It’s finally here. Festivus. The most sacred day of the year at the WGOM. I’ve got my virtual aluminum pole out from the crawl space and it’s time to celebrate. For the uninitiated, you may ask what does it mean to celebrate Festivus? Well, of course, it means that it is time to air grievances. And, on this most holy of days, I shall do my solemn duty.

The following is a list of people who have disappointed me in the year 2007. I am indeed very disappointed.

1. First on the list is the former General Manager of the Twins, Terry Ryan. Mr. Ryan announced his resignation as GM late in the season (after the trading deadline had come and gone) and while he did a lot of good for the Minnesota Twins as the GM, the last two seasons have hardly been inspiring. Of course, the miraculous run that the Twins made in the second half of 2006 covered up a lot of the flaws in Ryan’s off-season (and earned him a wholly undeserved GM of the year award), Ryan’s tired approach in 2007 was disastrous for the club.

The Twins, in the wake of the 2006 Central Division championship had some particularly important moves that needed to be made. It was imperative that the club try to extend Santana, get cost certainty with Morneau, and deal young pitching for more offense. While Ryan did get Mauer extended, he failed to get any other of the most pressing needs taken care of for the club. Then, he brought in a couple of has beens in Ramon Ortiz and Sidney Ponson to pitch for the club. The result was that the Twins wasted a golden opportunity to compete in 2007 and lock up key talent for the long term. Now, the Twins have to deal Santana and hope that he brings enough return to build the club for the future, a future that should have included the best pitcher in baseball under contract into the future.

It was bad enough that Ryan failed to achieve the high priority goals in the offseason, but his performance at the trading deadline put a sad end to a very good career. All but the most optimistic fans believed, as July 31 approached, that the Twins would not seriously contend down the stretch. With Carlos Silva all but certain to leave and likely without compensation, and with Torii Hunter already gone in his mind (but not in his mouth), the GM should have held a fire sale. Instead, he merely dealt the sore legged Luis Castillo for a couple of low level prospects. Then, he dumped Jeff Cirillo in a post deadline waiver claim without even trying to get a prospect back. What frustrated me about Ryan’s comments were that he always said that no one would give the Twins anything and conversely everybody wanted the farm for their players. Huh. It appeared to me that he was mailing it in, and perhaps he was. I’m still not convinced that Ryan wasn’t kicked to the curb by the Pohlads. He did a good job overall, but his last two years were NOT GOOD AT ALL. In fact, they were a major disappointment.

2. The KG trade is mightily disappointing to me. I’m disappointed that it had to be done at all, even as I understand that the fu*kheads involved fu*cked things up so fu*cking bad that they were left with no choice. Bill Simmons has crowed that the Wolves had much better offers than the one they took – of course, he’s not to be trusted on such matters – but in any event, the greatest athlete in Minnesota professional sports history got sent packing. And there was no good bye. His final days as a Wolf were spent inactive with a fake injury so that the Wolves could avoid giving their draft pick away as part of the asinine deal for Marko Jaric. Big Ticket, you were the best thing going in this town You busted your ass (or was it that you battled your tail off?) every night. I’m watching your new team a helluva lot more closely than your old team.

3. Strib sports writers. I don’t bother reading the Pioneer Press, but these guys at the Strib. Whew. Sid isn’t disappointing – he’s Sid. Reusse is an enjoyable old curmudgeon. But, how about that baseball coverage. Now, to be fair, some of the coverage is pretty good. But, there are some things that are quite disappointing. Steve Aschburner wrote an arrogant piece for the fledgling MINNPOST.COM in which he touted the how important access was for sportswriters. Meanwhile, we watch our local scribes with all the access whiff on story after story. I’m serious. LENIII was saying that he thought that Torii Hunter would resign with the Twins almost up to the day that he signed with the Angels. Are you kidding me? How could he believe that? Because Torii told him so? I have never talked to Torii Hunter in my life and I knew he wasn’t going to sign with the Twins. He basically said it all season long in every city the Twins visited. What good is access if you can’t filter out the bullshit from the straight poop? Even after he left, we heard that Torii Hunter was all class. Eff that. When the Celtics came to Chicago this season, KG was asked by the local scribes if he ever thought about playing for the Bulls when he was with the Wolves. KG’s answer? Hell no. I was committed to the Wolves until it was apparent that I wouldn’t be there anymore. Because I was a Wolf, I didn’t think about anywhere else. Contrast that with Hunter’s season long audition in every town. Yet, he’s classy. Oh, and LENIII refused to even report the Mandelaro incident, “because there might be two sides”. Why not ask the parties what’s going on and report it? Why? Because he might lose his access with Hunter. Protect that access. Why? So you can be part of Hunter’s PR effort?

And as for Top Jimmy, whoa. How about claiming that Mauer’s stress reaction was a fake injury? How bad does he look now with Randy Foye missing 26 games (and counting) with the same thing? If I were Joe Mauer, I’d never talk to that ass again. Or how about his insistence that trading KG gives the Wolves hope? It's nothing less than admitting everything is broken and giving up. I think that the Strib should starting testing Top Jimmy for drugs on a daily basis because this guy has to be smoking some serious ganja.

4. Who in the hell still thinks that Timmy Brewster can coach his way out of a wet paper bag? 1-11, winless in the Big Ten. Nice job, Timmy. Actually, I’m not really disappointed because I don’t really care about Gopher football and besides my alma mater NDSU beat the crap out of the Gophers! Woo hoo! Well done, Timmy!

5. The lack of time that I have is very disappointing to me. I simply do not have the time I need to write a better/longer list. I must get the car packed and head out!

The feats of strength will be postponed for this year. Remember to contribute to the Human Fund. Money for people.