December 5, 2014

Link-O-Rama

• At the press conference announcing his $10.5 million contract Torii Hunter used the "those nerds never played the game" cliche when asked about his terrible defensive numbers and then called Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press "a prick" four different times in response to questions about Hunter's very public and repeated stance against gay rights. As if there weren't already enough reasons to question to wisdom of signing him for purely on-field reasons.

Parker Hageman of Twins Daily went inside the numbers to show why Hunter's defense rates so poorly, including video of specific plays. Hageman played the game in high school, so not sure if that counts or what.

Aaron Purmort died at age 35, leaving behind a great wife, a great son, and a community who loved him online and in person. He also went out with the best obituary I've ever seen.

• Wanna buy Jonathan Papelbon's condo? It costs $7 million and includes zero colors.

• This is probably one of the top 10 signs someone has posted in the elevator of my building during the 10 months I've lived here.

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post raised a lot of good points in arguing against the need for online comment sections attached to articles.

Jerry Kill was named Big Ten coach of the year just 15 months after Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan wrote that he shouldn't be allowed to coach the Gophers.

• This review of the new "America" restaurant at Donald Trump's hotel in Toronto is pure gold.

• Out of shape amateur MMA fighter tries the "Showtime" kick made famous by Anthony Pettis:

Some might say he failed, but failure is subjective anyway.

Josh Willingham announced his retirement, two months after his wife got mad at Berardino for reporting he planned to retire.

Dave Brown made his Fan Graphs debut writing about Willingham being the losing-est player.

• As someone who prefers staying home over just about anything movie theaters trying to be more like your living room is intriguing. But it'll never compete with not leaving the house.

Chris Rock gave a lot of interesting answers in a long, wide-ranging interview with Frank Rich.

Fran Tarkenton is never going to make the baseball Hall of Fame after admitting this stuff.

• It turns out the Twins' new coaching staff looks awfully familiar.

• If given the chance, how many MLB teams would wipe the slate clean and rid themselves of all contracts on the books? I think the Twins would likely be one of the them, despite Phil Hughes.

• Two of my favorites, Todd Barry and Tom Scharpling, sat down for a good chat.

• Scharpling is bringing "The Best Show On WFMU" back, minus WFMU, as a podcast.

• For the second time in three months the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an anti-transgender ad that never would have been accepted if it depicted any other minority group.

Gerald Green had one of the best in-game dunks you'll ever see:

And he's playing well for the Suns after looking like a bust early in his career.

• As expected, I crushed Michael Rand in the Minneapolis Star Tribune fantasy football challenge.

• Coup d'etat has good fries, gnocchi, fish and chips, and whiskey. Joy Summers wrote a good article about their one-year anniversary in Uptown, including guys like me asking for more TVs.

• My pick for Minneapolis' most underrated restaurant, Louie's Wine Dive, got a nice write-up centered around their chef, Patrick Matthews.

• "Gilmore Girls" watching update: Jon Hamm was on an episode in Season 3.

• Heyday is a fantastic restaurant and I'm sure that will remain true, but seeing Lorin Zinter's smiling face was a big part of the experience.

• Nye's Polonaise is closing after 65 years as a Northeast Minneapolis staple.

• Some of this week's weird and random search engine queries that brought people here:

- "Aaron Gleeman in a bear suit"
- "Naked parties"
- "Paul Molitor's wife"
- "Snoop Dogg and Eddie Guardado"
- "Fred Durst baseball"
- "Angelina Jolie in Minnesota"
- "Where is Scott Ullger now?"
- "Lizzie Caplan smokes Marlboro lights"

• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Best That I Can" by Vance Joy:


This week's blog content is sponsored by Uber, which is offering a free ride to first-time users who sign up with the promo code "UberGleeman."

12 Comments »

  1. Why can’t someone be anti-gay marriage without being called a bigot? It is based on his religious beliefs. I think his beliefs are silly and wrong and out-dated but he has the right to think that way without being labelled a bigot.

    Why was he asked about it? How many atheletes have been asked why they support left wing causes or Democratic during a press conference like this.

    I am a right-wing atheist (libertarian) who could care less if someone is gay. But I am really getting tired of this type of “facism”. We all have to believe in these progressive ideals or we will be shunned or worse. Thought poloce are sickening me.

