them also.
Special Memorial Day Programming on Open Mic and on Live at Five with Paul Stagg.
No "Love" for Wolves in Draft Lottery
5/20/2009
No shocker here, the Timberwolves not only didn't get one of the top picks through the draft lottery they moved down a place to the sixth pick in the upcoming June draft. An ESPN draft expert has the Wolves taking 6-6 shooting guard DeMar DeRozan from USC.
Here's some of the rundown on DeRozan: Positives:
DeRozan is a complete offensive player.
(Danny Moloshok/Associated Press)
Explosive athlete
Excellent NBA body
Long 6-foot-9 wingspan
Good size at the 2
Quick
Great elevation on his jumper
Fluid
Big-time finisher at the rim
Improving rebounder
Seems to get better every week
Negatives:
Too passive at times
Basketball IQ?
Ballhandling needs work
Can't go left
Lacks a great midrange game
Shaky three point shooter
Lacks effort on the defensive end
Once again the Wolves strikeout in getting one of the top guys. This year's draft considered a three player draft with Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio and Hasheem Thabeet considered potential all-starts. Beyond that this year is thought to be the thinnest in years. The Wolves have three first round picks this year as of now, they certainly could make a trade to get our of the lower first rounders.
That was the sentiment expressed by several of the participants in my Roto baseball league on Sunday afternoon. What is it about the Twins that has them wilting in the face of pinstripe uniforms like Michael Vick at a PETA rally.
Three straight last inning losses in New York have the Twins rally to a tie for first and a game over .500 now looking for answers. The latest consternation for the Twins is the lack of clutch hitting while in Gotham going a feeble oh-for-21 to begin the series.
Fortunately for the Twins it doesnt look like there's a great team, or even a really good team in the division. I'd call really good 90 wins for the year, I think 88 could do it this season in the division. That means all hands on deck to the end, so even though I may sound a bit negative at times, I still think the Twins will have enough to at least contend late into the year.
The Preakness: I had made my way to see the latest flick of interst on Saturday afternoon and upon returning to Bergy's World HeadQuarters and found myself just in time to watch the Preakness. It was the first time in a long time I found myself screaming at the television for a horse to win a race.
How much fun it was to watch Rachel Alexandra win the Preakness by 3/4 of a length with Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird galloping up behind. It was the first win by a filly in the Preakness since Nellie Morse in 1924 she was owned by poplular American cartoonist Bud Fisher. Horse racing has a great tradition in not just our society but many around the world. I enjoy the Triple Crown races every year, but especially this year with the 50-1 long shot and the girl beating the boys, great drama.
Did you hear the reason Steelers linebacker James Harrison skipped the Steelers visit to the White House to meet the President? No it wasn't political, he doesn't mind paying more taxes as a wealthy American. No it was because :
Harrison didn't attend when President Bush was in the White House in 2006 either. So... the President should invite the other 31 teams to the White House and NOT the Super Bowl Champions? Well in this age of redistribution of wealth we might as well extend that to include recognition from the Big Redistributor himself.
Open Mic: It's been my pleasure to take over as the main host of Open Mic from Bud Hanson. We'll continue to be a community outreach interview program as well as a few different things coming up in the future. Stay tuned!
Thanks for the Invite!
5/14/2009
I got a call last night from my old buddy Shawn Bohlsen at Bremer Bank. Shawn and I have been playing golf together for several years at Eagle Creek in Willmar, with a trip elsewhere here and there. He invited me to go as a special guest to play in the Tapemark Charity Pro Am. Shawn was also my mortgage banker when I bought my house last summer.
"Would you be interested?" he asked, or tried to ask as I was already saying "Yes Yes Yes!" before he could finish his lead up to the invitation. It's held June 12th through the 14th with cash and prizes awarded. Shawn said it's probably the biggest Pro Am in the state.
I can't wait to play Southview, I understand it's a beautiful and challenging course. Greg Hilding the President at Bremer invited Steve Linder, my boss, to play a couple years ago and Steve told me I needed to "redeem the good golfing name of Lakeland Broadcasting." I'll try Steve.
Of course that means I need to get out and start practicing my game. Lucky for me Eagle Creek is only two minutes from the radio station so I can run up there and practice my short game whenever I need to, and I need to a lot.
Vikings: The Brett Favre saga continues with the Vikings daliance with oft-retired/unretired QB. Monday Vikings co-owner/President Mark Wilf, younger brother of Zigi, said that the team is investigating the possibility of signing Brett Favre. He offered a caveat saying "like we do with all free agents." It's just that other free agents don't have the same name recognition and therefor draw less attention than Favre.
I think eventually the two sides will determine that's not feasible to go forward with the signing of Favre, I think he really is done this time because of the arm troubles that popped up last season and affected his play the last four weeks of the regular season. He has a torn biceps tendon that they say can easily be remedied with minor surgery, they just cut the rest of the frayed tendon and play with one less attached, sounds painful to me but what do I know about biceps?
Twins: The Twins had yesterday off to get ready for a homestand that starts tonight against the Detroit Tigers. Kevin Slowey goes for the Twins against Armando Galarraga. The Twins bullpen blew another game on Sunday afternoon. Nick Blackburn had his best game of the season throwing seven scoreless innings only to have relievers Jose Mijares and Jesse Crain blow up and allow five earned runs over the next two innings and cough up the lead and the win.
The bottom line I think for the Twins this year is they are dealing with a dumping of talent over the last two years that they have not been able to come back from like they would want. On Sunday I was driving home from visiting my Mom on Mother's day and listening to the Sunday night baseball game on the radio. Game analyst Dave Campbell was saying he believes Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza had the third best stuff for a starting pitcher in baseball right behind former Twin Johan Santana and Royals righthander Zach Greinke.
When I got home on Sunday I tuned in the Rays/Red Sox game on ESPN and heard analyst Steve Phillips say the Rays media and players almost unanimously selected former Twins SS Jason Bartlett as the team MVP. Then last night Peter Gammons was talking about all the new defensive stats baseball has come up with from the Elias Sports Bureau that said Bartlett is the best defensive shortstop in the game. Sigh....
Let's count signifivant Twins players that left since the end of the 2007 season, Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. Players arriving: Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Joe Crede as a free agent. If that's not a negative talent return I don't know what is, no wonder they have struggled with any consistency. Young pitchers will have good year/bad year careers for the first four or five seasons, that's what the Twins are dealing with this year with their young starters.
In conclusion, Favre won't be a Viking (I've been wrong on his return before), The Twins aren't as good as pre 2008 due to a talent dump in trades and free agent losses and I get to play in the Tapemark Pro Am, woohoo!
Monday with Mauer seems a little brighter
5/4/2009
Even though the Twins lost two out of three in a troubling fashion over the weekend, it seems as though the people of our fair state are in a better frame of mind. Joe Mauer has returned from his season opening stay on the disabled list. Thank goodness. Twins pitchers will begin to immediately improve their era and whip with Mauer behind the plate. His bat has been thundering as well, with Mauer in the lineup Morneau's rbi chances immediately spike.
The saving grace for the Twins as they try and figure out how to get everyone the proper amount of playing time, is that there isn't a great team in the division it doesn't appear. I couldn't tell you right now who I think is the best team in the division. I thought Cleveland before the year started, but their veteran pitching has been as befuddling as the Twins. The Royals have been the best team in the division so far, by half a game, maybe I should say the most surprising. I don't think they are in it to the end, it's difficult to go from years in the basement to the penthouse. I know the Twins and Braves have done it but I don't see that type of talent on the Royals.
Poker Alert: Played in a fun home game at my friend Cha's house (neighborhood nickname) on Saturday night. I know I have to be at my best to play in his game because he's friendly with other really good players and invites them to the game. This time there was also a couple of "unorthodox" players as well, which is interesting.
Now the Cha' and I go way back to BAA baseball in Bloomington back in the summer of 1980 when my family moved to Bloomington from Plymouth. The first summer we moved to Bloomington I still played in my old league in Plymouth. Just to give you a little background on how long we've been friends.
Anyway I'm staying at his house, I'm eating his food, I'm sleeping in his and his lovely wife Laurie's king size guest bedroom and I decide to try and take him out of the second tournament of the night on what we call a big "suckout." I don't know why, I just felt it was necessary, a strange guilty tingle went down my spine at the end of the hand. Friends for life off the felt, sworn enemies on it! Not really enemies of course, but if there was one guy at the table I wanted a shot at it was my old buddy Cha'.
Lucky for me my seat draw was immediately on Tom's (given name) left, great postion for me, my evil plot went into the planning stages right there.
Early in the game, still the first level I think with the blinds at 25/50 the Cha' raises a pot with one limper already, so makes it 200 (standard raise with one limper is 4x the BB) I always wait to look at my hand until it's my turn to act so I dont give a tell on what I'm doing before it's my turn. That's a trick I learned from Tom, I always look to my left to see if players are prematurely checking their cards, if they are they will often give away their intentions, if I read it right!
I have the 69 of hearts suited we call it so it's the 6-9s. Poker jargon always calls the hands with "the" king-queen, or "the 10-7" that's how we tell long and often boring hand stories to our friends that play a ton of poker. Sometimes the stories are short and very entertaining, let's try for that shall we.
Normally a hand you would "muck" is the 6-9s, but I know if I can catch a hand against the Cha' he'll never see me coming. I figure a sneak attack with a loose hand in a raised pot is the only way I'm going to catch him. He's a better player than I am but I like to think I know a trick or two and now was my chance to trap him. So I make what would be considered a "loose" call. The limper initially also calls so we are 3 handed to the flop.
I can't remember specifically all the cards ( I have to start carrying a recorder) but it was two hearts and one was a five then a 3 and a jack I think. Anyway I have four to the flush and I'm in till the river at this point with my flush draw. Cha' bets after a check by player 3 and I call from position (most important thing in hold 'em poker) 400 I think. Player 3 folds.
The Turn (fourth up facing card) brings an off suited 7, giving me a gut draw as well and I immediately begin asking for a black 8 to fall on the river. That would give me the impossible to see straight. Nobody plays a 6-9, you wouldn't even think of that. Anyway Cha' bets on the turn card as well and I Hollywood a little like it's a tough call and make the call, knowing full well the river was where I was headed no matter what.
What hits the river? The black 8 of course...YAHTZEE!! Because I have so much respect for Tom's game I know he has a good hand and I'm about to take all his chips. Much to my extreme delight he leads at the pot again, his fourth bet at the pot which means I have just completed the the ultimate "suckout". I hI decide to raise about 60% of the stack I have remaining with a raise to 2500. (Never do that, Tom also told me that if you are betting 40% of your stack or mkore just shove all-in). He checks his stack and mine, I have him just barely covered, afterall we just started playing, and shoves all-in. I call the rest of my stack and then wait for him to show his hand.
The black 8 that hit the river hit Cha's hand too, gave him a "set" of eights (three of a kind). A set is powerful because it's also a hard hand to see with a pocket pair. He told me afterward that when I raised it "surprised" him. That was music to my ears, it's not easy to be able to surprise a player as good as my buddy with a raise on the river. He was sent packing as the first player out in his home game...and I got a strange thrill from doing it.
Unlike some may have exited all Tom said was "oh Wow, I didn't see that coming, nice hand." He then got up from the table and left with class, his usual calm demeanor intact. Thanks for the game Tom, and sorry about that!
Florida WR is Vikings first choice
4/26/2009
The Vikings went with the speedy wideout from Florida for their first round draft choice and the draft for Vikings fans went from boring to intriguing and exciting. Percy Harvin has blazing speed and is a tough runner after the catch. He played plenty of running back for Urban Meyer and the Gators last season but is obviously a wide receiver for the Vikings. He has all the tools there's no doubt about that.
The intriguing part is the Vikings have taken another chance on a questionable character guy. Harvin is one of two "high profile" players that failed the drug test at the scouting combine last summer. Those test results are made aware to the teams shortly thereafter but was not released to the media until just a couple weeks before the draft. There were other reports about Harvin's character issues going back to high school. Paul Charchian said on KFAN this morning that there were several teams (10 or more) that removed Harvin from their draft list altogether. Not a ringing endorsement.
