I’ve always had just a little bit of hatred for Tim Duncan. It’s not that I don’t like his game. It’s not that he’s done anything that’s offended me (other than some whining at calls from time to time). No, when I think about Duncan rationally, there’s very little not to like.
Of [...]
Lastings MIlledge to the Nationals for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. My initial reaction is that this is a good trade for the Nationals, and not a very good trade for the Mets. The Mets Nationals got the best player in the deal, and I don't especially like Church's bat in a corner [...]
Thank God the cold November rains are almost over.
last day in academia for bS. I'm gonna be a pointy-headed bureaucrat instead.
It ain't a blockbuster like, say, the Batista signing, but this trade sure gives us something to talk about.
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask [...]
Johnny Rotten's favorite prog-rockers. 1970.
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the SBG Music Archive.
SBG doesn't seem to be around, so I'll fill in for him tonight. I assume this also means I'll spend most of the game log talking to myself. The Wolves come into this game off of a dominating performance by our young boys in New Orleans. Dallas is 9-5 on the season, [...]
I don't especially like the sounds of this, but I'm willing to keep an open mind until I look into things with more detail. Nothing's offical yet, but this seems like a credible rumor to me.
The biggest thing that Delmon Young has going for him, as far as I can tell, is that he's [...]
The coolest band of the '90's? I'll take these guys. Disagree? Discuss.
"We traipse around the table talking sentences so incomplete... please! plea!"
"
Open call for prison architects..."
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the [...]
Nice win for the Wolves last night.
live, 2004. Thanks to Rhu_Ru.
Bonus version! Or as Christopher Walken might say, "I gotta have more Theremin, Baby!" Jon Bernhardt at the Ethermusic 2005 festival in Asheville, NC, August, 2005.
TNHP went on vacation last week for Thanksgiving and I'm probably going to put it on hold for a couple more weeks while I finish up school for the term. In the meantime, hopefully this will hold you over.
Rather than my standard discussion+problems, I will do something different today. I will first present [...]
Just about the best thing you can say about tonight’s game is that the New Orleans Hornets have a couple of their stars playing hurt. Tyson Chandler suffered a minor knee injury and missed a game last week, but has played in the last two games and will, in all likelihood, go tonight. [...]
Who wins more games: the Patriots or the Wolves?
Desert-baked goodness from Howe Gelb and Co.Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the SBG Music Archive.
Live at Monterey. Thanks to Algonad.
Again, I'm on dialup in ND as I write this, so I can't do much in the way of research without taking forever... plus I'm at my parents' house, so sitting on the computer for an hour to write about the Wolves seems like an insult to them and it's not too attractive of an [...]
A wonderful singer, lyricist, and interpreter of other people's songs. Sadly taken in the prime of her life, her music is due for reappraisal. I raise a pint to you, Kirsty.
The heartwarming, holiday chestnut, "Fairytale of New York" with the Pogues.
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video [...]
I'm in ND and on dialup, so this will be short and sweet. Looking at the line should be all you need to know about the prospects for the Wolves tonight. Denver is a 14 point favorite and the line has been moving in Denver's favor. The over/under is 203.
I was visiting [...]
Wayne Krivsky signs Francisco Cordero to a 4-year, $46M contract with the Reds. (Did Krivsky really come from the Twins' organization? That's a lot to pay for any relief pitcher, and Krivsky also gives his second-round draft pick to the Brewers by making this signing.)
A quick comparison between Joe Nathan and Francisco Cordero, [...]
Abstract: Here I will attempt to convince you that the following positions are plausible:
- The Twins and Santana could potentially agree to a 5-year extension with a full no-trade clause worth $117M above and beyond the $13.5M that Santana is already owed in 2008.
- If Santana becomes a free agent, he could sign a [...]
live on Letterman. Thanks to davidwatts
I need to bake a pumpkin pie, but it seemed worth mentioning in a post (as mentioned in the comments) that Torii Hunter has agreed to a 5-year, $90M deal with the Los Angeles Angels. The length or amount of this contract isn't really surprising. The location is a bit surprising.
The Angels now [...]
Music to prepare the turkey by.
George Winston -- Thanksgiving
and, from The Gold Rush the Little Fellow's thanksgiving dinner
Save the turkeys!
