Conner's Blog

Ok, enough about food, photos, and all that other jazz.  Apparently, Joe Mauer just agreed to a 10 year contract extension with the Minnesota Twins. I’m currently doing a pretty ridiculous dance in my cube.

I love that team.

Yes, I know it’s just sports, but I really don’t care right now.

Edit: Getting conflicting reports about the signing now, which bites, but hopefully the first report is true.

This past weekend was what me friend’s and I call cabin weekend.  We generally get together the beginning of October and catch up, have a few drinks, and cause a ruckus at a friend’s cabin.  This year was no exception and we had a blast even though it rained the majority of the time. 

I took the day off on Friday and went to Duluth.  I had planned on this a few weeks ago, hoping that I could get some photos of fall leaves and the lake.  Instead it was rainy with 40+ mph gusts.  At first I was disappointed, but it didn’t take long after hitting up Fitgers before I had struck up a few conversations with other bar goers.  During one conversation a couple who was also on vacation told me three fun Twins related stories.

This couple was from Woodbury and had lived in the Twin Cities for most of their lives.  The husband,  said that back in ‘91 his friends went to Vegas and asked if he wanted to place any bets.  He asked his friend to bet on the Twins to win the ALCS, but apparently this wasn’t possible so his friend placed the bet on the Twins winning the World Series.  The story gets even better, because not only did the Twins win the World Series that season, but he managed to get tickets to see the 7th game of that series and sat in center field.

The wife told me a story about the time when she was very young and her and her family went to the game at the Metropolitan stadium.  She somehow got separated from her family and some strangers took her to a local hotel and dropped her off with the management.  Apparently this was the hotel that the Twins players stayed at and she ended up hanging out in a room with the team.  Her parents managed to find her but she said she wasn’t really that excited to leave with all the attention they team was giving her.

Finally the husband told me about attending a game at the ‘65 World Series.  His father’s friend had an auto parts store who got a bunch of tickets to one of the games.  He took the bus to the stadium and when he arrived he discovered he had left his ticket in a book at his school.  Instead of turning around and heading back, and missing a good chunk of the game, he went to the gate and somehow was let in because he knew the name of the auto parts store that had purchased the tickets. Somehow I don’t think this would be possible in today’s world.

Of course I didn’t do any of these stories justice, but they are still fun.

I’m going camping this weekend, I’m leaving town at noon and heading in the general direction of Perham.  I’m looking forward to a weekend of boating, drinking, eating, driving my friends crazy, and fresh air.  One of my rules when camping is that I don’t use my cell phone, which means I’m out of touch with the world from the time I enter the campground until the time I hit my first town the day I leave.  So if you want to reach me you’ll just have to wait until Sunday.

Of course if we brought carrier pigeons back you could reach me when camping, I would definitely bring one of those with me.

Oh and one last thing that I wanted to put on my Friday Five, but wasn’t published yet, please read this letter to the Twins management and share it with every Twins fan you know.  Better yet, print it off, add your own comment and mail it to 34 Kirby Puckett Pl, Minneapolis, MN 55415.  Let’s force the management to reward not just us fans but also the best players in the league by trying for a championship.

I have a pretty big post I was working on this week but I just can’t get it finished.  I’m hoping to get it finished over the weekend, but it’s something I’m pretty excited to publish so I may take a little longer than normal to write it.  So today you get some thoughts and some links.  Photos are minimal but that’s okay.

• If you haven’t seen this mashup of the Brat Pack dancing to Lisztomania yet you’re missing out.  I’ve watched this video multiple times and it still gets to me.
• An onion tart is featured over at Orangette
• I never finished my post on seeing Solid Gold at the Lynlake Streetfest but here is a photo.  More can be found here.

• Simple, Good, and Tasty writes about a school in Newark that put growing lunch into the students hands.  I love this idea, I think everyone should grow their own food at least once.
• Do you restrict your hi-res photos on Flickr, read this please. (via Deets after Dark)
• The lock and dams in Minneapolis are pretty prominent features on your river, still I can’t help but wish we had this. (via kottke)
• No smoking in the Metrodome gives up the best thing I’ve seen in a while.  A Twins logo outside that will soon overlook real outdoor baseball.  Related:  Look at that view!
• A completely valid use of an ad.  Tim Olson, I agree with you.
• Freshtopia.net has a recipe for a virgin ginger mojito.  I tried it and it was good, and you could even ad rum if your feeling rebellious.  (found via heidiohlander)
• And because I’m posting this an hour before Friday, always remember, the Flickr: Last 7 days interesting photos link is always, always, always worth a click.