This Vikings management and ownership isn't showing any more restraint when it comes to taking risks on talent than the previous. Remember when they resigned Koren Robinson two years ago to be their #1 WR? How'd that work out? Now I'm not saying that an NFL team needs to be a bunch of choir boys, you probably wouldn't have a very good team. You need guys you play on the edge emotionally and physically and that can be hard to turn off. Just don't try and tell us you're taking the high road.
Even more hilarious that Brad Childress "went down there and looked him in the eye." My ribs are sore from laughing after hearing that come out of Winter Park. Like Chilly could see into his soul. First he has to see what a good quarterback looks like then worry about setting up a Fortune Teller's booth at the State Fair.
Now I believe in giving people more than one chance, not always stopping at two. So I hope that for Percy Harvin's sake and that of Vikings fans he can keep on the straight and narrow. 14 years ago the ownership and management of this radio station took a chance on a broadcaster that had some "character issues." I think they are still being rewarded today for giving that/this middle age man another chance to turn things around. They might not think so! Todd
Beautiful Summer Day...I think
4/23/2009
It looks like a gorgeous day today, as I watch from the living room. Woke up this morning with a killer headache that I sometimes get, one of those make me nauseous deals. Anyway slept until about Noon and woke up feeling much better, sure wish I could play golf today. But obv. since I didn't gop to work I can'tr very well go and play golf, dang it.
Watching ESPN daytime talk tv about this weekend's NFL draft and during some of the discussion they were saying that Washington may be trying to trade up and take USC QB Mark Sanchez. If they would pull off that trade they would then trade their starting QB the last two years, Jason Campbell. One of the teams that they would talk with being the Vikings, according to espn's Sal Palontonio.
There was also talk about the Browns doing the same thing and trading Brady Quinn to someone else, the Vikings were not mentioned as part of that talk.
It's interestinbg that the Vikings already traded for a QB in the offseason and they are still saying we might be in the larket for another. What does that mean? The Vikings don't really believe in their QB's either. Or this is just false leads, either way if they are true for my money I'd have an interest in Brady Quinn, but not Jason Campbell.
Latest "Mock" they showed had the Vikings taking an OT named Oher with their pick in the first round, boring!!! I knowe they need a tackle but what a snooze of a draft it's going to be this year for the Vikes, wake me up when we're two weeks PAST the draft so we can talk about something else, like are the Twins sellers in the trade market?
Windows are open, birds are singing, I think I'm working up a sweat just sitting here at the keyboard. Nicest day in months for the beautiful Willmar regional area and here I sit watching the live scoring for my roto baseball, and there aren't any games being played!
Why have a I decided to take to the blogosphere on this beautiful afternoon? This is my alibi that indeed I'm not actually at Eagle Creek getting ready to play the back nine, although I sure wish I was.
Remember tune in tomorrow morning to kwlm and kwlm.com for an announcement concerning our good friend Bud Hansen.
Announcement coming
4/22/2009
Tune in to KWLM this Friday morning at the beginning of the Open Mic program at 10:05am for an announcement about our friend and Open Mic host Bud Hanson. Bud has not been able to host the show for a couple weeks now due to health reasons and we will have something for you from Bud on Friday.
I'm still struggling some with what exactly I want this column to be, and what direction I want to go with it. Initially I thought about being the next George Will, conservative sports fan and political pundit. Wow, that would be tough. You need to be able to consume a great deal of knowledge to really be able to write about certain topics. I find it easy to have that appetite when it comes to baseball, but to have that depth of knowledge in let's say...politics, would be almost impossible for me. When I say something on the air about politics it can be talked about during the show and then usually quickly forgotten except for the overall tone of the discussion. When you write it down there's a record, why do you think President Obama skipped so many votes when he was in Chicago politics? Oh there I go.
Now how about those Twins! Put together a nice streak by beating the Angels three straight. I feel bad for Torii Hunter and those players, though to go on and perform right away after the trajedy they've had to deal with. No greater than the daily struggle for those families that lose friends and relatives to drunk drivers, but maybe with the fame of the individual involved, Nick Adenhart, it will again bring attention to that national problem.
Twin bill today, Liriano pitches tonight, he needs to have a good outing. Mauer is close to returning, maybe the end of next week in Kansas City. The Twins need him, especially the pitchers.
LeBron James is indeed "King" James. The Pistons tried to resort to their "Bad Boys" days and just flat out tackle him last night, ridiculous. I thought I was watching McHale closeline James Worthy in the '85? finals. He's 260lbs. and 6 ft 8, with a passers mentality. That's what makes him special. He loves throwing a great pass more than anything.
It has to be the Lakers and Cavs in the Finals. That's the only matchup the league and tv networks want. That's the "Big Ticket" this year with KG on the bench injured for the Celtics and not able to play you can write them off.
ROTO ALERT
Somehow this year I ended up with nearly an all lefthanded starting rotation, almost. I do have Jesse Litsch (who's on the DL) and Phil Hughes (minor leagues) that are righties, but other than that, all southpaws. Some don't think that Mark Buehrle, Cliff Lee, Andy Pettitte, Scott Kazmir and new pickup Aaron Laffey will be enough to help carry the BergyBallerz to another The 12 GOG League Championship, time will tell. I've already been out of first place this year as many weeks as ALL of last year, so they might be right...might.
Cardinals Baseball
Had a chance to call the Willmar Cardinals baseball game at Springer Park in Cold Spring yesterday, what a great game to call! Cards win 3-2 against the Rocori Spartans with two runs in the top of the seventh inning, Jordy Smith scored the winning run after he ahd been intentionally walked for the second time in the game with a runner at second base and first base open. The first time in the fourth inning I didn't really think about it too much, two outs, just showing respect to a great hitter for Willmar, and it worked out for them.
The second time the Rocori coach did I didn't agree initially because of the game situation, you just put the potential winning run on base with one out in the top of the seventh inning, I wouldn't do that. But after I thought about it a bit, and after chatting briefly with team mom Jolene Dean I started to ask, how does this benefit kids? It's strictly a strategic move on the managers part, but is it fair to take away a chance to win a game or not, for a player in high school baseball? This isn't the World Series, give kids a chance to play, please. Jolene said this has been happening quite a bit already and they expect it to continue, I hope not.
Next Cardinals baseball game broadcast will be next Thursday, April 30th from Fergus Falls. Haven't broadcast a baseball game from Fergus before, I wonder what the field is like. I'll get a chance to see my old buddy Craig Olson Hall of Fame broadcaster our of FF for many decades.
Tune in Friday morning for an announcement concerning Bud Hanson and Open Mic.
Housecleaning in St. Paul, Getting cleaned at the Dome
4/18/2009
Is it really a big surprise that Risebrough followed Lemaire out of town today? No it isn't. It doesn't matter what the new boss says when he first buys the team and new Wild owner Craig Leopold said all those things. He laid it on thick too as I recall. Something about this is 'One of the great franchises in hockey and that's due to the organization' or something to that effect. He needs to say that during the year but as he said at the presser he had made up his mind about a month ago.
I think he'll make a run at resigning Gaborik. The last time Gabby talked with the Wild about a contract was before the season began with Risebrough, and in effect Lemaire, handling negotiations, how'd that work out? Maybe he'll reengage in the talks himself and get something done. As risky as Gaborik is, he's a proven talent the Wild need.
Twins Chat
Another shocker from the Dome tonight, Roy Halladay beats the Twins 9-2. He's 8-0 career now against the Fraternals. The Twins bullpen was again drawn and quartered after a solid but ordinary start by "Ace" Francisco Liriano. Frankie was occasionally touching 93 on the radar gun. Believe me they have a "fast" gun for the tv audience too. That means it will read 1-2 mph faster than it really was. Usually it was 89-91, with movement, that's the savior. He has to be a pitcher now and he came up a thrower, just being able to blow away good hitters with unreal stuff. That has not returned from the doctor's office yet, and may never return.
The only pitcher on the roster from the Santana trade is Phil Humber, he has struggled so far this year. He's another example of a fastball not coming back from "Tommy John" surgery on the elbow. Fifth pick in the first round by the Mets several years back, great first year in the minors, then surgery. Not the same since, four years later.
That being said it's only April and there's plenty of time yet for the Twins to right the ship. Same problems keep coming up, shaky bullpen, lack of power in the lineup. Also the young catcher is in way over his head. The Twins need Joe Mauer back and soon. He will settrle down the pitchers and provide a consistent bat, help is on the way, hopefully before it gets too late.
Stat line of the night: Guerrier, Breslow and Dickey, outs recorded- 2, runs allowed- 7, yikes.
Back from a short vacation
4/14/2009
Back in the saddle today after a four day weekend, plenty of sports news this weekend that I wasn't able to comment on yesterday. Had a great time staying with my grandmother and seeing other relatives in Devils Lake. The high school mascot for over 100 years in Devisl lake was the "Satans" but that changed about three years ago, they are now known as the "Firebirds".
It didn't take Jacque LeMaire long after the season ended to "step down" as head coach. During the presser he said he's not ready to retire and wants to stay in hockey in some fashion. Apparently it wasn't his idea that he no longer be the head coach of the Wild. Does this mean that the Wild's new owner Craig Leopold is going to make another run at signing oft-injured star Marian Gaborik? Talking heads have been saying Gabby wanted out of Minny due to the restrictions placed in his game by the defensive minded LeMaire, we'll see. I think the Wild should resign Gabby...for the right price.
It was too bad seeing Kenny Perry melt down under the pressure and cough up his chance to be Masters Champion. Angel Cabrera isn't a bad guy, it's just hard to root for someone who doesn't speak english. Besides as a man in his mid-forties myself I wanted to see the "old guy" win it.
With just one game remaining on the Wolves schedule for this season it's not too long before the end of the Kevin McHale era. Wolves owner Glan Taylor has said he wants Mchale back as the head coach, but not in any other capacity. To this I think McHale will say "thanks, but no thanks."
Twins starting pitching has been shaky at best. Monday night Kevin Slowey wasn't fooling anyone, giving up 13 hits in five and fraction innings. The Twins went on to lose 8-6 to the Jays. Luis Ayala is exactly who we thought he was, to channel Dennis Green. Which is to say he's a homerun allowing stiff the Twins tried to pas off as a "significant" upgrade to their bullpen. He was cheap, period.
First baseball game broadcast set for today at 5pm. I'll have the Willmar Cardinals and Brainerd Warriors live from "The Bill," Bill Taunton Stadium on Willmar's southwest side. Great Day for baseball!
Big Tex and $16 bucks left on the table
4/8-9/2009
Just reached midnight, gotta work in 6 hours but just wanted to talk some baseball
Roto Baseball Alert
I decided during my weeks of preparation time that Mark Teixiera was going to be my highest paid player this year. That's why I threw out Miguel Tejada first at our 4th Annual The 12 GOG Roto Baseball Auction. Tex got the big money from the Yankees this year and some guys will wilt under that pressure. Tex isn't one of them I'm banking. He wound up being the second highest paid player at our auction along with CC Sabathia. Tejada went for $48, the highest paid.
For the first time since about 2003 I left money on the table at the auction (Roto baseball cardinal sin) and not just a little but $16. About 7% of my total budget. Running on a budget I guess. I did get most of the players I wanted except for two. The biggest miss for me was on Tiger 2B Placido "the tenor" Polanco. I owned him last year for $17 and lost out to a $27 bid this year. That one hurt, wound with A**droople Cabrera instead.
The other was Kendry Morales, I had him budgeted for $20, willing to go to $24 and lost out to the $24 bidder. Wound up with Wily Aybar instead. Could have spent more money on speed, but I don't value sb's quite as much as some toher owners in the league so they went for too much I thought. Four guys I hadn't scouted for found their way onto my roster, Aybar, Ben Francisco, Cabrera and Marco Scutaro my SS. Although I'm not unhappy with Scutaro.
On the bright side I always wanted Torii Hunter and never had him on my team before, made him a $24 contract offer.
As far as my pitching I was veteran shopping, my motto is "young pitchers don't win roto baseball titles." So Mark Buehrle- White Sox was my top guy then Jesse Litsch-TOR (I like short righthanders, I was one once) and Andy Pettitte. I had $58 budgeted for these three pitchers and got them for $52, so that was pretty close. I also added a sixth starter, I like to balance my pitching staff with 6 starters and 3 relievers because of the K's and W's. I always go cheap on saves, others buy 'em like tic tacs, lots of different ways to win.
