Spring Break!

Well... I am currently on Spring Break, but thought it wouldn't be fair to my readers if I didn't update you!

On Thursday morning my friends and I packed up the Buick and made our way down to... Chicago, Illinois!! It is the Cancun of the Midwest, trust me. While we aren't wearing shorts and don't have cute little umbrellas in our drinks, we do have baseball (and several hundred dollars in savings)!

Last night we hit the town of Chicago and experienced the great night life of the windy city. HAD A BLAST! Let's just say the 'buddy system' worked better this time then it did on my Bday Party Bus. Yikes... We lost a lot of good men out there.

As a Tommie, I... am actually not ashamed to admit we drove to Illinois to watch our neighbors play baseball for Augsburg. I may have mentioned before that I live next to Auggie Baseball players, but until this weekend, I have never had the chance to see them play. So far the boys are playing well and I can't wait to watch more games tomorrow!

PS: As a Twins fan venturing in to Sox Territory, I packed my black "White Sox Suck" tee and will be wearing it tomorrow. If I don't make it out alive, keep my story alive. Luckily everyone I'm with is either a Boston fan or a Twins fan... GO TWINS!

Hopefully I can get a picture of myself in said tee... it is going to be too funny. Talk soon!

NFL Lockout

A federal court in Minnesota (whoop whoop) scheduled a hearing on April 6 for the antitrust suit that was filed by the NFLPA against the NFL.

The case is set to be heard by Susan Nelson. Nelson was the third judge assigned to the case after two previous judges recused themselves. I probably would have had to do the same.

You see, a judge must recuse themselves when they feel they cannot distance their feelings from the case in order to be objective in their ruling. Who knows... maybe the case will transition over to Judge David Doty, who has traditionally heard arguments between the league and the NFLPA.

The NFLPA, which was decertified as a union, is expected to argue that the NFL cannot lockout players because they are no longer represented by a union. After the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement and the failure of negotiations, several players including Drew Brees and Tom Brady filed antitrust suits.

You keep me posted and I'll keep you posted. This battle is going to get dirty.

Happy Pi Day 3.14

I would like to give a shout out to my old High School in Madelia: Happy Pi Day!

For those of you who aren't a math geek, today March 14th or 3.14, is recognized as Pi day because of the numerical value of pie: 3.14159. I was, proudly, a member of the Math and Science club and still look back fondly on every March 14 when the best and the brightest would congregate around slices or whole pies from Baker's Square. Yummy.

I would have to say my favorite, excluding Holiday Specials, is French Silk. Yes, I know... simple and predictable, but that is how I like it!

Enjoy today and be sure to celebrate everyone's favorite mathematical constant! I know I will =)

Lefty Liriano Rebounds with Phils

After Liriano's first official start of the spring on Wednesday against the Orioles, he was not pleased with his mechanics and felt nothing was going right.

His feelings and performance seemed to pull a 180 shirt on Sunday in a start against the Phillies. Liriano pitched three scoreless innings, scattering four hits and walking two batters. While the outing wasn't picture perfect, it was an improvement in L's mind.

All of the balls put in play by the Phillies during L's start were ground balls, which is very good and, although his command was not spot on, he seemed to possess better movement on his pitches than against the Orioles.

There was mild speculation that Liriano was attempting to 'catch-up' after missing the early parts of spring training from shoulder soreness. I think Liriano just has high standards annnnd I can respect that - keep up the good work... dawg.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka Plays Despite Earthquake

The new second basemen for the Minnesota Twins arrived at Hammond Stadium on Friday morning unaware that Japan had been hit with an 8.9 earthquake, the largest in the country's history. His teammates and coaching staff were concerned about Tsuyoshi Nishioka's family and had asked him if they were fine... That's when Nishioka found out that, while he was preparing for another spring training game, a disaster struck Japan.



Ron Gardenhire offered to give the second basemen the day off in order to get in contact with his family, but after hearing from his wife via email and learning his family was safe, Nishioka played. He played in honor of his countrymen. Now THAT is what I call dedication - I think Nishioka is fitting right in.

Following the 3-2 Twins' win over the BoSox, the TV in Gardy's office was tuned in to continuous coverage regarding the double punch earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan. In Nishioka's first year in America, it appears he has the full support of his teammates and coaches. Way to be Twins.