Link-O-Rama
The Tigers placed Dmitri Young on the disabled list earlier this week and called up Jack Hannahan from Triple-A. Not only is Hannahan a Minnesota native who starred at the University of Minnesota, he grew up along with me in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, graduating from Cretin-Derham Hall (which also produced Joe Mauer and Paul Molitor) a few years before I graduated from Highland Park Senior High (which produced Jack Morris).
I bring this up to note that a hometown boy has made good, but also to inform everyone that in addition to being a major-league baseball player Hannahan also participated in one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen. Playing in the junior-high league at the St. Paul JCC while a grade school-aged Aaron Gleeman looked on, Hannahan's team battled Zack Neren's team in a multiple-overtime game that ended with both players having well over 50 points.
I have no real point, other than to say that it's amazing how vividly you remember certain seemingly unimportant moments from your childhood. I never spoke to Hannahan and can't remember ever hearing of him as a baseball player before he played for the Gophers, but in my mind he'll always be the guy who scored a whole bunch of points in a basketball game that maybe a half-dozen other people can recall witnessing.
Hannahan made his long-awaited big-league debut yesterday afternoon and may have made baseball history by going 0-for-6. Hopefully the Tigers give him a few more at-bats before sending Hannahan back to the minors, because that would be one ugly Baseball-Reference.com page.
Congratulations to friend of AG.com and fellow Twins blogger Seth Stohs, who is now the proud father of a baby girl named Jozie Sue-Elaine. Seth is without question one of the nicest, most genuine people I've "met" while doing this whole blogging thing, and his daughter is lucky to have him as a dad. In true Seth fashion, he apologized in advance for no longer having as much time to devote to his blog and then proceeded to pump out about 10,000 words over the next week.
Never before have I wanted so desperately to have my face bashed into a parking meter.
In last week's "Link-O-Rama" entry I described the amusement I received from reading Paul Katcher's pronouncement that "people who write open letters" are "hacks" and then immediately stumbling across an open letter on Will Carroll's blog. Well, it gets better. Jim "Shecky" Souhan's column in Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune began with the following:
You've heard of open letters?
This is an open thank-you note, addressed to those who made the new Twins ballpark possible.
Sometimes life is almost too perfect.
If there's one thing I've learned in 23 years on this planet, it's that when Will Leitch of Deadspin deems something "the most brilliant thing you'll see all day" he's not kidding around.
Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune has a nice article today on the pitching matchup that I'm heading to the Metrodome to see in person tonight: Francisco Liriano vs. Felix Hernandez.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people misuse the word "literally," so it gives me great pleasure to present this quote about the Twins' new ballpark from Bug Selig in the Star Tribune:
This is the end of a long and painful journey. I know Carl [Pohlad] has taken some hits and the Pohlad family, but there's no family that wanted to stay there more in their hometown than they did. And Jerry Bell, who literally gave his life here and all the Twins people.
For those of you unaware, Jerry Bell is very much still alive. On the other hand, Selig is literally still a creep.
I generally stay away from late-night talk shows because the celebrity interviews are so boring and scripted, but Artie Lange's nine minutes on Jimmy Kimmel Live was a tour de force performance.
Finally, a blog that's dedicated to a worthy cause.
I've already wasted far too much time on this, and the draft isn't for another month.
One of saddest aspects of my dog dying earlier this month is that people are now arriving here by way of Google searches for things such as "dog brain tumor" and "paralyzed right side dog" that are constant reminders. The worst part for me is that about a dozen of the people who have arrived here via search engines went on to send me e-mails asking for advice, as if I'm in any real position to give some.
One particularly touching e-mail came from the owner of a 7-year-old Boston Terrier who is sadly experiencing many of the same symptoms that my 6-year-old Boston Terrier did before we found out that she had a tumor. I could sense the same sort of helplessness in the e-mailer that I felt at the time, and as much as it pained me to do so I advised her to think seriously about putting her dog to sleep.
I'm hopeful that she didn't resent my "advice" too much, because I certainly would have if someone had suggested the same to me before we heard Sammi's terminal diagnosis.
On a related subject, a special thanks to Bat-Girl, who made a donation to the Minnesota Boston Terrier Rescue in Sammi's name, and to the anonymous reader who made a similar donation to the Humane Society.