So what I'm saying is I thought I did okay considering I left so much money on the table. I wanted Pettitte because I already have Phil Hughes in my minor league system and this was what's called a "handcuff." Hopefully this assures me of a spot in the Yankees rotation, a helpful spot to have.
I'm sure this has been boring for those of you who don't play this game, just ask some of our friends, when three of us get together in a golf foursome, the fourth wishes he was with the group ahead. Because it is nothing but baseball talk between the three that are in the league.
The Twins get a big shot from my captain Justin Morneau and beat the M's 6-5, woohoo go Twins!!....and Tex, Buehrle, Torii and Ben.
Thank You Don Wakamatsu
4/7/09
The Twins pull out a heart starting victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night thanks to the Mariners man in the dugout, not to mention the organization in Seattle. It was great to see Alexi Casilla come through with a big base hit to win the game after Mariners closer Brandon Morrow walked the bases full and then Mariners rookie managerDon Waka "no" matsu yanked him for journeyman reliever and faith healer Miguel Batista.
Casilla came through with a linedrive off the published author Batista (crime novelist) so the Twins wouldn't start the season in front of two big crowds oh-and-two...nice! Nathan still hasn't seen the mound, maybe tomorrow night. Ayala is shaky at best, it's hard to believe he's the best middle guy they could find? Watch Juan Cruz in Kansas City.
Another couple rbi's for Cuddyer is great to see no matter how they come. Twins look powerless again this so far, second fewest hr's last year in the American League. I thought Span would see the bench tonight and instead it was Kubel. If I'm going to keep trying to guess the Twins lineup it looks like I'm going to have to do more than come up with if off the top of my head and do some number checking.
Rough outing though for Blackburn. He needs to get hard ground balls hit at his infielders. If they aren't you get what you saw tonight, lots of hits in the ballpark and four runs in five innings. The Twins starting pitchers should benefit from moving outside next year. The infield will be a lot slower for their groundball inducing staff. Blackburn, Slowey and Baker should all be helped. Liriano and Perkins and more flyball pitchers and will be hurt by having less fould territory, some foul pop outs now will be in the seats next year.
*Roto Baseball Alert* (I'll issue this alert when the following comments in a column by me are prejiduced by the player in question being on my rotobaseball team.)
The reason the Twins and their fans need to thank the Mariners rookie manager is that he treated the second game of the season like it's the second game of the playoffs. They showed in the bullpen that he had Batista up and throwing when Morrow was out there pitching. Or he got him up in a hurry as soon as Morrow started to get out of the strike zone, either way it rakes at the nerves and mind of the young uber-talented kid on the mound who throws the ball 100 mph. IF the Mariners stick with Morrow as the closer they need to let him finish no matter what for awhile. Especially the second game of the year. Besides what do you really really want from a pitcher with a two run lead and the bases loaded.....a strikeout! Batista not the guy for that gave up a .295 ave. against last year and averages just 5.5 K/9. Morrow a flamethrower should have been allowed to keep pitching.
Wrap up: Clutch hit for Casilla....Mariners don't know what to do with talent....Ayala won't help much this year....Cuddyer looks healthy.....and Wakamatsu doesn't have a clue!
Opening night loss shows Twins with faults
4/6/2009
Tough night for the Twins in the opener as the M's get the best of them 6-1. Liriano looked like he did last year, I didn't see a real devastating fastball tonight but it was a nice outing and a positive for the Twins even though he lost the start. The bullpen was ragged, Jesse Crain still has an aversion to throwing strikes and attacking hitters. He walsk about one batter every three innings of work which is a little high for a late inning setup man.
The lineup also was anemic, if Morneau doesn't carry the load, nobody does. It still looks to me like a team in need of at least one more bat, Mauer is one and hopefully Jason Kubel becomes the other one.
I was three for nine is trying to predict Gardy's lineup, I had Morneau 4th (a gimme I know), Crede sixth and Redmond 8th. I really thought the Twins might cater to the emotions of the reportedly unstable Delmon Young and let him start opening night. They did not, to their credit. Tomorrow night though it's a nasty lefthander in Erik Bedard. Wicked slider and typical run on the fastball from the portside. So I think it'll be time for Delmon to play. Now the interesting thing to watch is who sits next? I'd say Span, easy switch then with Young going into his position in left.
Watch the throwing of Crede. Morneau saved him twice last night on errant throws. That's where he committed many of his errors last year. He throws everything while running, much tougher to do if you have had back trouble, hello Mr. Joe. What the heck was up with Gomez hitting seventh? If any of you guessed him in the 7 hole, you were paying better attention than I.
So here's my guess for the Twins lineup 1. Casilla-2B 2. Punto-SS 3. Cuddyer-RF 4. Morneau-1B 5. Crede-3B 6. Kubel-DH 7. Young-LF 8. Redmond-C 9. Gomez-CF.
Blackburn gets the start, the Twins need him to be aggressive and keep the ball down. His strikeout per nine innings rate K/9 is less than 4.5 K/9 ratio is an indicator that he isn't really fooling anybody witrh his stuff, control is everything.
That was as far I was able to go last night (couldn't access the admin site, got booted and couldn't get back in) didn't have time this morning to finish the story.
Keep checking, if I watch the Twins I'll post about them (most of the time). Todd
Let's Play Ball! A few predictions for the Twins season
4/5/2009
The baseball season is about to get underway, I can't wait. I follow baseball closer than any other sport as far as professional or college ranks. Being the commissioner of a highly competitive roto baseball league really helps.
Today I'm going to take a shot at what I think the Twins opening day lineup will be. Now some people think that managers should have a set lineup everyday. That's not really how it works, matchups change, players don't feel well etc. Now I believe Ron Gardenhire would like to have certain spots in the lineup set. He has that with Justin Morneau hitting cleanup, but with Joe Mauer injured and not taking his third spot in the order, that's about it.
Most managers are fine with a changing lineup everyday, it's part of the fun. Three spots in the lineup they'd like to have an everyday guy, the rest are not as important. Cleanup is first, you want an anchor, a linchpin to your lineup and that's Morneau. Then they'd like to have a table setter, a true leadoff man to get things started, especially when you play ball the way the Twins do, run and hit situationally. They would like to think they have that guy with Carlos Gomez. He played his way out of that job last year, but I think the Twins will give him every chance to reclaim it this spring. Denard Span had a breakout year last year, but has struggled this spring and looks like he's going to be the fourth outfielder, at least to start the season. The three-hole is the other spot the manager would like to ink in the smae guy every day. Mauer is that guy when he gets back. The rest of the lineup spots the manager doesn't have to worry as muchy about because if he has the three main places set every day, the rest are interchangeable, mostly.
So here's my guess what the Twins lineup will be opening day. This is what I think they will do not how I would have the lineup.
Franciso Liriano is the opening day starter because Scott Baker has some arm sytiffness so they put him on the DL for a couple weeks to make sure he's healthy. He really has "Ace" stuff but major league teams want to alternate their left and righthanders. The felt like that worked better with Liriano as the number two guy, but he's really the number one. I'm optimistic that Liriano takes his place among the best lefthanders in the American League this year. Look for 18 wins and a an ERA of about 3.30.Kevin Slowey will push Baker this year to be the Twins second best starting pitcher, he's Brad Radke with a better fastball. Glen Perkins had a high WHIP for his ERA so unless he starts missing more bats he could backup a bit this year. Perkins WHIP was 1.47 last year, that's too high he pitched in some luck last year to have a 4.41 ERA and go 12-4.
When you watch the Twins games they are shopwing you the WHIP a pitcher has, but Dick Bremer and even Bert Blyleven don't seem to really know how to use it. It's a great quick indicator of "stuff" for a pitcher. A good starter has a WHIP below 1.30, excellent under 1.20, all star season less than 1.10, anything below 1.00 the guy is having a career year. Anything over 1.40, like Perkins, is a guy who's at the back end of a rotation and hanging on by a thread each outing.
Relievers need to have lower WHIP because unlike a starter they don't have to pace themselves to get through their outing. Joe Nathan has a career WHIP of 1.13, but since he joined the Twins it's an outrageous 0.91! Filthy! He is one of the best and most secure closers in the game, even though last year seemed like a rollercoaster for Nathan, he had an ERA of 1.34, the lowest of his career. We have such high expectations for Nathan anytime he has just a little slip it seems like a catastrophe.
The rest of the bullpen is a question mark I think. I'm not sure there's another lockdown releiver on the team. It's possible Jesse Crain is the second best reliever on the team, that's scary. Thsi will be the Achille's Heal of the Twins this year, bridging the gap between a solid starting staff and a great closer.
My prediction for the Twins is they'll contend again for the division title, it's not that great a division. But unfortunatley I'm not sure Mauer and Crede are ready to play enough games and a shaky bullpen will take their toll and the Twins will finish third behind The Indians and the White Sox. I wish I could be more optimistic like the Star Tribune who painted them as the favorites in the division, I hope that's the case. I'd like nothing better than to be wrong and have the Twins win the World Series! We can dream......
Torch my Bracket! Lets play some poker
3/30/2009
Well as I said when I posted my bracket before the NCAA tournament a few weeks ago you might be better off going opposite my picks. That would have been so true! I did not pick a single Final Four team. If you check my picks it looks like I did have North Carolina, but I just filled out that challenge bracket wrong, I had Syracuse beating Carolina there, so it's an "o-fer."
Marcia has the lead by a single point over Chuck in our pool and can't be overtaken by him as they both selected UConn to play North Carolina with the Tar Heels winning. Sales Exec Mike Miller had the same thing and can finish third if that occurs. The only scenarios where those three don't take the first three places is if UConn wins the title, then newsman JP Cola can claim the title.
It was another poker playing weekend for me this weekend as I played at JJ on friday night. Would have made a tidy profit if not for the last hand of the night that was huge. I lost with a fullhouse to a better fullhouse, sigh. My pocket 99 hit a set on the flop and when another Q hit the turn I thought I was good, not. A young fella playing in position had Q4 and made queens full of fours, oh well still made a small profit.
Then went to visit a high school pal of mine (Bloomington Kennedy class of '83) Tom (cha59) Fahy. He's really quite a good internet poker player who makes a tidy profit every year when he's not traveling to Mexico and Vegas. He's a commercial real estate appraiser in his spare time, eerr day job. He got us invited to a home poker tournament in Coon Rapids (Tom lives in Blaine). It was a decebnt size buy-in (amount made it worth our time) and the structure was slow so we knew we could play quite awhile even if we didn't win, which unfortunately we didn't.
14 players were there and four got paid, we finished sixth (me) and fifth (Tom), bubble boys. I had a blast though, fun bunch of guys and one gal and played for 6 and a half hours before busting. Now usually when I bust out of a tournament I hate hanging around the room. I'm usually out of the room, out of the casino and out of the county within minutes. I just don't take losing especially well, "show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"Vince Lombardi once said. Now I didn't say you can't lose with class, I tried to do that, but I don't have to like it.
I was the chip leader for the first half of the tournament but tried to pull off a big bluff against a guy I didn't know very well and he had a big hand. I was virtually drawing dead when the money went in, oops. Anyway, made one huge mistake and was really never able to overcome it.
I salved my wounds on the way home by doing some shopping and taking in a movie, one I would not recommend.Last House on the Left is one you can miss. Not that it wasn't well acted and directed but it was so mean spirited. I like to embrace my dark side when going to movies. I love slasher flicks and horror, but just like The Hills Have Eyes I felt like this one had a couple scenes that went to far. I'm not asking movies to enlighten me, or make a difference, just entertain me and not have me feeling sick of humanity entirely when I leave. That's not asking too much I don't think. This movie didn't pull off the latter.
Looking forward to the next couple weeks. This weekend my firends at the radio station and I are headed for the Timberwolves game on Sunday night to enjoy a suite for the night, courtesy of the Wolves for us being a radio affiliate. Next week I have my roto baseball auction on Wednesday night, one of the best baseball nights of the year for me. Then next weekend I head for Devils Lake, ND to visit my grandma, uncle and relatives for Easter. Fun couple weeks ahead.
