KG picks up a $5000 fine for giving that girly man an owie. His consecutive game streak is not compromised because of it, however.

The Strib ran a feature on Tony Batista and Our Fearless Leader Ron Gardenhire indicated that "third base is not an open competition." It's going to be Batista, and that's that. Great. Said Terry Ryan, "I don't know what happened [to cause Batista to be released from his Japanese team last year], and I don't [...]

This may be the best sports story that I have ever seen. Unbelievable. You may have heard about this story or seen it on CBS. The link above shows a video, so if you are on dial-up, it will be tough to download all of it.

Thirty years ago today, February 26, 1976 was a red letter day. My sister had just turned ten years old (happy 40th, sis!) the day before and my mother was very pregnant. We found out that my as yet unborn sibling was having some problems and needed to be induced. My mother [...]

I wasn't watching the Wolves today, in fact I wasn't even aware that the game was on. As soon as I turn the game on, the Wolves throw the ball into KG in the post. Mike Miller flops and KG is called for a foul. He flips the ball into the first row and hits [...]

Rhapsody Playlist: "1. Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones
2. Carol - The Rolling Stones
3. Stray Cat Blues - The Rolling Stones
4. Love In Vain - The Rolling Stones
5. Midnight Rambler - The Rolling Stones
6. Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones
7. Live With Me - The Rolling Stones
8. Little Queenie - The Rolling [...]

Gilbert Arenas has had nights like the one LeBron James had against Washington.
Arenas scored 26 points, and the Wizards shut down James in the second half in a 102-94 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
"We tried to pressure the ball, take him a little out of his game, and see if things might [...]

The NFLPA is rattling the sabers, saying that it is unlikely that the current collective bargaining agreement will not be extended any time soon, resulting in a 2007 season without a salary cap. As someone who detests the hard salary cap of the NFL (isn't that socialism????), I for one welcome it. I [...]

Over on the right, I have posted a poll on the Twins. How do you think the Twins will end up? Vote early and often (you are limited to one vote per day). I'll leave this poll up through spring training. I'm thinking third, myself. But, of course, there are [...]

Daunte Culpepper's latest missive:
I want to update the fans of Minnesota and the NFL community on my status with the Vikings. Mr. Wilf and I spoke by phone on 2/21/2006 and we each shared our concerns about my present situation. He told me that the Vikings have not yet spoken to other teams about trading [...]

My good blogging friend Cheesehead Craig has commented that I'm changing gears back to the game of baseball. I definitely plan on writing a lot more on baseball, obviously, as the season comes closer. Wow, what a nightmarish season this has been.
Today, however, I read this, which can only be the worst thing [...]

Friends, I'm a fan of the Twins.
That's it. I'm not a scout, I'm not an expert, I'm not an insider. I don't know anyone associated with the team or anyone associated with the MSM covering the team. I'm just an SBG with a website who loves the game and loves talking about [...]

The Magic traded Steve Francis to the Knicks for Penny Hardaway, returning Hardaway to the first team for which he played. Who would have thought during his first go around in Orlando that he'd end up like this -- a spent, overpaid player who was an attractive trade option only because of his expiring contract. [...]

Last night, my lovely wife Lucy and I watched the Olympic women's figure skating short program. While I can't stand that crap, she loves it. Loves it. I got to spend some time in her shoes, as she is no fan of real sports like basketball or baseball. I sat patiently [...]

Steve Aschburner, Wolves beat writer for the Strib, pulls no punches in his evaluation of Kevin McHale. Aschburner says nothing that you don't already know, but the listing of McHale's boneheaded moves in the biggest newspaper in the state ought to catch Glen Taylor's attention. It's not pretty. But, you knew that.

Ol' Patrick is pretty pessimistic on the 2006 Twins (with good reason, I believe). I don't really know how to set my expectations. I'd like to be optimistic and think that this year the Twins will get good production from the young guys and the off-season acquisitions will plug the holes and the [...]

Thursday is the trading deadline. Chad Ford of ESPN speculates on three potential trades for the Wolves.
Option #1:
Minnesota sends Marco Jaric, Rashad McCants, Trenton Hassell, and Eddie Griffin to New York.
New York sends Stephon Marbury to Minnesota.
Option #2:
Minnesota sends Jaric, McCants, Mark Madsen and Griffin to Orlando.
Orlando sends Steve Francis to Minnesota.
Option #3:
Minnesota sends Kevin [...]