Here's something that I compiled over the season, that I haven't even looked at until now. I thought it was somewhat interesting (obviously, since I spent the time to compile the numbers), but we'll see whether it was worth it.
Levale Speigner made 6 starts this season for the Washington Nationals. In the five [...]
From the Monterey Pop Festival. The year is 1967. David Crosby makes like Oliver Stone in the intro.
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To this day, I'm puzzled by the decision to trade the rights to Brandon Roy for Randy Foye. Nothing against Foye, but he's not that much different of a player than Rashad McCants. I can see taking the best player available, but why the Wolves wanted to basically take the same player two [...]
Joe C. reports in the Strib:
Torii Hunter has received two five-year offers on the free-agent market from other teams, but the Twins have not budged from their three-year, $45 million offer, a person close to the negotiations said Tuesday.
Hunter's agent, Larry Reynolds, called Twins General Manager Bill Smith in an attempt to spur their talks [...]
The artist formerly known as Will Oldham. KCRW, Morning Becomes Eclectic. 2006. Covering Bill Withers "The Same Love Made Me Laugh". 1999.Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the SBG Music Archive.
Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go.
Mrs. Butch has informed me that the turkey has been procured.
I really wanted to post Petra Haden's a capella version of this song. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled. Still, you can watch it here. It's amazing! (A certain Mr. Townsend agrees.) Instead, you get these guys. From The Smothers Brother Show, 1967. "Bowling."Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a [...]
I don't drop by nearly often enough, but the blog over at The Book has a lot of interesting stuff. I just discovered a thread of theirs where they put a value to basically every free agent who comes up in the news.
It's bad enough that Boston has a huge payroll, so [...]
Seriously, it's kind of hard to ignore the New England Patriots.
Luis Castillo reportedly signs a four-year deal for $25M with the Mets.
For all of Castillo's ailments, he had a .253 EQA with the Twins last year and a .273 EQA with the Mets last year, making him overall about a league average hitter. Castillo always fascinated me when he was with the team, and [...]
Miles Davis (tpt); Gary Bartz (ss, as); Chick Corea (el-p); Keith Jarrett (org); Dave Holland (b, el-b); Jack DeJohnette (d); Airto Moreira (perc)
Part One
Part Two
To see the rest of the set, click Part Three and Part Four.
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch [...]
My search for Craig Monroe alternatives in the minors is on hiatus for a second while I consider La Velle's suggestion that the Twins could be after Tony Clark. Let's make a quick Clark/Monroe comparison. Career, park-adjusted, they have hit:
.259/.333/.481 -- Tony Clark
.256/.303/.446 -- Craig Monroe
Clark is a good bit older than Monroe, [...]
"Shuffering and Shmiling"
No visuals here, but just listen to one of my favorite Fela tracks.
Now here we have some fascinating visuals, shot by Ginger Baker...
Fela & Afrika 70 in Calabar, shortly after the Nigerian civil war, 1971.
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one [...]
It’s going to be a tall order tonight. Last night, I mentioned John Hollinger’s Power Rankings when talking about the game between the Wolves and the Wizards. The “HPRs” aren’t perfect, but they measure scoring margin, strength of schedule, and recent performance (go here if you want more details) to rank the 30 [...]
I'm holding out for a seven year deal.
I just logged on to check a few things and was saddened to see that Joe Nuxhall died. It’s like that as you get older, I know. Grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and family friends. The ones we called grownups as children one by one disappear and only the memory, a dim reminder [...]
The Minnesota Timberwolves (1-5) play host to the disappointing (so far) Washington Wizards (2-5) tonight at Target Center. We all expect that the Wolves would have a slow start – and they have – but Washington’s stumble out of the gate was less expected by miles. Washington looked like a team that would [...]
I read the Bonds indictment and considering that everything in it has been known publicly for years (except the allegation of a positive test, which also had to have been known by the grand jury) and I wonder why the hell they waited four years. Probably because they weren't all that comfortable [...]
The late, great Marc Bolan. From 1973.
1972. Rock and Roll, baby.Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the SBG Music Archive.
$275M over 10 years will apparently keep A-Rod in New York. Like bashful 8th graders in "love," the two parties needed some go-betweens to work things out:
A-Rod and the Yankees exchanged proposals via the bankers, and the deal gradually was framed in about a dozen telephone calls.
