Of course, Marthaler may not have asked the right people. Here's an amusing post from MLB.com's forum that's full of thoughtful, constructive criticism for me and this site:
I do not like how his site is now more about HIM and his musings on life than it is Twins baseball. Hearing him blather on about Elisha Cuthbert is pretty nauseating and enough to keep me from visiting his site anymore. Frankly I don't think he's any better than I am.
[...]
Aaron needs to drop a few pounds, too. I could probably not only talk circles around him here and make him look foolish, but I would probably also be able to dismantle him in about 2 seconds flat in hand to hand combat. Yet this guy makes a living doing this stuff. Whatever.
Obviously he makes some excellent points, particularly regarding my poor hand-to-hand combat skills.
If the New York Times' odd article about "the stressful world of blogging" was written five days earlier it would've made a solid April Fool's Day gag, but I'm pretty sure that it was meant to be taken seriously.
This week's amusing Google search that caused someone to arrive here: "How much does Jenna Fischer weigh?" Normally I'd try to provide an answer to that, because this blog is known for crunching numbers, but sometimes you just have to get your nose out of a spreadsheet and watch a game.
Official Twins Beat Writer of AG.com LaVelle E. Neal III was recently interviewed by another blog and made it clear that he's "not a Twins fan!" while noting that the shifting world of newspapers means that "somehow the work week has been extended without a change in pay" because of things like blogging and podcasting. LEN3 also drops this little nugget of intrigue:
I used to think that all I ever wanted to do was be a baseball beat writer but I've begun to think about branching off into other areas. Radio? TV? Not sure. The newspaper industry being in transition (loss of revenue to on-line, etc.) doesn't help either.
Luckily for LEN3, MinnPost media columnist David Brauerreports that the Minneapolis Star Tribune is interested in "branching off into other areas" too:
Waiting with bated breath to see your favorite scribe amble across your computer screen? Strib management hopes so, since in these days of shrinking staffs and slumping revenues, there's always room for ... klieg lights! According to a memo from Editor Nancy Barnes, the company is building a "standup TV studio" for a project dubbed, in classic 425 Portland style, "Strib TV."
[...]
Barnes lets the troops know that "some of you will (very soon) be tapped to produce content for Strib TV ... If you think you have a voice and or a presence on camera, here's your chance to shine." She sounds like a slightly desperate high-school drama teacher, perhaps because there are those in the crowd who would rather be left alone to report. ... Or, as a scribe puts it, "two words: cable access." Then again, if you look at all the doughy sports columnists on local shows, camera-ready clearly doesn't matter for certain topics.
As a "doughy sports columnist" who has somehow regularly appeared on videos for NBCSports.com over the past two years despite having a face for radio (if that) and basically dreading being on camera, I can assure you that LEN3 would thrive if given a chance to have his own "Strib TV" show because he's likable and loves to gab. Of course, my hope is that Joe Christensen would be his co-star, because the self-proclaimed "Felix and Oscar of Twins reporters" should stick together.
You can't stop Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidate Keeley Hazell, you can only hope to contain her. And thankfully even that's really, really difficult.
Judd Zulgad of the Star Tribunereports that the Timberwolves' blowout loss Wednesday night drew a 0.1 rating on FSN, which means that "an average of 1,068 households watched the rout." Seriously, is that even possible? Between the play-by-play announcer, color commentator, sideline reporter, two studio hosts, truck full of producers and directors, multiple camera operators, and various other people who're needed to run the broadcast, almost as many people worked the game for FSN.
Poker After Dark on NBC is the No. 1 show on my DVR scheduler and I've yet to miss an episode, but switching to their third female host in four seasons seems silly given that it's never been clear why they needed one at all. The show runs itself and the female host is on camera for about 30 seconds every hour while rarely saying anything of substance. Plus, announcer Ali Nejad would do a far better job interviewing players if given a chance. The show is great, but the female host couldn't matter less.
(And yes, I realize that sounds absurd from someone who "blathers on about Elisha Cutbert" and has an "Official Fantasy Girl" for his blog. To quote the great Adam Carolla: "Yeah, but still.")
My MinnPost colleague Pat Borzi penned an interesting column this week about Carlos Gomez, who has filled the early season with bunt hits, stolen bases, and amusing quotes.
I've long thought that Mila Kunis is highly underrated and recent evidence seems to agree.
If you missed the entries earlier this week, check out my review of Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends and my e-mail exchange with Rob Neyer. The interview got a very positive response, so I'm planning to make "E-mailing With ..." a regular feature going forward. In other words, if you're someone whose name people might recognize and feel like fielding some questions, drop me an e-mail.