Gotta go it's time for Jack Bauer to kick some butt on the next episode of 24!
Down to the State Tournament today!
03/25/2009
The New London-Spicer Wildcats are headed for the state boys basketball tournament for their game tonight at 6pm at Williams Arena. I'll be there to call the game along with Kyle "Cat" Stevens. We'll have your pregame coverage starting at 5:45pm and the tip is set for 6pm.We'll have the games on 106.5FM The Train. Montevideo is also at state today in the Class AA tourney, good luck to the Thunder Hawks.
The Wildcats take on the Pelican Rapids Vikings tonight. Pelican Rapids finished the year as the #1 ranked team in the state in Class AA. You can check out the Wildcats post season games, boys and girls, by checking out The Train website at classichitsradio.com you can hear past games, available for download and listening right off the website. We aren't broadcasting with a live stream yet, but hopefully sometime in the future.
Go Wildcats!
Bracket Update and Baseball Chatter
03/24/2009
Well it was a fairly medicre opening weekend for my bracket selections. If you checked out my picks you could see for yourself. My standing in the cbssports national bracket challenge is 683,841, nice. Looks like I won't be winning a Million bucks! Upset special looked good for about thirty minutes as American gave Villanova a run for about that long, led for much of the first half. The physical nature of 'Nova took over down the stretch. If I had it to do over I wouldn't have bet against a team from The Big East they are tough!
Here's the station standings after the first two rounds. Marcia (receptionist and basketball savant) first with 53 points. Her Final Four is: Michigan State, U Conn, Pitt and North Carolina as her champ. Chuck from the Good to Go Morning Show on our sibling station Real Country K100 has 52 points. Our GM Doug has 51, station engineer and severe weather announcer Mike "Spanky" Schroeder has 50. I come in with 45 points, tied for 7th out of 14, like I said medicre.
The first big date for my rotisserie baseball league is this week as we have to designate ten players to keep for the coming season. Some call this a "keeper" league. I like to call it "franchising" players. We play in a 12 owner American League only league where we have 22 active players on our rosters. That includes 13 position players and nine pitchers.
The "virtual captain" of my team is Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, since he came into the bigs I've had him on my team covering two different leagues. Not at the same time, I left one league to start my own in 2006. Best thing I ever did, believe or not there is controversy in running one of these leagues, as commissioner in this league I can solve problems. As secretary in the other league I was in with a very weak commissioner I couldn't. Do I sound like a control freak? Yikes. Name of my new league is The 12 GOG. It can mean whatever we want, started out as 12 guys and one gal, but that's changed, we don't have the gal anymore.
My other position players are Toronto OF Alex Rios, Texas OF Nelson Cruz, Tampa 3B phenom Evan Longoria (acquired with the sixth pick in the 2007 minor league player draft we have), Oakland DH/OF Jack Cust and Angels catcher Mike Napoli. I love cheap power and with Longoria, Napoli and Cust I get that. In Roto baseball you have $260 roto dollars (fake money) to buy your 22 players. With these six guys I have loads of proven and potential talent, especially in the homerun category, for only $59. Money well spent I think.
I only kept four pitchers because you always want to try and keep guys that are below market value if you can. I have Tampa southpaw Scott Kazmir, Indians leftie Cliff Lee (Cy Young winner last year), Seattle flame thrower Brandon Morrow (clocked several times last year at 100mph) and Texas first year closer Frank Francisco. Frankie whiffed 83 in 64 innings last year, great number for a closer. I've only spent $30 on these four pitchers. I don't like my returning pitching as much as my hitting. I had Mike Mussina retire and a nice young righthander Shawn Marcum blowout his elbow so I'm a little short on starters heading for our early April Free Agent Auction. That being said I've got a lot of potential for K's and have only spent $89 on my ten franchised players, in good shape for the auction.
Looking forward to defending my league championship, won last year pretty much wire-to-wire by returning to my roto prinipals. Don't pay for saves or overpay for pitching. Don't fall in love with stolen bases. I hadn't paid attention to these the previous several years so I hadn't won a title, or really contended since 2001. But I've got my name on our League Champions plaque, they can't take that away from me! I love baseball.
My NCAA Tournament Bracket
03/19/2009
All right here are my picks for the Tournament. Copy mine, or better yet, go opposite you might do better! My cinderella is American University they have some traditon and I watched them play in their conference tournament championship in the Patriot League. Their a 14 seed getting to the Sweet 16, have to have one long shot!
Final Four picks are #3 seed Kansas in the Midwest, #2 seed Memphis in the West, #1 seed Pitt from the East and #3 seed Syracuse from the South. Ridiculous I know but I don't want to go with the crowd, I want to either win or go down in flames!
Poker
03/18/2009
Not counting sleeping and working there are only three things that I will do for several hours at a time. Play golf, watch tv and play poker. Yesterday afternoon/last night I spent seven and a half hours doing the latter.
With Jackpot Junction having a bad beat jackpot of over $56,000 it's very tempting to head down there and play some limit poker more frequently than I normally do. For those of you who don't play poker or pay much attention to the jargon of the game some of this might be lost on you, but hopefully you'll get the jist of it. A bad beat is when you have big hand and lose anyway. Well at many poker rooms they reward you for having really taken a bad beat. If you have aces full of tens and are beaten by aces full of jacks or better you would be rewarded for that by receiving half of the $56K so you would get $28,000 in cold hard cash! Needless to say there are people that would be interested in that including myself. If you had the winning hand you get 25% and the rest of the players at the table split the last 25%, so everyone shares in the bounty. Obviously this doesn't happen very often, not since July 22nd at Jackpot as a matter of fact.
Now while I would love to win the "bad beat" that's a slim possibility so I go just to have some fun and try and win a little money. Yesterday I really enjoyed the table, it's a very social game, or at least should be if everyone is behaving themselves and not acting like children. There are players who are not much fun to play at the same table with but none of those were present yesterday. The room opens at 3pm and there is usually a game going right away, often guys/gals are showing up before that to sign up in advance.
When I sat down things started very slowly for me, I was in for a rack and four stacks, more than I like to go in for but I was feeling things would turn and they did. By the time I left I was up four stacks and had a great time. Limit poker is all about minimizing your losses and maximizing your wins. Some who aren't doing well, or just got run down on the river will make the disingenuous claim of "If this was no-limit you wouldn't have been able to see that river." To them I say "live with it." We aren't playing no-limit, this is low limit hold 'em, you knew that when you sat down, so keep the no-limit wishing out of it, it doesn't apply.
Last night I had rebuilt my stack to being about $70 up when I picked up pocket Kings for the fifth time. I had split the first four times winning twice and losing twice, so basicall breaking even. Now KK in the whole is a powerful hand, it's one of only two starting hands called "monsters," Aces being the other. It's the second best starting hand in hold 'em followed by QQ, AK suited then JJ. However I know that if there is more than two other players in the hand I'm an underdog to the field, meaning odds are against me winning the hand, but better than anyone else at the table. I was also on the button so I'm definately raising any bet in front of me.
There was not one but two raises in front, both young guys (who are the best players at most tables) both aggressive so I'm sure they aren't betting aces, at least the odds are against it. So I make it four bets from my position, if one of the raisers makes it five bets (capped) when it comes back to them they are either just gambling or might have aces. Many young guys know all the odds and would not five bet anything less than KK, since that's my hand the odds are astronomical they also have that, so I might put them on AA, they don't so I know I have the best hand going in.
The flop is harmless enough, I can't remember exactly ( I should bring a recorder like Gus Hansen if I'm going to write some poker stories) but it was something like 3-8-9 rainbow (three different suits). Everyone checks up to the young fella sitting immediately to my right , Brandt, who was the three bettor before we saw the flop, he bets into my hand and I immediately raise. Sometimes people say, "why did you bet into the raiser?" This can be a good thing to do because poker is all about information and by him betting into me he gains info about the strength of my hand, if I just have AK he knows if I just flat call, if I raise he has to put me on a big hand. He had already put me on a monster I'm sure because my table image is fairly tight-aggressive. Secondly by betting into me, knowing I'm going to raise again it makes it less palatable for the other two players in the hand to continue because now they have to call two bets to see one card. The two young guys both do that, player four folds.
The turn is another 3, this look like a good card for me, because I can't imagine someone in this far with a three in their hand. This time Brandt and the other young guy at the table, (both made at least $300) both check to me so I bet my kings again, just Brandt calls. The river is a blank and Brandt checks in front of me so I fire away. Now we have at this point playing $3/$6 poker a total of $78 in the pot. If I had been smart I would have checked behind on the river because it was already a nice pot and I had an enormous amount of respect for the game of my opponent Brandt. He's a math/physics major at Drake University. That being said I wanted to maximize my profits for the hand so I lead at the pot on the river and he raises! Yikes, what the heck have I stumbled into here? I have to call knowing I'm beat because with the size of the pot and this being limit there's no way he's bluffing. He turned over a K3 offsuit. Ugh.
Now when I first began playing hold 'em about five years ago now this would have driven me off a cliff. I understand the game better now and it didn't really bother, sure I would rather have won but he's allowed to play how he wants, as a matter of fact it's an excellent play by him. He was in position, I was the only player behind him and I had been folding weak hands behind his raises all night (so he respected my play as well) want more respect at the table? Play fewer hands. He said he was trying to slow down the other young gun at the table who had been raising with some frequency, he wasn't expecting me to come in. He flopped a pair meaning he could lead on the flop hoping I would raise again to narrow the field, which happened. Then if he doesn't hit anything on the turn that helps (he's praying for a three which he got, but also believes a king might help not knowing I had KK) he can fold without too much damage and having accomplished his goal to a certain exntent of slowing down the raiser in front of him.
Now the odds of him beating my KK with K3o are roughly 9-1 against preflop and not much better after the flop. But he did, that's life/poker. I was proud after I left that I was able to let this go without it driving me crazy as it would certainly have done a few years ago. Maturing? Who's to say, anyway I recovered and made a little money, but for me it's conversation and interaction between players and the game itself that keeps me interested. Next big tournament for me will be April 19th at Jackpot when we (guys/gals with points) play for a seat in the World Series of Poker Main eEvent and a shot at fame and fortune, ahh to be a poker millionaire....
Gophers Head for The Big Dance
03/17/2009
Exciting times in Gopherville as both the men's and women's basketball team have been selected for the NCAA tournament. Interesting that they were in almost the identical situation where neither was sure they were in and wind up as tenth seeds. Honsestly I don't know that much about the the Notre Dame women, except they get a home game against the Gophers. I'm not sure if the Gopher women have a chance or not. The Gopher men are capable of winnign against Texas I think, but again I don't really get all that much time to watch college hoops as much as I might like.
The thing I really like about the tournament is getting a chance to operate our in-house bracket challenge i.e. pool. It's not about money or gambling it's about cameraderie associated with it. Are pools legal? Hard to say, but I doubt local law enforcement is too worried about our little bracket challenge. I'm still not going to mention the money involved (it's less than lunch out) and I do NOT take a cut, that would be illegal. (I would know)
No it's about ribbing each other good naturedly about who you picked, how your picks are doing and asking the boss "what were you thinking?!" I post the "standings" after each weekend with points awarded at an escalating scale the further your cinderella/sure thing advances. I do it all by hand, something pure about doing it myself instead of having it posted on-line. I tried that once, didn't work out so well. Anypne can win really, the sheet I put out has the seed numbers and records of the teams next to them. You don't have to be a basketball savant to win our little pool, usually about 12-15 people. Marcia at the front desk has won more than once I think in the 14 years I've run the office pool, I think she gets some help though. Steve has won before, and finished dead last. I like when Steve wins he always buys pizza for everyone with his winnings. Prizes go to the top three point totals, and to dead last, our "thanks for playing but we feel bad about taking your money because you really have no clue" prize.
So I have to make my picks now, it won't be Louisville winning it all I don't think. Check back on Wednesday if you care whoo I might be taking. You can use my picks for your pool if you want. I'll take a ten percent cut of your winnings, if you lose "why would you ever listen to me?"