Then some hilarity ensues about whether or not [...]
Quoth the Gleeman:
Once upon a time, Craig Monroe was exactly the type of player that the Twins should be targeting. A minor-league veteran who didn't get his first extended chance in the majors until the age of 26, Monroe was claimed off waivers by the Tigers in 2002 and showed that his strong track record [...]
Big Al has some quick feet, that's for sure.
thanks to davidwatts
and as the Young Rascals, "Good Lovin" from the Ed Sullivan Show, 1966. Most excellent!
In case you haven’t heard, things haven’t really started humming at 600 1st Avenue North, Minneapolis yet this year as the Timberwolves have dropped five straight to begin the season. The Wolves take on Sacramento at the Bullseye tonight, their first game since they played in Sacto four days ago. In between, the [...]
Off-season recap so far: Torii, Torii, A-Rod, Santana, Torii, Torii, Johan, HUNTER, HUNTER, HUNTER!! Silva? Lohse. Johan? A-Rod. Johan. A-Rod? A-Rod. Torre? Torre. A-Rod and Torre? Torii, Torii, Torii. Lohse? Silva. Santana, Santana, Hunter, Hunter, Hunter. I won't be discussing any of that here, but I do have some further notes on the [...]
Craig Monroe wants more than a cup of coffee. We're negotiating that.
Last week I talked about expectation with a short note at the end about sports and expectation. Whether or not you realize it, expectation is at the heart of every strategic decision that a team makes. If a team signs a big name free agent, it is in an attempt to maximize their [...]
Yes, it's apparently official now.
Here's my knee-jerk reaction: This is neither a terrible move or a great move.
Monroe gives the Twins a bat who is worth potentially 20 runs above replacement level in a corner OF/DH spot--approximately the level he was at from 2004-2006. He also gives the Twins the risk of paying [...]
Keith Law lists Kyle Lohse 11th on his list of top fifty free agents. Guess who's twelfth.
I am going to be gone this evening and so I'm delaying posting of The Nation Has Problems until tomorrow. Also, I haven't written it yet.
Instead, I thought I would pose a different kind of question to The Nation. Ratliff was included in the Garnett trade almost entirely on the basis of expiring [...]
The Tigers are proving to have the quickest trigger finger so far this off-season, adding Jacque Jones at the cost of utility infielder Omar Infante.
The Punto comparison is overly harsh to Infante--Juan Uribe is probably a better comparison--but Infante was completely expendable and the Tigers had a need for a left-handed hitter in left field. [...]
I was listening to Reusse on his Sunday morning show yesterday. When the topic of the Vikings came up, Patrick indicated that because of the national interest in running back Adrian Peterson, NBC was contemplating moving at least one (and possibly more) Viking games to the Sunday night time slot.
Mr. Reusse did not want [...]
By my count, this is the fifteenth day since the World Series ended, meaning that this is the last day of the exclusive signing period for free agents.
Winwood and company stretch out in Santa Monica, 1972.
on Live at Music Scene 1969 Bozo. Thanks to Algonad.
and "Soulville" from Wattstax
The NBA season isn't very old and just one undefeated team remains. That team is lead by the "Bashful Ticket", who has demurely averaged 23.8 points, 16.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.75 steals, and 1.75 blocks while leading his team to an average margin of victory of 18 points a game. One of those [...]
A pair of games for the Wolves in California. Any wins out there? Not in the first one.
According to their Wiki-page, this Denver group "fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, and Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots." I approve. Live in Lawrence, KS. 12/2006.
The Minnesota Timberwolves (0-3) face the Los Angeles Lakers (2-2) at the Staples Center on Friday night. Any time the Wolves face the Lakers, one can’t help but think about the connection between the Lakers and the city of Minneapolis. Prior to moving to LA after the 1959-60 season, the Lakers won four [...]
A strong showing for Mark Portugal, but the 1986 Twins lose their first game.
thanks to Twayn. Muddy on vocal, Sonny Boy on harmoniKEYE, "Otis Spann at the piano, Willie Dixon on string bass, and that young fellow with the axe is Matt "Guitar" Murphy"