Have a fabulous Friday and enjoy the heck out of your weekend.

What is the deal Minnesota, our sports teams have been taken over by aliens.  At least that’s the only explanation I can come up with for the moves that have happened in 3 of the big 4 sports franchises.  I’ve lived here for 2 years and nothing close to this has happened in that time. Maybe the front offices forgot to pay their heating bills, froze, and are just now thawing out.

The Timberwolves

The Wolves might not have made big headlines, but they made a move I wanted them to make before the season began.  They traded away Rashad McCants and another dead weight contract.  They didn’t get much back, though I think Sheldon Williams could turn into a solid contributer.  McCants will always put up numbers if he gets minutes, but his teams will never be winners.  I liked this move and consider it addition by subtraction.

The Vikings

Ok, this deal hasn’t officially been completed yet, but it looks like the Vikings are going to get Sage Rosenfels for a 4th round pick.  This is a move that I really like.  Not that the team is perfect, but a big part of the issues last year was because of inferior QB play.  Gus Ferotte won some games, but he lost just as many.  Tarvaris has occasional shown flashes of brilliance, but he definitely isn’t the answer for the leader of the football team.  Getting a solid young quarterback who can grow alongside A.P. is huge.  They don’t need to pay him top money for his position, which means they may be able to upgrade one of the offensive line positions.

The Twins

This is the move that I liked the most.  Signing a player like Crede to a good contract is exciting.  I was ok with them giving him a guaranteed 7 million for the year, but the Twins stuck to their guns and came back with a much better deal that won’t hurt them nearly as much if his isn’t healthy.  Having a solid power hitter in both corners of the infield will be great, and his defense fits right in with the Twins program.  Really the best thing about this deal is seeing the Twins front office defrost itself and actually make a move that might pay off.  It’s been too many years since they did anything more than sign aging stars and trade away our best talent.  Hopefully this move works and they continue to try and improve my favorite team.

The Wild

I’m just appalled by this team.  Something has to happen, and hopefully seeing the other three teams make a move will force them to take action.  They need a new head coach and probably a new GM.  It doesn’t require a high hockey IQ to see something needs to change.  For a team that hasn’t had to worry about selling out a game since they came into existence, they haven’t done much to repay the loyalty of their fans.

So much to read, so little time.  Here is a new bunch of links to keep you from that project your supposed to be working on.

• We Got Served reviews Birchwood cafe, I’ve been thinking of making the trip to try it out and this definitly didn’t change my mind.
• Emily sent me here and I just had to re-post Jess’s found note.
• Ginger describes the mood around Best Buy Corporate since the layoff announcements.
• The Foshay Tower is one of my favorite buildings in Minneapolis and this photo is great.
• Paul gives us a bit of the history of the Minneapolis mass transit system before buses ruled the world.  He also gives us photos of lounging bears.
• Another reminder that outdoor Twins baseball is going to be awesome.
• Submit your ideas on what to do with the space near the Guthrie in downtown Minneapolis.
• Ed details the gaming of Digg by Village Voice.
• Reuben shows us one of the perils of biking in winter.
• You’ve probably already seen it, but News Cut links to the Blagojevich-Letterman interview.
• Coke is dropping the classic from their label.  It’s about time since kids these days weren’t born when New Coke hit the streets.
• If you don’t get this set of graphs, your not nearly as geeky as I am.
• I love this photo of a winter sunset over the cities.
• Katie takes a tour of the St. Paul winter market.  I didn’t know this existed and am excited to check it out soon.
• Unnecessary proposals aren’t new to Congress, but this one is just dumb.
• Finally, Cheap Healthy Good has a recipe that mimics the egg McMuffin.  I’ve made something similar to this before, but never quite went to these extremes.

Hope your week is going well, and if you are on Twitter, I’m looking forward to meeting you tonight or next Thursday.

Well it’s 2009 and I’m drawing a blank on post ideas already, which isn’t a good sign.  Lots of good stuff in this edition though.  I had a lot of things to read when I got back.  I also updated my blogroll.  Not every Minnesota blog I read ended up there, but over half did.  Hope everyone is having a great week.

