Wednesday May 12, 2004
The Demographics Survey will remain for a couple more days. If you haven't e-mailed me yet, please do so. I will show some brief results of that survey later this week.
A Couple Things...
I have to admit, it was a friend's birthday yesterday, so after work, I went up to the bar for "one!" Well, four hours later, I came home. So, this is going to be quite short. I taped American Idol, so will give a couple of thoughts on that. I want to also make reference to a great, new site I just became aware of! The Twins got a nice win, although, not in the most ideal way. It'll be short, so be sure to let me know if you have any thoughts, comments or ideas for new topics, ok?
TWINS WIN GAME 1 IN 11 INNINGS
Doug Mientkiewicz hit a blooper to center. Al Newman sent Shannon Stewart around third, toward home. The throw from Randy Winn to former Gopher catcher Dan Wilson was in plenty of time. However, Stewart rammed into Wilson, knocking the ball from his glove. He touched home plate and the Twins had a 7-6 win. (Stewart stayed on the ground for some time. Hopefully he will be alright and not have to miss much time! Corey Koskie left the game early with a sternum injury!)
Carlos Silva was incredible again! He gave the Twins a 7 inning start. 75 of his 104 pitches were for strikes. He gave up the M's first two runs. He gave up 11 hits, but he walked none. He even struck out four batters. In the 8th inning, JC Romero came in, gave up four hits and got just one out. Joe Roa came in, and all said, the Mariners scored four runs to take a 6-2 lead. Game over, right? I guess not. The Twins had an answer in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded, Torii Hunter walked. The M's brought in lefty Mike Myers to face Jacque Jones and hit him with the first pitch to scored the inning's second run. Lew Ford knocked a sacrifice fly to center field to score Michael Cuddyer. With two outs, Luis Rivas came up clutch and knocked his third single of the game, to score Michael Ryan (who was pinch running for Hunter) and tie the score.
Aaron Fultz pitched two shutout innings for the well-earned win.
Mientkiewicz game-winning single was also his third hit of the game. Cristian Guzman had two hits as well. What are the odds that Guzman and Luis Rivas would have half of the Twins hit total... and the team would still win!?
This is a great win, but after all of the extra innings and bullpen usage last weekend, it would have been good to have a nice nine inning game. At least in this case, the starting pitcher, namely Carlos Silva, can not be blamed at all!
Here are the remaining pitching matchups for this series:
Wednesday at 7:10 - Brad Radke (2-2, 3.95) vs Freddy Garcia (1-1, 2.11)
Thursday at 12:10 - Johan Santana (1-0, 5.26) vs Ryan Franklin (2-2, 5.05)
I was wrong yesterday. I thought the Tuesday and Wednesday games would be on Fox Sports Net. However, Fox already had rights to tonight's Wolves/Kings Game 4, so it will not be on TV. The Thursday afternoon game will also not be on TV.
Any thoughts? E-mail me.
Suddenly Game 4 becomes huge for the Sacramento Kings. It is as big, probably even bigger for the Kings, than Game 2 was to the Wolves. Another late night ahead for me. The game time is not until 9:30 tonight local (Minnesota) time. Hopefully they'll at least get started on time, and if they can keep from overtime, I could be in bed by about 12:30!! I can hope, right
Keys for the Wolves - Trenton Hassell has to continue making shots. Sam Cassell has to play more, and better, in Game 4 than he did in Game 3. Flip has to stop playing Michael Olowokandi because he's terrible. Mark Madsen and Gary Trent have earned his playing time. Fred Hoiberg is awesome!
Keys for the Kings - They have to play hard and be aggressive from the get-go. They can't wait until the final 3 minutes again. Peja has to start out hot. I also think that Chris Webber needs to be a presence from the start.
So, what do you did you think of tonight's game? Can the Wolves win in Arco again, can they win the series?? E-mail me.
Because I was out for the evening, I had to tape American Idol last night. I watched the show, without listening to the judges (in an attempt to get some sleep!). So, here are my thoughts:
First, we're down to the final four, four very talented women, with great voices. Here's how I felt they did.
