Friday

Good morning! If you're solely here to see this week's Football Panel's picks, click here.

Did you see Carrie Underwood sing on Jay Leno last night? Granted, it was country song, but still, it was nice seeing her again!

Here we are at Friday again. It has been yet another busy week here at SethSpeaks.net even after taking Monday off. We had a Q&A with Jeff Dooley, the Radio Voice of the New Britain Rock Cats, and yesterday Roger told us a little more about the catchers throughout the Twins organization.

I'm falling, and I can't get up... The newest update of the Top 100 Sports sites has SethSpeaks.net at #55. I'm good with that, but we are falling, which makes no sense since my hits are up. Aaron's Baseball Blog (#16), The Hardball Times (#39) and Batgirl (#59) also appear on the list.

Hey, the Wolves got a nice home win last night against a very good Washington Wizards team. Kevin Garnett had another near triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists. Wally Szczerbiak had a strong game with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. He had really been struggling. Last night, I saw him hit open jumpers, run the floor well and work hard for offensive rebounds. His intensity can not be questioned at all. I was shocked when Richie Frahm played just one minute against Houston, in a game where the team could get no outside shooting. He played 22 minutes and was 6-7 from the field, and 4-5 from three-point range, for 16 points. Troy Hudson also had 16 points. Of course, it took him 14 shots to make his six, but he also had 7 assists, so it is hard to be too tough on him. The biggest surprise to me is that Rashad McCants played 11 minutes and didn't take a shot! Crazy! The Wolves are 4-4 and host Kevin Burleson, JB Bickerstaff and the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.

Did you happen to see the KG exclusive conversation with Cheryl Miller last night? If not, see it by clicking here. He didn't hold back on anything, and yet, in the end, he said that the team last year lost as a team. He also blames Kevin McHale for Flip Saunders being gone, saying McHale wanted to coach basketball but didn't want to manage egos too. It is an excellent interview!

Those of you who frequented, or even contributed to Twins Territory have a new site to go to. Twinkie Town was started by 'jclund' the other day and will act as the same type of website. You can read the thoughts of others as well as contribute your own comments or blog entries. Check it out!

I was being a egomaniac last night and did a google search of myself. Come on, how many of you have done the same thing? You go to www.google.com and in the search engine you put your name in parentheses just to see if you're in there. Well, I'm up to ten pages worth of links. I don't know if that is good or not. But, if you're bored over the weekend, feel free to google my name if you want. In doing so, you can find some fun past articles that other sites felt like linking to. For instance, here is a Q&A that I did for Braves Beat Blog in October of 2004. It is kind of fun to read that again. There is much more too.

And finally, NO, it still has not passed. I don't know what to do. Of course, it appears to have settled in a place that is not causing me any pain right now. However, as I understand the process, it's next (and final) phase is really, really going to hurt! Fun stuff!

Anyway, today, I went and tried to find a number of articles on Twins players around the internet. I found a few. Also today, you will find out NFL "Expert" Picks. Take a look at the panel, and check out each of their blogs too. Also, my thoughts and predictions for the Vikings/Packers game on Monday night will appear on Monday.

TWINS IN THE NEWS

Just a couple of thoughts and stories on Twins players recently:

In Venezuela, Luis Maza is hitting .323. Luis Rodriguez is hitting .350. FM Redhawks 3B Ruben Salazar is second in the league in batting at .377.
Sean Corp of the Bowling Green News writes:

Just because foolishness has a well established history, does not make it any less wrong.

But don’t tell that to the baseball writers who vote for the Cy Young award.

Well written, Sean!
A report came out yesterday saying that two teams had offered AJ Burnett five year deals, in the $50 million neighborhood. Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger wonders what the free agent market would be if Johan Santana, Tim Hudson and Ben Sheets had not signed extensions last season!
In a recent article by Jon Paul Morossi of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Ichiro came out and was very critical of the direction of the Mariners. One example used in the story was a game in August when Carlos Silva threw against the Mariners. M's Manager Mike Hargrove instructed players to take a strike. Ichiro swung at first pitches twice, and got out. It is one of several examples of things Ichiro was not happy about.
Rumors of Kyle Lohse being traded to, or Jacque Jones signing as a free agent with, the San Francisco Giants in the Contra-Costa Times.
Joe Mays and Joe Mauer will be celebrity golfers in a not-for-profit tournament in Bradenton, Florida.
Joe Mays is named in an article by Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star on pitchers that the Kansas City Royals may be interested in signing.
Ned Colletti was named the new GM of the LA Dodgers this week. He had been an assistant GM of the Giants. Here are some thoughts of Ken Arneson of The Baseball Toaster on Colletti:
Dodger fans can now expect that every single pitching prospect they have will be traded for some sort of average major-league talent. Every. Single. One.

That sounds worse than it actually is. Sure, every once in a while you'll give up a Joe Nathan, or a Francisco Liriano--a pitching prospect that actually turns into a good pitcher. But more often than not, you'll be getting a legitimate big leaguer in exchange for some kid who won't ever get more than a cup of coffee. Wouldn't you rather have three years of Livan Hernandez than six years of Jason Grilli and Nate Bump?
Did you know that Juan Rincon still has not had his grievance heard by baseball's arbiter? That seems just wrong. On a positive note, should Rincon test positive again, he will be considered a first time violator under the new performance-enhancing drug policy.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Mike Redmond is "getting in the ear" of Twins management about acquiring his friend, the Marlins Mike Lowell. Assuming the Marlins would take over half of his salary, I would love to see Lowell in a Twins uniform. As Aaron Gleeman mentioned yesterday, one bad year after five very good ones is worth the risk!
Michael Cuddyer will be playing golf tomorrow at the TPC in Virginia Beach. There is a Friends of Towny golf fund-raiser there. Towny Townsend is a great baseball player and coach from the area. He had surgery for cancer about a year ago. He was the coach for such big leaguers as Cuddyer, the Mets' David Wright and the Devil Rays' BJ Upton.
I would agree with Charley Walters. I don't think that the idea or likelihood of Torii Hunter to the Yankees is over yet! But is it possible that the Yankees are smart enough not to trade Robinson Cano?
Last Saturday in Las Vegas, Eddie Guardado hosted the "Everyday Eddie Boom Boom Tournament", a Texas Hold 'Em tournament involving many of his current and former teammates. Here are the results according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 1st Place - Arthur Rhodes, 2nd Place - Eddie Guardado, 3rd Place - Ryan Franklin. Torii Hunter was the first player out of chips, but he didn't come in last place. That was David Ortiz. See why here. This article also tells us that the Mariners have contacted the agent of Jacque Jones.
Jacque Jones' name is not only mentioned around the Mariners, but also the Padres, and Cardinals.
Dayn Perry of FoxSports.com ranks Justin Morneau as the #2 player who will take a big step forward in 2006.
If you read any good articles on Twins or former Twins, rumors or just good human interest stories, e-mail me the link, please. Thanks!

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Tampa Bay at Atlanta	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons
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Indianapolis at Cincinnati	Colts	Colts	Colts	Colts	Bengals	Colts
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