• I’m not sure what I think about these nine hot technologies.  Most technology predictions never come true.
• America appears to have it’s own Stonehenge.  These are the things that make me feel insignificant.
• If you are a freelancer or just want to work with other creative types.  Check out Jelly!
• Awesome flowchart of the Air Force’s Rules of Engagement for blogging.
• Singlespeed gives a brief review of Muffuletta, a restaurant serving locally produced food.
• Kottke has his best links of 2008 up.
• We need more buildings that are as well preserved as the one in this photo.
• Another great photo, this time of Minnehaha Falls
  
• A comparison of Marriott and Ramada from What it Shwas.
• If your resolution for 2009 included cutting fries out of your diet do not click here.
• An interesting take on being a speech writer.
• Carl Pohlad died this week.  A sad day for a Twin fans, even if you didn’t like his cheapskate ways.
• One last photo from Uptown.

I spent yesterday trying to wrestle an interesting post idea out of thin air.  On the way I did come up with a neat idea that will be unveiled on Friday, but nothing to use today.  So instead I’ll just show off some photos I took over the weekend.  First two shots of the Target Field Construction area.

Target Field Construction Site Taken 11/15/2008

Another Shot of the Construction Site

The yellow stone looks pretty neat, and it’s really come a long way the last few months.

Next I’ll leave you with two photos of the Proposition 8 protest march that was going on in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday.  I only caught the tail end.

Protest March against Proposition 8

Protest March against Prop 8 in Downtown Minneapolis

Friend me on Flickr to enjoy more photos. All photos are Licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons License.

The Twins season ended last night in a 1-0 game against our biggest rival, the Chicago White Sox.  It was a game that the Twins couldn’t win.  Neither team could get a hit, Chicago had 5, Twins 2, as both pitchers were phenomenal last night.  The game came down to two plays, a play at the plate where A.J. tagged out Cuddyer to end the inning, and a one run blast from Jim Thome.  It is games like this that highlight the Twins inability to hit home runs.  We can generate 5-6 runs hitting singles and doubles, but when you can’t get the bat on the ball, you have to be able to bring everyone home on one mistake, even if everyone is just you.  It was a great game though, and I have to give credit to the Sox, they didn’t let the sweep by us ruin their season, instead they went out and won three huge games in a row to make it to the playoffs.

I wanted to write a post about the season but the more I think about it the more I don’t know what to write.  It was a great season, the team exceeded expectation to such a high level it was incredible.  Our new guys, Gomez, Span, and Casilla, are so much fun to watch, and our stars are some of the best in the game both on and off the field.

Instead, today I’m left feeling cheated by the organization.  We were not expected to do anything this year.  Instead we overachieved, played insanly good baseball, and did it in the perfect year.  With the Tigers and the Indians down and the Sox injury riddled the majority of the year, this was the perfect opportunity to make the playoffs and make some noise.  You saw this coming at the All-Star break and you could also tell that they could really use just one more piece.

Offensively, bringing in a bat at third base would have been nice, but where we really needed help was our bullpen.  It wasn’t deep enough to hold up once Neshek went down.  It cost us the division. With a solid bullpen we would have most likely won at least 6 more games in the regular season, and Sox wouldn’t have had a chance to win it all in a play in game.   Instead the organization sat on their hands, did nothing at the deadline, and brought in aging everyday Eddy Guardaudo 2/3 of the way through.  It wasn’t enough and they cheated the fans and their players out of an opportunity to see what this team could do in the playoffs.

I’m not going to rant anymore this post, like I said this was a great season and this team is possibly my favorite team in any sport ever.  I hope they re-sign Punto in the offseason, and hope they can bringing in a nice 20-25 homerun guy for third base.  Shoring up the bullpen has to be the priority though, as offensivly we did have the 3rd highest scoring team in the league this year.  I’ll be cheering for them next year and hope we can have a season as magical as this one.

I’m currently in shock.  Tonight’s game started out innocently enough, the Twins took a 1 run lead, and then things imploded.  Slowey gets knocked around concluding with getting hit by a ball in the forearm, ending his night.  His wild throw with that injured forearm ended up costing two runs.  The White Sox were up 6-1, then suddenly chip, chip, chip, we were down by 1.  Then Gomez and Span do their thing, and it was tied.

Good lord what a finish, after they play their game and advance Punto to 3rd by a sacrifice and a steal, Cassila knocks a bloop hit into centerfield to WIN THE GAME.  what a night, don’t expect much from me tomorrow becuase I’m drained.  All I know is we are ahead by a 1/2 game in the Central, we are at home against the Royals.  You can bet I will be cheering for the Indians all weekend.