Those All-Star uniforms were just about the ugliest things I have ever seen. I couldn't see the numbers. The two tone uniforms were just terrible. Yuck.

Tonight, TNT will add ten names to the "top 50" players in NBA history. This is, of course, not an official list, made even more unofficial by the fact that it is the on-air personalities on TNT that will be making the selections. There are 20 players nominated.
There is a certain 29-year old forward who [...]

Next Thursday is the NBA trading deadline. Speculation runs rampant regarding whether the Wolves will make a deal.
Coach Casey, what do you think?
"I haven't heard anything," coach Dwane Casey said Wednesday night, before his players and assistants scattered for four days of R&R. The Wolves will convene in Washington on Monday evening for their [...]

From the PiPress:
Lohse, who broke into the majors with the Twins in 2001, has never reached an agreement on a contract with Minnesota. Acquired as a minor leaguer from the Chicago Cubs in 1999, he made the Twins renew his contract before the 2003 and 2004 seasons, when he was a pre-arbitration player and had [...]

When you see the Twins sign a guy like Rueben Sierra to a minor league deal, if you are like me you sigh and think if only we had some good young bats in our system that were ready to go. You might also say we do have guys better than him and I [...]

You know the rest.
In the face of trade talk, Daunte Culpepper issued a carefully worded e-mail to Sid today. Here is the text of that e-mail.
Because I am getting so many requests to comment about reported trade talks, I thought it best to make a clear statement that hopefully won't be misinterpreted. I have [...]

Chris Sheridan writes about his favorite team, the Knicks, on ESPN.COM:
The Knicks remain hot for Steve Francis, who shot 3-for-15 in Orlando's loss to Miami on Wednesday, and there are some in the organization who believe a late run at the eighth and final playoff spot in the East is not such an absurd notion. [...]

Tonight, Jim Peterson said that the Wolves starting lineup should be Banks, Hassell, Davis, KG, and Blount. And Eddie Griffin should be the first big guy off the bench. And Madsen shouldn't play.
The Wolves won tonight, but the rotation that Casey has been using hasn't exactly been successful. As I have pointed [...]

In a decision that should surprise no one, Kyle Lohse won his arbitration case with the Twins for the second consecutive year.

Will Young has written about the deal that sent Rod Carew to the then California Angels. This is an excellent piece and I encourage you to go read what he has written. It's hard to believe how ugly that thing got. Nice work, Will!

Tonight, I took Lucy out for Valentine's Day. We went to Bonfire in Eagan. We've been there before and the food has been a little spotty, but I thought it was a place that we could probably get into without a problem. We waited for half an hour, which wasn't too bad. [...]

From ESPN.COM:
Feb 14 - The New York Post reported Sunday that Denver, Orlando, Portland and Seattle were interested in trading for Penny Hardway and his $15.7 million expiring contract. On Monday a league executive who spoke with Isiah Thomas told the newspaper that a fifth team is slowly emerging and could be the Timberwolves or [...]

Wolves Lose. To Toronto. At Home. Even though it was close, the Raptors lead pretty much the whole way. This team's unraveling is worse to me than all the years of blatant incompetence.

Perhaps I'm just crabby.
With the performances we've seen from the Wolves last year, the Twins last year, the Vikings, and now the Wolves again, I'm inclined to be a little negative. When the Twins declined my advice to revamp the lineup by trading Hunter and signing some good players, well, I've been surly. There is [...]

Will Young lists the venues where he's seen various sporting events. I thought I'd put my list out there, too.
MLB
Metropolitan Stadium (Twins)
HHH Metrodome (Twins)
Kaufmann Stadium (Royals)
Busch Stadium (Cardinals)
County Stadium (Brewers)
Old Comiskey (White Sox)
Wrigley Field (Cubs)
Three Rivers Stadium (Pirates)
Veterans Stadium (Phillies)
Camden Yards (Orioles)
Yankee Stadium (Yankees)
Shea Stadium (Mets)
The Ballpark at Arlington (Rangers)
Bank One Ballpark (Arizona)
NFL
HHH Metrodome (Vikings)
Texas [...]

In other news, the sun expected to rise in the East tomorrow.

Not taking in the Wolves game tonight. Got things to do. What you ask? Based on the way they are playing, just about anything qualifies as more important.

I seriously doubt that I'll ever watch another movie starring Sylvester Stallone again. Even though he's made a couple of pretty good movies (Rocky and First Blood), the balance of his work leaves me with a generally sick feeling. If you've ever seen Cobra or the absolutely deplorable Demolition Man, I think you know what [...]

