Friday February 6, 2004
A LITTLE BIT OF THIS… A LITTLE BIT OF THAT
Well, I have discussed baseball the last three weeks. I have gone division-by-division, team-by-team, and position-by-position and analyzed each player, showing statistics, expressing some opinions, and venturing a guess as to where their fantasy value might be. That was quite a project. Here is what Al Bethke wrote about this series:
Seth continues his Gleeman-length series on fantasy players over at Seth Speaks.
Good stuff, but have a beverage handy. If you have a laptop and recently decided a block of cheese would make a nice snack before bed, maybe you could read part of it as you wait for nature to take it's course in your company restroom.
It is that long, but good.So today, I am going to just discuss a couple of random topics, including no baseball. But worry not… I will return Monday after a weekend full of rest and discuss baseball again. We will then be within a week of pitchers and catchers!
But, if you would like to read some baseball thoughts, or if you missed any parts of the 13 part fantasy baseball preview, be sure to catch up here:
Tuesday, Jan. 20 - Part 1 - American League Central Hitters
Wednesday, Jan. 21 - Part 2 - American League East Hitters
Thursday, Jan. 22 - Part 3 - American League West Hitters
Friday, Jan. 23 - Part 4 - National League Central Hitters
Monday, Jan. 26 - Part 5 - National League East Hitters
Tuesday, Jan. 27 - Part 6 - National League West Hitters
Wednesday, Jan. 28 - Part 7 - American League Central Pitchers
Thursday, Jan. 29 - Part 8 - American League East Pitchers
Friday, Jan. 30 - Part 9 - American League West Pitchers
Monday, Feb. 2 - Part 10 - National League Central Pitchers
Tuesday, Feb. 3 - Part 11 - National League East Pitchers
Wednesday, Feb. 4 - Part 12 - National League West Pitchers
Thursday, Feb. 5 - Part 13 – Rookies and ProspectsI do have to point you another great article by Aaron Gleeman from yesterday. It is called The Perfect Catcher. As you know, I am incredibly excited to see Joe Mauer play this summer with the Twins. I am as high on him as anyone. But after reading more and more, it gets me even more excited. After reading Aaron’s article, I want the season to start today!!!!
First TV Thought… Don’t miss tonight’s series finale of Ed. I can’t believe the show is over. However, it has moved to Friday night twice this year, so the writing was on the wall. Ed and Carol will finally get married, or at least, I’ll assume they are.
Must See TV generally refers to the NBC Thursday night lineup. It has for years. I believe since before even Seinfeld started. Last night was a great TV night. Be sure to check out the shows I watch on TV on the left side of the screen. It has been updated today.
On NBC, Friends was on. There aren’t many episodes left, but last night’s was great. Sure, it had the Danny Devito stripping scene that was advertised, and it had the Rachel/Chandler kiss from their flashback. However, the surprise of the show was something I totally was not expecting! Yet, I figured it out just a few seconds before the announcement. I was cracking up laughing! It might have been one of the funnier situations I have seen on a sitcom ever!
Scrubs was moved to Tuesday nights and Michael J. Fox will begin a stint on there next week. Will & Grace wasn’t on last night because NBC aired a 90 minute episode of The Apprentice. The women’s team had won the first four challenges, so Donald Trump switched up the teams. The team that won had the opportunity to go to Yankees Stadium and meet George Steinbrenner. I really find The Apprentice to be a great show to watch. Sure, some people don’t like the whole reality TV genre (clearly I’m not one of those people), but this show is different. It’s Manhattan, it’s business, it’s social issues, it’s inter-personal skills, it’s everything that is good about America.
ER was on after that. The show continues to be great (personal opinion) from week to week. Last night was no different. The funny thing about it though is that, because of the reaction to the Janet Jackson breast revelation, NBC decided to blur out the breast of an emergency room patient. NBC executives decided that now was not the time to air such a scene, even though they say that they could because it was late enough at night, out of the ‘family programming time.’ The truth though… they were planning on showing a naked breast of an 80 year old woman. I’ve got to be honest. That’s not something I want to see at any time on TV. Janet Jackson’s nipple shield? I have no problem with that. 80 year old women getting CPR. I’m not interested.