    Comment by Todd Skoda — December 5, 2014 @ 9:24 am

  2. I don’t think Berardino called Hunter a bigot. All he did was ask a question about if Hunters views on gay marriage affected his market. Hunter could have responded by saying, “No, it was not an issue” or “None of that matters, I am were I wanted to be”. The story would have been over.

    However, Hunter was expecting the terrible beat reporting that existed in MN when he left, and was not ready for a beat reporter who actually asked the hard questions.

    The same was true for the question on his terrible defense. He thought becuse he is a good interview he would get a break. However, Beradino asked the hard questions and Hunter was ticked because of it.

    And all that being said, we all can agree that the Gilmore Girls is a very underrated show!

    Comment by GameND — December 5, 2014 @ 1:05 pm

  3. Stupid questions are not the same as hard questions. Berardino was just trying to create a story.

    Comment by Kale — December 5, 2014 @ 2:08 pm

  4. Bigot – noun – a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance
    I think this is a pretty fair term to use for Torii and those who hold his views on homosexuals. They are certainly a member of a group, and one that is being denied rights because they were born the way they are.
    Especially because those who he is bigoted towards have not done anything to him. They aren’t trying to ban straight marriage, they aren’t using their celebrity, power and money to influence elections to limit straight rights. They just want to have the same rights as everyone else. Why is that so bad?

    Comment by D-Luxxx — December 5, 2014 @ 4:56 pm

  5. Also, Gilmore Girls is fantastic.

    Comment by Todd Skoda — December 5, 2014 @ 9:26 am

  6. It’s interesting to see the word “bigot” getting thrown around so much when it comes to gay marriage. Do people remember that until about 3 years ago, President Obama was opposed to gay marriage. My point? This issue is a little more complicated than people are making it out to be.

    Comment by JJ — December 5, 2014 @ 9:46 am

  7. I love the “never played the game notion”. Because as we all know, George Lucas was a famed fighter pilot before writing “Star Wars”, David Halberstam was a Hall of Fame basketball player before penning “Breaks of the Game” and Stephen King had made multiple prison escapes in Maine before publishing “The Shawshank Redemption”.

    Comment by McGivey87 — December 5, 2014 @ 12:33 pm

  8. You have said “Jesus” in a context that Christians would consider it to be using their lord’s name in vain on your podcasts. It’s very public and repeated in your instance too. I realize it’s not vogue to be sensitive toward Christians but are you a bigot toward Christians or insensitive toward your Christian listeners? Do you think it’s okay to say “Jesus” even if you don’t intend it to be offensive …even if others do? Is your saying “Jesus” worse than Tori Hunter’s stance on gay and lesbians? You seem to take a high and mighty stance toward Mr. Hunter but how is saying “Jesus” in vain before your listeners not of the same ilk as what you admonish Hunter for? Shame on you for your ignorance and indifference toward Christians.

    Comment by eichmann — December 5, 2014 @ 10:24 pm

  9. ^ sorry for creating this person

    Comment by Jesus Christ — December 5, 2014 @ 11:18 pm

  10. Surely, your name is not Eichmann. Can’t be.

    Comment by Sascha — December 8, 2014 @ 9:56 am

  11. I generally agree with Skoda. I am growing weary of the leftist tendency to throw around the word “bigot” at anyone who disagrees with gay marriage. Its purpose is to shout down anyone who doesn’t follow in lockstep with the only correct and enlightened opinion.

    On a related note, I am also getting tired of Aaron’s liberal political views creeping into his Twitter feed and his Twins blog. I’m not going to say “stick to baseball”–he can write and Tweet about whatever he wants. But as a Twins fan who has been following his blog since 2003, I’m turned off by it. The endless brunch and beer discussion on the podcast is bad enough, but the preachy liberalism is getting to be more than I can stomach. And if anyone disagrees with him, his response is to condescend and belittle.

    Aaron, you’re losing this longtime fan of your blog. I’m not asking you to change your opinion. But the trajectory of your work reminds me of Roger Ebert. I used to love to read his reviews and opinions, but in the last decade or so of his life, he began to inject his left wing stance into his work on an increasingly frequent basis. I eventually stopped reading him because of it.

    Comment by 30A — December 8, 2014 @ 6:06 pm

  12. It’s difficult knowing that anyone around me could “believe” that my existence is wrong. It means everything when someone takes a stance like this, especially when it could adversely affect your readership or job, and it’s really disappointing when other people go out of their way to take the opposite position.

    Comment by ben — December 11, 2014 @ 6:38 pm

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