McHale, Sage, Backstrom and Taylor
03/04/2009
Kevin McHale said his team's performance on Tuesday night again the Golden State Warriors was "as bad as you can play." He also took some of the blame saying "that's my fault." The Wolves were buried by another bad team in Golden State, that's what makes it so awful a loss. The Warriors came in withjust one more win than the Wolves, who have now lost ten in a row at home. The Wolves were really never in the game getting behind early and staying there in a 118-94 loss, 12 straight games allowing at least 100 points to their opponents.
Apparently the news conference held by team owner Glen Taylor didn't exactly inspire the troops to do more for their beleaguered season ticket holders. At that news conference Taylor said he was going to lower season ticket prices on 95% of the seats available and hold steady the price on the other 5%.
AAAAHHHH!!!!! Why does a Norwegian need retraining if he takes a coffee break. I had finished this article but hadn't hit Update Live Site often enough so when I did...POOF! Gone, vamoused, amscrayed, hit the door, no where to be found, outta here, you get the message. Anyway now I'm on the air and don't have the time to go back and finish so here's a quick recap until I get a chance to finsih.
Referenced Simon and Garfunkel, a weak attempt at humor the title of one of their hits was Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme, see title above. Don't think Sage Rosen"Mary"fels is the answer at QB. He's a journeyman who has never been able to win the job in Miami or Houston, why would he be the answer here? McHale won't be back next year no matter how much Glen Taylor begs. About timeWild signedgoalie Nik Backstrom to a contract extension. I think that's about it.
Boys get the fourth seed in section 2AAA, they play Hutch at home next Tuesday.
More blogumn later this week.
Another Snow Day
02/26/2009
Another snowy day in Minnesota, we (station staff) spent much of the morning speculating on just how long the snow would last. Doug thought about two hours, that was at about 11am, not so much. I thought about 2-230pm, wrong again Einstein. It's now just before 4pm and still snowing with enthusiasm, sigh...
Check out the National Weather Service radar. Looks like the storm flattened out and we're getting the rewards? Oh well it's good for winter business, snowblower sales, snomobiles, ski resorts. They have had plenty of light winters to deal with over the last decade so if they get a long winter this year that's fine with me. Check out the Minnesota page at the NOAA here.
The snow today pushed back the Section 3A boys hockey tournament game between the Cardinals this is their (pointstreak page) and Marshall Tigers until tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. That means a day night doubleheader for yours truly. I'll be at the Willmar Civic Center for the hockey game in the afternoon and then head for Cold Spring to broadcast the Cardinals boys basketball team as they take on theROCORI Spartans . The Cards have been up and down of late but I think they can straighten things out and make a potential run in the section 2AAA tournament that starts in a bit over a week.
The Cardinals girls basketball team is the number 2 seed in the section 2AAA tournament that starts on Tuesday night next week. We did get a note from the section coordinator that the semi-finals and final could be moved from MSU-Mankato and the Taylor Center which is a beautiful basketball arena to a site yet to be determined. I just hope it isn't Gustavus, nice college, poor basketball atmosphere. The Cards boys played through there last year on their way to state but it's a fieldhouse, not as nice as an arena like Taylor. The Lady Mavs are rated#1 in the nation in division two so it's a possibility.
We'll be covering the NLS Wildcats and BBE Jaguars boys and girls basketball teams on 106.5FM The Train during the postseason as well. Bill Dean is joined by Don Leukam on the call for those games. The 'Cats girls have won the West Central North Conference and were supposed to play for the overall title Thursday night at Minnewaska, that game has been put off until Friday due to weather. They are the #1 seed in the East half of the section 6AA tournament.
We're about to get really busy in the sports department, I love it!
Sports Monday
02/23/2009
I had a chance to take my Dad to the Timberwolves game on Sunday night against the Lakers. Very entertaining game that the Wolves played well but just didn't quite have enough to upset the Lakers. The most obvious thing about the Wolves is without Al Jefferson they are very small in their starting lineup. They have perhaps the shortest backcourt since the Bird/Magic era of the NBA began back in 1979. With "Teeny Tiny" Telfair at the point and 6 foot 2 Randy Foye at the offguard the Wolves are easily posted up by opposing gurads. Kobe Bryant just went straight to the postup vs. Foye any time the Lakers needed a backet. He caught the ball just outside the lane and turned and scored nearly every time. I said to my dad "Kobe can just score at will any time he wants against Foye." He replied "Can't he do that to just about anyone?" Touche'. It was an entertaining game with the Wolves falling by just three points 111-108. The only bad thing was we stayed right until the end and with the Wolves drawing their biggest crowd of the season, 19,000+ it took awhile to get out of the Target Center and to our car in the parking ramp.
On the walk through the Skyway to the Target Center we got a good look at the rising Target Field, the Twins future home. It's starting to look like a real ballpark and will be great to attend a few games outdoors, the way baseball was meant to be played.
The Twins also signed a new third baseman on Sunday as they announced Joe Crede has been brought on board. Now I'm trying not to be negative about the signing, I think he is an upgrade at third but... he has not been healthy for two years. The problem has been his back, and those type injuries often linger and eventually lead to retirement, think John Castino. The reports of Crede being a great defensive third sacker are also from three years ago when he was last healthy. Last season he was the AL starting 3B in the all-star game before his season ended shortly after with back issues. It was not due to his defense. He commited 20 errors and had just a .930 fielding percentage, terrible. The back might be better now, but for how long on the concrete infield at the Dome. My numbers prediction for the season for Crede: .250 ave. 16 HR's 55 RBI's and plenty of E's before his season ends in July with more back issues. The same numbers as last season. If he isn't around to help you for the pennant race, how big a signing is it really?
If the Twins want to impress me go out and sign Juan Cruz to a one year deal. He has really adapted to the bullpen and has 97mph heat with plenty of movement. He would look great working the 8th inning for the Twins. According to the latest blog by Twins beat writer LaValle E. Neal that probably isn't going to happen.
The Golden Gophers of Tubby Smith may have regained their balance on Sunday with a beat down of the Northwestern Wildcats. According to Joe Lunardi who fancies himself a bracketologist with espn the Gophers would be the 10 seed in the East . That was set before the latest Gopher win as well, hope they can get in. It's the 16th staright year the Tubby has had a 20 win season, it's the first time since the 90's the Gophers had back-to-back 20 win seasons. Where is Dan Monson now you might be asking? Or maybe not! He's at Long Beach State and went 6-25 last year, although better this year. Have I hailed Tubby recently?
I'm feeling "Stimulated"
2/20/2009
I figured I'd be getting a few bucks back from the government in the form of a tax return so I headed to see my pal Hans and get my taxes done. Why wait when you expect to get money back right? Well little did I know that as a first time homebuyer I'll be part of the stimulus package in the form of a $7500 no interest loan from the government. Make sure your tax preparer, or you if you do them yourself are aware of tax form 5450. This was a tax break enacted last year, if I had bought my house after Jan. 1 it would have been $8,000 and I wouldn't have to pay it back. As it is I do have to pay back the $7500 with no interest over a 15 year period starting in 2010. Oh well at least I didn't get stiffed completely.
I'm not sold that thePresident's spending bill is going to shake us out of this deepening recession, but I'm glad to get a small piece anyway. Although as far as I can tell the part I'm receiving was passed last year so I'm still not really getting this from the Obama plan. I hope it works because that means the country is headed in the right direction, but it seems as though there's a lot of earmarks, like Harry Reid'shi speed train , is this part of stimulus, I don't know.
We need real leadership right now and while I'm not saying I don't believe we have the right leaders in place, I am saying we need to contnue to offer dissent. When the Bush administration was in charge and the Republicans led the House and Senate all we heard was "It's American to engage in dissent." That has never been more true than now.
Start Tanking Games Now!
2/16/2009
If you're the Minnesota Timberwolves, the time to start losing as many games as possible is now. There is no way the Wolves can continue to make this a viable season in the second half of the year after losing their best player, Al Jefferson, for the remainder of the season to a torn ACL.
Now I doubt the Wolves will start sending in lineups designed to fail this early in the year, that's how management tanks games, the Wolves have done it before. While owner Glen Taylor accused his former future Hall of Famer of doing it, the Wolves are ones who once sent in Mark Madsen to heave up seven three pointers in one ill looking fourth quarter.
Some believe your not really a fan if you want your team to lose games instead of win. I felt that way about some of my friends who started this season wanting the Vikings to lose so Brad Childress would get the axe. This time it has validity if you want the Wolves to make a huge leap in competitiveness next season, potentially. I wanted to enjoy the season no matter who was at the helm.
This time the Wolves would have a better chance with more of those pesky ping pong balls . There are two program changers available this year that everyone says will make their teams automatically better right away. The first is playing tonight for UConn, Hasheem Thabeet. Shabeet is a seven foot three center for theHuskies from Tanzania who has only been playing hoops since he was fourteen years old. He would fit right in next to Big Al in the Wolves front court next season. Some have him rated as low as the fifth player being taken in the lottery this year, but for the Wolves I would make him number one on my board. They have the Wolves taking a guy named Jeff Teague from Wake Forest. What the Wolves don't need is another six-two guard who scouts doubt is a true point guard, please haven't we done that already?
The other guy the Wolves would have a chance at changing the fortunes of the team with would be Blake Griffin. This guy is a six-ten monster! While his best position is power forward, so that would make him my second choice for the Wolves, he's the best player coming out this year. This would make Big Al the center for the Wolves which he seems a bit undersized for, but Griffin would be well worth it.
Sure there will be some other nice players coming out this year, but there are two who will immediately change the fortunes of the moribund Wolves immediately, Thabeet and Griffin. Please McHale, for the love of basketball, get your ego out of the way, play that stiff Mark Madsen many significant minutes Use plenty of the other CBA talent you've assembled as the worst GM in the history of Minnesota Professional sport and start tanking games!
Sports are Entertainment
2/4/2009
What really bugs me is when people involved with professional sports i.e. athletes, coaches, owners, officials etc., take themselves so seriously. I mean sports is supposed to be entertainment. I would love it if more players et al involved would just have some more fun with their comments to the media. I mean what would be so wrong with bringing a little flair to the profession? Do athletes really get more fired up to play an opponent if that opponet has had something colorful to say during the course of the week?
I know last year Tom Brady made a point of showing up some poor defensive back who had shot off his mouth, but would the outcome of the game been any different if he hadn't? I can't even remember the guy's name, can you? The only thing Brady proved that day was that he's a little thin skinned. For a guy who's the baby-daddy of Bridget Moynahan , the current beau of the most beautiful woman in the world Giselle Budnchen, he shouldn't be so insecure? To say nothing of his incredible success on the field and at the bank!
Not that I'm a big fan of the way pro wrestling is conducted today, but wouldn't sports be more fun if you had the star players square off for a verbal smackdown the week of a big game? Just think if Daunte Culpepper, the week before last year's Lions-Vikings game, would let loose with something like Da Crusher would say and call Brad Childress a "turkey neck." Because afterall, Childress IS a turkey neck!
Wouldn't it have been a lot more interesting if Culpepper had said "I left the Vikings because I had no desire to play for that incoming idiot Brad Childress." Childress responds with "We had no desire to bring back a broken leg, interception throwing, party boat cruising knucklehead like Daunte (Culpepper). You could have the two of them attend the same press conference the Saturday of game week and fire off questions like a title fight warmup, now that would be entertaining?
Instead we get total zeros like Bill Belicheck. Here he is arguably the best coach in pro football today and he's the biggest snoozer personality in sports today. I would try and find a clip on youtube of him saying something interesting but there aren't any. Just think if Belicheck would say what he really thinks of the people who have ticked him off in recent years, and there have been many.
Belicheck "If Eric Mangini had half as many brains as I do he wouldn't have gotten fired by the Jets. I mean what was he thinking bringing that worn out, weeping old fossil Brett Favre to New York?!" Mangini retorts "Tell Belicheck to stop spying on everyone so he can pretend to be the best football coach in America. I thought I saw him spying on his kid's next opponent and stealing their signals." Then we cap off the press conference with an arm wrestling match. Wouldn't that be far more entertaining than the usual boring quotes we get out of these "geniuses." There are no geniuses in football, please, save that monicker for people coming up with 1080p televisions, now those guys are geniuses!
