With the Twins 2007 season less than 30 hours away, and with an itch to expand this blog beyond NBA basketball (which is why I chose the title On the Ball), I decided to solicit a pair of dear friends whose passion and knowledge of the game of baseball exceeds my own, and engage them … Read more
I just got word that Herb Carneal has died. I’m sure the basic information is up at the Star Tribune by now. I honestly don’t know what to say. Going back to my childhood the man’s voice has been a permanent fixture in my life, and he was always a model of modesty, decency, and … Read more
Show me a man who can’t trust, he used to say, and I’ll show you an untrustworthy man. It was lies that broke his spirit and drove him out of the arms of…what? America? The human community? The lies of culture and commerce, public and private lies, political lies –virulent dishonesty propagated by sociopaths, a … Read more
Regular Season Game #72, Home Game #35: Miami 92, Minnesota 77 1. The Fab Five Strike Again The Timberwolves were being blown off the court by the supposedly aged Miami Heat. In the space of 67 whirlwind seconds, the Heat had stolen passes, leaked out on Minnesota’s missed shots, and just generally hustled themselves into … Read more
Look, this has to stop. There are bigger issues out there. This US Attorneys things is starting to feel like the Oak Island Mystery, where every time you break through one layer of cover you dig a bit further and hit another. Now there’s this squirrely GSA business. (Thematic linkage: Throat-slitting partisan careerists politicizing every … Read more
To me, one of the great mysteries of 2006 was how Joe Mauer, a guy who had an on base percentage of .429, somehow managed to avoid scoring or driving in 100 runs. Three guys who hit behind him combined for 337 RBI (Morneau: 130; Cuddyer: 109; and Hunter: 98). Mauer had 86 runs scored … Read more
One could not ask for a clearer distinction between what newspapers should be and what they are becoming than today’s paper editions of the New York Times and the Star Tribune. The featured photos on the front page of The Times were a series of three which perfectly illustrated the frustration that is Iraq. A … Read more
MUSIC Good Old Boys I don’t know why most cover bands try so hard to make each song sound like the original recording. In my book, the whole point of covering a song is to make it yours, to add your own touches and stylings in an effort to pay homage to the song. This … Read more
Sir Edmund Hillary (I am sorry, did I miss something?) was once asked why, in the deepest sense, he risked his life to climb Mount Everest. “Because it was there,” he answered. I have a corollary when asked about certain cars to buy. Some cars are just waiting there for you to buy. Because certain … Read more
I have a lot of guilty pleasures, probably more than innocent ones, but among the guiltiest is redandnater.com a local broadcast message board. It is a place where usually anonymous broadcast professionals, very disgruntled ex-broadcast professionals and some appalling idiots re-staff, re-program TV and radio stations and spare nothing in insulting the talent of well, … Read more