Jasmine Trias - Sang Everlasting Love and It's Raining Men
I thought the first song was flat, just pitchy and not energetic. She didn't seem to keep up. Just not good. The second song was much better. First, it's a better choice because it's a known song. Sometimes people vote for songs they know. She just didn't measure up to the other three.
LaToya London - sang Love You Inside and Out, and Some other song.
First song was a bad song choice. She has incredible range and was actually very good. She is the best!!
Fantasia Barrino - Sang some song and then Holding Out for a Hero
The first song, the title of which I don't know, was really very good for her voice. She was just great. The second song. Well, she's just is such a good entertainer, has a strong voice, and just very good.
Diana Degarmo - Sang This Is It and No More Tears
She has great charisma and energy. She is a natural and just fun. She has improved drastically and just gets better and better all the time. Strong voice. I was impressed.
So, as you can see, I thought all four were good, so here is how I would rank them:
1.) LaToya London
2.) Diana Degarmo
3.) Fantasia Barrino
4.) Jasmine Trias
Therefore, my prediction for who will be eliminated is:
Jasmine Trias
What are your thoughts? E-mail me.
Tonight is The Bachelor! Trish is the stalker and will make her way back on the show! What will happen! Don't miss it!
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a guy from my home town. Actually, I coached him in baseball when he was young, and I was in college. His name is Brent Hanson. He recently graduated from college, and has started his own web blog, Brent Net (Because I have nothing better to do). I took a look at it and immediately put it in my bookmarks. I also checked out the archives and it is really great. It does cover sports, particularly basketball, but all sports. It covers music, movies, running and day-to-day activities. It also has a discussion forum for reader to participate. Here are a couple of quick excerpts from recent entries:
Music -
OK - two weeks ago I was sick of My Band by D12. Now it's just getting to *that* point that only Eminem songs get to. Seriously... the dude has released the exact same first single to like all of his records. Play My Name Is, Without Me, The Real Slim Shady, and My Band back to back and I bet they would eventually blend into one song. The rest of his songs are all sounding the same, too. They all have that bleak and uninteresting sound to them. He's a terrible producer. Part of me thinks he should've made 8 Mile and then pulled a Jay-hova and called it a career. Then again, you can mark my word that Jay-Z has not released his last album.
Basketball -
You know... I'm getting sick of everyone saying what's wrong with pro basketball. Today was the last day for college players to apply for the draft, so stories about what's wrong with the pro's are just all over the place. Instead of asking what's wrong with the NBA, why doesn't anyone ask what's wrong with college basketball? Honestly... what is the incentive to stay in college? Until the NCAA can give me one good reason as to why the players shouldn't go pro, I don't blame them for a second. Don't give me that crap about getting their education paid for. If you get a guaranteed contract for four years, you are going to have enough money to pay for yourself, your kids, your wife, and your grandchildren to go to school.
Television -
You know in the opening of the show Punk'd when Ashton punches the camera. Have you ever seen something less threatening? I mean, I normally think that I'd be the first guy to run from a fight. Honestly, though, I think I could roll that pretty boy. Plus, I haven't been in a school play since about 6th grade or so, and I know I could walk in front of any camera and out act him, too. I think he just does that show to hug all the hot chicks at the end of the little segments. He must be sick of the fact that girlfriend that's closer to the age of Social Security than she is to his age. Watch the show sometime - every segment ends in a hug. I bet he plans all these elaborate pranks just so he can cop a feel!
And there is much, much more. If you're looking for a little diversity in a blog, be sure to check out BrentNet and bookmark it.
Do you know of any other sites I should be checking? If so, e-mail me, and I'll check the sites out.
QUICK DEMOGRAPHICS TEST - I am very much interested in finding out about who reads this website. I would appreciate it if you took just 1 minute out of your day to click here and e-mail me where you are from and your age and how often you read this website. I appreciate your help!
If you have any questions or comments on anything you have read above, or anything at all, please feel free to e-mail me. Have a great day!