My internet connection is driving me to cry! Now that I'm 90 minutes into writing this silly post I think I'll stop, afterall LOST has just begun, and if I don't want to be lost as to what the heck Sun is planning to do next I've got to go!
In the future I will try and write some satire about sports, my love for the games that we play doesn't mean I can't take some cheap shots!
Another Super Sunday
2/02/2009
What a fantastic Super Bowl game, another in a line of great games since the era of Super Blowouts ended. Four out of the last six Super Bowls, and five of the last eight have been decided by just a field goal. All three of New England's recent wins were by just three points as was their loss last season to the Giants.
I'm not going to try and give a different spin on the "The Big Game" because you can get bombarded with Super Bowl info anywhere on the web. Instead I thought I'd pass along some of my memories of past Super Bowls. The first game I really have any memories of was Super Bowl V when rookie kicker Jim O'Brien kicked the game winner in the last five seconds to lead Baltimore past Dallas 16-13. The Vikings lost their first of four Super Bowls the year before, but honestly I just don't have any real memories of that game. I guessI had enough nightmares of Viking Super Bowl debacles without adding one from being six years old, must have blocked it out. My dad had friends over for that game, my mom made some great food for his buddies to enjoy and he kind of explained the game to me as we went. I was just a casual watcher up until then, that's really the first time I remember wanting to watch every minute of the game.
I used to be a gambling man, I can say I do understand what the "vig" is and of course what it means to play a "side" and the "over-under." One of my biggest teenage losses on the Super Bowl was when the Raiders walloped the Redskins 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII. I had the Raiders winning with a few five dollar bets with my friends, but I was also in on a $20 board that paid $500 a quarter. I was on my number and the Raiders had the ball deep in their own end looking like they were going to run up the middle on the last play of the third quarter. That's when Marcus Allen, who should have been a Viking, galloped 73 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the period and "poof" there went my $500. Lots of money for a teenager. I should have let that be a lesson to me about betting on football! Instead of Marcus Allen the Vikings slected Darrin Nelson, who didn't want to be here anyway. Remember he said he didn't think there would be any discos, or nightclubs or something like that in Minnesota, sigh. He's just one of many reasons the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl.
When I lived in Gillete, Wyoming working as sports director at a family owned group of stations there I would always go to the local bowling alley for the big game. The owner would always have a private party where you would have to arrive before the designated time or not get in. He would then lock the doors and all out "smoker" would ensue with poker games and craps tables as well as boards. He had anywhere from a $100 squares to $5. Super Bowl XXVII when the Cowboys buried the Bills 52-17 was another missed huge payout on a big board. A friend of mine had the number IF Leon Lett hadn't pulled his early touchdown dance he would have $1600 of which I would have shared 20%, there goes another $320! Didn't actually lose the money, but it feels like it. Did make about $400 playing craps that day, but was up about $800 before my girlfriend came over and fingered the stack of bills I had in front of me. As a gambler I was very superstitious, I never counted my money when shooting dice until we were done, she comes over and says "Wow, how much do you have?" "Don't touch my money!" I shreiked. I had made something like 15-16 staright passes or correct bets against another player. Boom that ended in a hurry. Oh well live and learn, although it took me awhile to learn.
All this just reminds me of how my life has changed, not a single dollar have I wagered on the last several Super Bowls, while I loved it, it didn't love me. If you gamble for fun and entertainment, that's fine, but make sure you don't get in trouble with it like I didn a few times before, but that's a story for another day.
Thanks for Listening!
1/23/09
A few more happy listeners to the live streaming of Cardinals gameds worldwide here on kwlm.com .
Thanks for streaming KWLM. Todd had quite the audience over the internet broadcasting the Willmar girls basketball game. My stepdaughter, Kelsey Evans, starts for the cards and has relatives that all listened to the game that could not normally here or even watch her play. The cities listening were St Louis, Washington DC, Belgrade MT, San Francisco, Duluth MN, Ames IA, and Kansas City.
Thanks again,
Matt Smith Montevideo, MN
I am enjoying listening to the game on the web and following the exploits of my grand niece, Kelsey Evans. Also enjoyed reading your blog about two local Cedar Rapids guys who have made good – Kurt Warner and Zach Johnson. Both of these guys graduated from the same high school in Cedar Rapids, Regis. It is rare and wonderful thing to see…national sports figures from a small school…..and being able to listen from Coralville, IA across the web the play by play of your niece playing Fergus Falls. Sincerely, Jim Houlihan
We're happy to bring you Cardinal sports on the web, check out On Demand and Photos page for more Cardinal sports stuff.
The Weekend 1/18/09
It turned out to be a big weekend for me and for many around the country as the Inauguration week of festivities got underway with a big shindig in downtown D.C. I'll blog more about the executive changeover later this week.
TheArizona Cardinals make their first ever Super Bowl appearance with a 32-25 win against the Philadelphia Eagles. I was wrong again on my pick of that game. I don't think I was the only one picking against the Cardinals in every playoff game so far. So I'll probably stick with that and go with former Vikings D coordinator Mike Tomlin and his Steelers in the Super Bowl. Another former Vikings assistant coach to go to the "Big Game" joining Tony Dungy and Brian Billick. Both of those guys won their Super Bowls, maybe Tomiln can do the same. Steelers beat the Ravens 23-14, did get that one right!
The golf season got into full swing with the first full field event of the season The Sony Open in Hawaii. Won by a nice young guy in Zach Johnson, who burst on the scene in 2007 by winning the Masters. He hasn't done too much since then but winning this weekend gets his '09 season off to a great start. When the weather is coldest I like to warm myself with watching golf and talking about baseball with my fellow rotisserie baseball nuts, more, much more on that in the weeks and months to come. "Roto" baseball is the king, those playing "fantasy" baseball are just pretending they know the game.
My previous article on Tubby Smith's Gophers starts to look like the SI jinx although with far less history obviously. The Gophers settled for jumpers and we had to suffer through the statements of the obvious from former Gopher Spencer Tollackson. Who so far doesn't seem much better at game analysis than he was at the game itself. Which is to say he's not terrible, just not intuitive. He needs to leave his career at the door and focus on the game at hand. Anyway the Gophers made us remember they are a young team with a loss at Northwestern74-65. This time I thought maybe Smith left the big men on the bench a little too long the second half, but who am I to second guess Tubby, he's the man!
Personally, I enjoyed having five coaches in studio for my Coaches Corner on Saturday morning and one coach and one activities director "live on tape" as we like to say. It's a fast paced hour long show where you can hear from your Cardinal coaches about their teams.
Then I went to see a great movie that everyone should see that has any interest in WWII, of which I cannot watch enough History Channel stuff. It was called Defiance and was excellent, although I believe the story itself was probably more riveting than the movie. The Bielski brothers were indeed heroic, I always enjoy movies based on true stories more than fictional tales. Well usually I enjoy true stories more, but I still intend to see My Bloody Valentine in 3D anyway, guilty pleasures you know. I gew up watching the great horror villians of all-time, I mean the 80's might have been the biggest decade ever for movie villians. Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street and Michael Myers in Halloween, the first Halloween was actually released in 1978. There's nothing like a good scare in a slasher flick.
Looking forward with great anticipation to visiting my Mom and stepdad in Arizona later this week, taking a NWA flight out on Friday, playing golf at Rancho Manana and poker in AZ, should be a lot of fun. Only downfall is missing a few Cardinals games, but I'll be blogging from Phoenix while I'm there. Letting you know how things go, hope you keep reading. Anytime you'd like to send me a note about topics covered feel free to send me an e-mail at toddb@kwlm.com bye bye, so long!
All Hail Tubby!
1/15/2009
When I was growing up in suburban Minneapolis, we moved to Plymouth before my first grade year, my Dad immediately got Gopher basketball season tickets. Our first year was 1971-72, that was also the first year Bill Musselman was the head coach for the Golden Gophers. "Muss" was an intense guy who ruled the program with an iron fist, and played with a short bench. He didn't like freshman much and hated playing his bench even more. That first year he made a legion of fans because in 1971-72, he led the Gophers to an 18-7 record and their first Big Ten Championship in 53 years with a roster featuring Dave Winfield, Jim Brewer, Bobby Nix, Keith Young, Clyde Turner, Corky Taylor, and Ron Behagen.
What a team that was to watch. For a kid of seven years old the coolest thing was getting to the game an hour early so we could watch the Gophers do their ball handling routine before their warmups to the music of "Sweet Georgia Brown." That was also a team that got into one of the most infamous basketball brawls of all-time on January 25th of that season. My dad and I made every game that year, except that one. Dad had tickets to the NHL all-star game that was played at the Met Center and gave away his tickets. That notwistanding, a lifelong Goper hoops fan was born. We went to nearly every game until I moved to North Dakota to work at KDLR Radio in Devils Lake in 1986.
When I moved back to Minnesota upon landing a job here in Willmar the fall of 1995 my dad still had those season tickets. While I'm a little busy during the winter and could only make a select few games since moving back to my home state, It was still the best ticket in town. Clem Haskins was not my favorite coach, or it seemed the favorite of many even before the Gangelhoff scandal broke. He got his players to play hard, if not study very hard. We enjoyed the tournament run in 1997, now wiped from NCAA record books, and the crowds still packed The Barn.
Then becasue of the scandal the Gophers hand was forced to remove Clem "The Gem" and hastily replaced him with the guy that beat them in the 1999 NCAA Tournament,Dan Monson. Monson put unispiring, mediocre at best teams on the floor. He was handcuffed for a few years because of the sanctions placed on the program under Haskins. Those cleared up after a few years and he still bored Gopher fans to death to the point of only 8,000 fans per game showing up. Empty seats, no revenue, Monson should have gone before the 2006 season. AD Joel Maturi stuck with Moronson and was rewarded by having him quit on the team and program after just seven games, better late than never. The Gophers went on to have their worst season in the long history of Gopher hoops by dropping a school record 22 games. Oh woe was us the Gopher no longer faithful.
Then it happened, incredibly from out of nowhere Maturi plucked The Great Tubby Smith from the University of Kentucky to take over the program. March 22nd, 2006 will live forever as the turning point in the history of Minnesota Athletics, not just the basketball program. I remember being at the radio station and getting the news on the ap wire. I couldn't believe it, really...Tubby Smith from Kentucky? Why would he come here? Wait a minute, why am I second guessing I should just be saying Thank you! thank you! thank you! I rolled around on the floor of studio, giddy with excitement. I immediately got ahold of my dad Robert Bergeth, and gave him the news, predictably he didn't believe me. Who could blame him, the Gophers were no longer relavant on the college basketball scene, and now they have Tubby Smith, go figure.
The Gophers tonight rallied from a 13 point second half deficit to beat the Wisconsin Badgers in overtime 78-74. To me that's the win that stamps the Gophers return to relevance on the NCAA scene. Badger coach Bo Ryan had only lost three Big Ten games at the Kohl Center in his career, he arrived in 2001.
Once again Gopher faithful we can sing the Minnesota Rouser with a hail and hearty voice. Minnesota hats off to thee, to thy colors true we will ever be. Firm and strong united are we Rah rah rah for Sky U Mah rah rah rah rah, rah for the U of M! I wish my dad hadn't sold his season tickets during the Monson years!
Snow and Cold, I love Minnesota!
1/14/2009
Well when it's snow and cold in Minnesota we get busy at the radio station. Of course with the cold it's a little easier becauset the school calls come in the night before. When the snow comes in the morning, then things get kind of crazy around the station. Thankfully we usually have staff out front like Marcia and Mary who help answer the phone and post the school stuff on the website. Looks like another day like that on Thursday morning.
Thanks for tuning in to the Cardinals game on Tuesday night, unfortunately they coulodn't hold onto the lead againhst a very quick and talented Apollo team. They lost 64-61 but I'm sure learned some valuable lessons. Thanks to a familiar friend of the Cards for tuning in from Chicago.
Listening on-line to a great first half by the Cardinals. I am very excited that this is an option now, although it probably won't help my withdrawal symptons from Cardinal basketball any. It's great to hear the action live, I'll be tuning in from the windy city regurlarly. Go Cards! Dave Ostercamp Chicago IL. Glad we could bring the Cards to Chicago for Coach Ostercamp.