Hey, it's your best buddy SBG, and I'm sitting in the SBG theater waiting for "Walk the Line" to begin. My date, Lucy, went to get some popcorn. I'm glad I didn't spend more than 5 minutes listening to the Debacle at Target Center. The movie is about to begin. Come [...]

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that sometimes Mark Cuban makes sense.
From the Dallas Morning News:
Mark Cuban never wants fans to avoid Mavericks games because seats are too expensive, so he decided to make good on a promise he made years ago. The owner said then that when his payroll became more [...]

Sid reports that the Wild might be for sale at a price of $200 million. I've been wondering why the Wild didn't take the plunge into the free agent market when players were available at a discount following the lockout. Seems like maybe the owner wants to cash out.
What is delicious is this nugget from [...]

Kind of.
One of my loyal readers MV has been advertising on Seth's website and tonight his "blogvertising" was featured on WCCO TV. The story was talking about blogs and how many people read them and a certain blog that is your daily source for half-baked crap was shown in the video. Check out [...]

Hi all. I'm tired tonight. The game against Cleveland was disappointing but familiar. The Wolves raced out to a big lead, but couldn't hold on. Here are the numbers.

Player
MIN
PTS
TS%
REB/40
ASS/40
PTS/40
POS
DIST
GEN

Kevin Garnett
46
21
48.8
15.65
5.22
18.26
25.5
1.20
0.98

Ricky Davis
44
33
51.4
6.36
4.55
30.00
33.73
1.66
1.08

Trenton Hassell
43
13
51.9
2.79
1.86
12.09
15.18
0.77
0.94

Marcus Banks
29
15
62.5
4.14
5.52
20.69
15.32
1.15
1.15

Mark Madsen
27
5
42.5
8.89
0.00
7.41
5.88
0.47
0.85

Anthony Carter
19
0
0.0
2.11
12.63
0.00
6.98
0.80
0.58

Mark Blount
13
0
0.0
3.08
0.00
0.00
2
0.33
0.00

Justin Reed
8
4
100.0
5.00
0.00
20.00
2
0.54
2.00

Eddie Griffin
7
0
0.0
5.71
0.00
0.00
1
0.31
0.00

Rashad McCants
4
0
0.0
0.00
0.00
0.00
3
1.63
0.00

Team
240
91
47.4

110.59

0.96

KG had an off night offensively, and he missed 10 of his last 14 shots. Ricky Davis [...]

He's casting like nobody's business. So far he's making, which is good. He's got 11 and the Wolves lead early 19-6.
Cleveland's point guard, Eric Snow is no offensive threat, which makes it a lot more palatable to have AC on the floor. AC really gets the ball moving, penetrating and dishing. [...]

It's KG vs. LBJ Wednesday night in Minneapolis. LBJ is 2nd in the league in PER and KG is fifth in the league. Two of the best in the league square off. Check it out.

Given a choice, which career would you rather have?
1. You are a success right away and win a championship. But you suffer a career ending injury very early in your career.
2. You play a long time and are a very good or even great player, but never even sniff a championship.
Vote now.

Which Career Would You [...]

The Wolves beat the Suns by two points in Phoenix tonight. KG gets seven of the Wolves' last 11 points and blocks a shot as time runs out to preserve the win.
The Wolves did not play Marko Jaric or Eddie Griffin. The Wolves played a small lineup a lot tonight and they could get away [...]

The game has just started. I'm expecting another loss. The news here tonight is that Mark Madsen and Anothony Carter are starting over Marko Jaric and Eddie Griffin.
AC has 16 DNP-CDs so far this year. And he's starting tonight. We are adrift. I'm here for in game comments.

From the Strib:
A judge ruled Monday that the Minnesota Twins don't have to play in the etrodome beyond the 2006 season, increasing pressure on lawmakers to approve a stadium funding package this spring.
I'm not surprised with this ruling. I wrote about this back on January 9th. My belief was that the Twins, who have not [...]

This was the first time in a while that I have gone to an honest-to-goodness Super Bowl party.
Lucy and I went to a friend of a friend's place for the Big Game. We missed all of the pre-game hype (thank God) by going to Target.
One guy at the party was screaming at the [...]

At the heart of it, Ol' Patrick is just a great writer. Nice column.

The Wolves get killed in Oakland tonight 109-77. That was the worst performance of the year by far. Here are the ugly numbers.