OK, but there was more great television to watch last night. Of course, while watching the NBC lineup, I had to tape a couple of other shows. Over on CBS, Survivor: All Stars was on. Last night’s episode was the follow up to the post-Super Bowl episode. Another All-Star was removed, so we’re now down to 16 survivors. Quick thoughts - Yeah, I am a BIG fan of Amber Brkish! The most exciting part of her Survivor website Bio is “Amber is currently single…” That’s all I need to know! If anyone out there can hook me up… PLEASE!!! Jenna Morasca seems to be looking even better! Jerri Manthey seems to be trying to be nice, and looking at her was never the problem. Alicia Calaway may look even better than ever. Jenna Lewis? Wow! What happened? No longer nice to look at, much less nice at all.
And, over on Fox was a repeat of the best “Reality Show” on TV right now, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance. I had to tape that again, even though I had taped it on Monday also! It seriously is something that everyone should be watching. I don’t even say that very often. In the past, I have said that American Idol should be required viewing for all kids under the age of 17! Now, I am saying that anyone who likes to laugh should be watching My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance!
Again, be sure to check out my updated “What I’m Watching” section. If you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions, please e-mail me.
Lebron James is coming to the Target Center tonight for the first and only time this season. The Wolves need to bounce back from an embarrassing loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Meanwhile, the James-led Cavs have won seven of their last ten games. Jim Paxson deserves a lot of credit for some of his trades. Ridding the team of Ricky Davis and then Darius Miles while bringing in Eric Williams and Jeff McInnis, really has made the team better and taken some of the pressure off of James and he has really come into his own. Of course, head coach Paul Silas deserves a lot of credit too. I would guess that Trenton Hassell will get the assignment of trying to guard James.
Mike McFeely is a writer at the Fargo Forum. The other day, he wrote a really incredible article on Kevin Garnett. It is another one that compares Garnett to the Vikings’ Randy Moss. It is titled “Maybe KG Should Scuff His Image.”
The NHL All-Star game is on Sunday. It is being held in St. Paul’s XCel Energy Center. Rachel Blount of the Star-Tribune writes a great article called “Hockey is Minnesota’s Game”. In it, she discusses many of the cities and towns and names that have made Minnesota hockey what it is.
The Minnesota Wild go into the All-Star break having won two straight games. But it is safe to say that the 2003-04 season has been disappointing for many Wild fans. The team is currently 19-20-15, and in 4th place in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. If the season were to end today, they would be in 10th place in the conference, placing them outside the playoffs.
The Wild will be represented in the All-Star game by two players. Defenseman Filip Kuba made the squad as did Goalie Dwayne Roloson. Now, Roloson certainly deserves the honor. He is 13-13-8, but he has a 1.98 Goals Against Average and has saved 93.2% of shots on goal. Kuba on the other hand, well, I have no clue why he is on the team. He has just 19 points on the season (5 goals). As a defenseman, his +- is -12. That’s just not good!
The Wild have some problems. Last year’s All-Star representative Marian Gaborik sat out training camp. He had just 16 points this season (6 goals). The other holdout, Pascal Dupuis had just 19 points (10 goals).
But, there is a lot of season left, right? Gotta stay positive. Be sure to check back to Kirk Beller’s Wild Preview from before the season started to see how close he is at this point. I also need to say Congratulations to Kirk and his wife Jackie on the birth of their first child last Saturday, a son named Owen.
With that, I am going to call it a day and a week. Be sure to check back over the weekend and then again on Monday when I promise there will be more baseball. Thanks again, and as always, if you have any questions or comments or any ideas for possible topics, please e-mail me.
Have a great weekend!