As you check out the new site and see that some of the pages are not yet operational, hang with us, we are working on getting some things straightened out yet. I'm able to check the stats and see that many of you have checked the On Demand page and have found nothing posted yet. That is coming soon I'm told.
Also the loyal listener club page has not been activated, again keep checking back and that will soon be up and running. Thanks to program director of Lakeland Broadcasting Bob Thompson and web guru James Miller for all their hard work on getting the new site up, we are excited about it, but as with any new venture it;s still a work in progress.
If you want to find out what games we are broadcasting and can't find them, as some of you have told me, thjey are located on the sports page. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and the games we have scheduled for broadcast both here and on 106.5FM "The Train" are listed on there.
Thanks for checking out my blog, keep reading there will somethiung more interesting than a website update coming in the near future. Todd.
No Hall Of Fame for Blyleven....yet
1/12/09
The Hall Of Fame voting was released on Monday and there were a few interesting things that happened. First Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were selected. For Henderson it was his first year of eligibilty, and he rightly went straight to Cooperstown. For Rice it was his 15th and final chance, hopefully his selection will resemble that of Bert Blyleven in a few years.
Henderson's numbers speak for themself, he was the best leadoff hitter ever to play the game, and the best basestealer. The Baseball Writers Association of America never allows anyone to get in unanimously, not even Babe Ruth was a unanimous selection. You'd have to ask the writers that have a vote why that happens. I believe they just enjoy having the power of a vote and rule over the careers of players, some of whom they have contentious relationships. What a writer with an axe to grind, I'm shocked!
The second interesting thing was the decline in support for Mark McGwire. If it's numbers alone clearly McGwire is in already, instead of declining supprt in his third year of eligibility. It's the painting of McGwire with the steroids brush that will keep him out of the hall, perhaps forever. It looks like the writers feel what the steroid boys of summer have done is considered as offensive as that of Pete Rose. Baseball has really done nothing to punish Big Mac and others like him, so the writers are taking it upon themselves.
For Twins fans, take heart in this year's vote if you believe like I do that Blyleven belongs in the hall. I think the reason Rice got in this year was it was down to his last chance, his 15th year. No longer could the writers say "well we can always vote for Rice next year." It was this year or never. Blyleven is fighting against the theory that it is better to be great for 10-12 years, than be good for 20 years. To me the most compelling of Blyleven's numbers is his 60 complete game shutouts, that's 9th all time. It's fourth in the post dead ball era. Only Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver have more since that time.
This was Bert's 12th year of eligibility, he has been gaining support in the vote steadily over the last five years. Afterall in his first year of eligibility 1998 he only received 83 votes, 17%. So he has come a long way since. My theory is that he will get the call in his 15th and final year just like Rice. It is a very weak year for first time candidates that year, with Bernie Williams probably the best of that class. Unless of course the pro Twins vote is split that year with first time eligibles Brad Radke and Matt Lawton.
But for this year at least I can't wait to hear Rickey on Rickey in his Hall of Fame induction speech.
Gran Torino, a movie and life review 1/11/2009
The latest Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino was definately worth taking in this weekend. I decided to drive to Cold Spring and watch it at their beautiful new theatre the Quarry. I make the 45-55 minute drive because of the comfort of the seats, they recline and have padded arms and high backs, the size of the screens and the nature of the audience. It's a rare occasion when I can watch a movie in Willmar and not have someone with a three year old, or a constant dialogue of their own during the movie.
This isn't going to be so much a movie review as a life review of my days going to high school in Bloomington, MN. Before I get into that a quick review. First I rate movies by how much I paid and what I thought it was worth. I went to the saturday matinee and paid a very reasonable $5 bucks. Gran Torino was easily worth a full price ticket of $7 at the Quarry. My dad always rates a great movie if he would pay to see it again, if he called me and asked to meet in St. Cloud to see this again, I would.
If you're looking for an action Eastwood movie in the line of Dirty Harry, this isn't it, but then Clint is in his late 70's so maybe you weren't expecting that. No this was an unexpectedly funny and poignant film. I was in a group of maybe 20 movie goers, admittedly an older demographic, and their were several times during the movie where we all laughed out loud at the cantankerous character of Walt Kowalski portrayed by Eastwood.
This movie was written by a Minneapolis screewriter, Nick Schenk, about his life and father growing up there. The original screeplay used Minneapolis as it's backdrop. He wanted to film in the Twin Cities but the taxes made it too expensive, what a shocker, so they moved it to suburban Detroit, MI.
Here's where I take stock of my upbringing in Bloomington. I was going to Bloomington Kennedy high school and "graduated" in 1983. I put graduated in parenthesis due to some lateness of the arrival of my diploma, due to great fault of my own. There was a tremendous influx of the hmong people into my school district with the hmong evacuation of the mid to late 70's. Many landed in Bloomington thanks in large part to the churches, just like the movie's female lead Ahney Her, states, she was excellent by the way.
I was a somewhat spolied upper middle class class kid going to an east Bloomington blue collar school that was populated by mostly white, culturally ignorant, student population. I lived in south Bloomington and transferred to Kennedy after my sophomore year from Jefferson. My parents were the wealthiest of all my friends on the east (Kennedy) side. I didn't really have any friends on the west (Jefferson) side my first two years of high school. Part of the reason I transferred was having a tough time fitting in, we moved to Bloomington from Plymouth after my 8th grade year. That was the first year freshmen went to the high school in the Bloomington district, it was hell for two years honestly.
One kid I was friends with was a young vietnamese kid named Vai ( I can't for the life of me remember his last name) he was a great kid with a wry sense of humor who was quite popular among the other students. He had emigrated to the US with his family after the Vietnam war and evacuation of Saigon. He opened my eyes to the asian people, I had never known any before and he represented his people with great honor. I bet he's a lawyer or doctor today, but I have no idea, I wish I did.
Then I went to Kennedy and while I found many friends there I also found unbridled bigotry and at times racism. I don't know that I fully understood that I was being bigoted right along with them, no life experience, that's just the way it was. The language used during the movie was exactly the same we used on a daily basis to describe the hmong people. I don't believe any of us understood that the hmong had fought with us in vietnam and when we pulled out left them high and dry to be exterminated by the communist regime that took over.
Had we known, would we have acted differently? I can't say, afterall it's not like that information was withheld. Many teachers in my school had been opposed to the war, so there just wasn't much instruction on what had happened. Anything that was taught was mainly political and that we were wrong for being there.
The hmong were not welcomed and were forced to form their own gangs initially for protection, but that of course quickly changed to criminal enterprise like all ethnic gangs that have come to America throughout history.
There was a gang at Kennedy when I was there, there was also a group of students who weren't really a gang, but were like minded and when getting together could be considered a gang. This group I was familiar with and had many friends among them, they were the east side toughs (not an official name) who were getting in fights and intimidating the weaker students whenever impossible. They didn't sdhake them down for money, as far as I know, but they did make the hmong's school life at difficult.
This escalated from vandalizing cars and small skirmishes to fights with weopons and finally in the spring of my senior year there was a major incident. One of the leaders of the hmong had his Trans Am severely vandalized after slashing the arm of one of the East Siders with a sharpened windshield scraper. A gang war was underway and it was determined that we should have an all-out brawl on the lawn of the low income housing project where many of the hmong lived, which was just off 102nd street and 35W. Those projects are still there I think. I was really not part of all this too much, but did know many of the guys that were, they came through school "recruiting" every guy they could find to "show up to defend America!" Crazy now that I think back on it.
So I along wioth the rest of the baseball team went to see what would happen, we couldn't really believe there was going to be an all out gang fight. There was well over 100 of us that showed, from what I could tell from the cheap seats, never really been much of a fighter. There were about 20 of the hmong, not really a fair fight right? Wrong, we showed without weopons except I suppose for a knife or two I was told but never confirmed. The hmong, being so vastly outnumbered, came ready for real war. As soon as I saw a rifle and handgun brandished, I boogied (terminogy from the 80's) to turn tail and haul a**!
While there were no casualties that day, there were many arrests, as police had gotten wind of it and showed up with paddy wagons and riot gear shortly after I had vamoused. Several of my buddies were arrested, along with almost all of the hmong. It was ugly day in my high school history that I had almost forgotten about until watching Gran Torino yesterday. I certainly have a different persective now than I did then.
My baseball coaches thoughts on the whole thing? Made us run laps for being late to practice. No talk about racial tolerance or understanding, just "run the field three times" for being late. It was just another day back then in the 80's. How strange that seems to say today.
Another terrific finish and Cards victory
1/10/2009
Wow, it's rare thing to be able to call one buzzer beater in a season, let alone two in a row! The Willmar Cardinals girls basketball team got an offensive rebound and putback with just one second left to beat St. Cloud Apollo on Friday night at "The Big Red Gym" 70-68.
Head Coach Brad Atchison, known to his friends as "Face", called a timeout with his team tied and :09.2 seconds remaining. In the hddle he told senior shooting guard and leading scorer Kelsey Evans to "make it happen." According to Evans on the post game show. So she did, taking the inbounds pass and driving to the left side of the lane and turning the corner against what looked like from my seat courtside the entire Eagles defense. She lofted a shot from the left baseline from about eight feet, it nicked the rim and fell off....right into the waiting hands of 6 foot 3 junior post player Alex Lippert. She caught a tricky rebound and with a soft touch put it back in for the two point lead. The horn sounded right after but the officials ruled that head coach Mike Myers-Schlief had called timeout with :01.1 sec. remaining. Apollo just had a heave at the horn remaining it wasn't close and the Cardinals secured their third win in a row. They are now nine-and-two on the season and are tied for first place in the Central Lakes Conference with a six-and-one mark.
Again thanks for tuning in to kwlm.com we are streaming live with all of our prgramming 24 hours a day including this morning's Coaches Corner Show where Cardinals gymnastics coach Larry Selchow, wrestling coach Casey Johnson and boys basketball coach Steve Grove joined me live in studio. I talked with Atch in the gym after Friday night's game. Also reaired the post game interview I had with Evans and Lippert. At some point in the near future we will have our "On Demand" feature up and running on the website and you will be able to access these shows and interviews at your convenience. I'm told that's coming SOON, so keep checking back for that.
Thanks to these listeners from around the country and state for tuning into the game on Friday night: Hello, Todd!
I just want to extend a "Thank You" for providing the broadcast via the web.
It's great to be able to hear the game, in which my niece Jena is playing, all the way up here in Duluth! (Grandma is listening on her computer too)
Go Jena! Go Cards! Gail Wahlberg
And: It is great to hear you online! Its nice to listen to our niece Kelsey's games on-line; finally, otherwise we have to drive 4 hours (Duluth, MN). We like your announcing style; it's easy to listen to and follow!
Thanks,
Nathan and Anne Towslee
Also this from a very special fan near to my heart: Just finished listening to your Saturday Morning Coach's Show on KWLM from sunny ARIZONA!!!!!!!! After all these years of not being able to hear you on the radio except for the rare time that we were in your town when you announced a game, it is so GREAT that I can listen to you on air!!
Thank your management for a very happy MOM for going live so I can listen on the computer.
A boy can always count on his Mom for support!
Fantastic Finish! 1/8/09
11pm
What a fantastic finish for the Willmar Cardinals as they get a beyond the last second three pointer from the tallest point guard in captivity Taylor Filipek to beat the Little Falls Flyers 52-50. The Cardinals had the ball for one last shot with :04.4 sec. left. Alec Saunders was throwing in on the sideline right down below our seat and directly in front of a small but enthusiastic Flers student section. I thought the Cards needed to get the ball into Jordan Smith's hands, so did Head Coach Steve Grove as he called the play for Smitty.
Unfortunately Flyers veteran coach Kevin Jordan thought the same thing and immediately double covered Smith on the sideline where he got the ball from Saunders on the inbounds pass. Fortunately for the Cards, Filipek anticipated that Smith would be doubled and told Saunders to "look for me just in case." While Saunders went to Smith, Jordy immediately saw the double and gave the ball to T-Fill about thirty feet from the hoop. With the scant seconds ticking away Filipek knew it was his shot to take buit found little room to operate.
