Twins > BoSox... Simple Math

A quick Google search informed me that 33 out of 45 ESPN Experts picked the Boston Red Sox to win the 2011 World Series. Never before has a team won the World Series after a 0-6 start. Too bad for Boston... because that is EXACTLY where those suckers are. So sad. While we are only talking about less than 4% of the season... I see no hope for Boston reaching the playoffs, let alone their expected 100 wins and over 1000 runs scored. Callme skeptical.

Meanwhile... in the Midwest our Twinkies haven't started off so hot either. After a couple hugely disappointing losses in Toronto and a few expected losses in the Bronx, the Twins sit at 2-4 heading in to the Home Opener against Oakland. I had hoped for better. I had hoped Mauer would stop hitting grounders and bat higher than .077 and that Nishioka would stack up to be the defensive player the Club claimed him to be. I had also hoped that Pavano would have less than the 16 ERA he has now. But... those hopes are not being realized.

What do I do? I love the Twins with my whole heart anyway. I plan my days around Twins games. And I sit through the whole game... no matter how brutal it is because that is what a Twins fan does.

Don't get me wrong... the Twins are not the best team in the AL Central (raise your hand if you are ashamed to be behind the Royals), but my calculations tell us we are better than the 33-out-of-45 Red Sox and... that sounds pretty good.

Cheers.

Twins Tickets!

After my disappointing failure to get season tickets, which I am still not over, I did my best to order a plethora of Twins tickets in the pre-sale and sale to the general public. While it was my intent to purchase 20 or so games, Mom didn't think too highly of that.

Neither did every other Twins fan in Minnesota. My pre-sale experience went a little something like this:

1:58 pm - log on the twins site with my one-time-use password
2:00 pm- the time you were supposed to log in; tickets went on sale...
7:30 pm- finally released from the virtual waiting room and gain access to the limited quantity tickets

That is right, folks. I waited in the Twins virtual waiting room for 5.5 hours. What do I have to show for it? A game against Tampa Bay on April 28th and a game against the dirty White Sox in September. "That's all?" you might be asking. Well yes, because there were very few games left. Imagine my disappointment after shelling out the deposit to have no season tickets and then, to sacrifice almost 6 hours to have two games. This season was looking like a big joke to me.

On March 18th, I received a text message from my bestie, Mara. Now Mara and I are notorious for radical, last minute plans (thanks to me, we usually have an itinerary) and what she proposed was no different. Mara wanted to go wait in line at Target Field on March 19th for tickets. These tickets went on sale at 10 am and she wanted to go down at... ehhh... 9:30 or so. Now me being the brains of all our operations knew that the rabid fans of Minnesota would allow no such thing - we would have to get there by at least 7. Good thing.

By the way... Mara did say she asked me because of anyone she knows, I would be the only person crazy enough to do this.

Now Mara was in the cities on some family business, staying at a ritzy hotel near the theater district. I went down to said hotel at around 6:30, mooched some complimentary breakfast and headed off to Target Field. Lucky for Mara, I only brought one yard chair =). Good joke, I thought. She didn't.

We waited in line for 3 hours and all we have to show for it are... OPENING DAY TICKETS! YANKEE TICKETS! AND BOSTON TICKETS!

When we got to Target Field, it is my best estimate that forty people were in front of us, some of which had camped out in line for 15 hours, and by the time it was all said and done 300 behind us. We are so smart. I would say it was well worth the wait! I am way too excited and I can't believe how lucky I ended up. Hey, if at once you don't succeed... try, try again. Or something.

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.