UPDATE: This amazing clip of O.J. Simpson's lawyer holding a press conference comes courtesy of NBCSports.com's Matt Casey and is a late addition to Link-O-Rama, because there's absolutely no way that I could end the week without first encouraging everyone to watch something so extraordinary:
"Nice work dude, up high!"
Over at his Minneapolis Star Tribune blog, Joe Christensennoted yesterday that his wife is "on the Cubs bandwagon now" and sang "Go Cubs, Go!" as the "scores were flashing on the television" at home. On a note that I can only assume is related, I was walking to a restaurant in downtown Hopkins earlier this week while wearing the "TC" Twins hat that's on my head approximately 97.4 percent of the time when I'm out in public.
All of sudden some random guy who was walking about 40 feet behind me shouted, "Hey man, don't you know this isn't Twins territory any more?!" It was the middle of the afternoon, so the whole thing didn't strike me as the impetus for a mugging or anything, so I calmly yelled back, "Oh yeah, who's territory is it then?" His answer? "The Cubs, of course!" Fortunately he left it at that and there was no singing involved, but this could be the start of a disturbing trend.
I'm setting the betting line at 2-to-1 that Will Young ruins everything by saying "yes" to Moss. A love that strong can't be contained by practical jokes.
Sherri Nichols once observed that a catcher's defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities, which is a fancy way of saying that the better a catcher hits the worse people perceive his defense to be. The opposite is also very much true, and that seems to have extended to Punto despite the fact that he's not even a catcher.
No one in the mainstream media seems able to discuss Punto's offensive struggles without noting his defense, and the praise heaped on his glove has increased just as steadily as his batting average has dipped. At .290 he was a good defender, at .250 he was great, and at .199 he's "spectacular."
Eliason notes that "he ain't the second coming of Brooks Robinson or Bill Mazeroski," but someone may want to tell Official Twins Beat Writer of AG.com LaVelle E. Neal III.
Not only does Seth Stohs do a great job filling a unique niche in the Twins blogosphere while being perhaps the nicest person in the snark-filled history of blogging, we learned yesterday that he craves McNuggets (and Kendra Wilkinson) and would make a perfect platoon partner for Brian Buscher at third base next season. If you think that Ron Gardenhire not giving Buscher and Alexi Casilla playing time down the stretch is a mistake, imagine being the coach who kept a .938 OPS on the bench.
As someone whose job allows him to spend half the year writing about baseball and half the year writing about football, I found it amusing when SI.com football scribe and fellow NBC Sports employee Peter King used a recent column to inform everyone that Derek Jeter is "the best player of my lifetime." If you're curious, King was born in 1957, although oddly that really doesn't make the statement any more or less crazy.
I'm seriously reconsidering this whole blogging thing now that Jay Mariottihas joined in. The way things are going, it's seemingly only a matter of time before the Star Tribune asks Patrick Reusse to start blogging, at which point he'll be obligated to sell his home and begin living on the street like the rest of us lowly bloggers.
Artie Langesits down with Sports Illustrated to talk about loving the Yankees, hating Bob Costas, gambling on sports, mentioning Rick Burleson during sex, listening to O.J. Simpson, and working with Howard Stern, among other topics. "Fiyah!"
The Jim Souhan Sheckyism of the Week:
And the available quarterback who might be the best fit for this team, Kelly Holcomb, hasn't even officially risen to No. 2 on the depth chart. Holcomb must feel like the guy who got bumped from "American Idol" by William Hung.
I've never seen even one second of the show, but about half of the dozen or so people who e-mailed me about the above quote pointed out that no one actually "got bumped from American Idol by William Hung." You know, as if that were the main issue.
Terry Ryan's 13-season career as Twins general manager has been covered in great depth all over the place, including here, but over at his Star Tribune blog LEN3 provides a unique glimpse into what it was like for an outsider to deal with Ryan on a day-to-day basis. His conclusion? "You want Terry Ryan to be your next-door neighbor" and "my career is better off for dealing with him."
Outgoing GM Terry Ryan will not have an office at the Metrodome but instead will be working out of his home as he pursues his scouting duties as an adviser.
A little advice for Ryan from someone who very much enjoys working from home: If you plan to do even a fraction of your work while in bed or on a couch, don't let that fact slip when speaking to someone in the media. As nearly every article that's ever been written about me shows, professional writers are for some reason absolutely fascinated by the notion that you don't have to be at a desk to work. If you like looking over scouting reports while lounging anywhere, make it your little secret.
Eliason notes that "he ain't the second coming of Brooks Robinson or Bill Mazeroski," but someone may want to tell Official Twins Beat Writer of AG.com LaVelle E. Neal III.