Player
MIN
PTS
TS%
REB/40
ASS/40
PTS/40
POS
DIST
GEN

Eddie Griffin
20
4
40.0
12.00
0.00
8.00
7
0.73
0.57

Justin Reed
24
10
46.5
5.00
3.33
16.67
16.42
1.42
0.69

Kevin Garnett
30
15
50.8
14.67
2.67
20.00
17.42
1.20
0.94

Marcus Banks
32
5
23.0
3.75
6.25
6.25
14.53
1.94
0.57

Mark Blount
17
3
25.5
7.06
0.00
7.06
5.88
0.72
0.51

Mark Madsen
11
0
0.0
7.27
3.64
0.00
1.33
0.25
0.50

Marko Jaric
16
0
0.0
0.00
5.00
0.00
3.66
0.47
0.37

Rashad McCants
20
12
54.5
6.00
0.00
24.00
12
1.24
1.00

Ricky Davis
36
20
58.1
5.56
1.11
22.22
21.53
1.24
0.96

Ronald Dupree
7
0
0.0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.88
0.26
0.00

Trenton Hassell
28
8
28.6
4.29
7.14
11.43
15.65
1.16
0.73

Team
241
77
41.2

116.3
1.00
0.77

A team TS% of 41.2 is execrable, but that's only part of the story. If you are wondering what POS, DIST, and [...]

I don't like it when a coach uses the media to challenge a player. I like the idea of keeping that stuff in the lockerroom. But, Dwane Casey spoke up about Marko Jaric, questioning his passion and desire. Rick Alonzo of the PiP quotes Mr. Casey:
We've got to have his passion, his [...]

I didn't watch the Timberwolves/Portland game last night, but this morning, I took a look at the write up on ESPN.COM and I just want to throw up. Minnesota loses 89-85 at Portland. Okay, that's bad enough. Then I see KG line. 12-13, 3-5, 27 pts, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocks. KG is 12-13, [...]

I talked to my mother last night. She doesn't give one hoot about the Super Bowl and has never read this site. She did inform me, however, that Chuck Klosterman was at the Super Bowl and was writing about it on the Internet. She also told me that he takes good care [...]

New York Knicks fan Chris Sheridan writes about the likelihood of every team in the NBA making a deal before the trading deadline. Here's what he has to say about the Wolves.
Status report: The departure of Wally Szczerbiak had the underpublicized short-term effect of placating Kevin Garnett, who plans to reassess his long-term commitment [...]

Reusse got Cris Carter's thoughts on Daunte Culpepper:
I can't imagine two darker years for the Minnesota Vikings than trading Randy Moss one year and Daunte Culpepper the next. These are the most talented men to play their positions in the history of the franchise.

Steve Aschburner writes about how playing has been distributed on the Wolves since the trade.
The 4 C's have gotten 109 minutes (out of 240). Wally and 'Kandi were 61 minutes. So the rest of the team has lost 48 minutes. Who's getting minutes cut?
Jaric
Hudson
AC
I love AC but he's a 12th man. He can't shoot, but [...]

Cleveland had won seven straight games coming into Thursday night's tilt in South Beach. That streak is over. Shaq Daddy, Wade, Payton, and Alonzo Mourning made sure that Bron-Bron went home unhappy.
That Miami team is starting to come together, and they could be formidable at playoff time. If any team can give [...]

I've got a post coming tonight on the Super Bowl. Not this Super Bowl, SBXL, but the whole thing.
Of course, the Super Bowl is great for the league, but from a pure sports standpoint, I believe it's an abomination.
The game itself is secondary to the hoopla. Lucy and I are probably going [...]

There's not a lot of happy things to say about last night's loss to the Pistons, but it's not like it's the end of the world or anything. Here are some reasons to forget about last night.
1. The Wolves aren't alone. The Pistons have been doing this to just about everyone. [...]

The Colbert Report is just about the best show on television.

I'll not be able to watch the big Wolves/Pistons game tonight (not Lucy's fault), but I'll be around and checking the site from time to time. Any thoughts on the game can be posted here.

Chris Sheridan from ESPN.COM:
The Knicks' 30th loss of this lost season was so dreadful, it was pitiful. [Kobe] Bryant went to the free throw line 26 times, making 23, and stayed in the game past the midpoint of the meaningless fourth quarter just to be certain he made it to 40.
Update: I should add [...]

The Wolves are playing in Detroit tonight. This will be an interesting game, considering the path the Wolves have been down in the last two weeks.
The Pistons are coming off of a rare loss in New Jersey last night and that is another angle to look at. Will the Pistons be angry about [...]