With one last dribble Filipek slipped his lean, strong 6-5 frame between two defenders and let fly. With the horn sounding as the ball was in the air Cardinal and Flyer fans held their breath and the visiting team's play by play guy was screaming "Filipek let's it fly." It found nothing but the net, beyond the last second. I haven't gone nuts like that since last year's third place State Tournament game the Cards won late.
On the post game show Filipek clued us in that the Flyers "played three guys in a zone and had one guy chase both Jordan and me." That's called a triangle and two commonly referred to as a "junk" defense. Not that it's not worth anything, but that it's out of the norm. Just ask Willmar girls Hall of Fame head coach Brad Atchison (class of 2002)about them, he has played those "junk D's" several times in years past depending on the matchups. That defense held T. Filipek and Smith to a combined 12 points, 29 below their combined average.
Give the Cards credit for their defense on 6 foot 8 Flyers center Dan Kornbaum, they held the lanky junior to 10 points, 11 under his season average. The elder Kornbaum did score seven of his ten in the last three minutes to almost lead his team to the come-from-behind upset of the 8th ranked Cards.
It's late, I'm going to bed, just had some energy to burn off after a fantastic finish and a reaffirmation of why we love high school sports!
P.S. Thanks to Isaiah Streed's uncle for tuning in from Parker, Colo on KWLM.com "Todd, My nephew, Isaiah Streed, plays for the Cardinals and I'm listening to the game on-line Thursday night. They are leading after the first half. As the "full-back" scored his first three pointer. Keep up the good work." Joel Streed Also heard from Brett Aamot, dad of Cardinals girls junior guard Mariel Aamot "Nice blog, Todd. Listening to the Cardinal boys playing Little Falls—keep up the good work!!!
A Day in the Life 1/8/09
9am
So you want to be a sports broadcaster? Now while I love my job and am thrilled to be a part of theLakeland Broadcasting family and our many entities, which now include this Blogumn, (combination blog/column) there are days that can be quite long. Take Tuesday for example. I arrived about 5:45am and conducted the Tim and Todd Show from 6-9am solo on Q102, with Tim having the day off. That always stresses me just a bit because Tim is so talented and able to multitask the many show elements, and I'm really not able to pull that off. So I know the show is not quite the same, but I do my best. I know if I asked him to do play by play of the Cardinals he would also struggle, so we have our own deals.
Then the longtime host of Open Mic Bud Hanson was unavailable for the day so I hosted that show for him. That was fun, Leroy Dahlke, the DNR Wildlife Manager at the Willmar office, is always a good interview. He had some good guys along with him, Greg Soupir, trails supervisor and Jeff Dens, conservation officer. They carried the show so that clipped along pretty well from 10-11am. I often sit in with Bud when he has an open date as well. That can be fun when we get on the sports and politics chatter.
I did my regular shift until 1230pm with Slots of Fun, the Swap Shop and my regular sportscast at 12:20pm. As soon as I finish my shift I get ready to do the sports brought to you by Northern States Supply, with Paul Stagg for his show Live at Five with Paul Stagg. We often will do this with a live call but since that about 12 hours after the start of my day we record when we can. So I'm out of the building about 1pm for a couple hours off. Often this includes a nap but on Tuesday it included watching the Parking Wars marathon on A&E. I love reality shows they have. Who can't root for the Dog, The First 48, Jacked, Manhunters and Rookies.
So after watching people take abuse doing their jobs on Parking Wars I jumped in the station truck and headed for Bernick's Arena in Sartell at about 4:15pm. Arriving at the arena at 5:30pm for a 7pm broadcast of Cardinals boys hockey. Mike Reynolds has joined me on the hockey broadcasts this season and is doing a great job. He's even been doing some play by play so I can get him some on the job training for when he has to do a game coming up later this month. Why you might be asking, I'm headed for sunny Phoenix, Arizona for almost a week in late January. If you've ever been in an arena or football stadium in Willmar, MN you've heard the enthusiastic public address of Mike. He's also been an outstanding member of the Willmar Public Schools Board of Directors as well. Did I mention I'm headed to Phoenix to visit my Mom during the coldest week of the year in Minnesota, I can't wait.
So Mike and I finish the broadcast about 9:30pm and head for home arriving in beautiful Willmar, MN just before 11pm. Watch the late SportsCenter until 11:30pm before heading for bed. Gotta get up bright and early at 5:30 the next morning to start all over again. Not so busy on Wednesday's, but I want to be sharp for the afternoon poker tourney down at Jackpot, but that's a story for another day.
So much for a day in the life of your friendly neighborhood sports director!
It's time to REVOTE NOT RECOUNT 1/5/2009
It's really hard to believe what's happening with the quote "recount" of the vote tallies for the US Senate seat. Now we have the state canvasing board about to ratify the recount tallies even though we have 25 precincts with vote totals that don't matchup with the number of registered voters, huh? Apparently when there is a disputed ballot they run a copy of the ballot in question so they can have a more hands on approach in examing the original without worrying about degrading the original ballot. On over 100 occasions in one precinct alone, they "forgot" to mark the duplicate ballot as a duplicate. Meaning that many votes were counted twice. Strange that Al Franken has been getting the best of the discrepancies in every case. Not really strange so much as dubious. In other cases votes have been lost. People wake up! This is why we went to optical vote scanners to begin with, because when humans are asked to do the hand counting there are always mistakes, and dare I say it, fraud. Heavens no, not in Minnesota!
The Wall Street Journal went so far as to say "we can't recall a similar recount involving optical scanning machines that has changed so many votes, and in which nearly every crucial decision worked to the advantage of the same candidate. The Coleman campaign clearly misjudged the politics here, and the apparent willingness of a partisan like Mr. Ritchie to help his preferred candidate, Mr. Franken. If the Canvassing Board certifies Mr. Franken as the winner based on the current count, it will be anointing a tainted and undeserving Senator." Read the full article.
It's laughable that today Stuart Smalley (a.k.a. Al Franken) declared himself the "next senator from the state of Minnesota." When in fact no senator can be declared for seven days after the ratification of the recount by the canvasing board. And then only if there is no legal challenge by the other candidate, which there is sure to be. There should be, Coleman can't let this slide. The ironic thing is all the Franken backer's in this state are raising their arms in triumph. When Norm Coleman declared he was the senator from Minnesota they howled. Coleman said he thought Al Franken should do the taxpayers a favor and concede, Franken is doing the same thing right now. For Coleman is was a bit of a p.r. gaffe because by state law there had to be a recount since it was less than .01%, it's still that razor thin now. However since their candidate has been declared the defactor winner, then justice has been served, ridiculous. It's like playing a game or one side gets to decide when the game is over. It will always be when their side is ahead on the scoreboard.
Why is it that historically Democrats come out victorious in recounts, this happened in 2004 with the Governor's race in Washington state, see the similarities?
We believe in this state that we have a politically fair and active state. Voter totals would stand behind that. Although our wisdom of selecting our political leaders has always had some odd choices. Jesse "The Body" Ventura as our Governor, Rudy "Governor Goofy" Perpich, and now Stuart Smalley, possibly. That being said there is only one way to fairly decide the winner of this election. That is through a special election.Now I am certainly not an election lawyer or legal expert, this may not be in the state laws, but if not it shoud be. In Georgia they have a "run-off" election when the victorious candidate does not receive 50% of the total votes cast. With Dean Barkley receiving about 14-15% of the votes cast, Franken stands to win this seat with well under 50% of the total. Please call the members of the canvasing board and demand a special election for this incredibly important senate seat.
I tend to use sports analogies, look at it like this, it's a three game series, Coleman won the first game, Franken the second, now let's play the runner match. It's a best two out of three, that's the only way to know. The also have just the two candidates on the ballot so those that have a hard time following very simple directions stand a better chance at properly filling the proper oval, which never seemed all that tough to do to me to begin with.
At that time if Stuart Smalley wins I'll tip my hat then promptly excuse myself to the restroom and have a good mancry. Because I will be embarrassed for my fellow Minnesotans.
Conventional wisdom says the Vikings don't have a chance
Sunday, Jan. 4th 2009 11am
Conventional wisdom from all the talking heads isn't giving the Vikings a chance to win the game today. For that reason alone Viking fans should take heart. Saturday's round of playoffs had all the road teams favored, that's the first time ever. The first two have won. When teams hear all week that they are either favored or don't have a chance it can have an effect on their preperation for that week's game.
During the course of the game teams are not thinking "That idiot Chris Berman called us goofy on the pregame show." However I believe that during the week maybe their prep is spiked up a bit to try and prove people wrong. Athletes are motivated by overcoming odds. I've been watching the ESPN shows all night and morning and everyone is saying the Eagles will win in a walk. They are about a three point fave, hooey I say.
Now you may be saying, "Oh sure Todd is wearing his lavender colored glasses." That may be, but when all are against you you need to do what the great "Voice of the Georgia Bulldogs Larry Munson said "Hunker down you hairy dogs!" .
Never be fooled into believing that football is not an emotional game, it is. Players are often criticized for comparing football to war Kellen Winslow said he was " a freakin' soldier" or something like that. Obviously football isn't killing people every day, but as an anology it's accurate in this sense. You are depending on the man next to you and you only care about him and your teammates. If the average person had to work at a job where surgery to your extremities and sometimes body core were a requirement of the profession, you might not be so anxious to take the big paycheck. Lineman who play five years or more in the NFL can expect ten years to be taken off the end of their lives.
When your physical and mental well-being is at stake on every snap, it no doubt is warlike. You could be crippled for life on any one play and that makes the emotional impact of playing in the NFL very tantamount to talent, almost. The Patriots title teams of the past decade show that an emotionally nuetral coach can lead a talented and experienced team to victory as well.
Now all this is moot if T-Jack and Adrian Peterson turn the ball over more than once. Everyone knows you need to hang onto the ball and all that stat analysis says that's the most important number in football except for the score, turnover ratio. I will say All day Pete will be fine, but T-Jack may struggle. If he does it could be a long day. Don't count out the chance of Donovon McNabb giving the Vikings the ball a few times as well, he's done it before.
The Eagles are going to blitz the Vikings plenty today, they've been saying all week the Vikings are the worst team in the NFL in passing against the blitz, that means don't get third and long, throw on first down.
Just saw ex-Viking Cris Carter take the Vikings, he has his lavender glasses on too!
I'll take the Vikings 20-17 with Ryan Longwell, the best clutch kicker in Vikings history, hitting from 40 plus yards to win the game. SKOL VIKINGS!
What you will find in my blog/column
We've been talking about getting this website up and running for several months now, and with that a blog/column from yours truly. Why do I call it a blog/column or from here on known as a blogumn? Well you can't respond directly to a post I have made, so it's really a hibred of the two. I do want some feedback from you about what you'll be reading here just send me an e-mail at toddb@kwlm.com I'll be happy to respond. I may also post some reader e-mails here on the site.
You'll find me writing about sports, golf, poker, television, movies, politics and radio life. I just hope to entertain and keep you coming back. They count the number of readers, so please tell your friends!
I have tried a blog before but stopped doing it rather quickly, lack of motivation being the main reason. With continued employment driving me this time I promise to keep it going.
I hope I can not take myself too seriously, although I may touch on some serious topics at times. I'm a grad of the "School of Hard Knocks", and will do my best to put you in my seat, just like I try to do when I'm calling a ballgame.
This is just going to be the viewpoint of a 44 year old radio guy who has seen a lot of strange places over the years. I will tell a few stories and offer some opinions, you might not agree but hopefully you'll enjoy!
Keep Reading,
Todd Bergeth
Radio Dude and new member of the blogosphere
Email Birthday announcements to askus@kwlm.com. Tune in for the Birthday Club, weekday and Saturday mornings at 8:20 am. Someone will win a Birthday Cake from Cashwise Foods in Willmar. Please allow 48 hours for processing.
Happy Anniversary Each and every wedding anniversary deserves to be celebrated in a memorable way. Let KWLM help you celebrate your special day as we announce anniversaries weekday and Saturday mornings at 8:20 am. Email Anniversary announcements to askus@kwlm.com. Please allow 48 hours for processing.
