Gophers, Twins, Golf, all kinds of crap. Joe U says, "If Joe Posnanski wasn't blogging, you'd be the most entertaining person I read" and Patrick S. says
"Your blog is just about my favorite thing ever"
This will probably crash and burn before we get off the runway, but I was reading the Fringe Bowl Team blog (link on the right) and noticed he does a mailbag. I couldn't help but wonder if I could do one here. It seems fun and, as Sports Guy says, it is a way to write without having to actually come up with a subject. And it has kind of worked before.
So let's see. If you have a question you want me to answer, or if you can think of a question I could answer, or if you've ever had a question about anything ever, shoot an email over to downwithgoldy@yahoo.com. If I get enough, I'll do some sort of Q&A mailbag deal. If not, oh well.
Yes, folks, it's the beginning of summer. The time when thoughts turn to baseball, women in short shorts, women in low-cut tops, and sponsorships at baseball-reference.com. That's right, our sponsorship is going to run out in 18 or so days, and so it is time that we discuss who we should throw our considerable financial and web-trafficky might behind.
A brief history:
Way back in 2008, I realized there were a great many of older, shitty players who were not being sponsored at BR. I also realized that you could sponsor them for anywhere from $5-$15 a year. This happened after I realized they actually had sponsorships. Obviously, I wasn't expecting an increase in visitors or anything, but the hilarity and shtick potential was off the charts. So I jumped in.
For a measly $10 a year, less than the cost of a case of Busch Light, I sponsored the great Scott Stahoviak. I chose Stahoviak for a couple of reasons. First, he was a crappy Twin and that always makes everybody laugh. Second, a former frequent commenter and hopefully still frequent reader of this blog made the comment in Stahoves rookie or second year that "he would hit 30 homers someday." I meant in a season, but even if he was talking career he still would have been wrong, as he finished his career with just 27.
After the year was up, I chose not to renew, because really, what's the fun of just keeping the same sponsorship when there are shitty players all over the place who can be exploited for hilarity's sake? I will note here that nobody has taken up the sponsorship mantle on Stahoviak since we declined renewal, leaving him sad, alone, and unloved in the great big cyber-world. All this despite his price being lowered to $5 a year. Sad.
Moment of silence, please.
Last year, the player we chose was a mere $5 a year, perhaps because he only played three seasons and totaled just 82 innings pitched in his career. But he wasn't picked because of his real-life stats, nor because he had a stint as a Twin. No, Mo Sanford was chosen because he was an absolute, shut-down, unhittable middle reliever on Tony LaRussa Baseball II on the PC. So much so, that he acquired the nickname "Big Train" ripping it right out of Walter Johnson's stubby little fingers. Between him and "Quality" Paul Quantrill, I'm pretty certain that game had no idea how to evaluate and rate relievers.
In any case, it was a fun ride of one year, the same length of time he wore a Twins uniform, and I know I got at least one internet visitor coming here because of the link on Big Train's page, but it's time to move on.
So please, if you read this blog you must have at least a passing interest in baseball. As such, you have no doubt noticed or seen at least one player whose name still makes you giggle like a school boy watching Basic Instinct for the first time. Whoever popped into your head reading this, and you know somebody did, go ahead and suggest them in the comments section.
2. If you search 'Joe Mauer Steroids' on google we come up fifth.
3. We are now the proud sponsor of Mo Sanford's page at www.baseball-reference.com (well, we aren't up there yet, but it's paid for and we will be as soon as it's processed). Go get 'em, big fella.
Meredith Leroy "Mo" Sanford (born December 24, 1966, in Americus, Georgia) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, and Minnesota Twins.
Sanford pitched five games for Cincinnati in August 1991, but was not in the majors in 1992. He was selected by Colorado with the 62nd pick in the 1992 expansion draft, and appeared in 11 games, starting six, in the Rockies' inaugural season. After a season in the minors, Sanford pitched 11 games in relief for Minnesota in 1995.
- First off, as you can probably read right above this, Down with Goldy is now on Facebook. I'm not exactly sure why or what the point is, but most likely I will be updating the status whenever those little thoughts pop into my head that don't quite deserve a post of their own. So go be my friend. I promise you'll like it.
- In Gopher hoops news, it seems Tubby has stayed busy and made two offers to big men towards the end of May - which I somehow missed. The first went to noted ginger kid Alex Kirk out of New Mexico, who just picked up an offer from Arizona as well to go with his whole mess of Pac 10 offers. The second was to another big man, 6-11 center Elliott Eliason from Nebraska, where he was the high school player of the year last season. Eliason is on his way up, but Minnesota is probably his most impressive offer. Both of his home state schools have also given Elliott an offer (Nebraska and Creighton), and are said to be in the lead to gain his commitment.
Keeping up on the 2010 recruiting trail, it's obvious Tubby is really going after a big man or two. I can only assume it's because he expects Ralph Sampson to be heading pro after next season. Personally, I'm still awfully concerned about point guard. GET CORY JOSEPH. The problem? Louisville has said Joseph is their #1 target for the class. Yikes. I still don't think the program is quite there yet, but being legitimately in the game for guys like Joseph and Harrison Barnes is an awesome, awesome step, even if they don't get either of them.
- El Tigre won yet another tournament this weekend, this time the Memorial - the fourth time he's won at Muirfield Village. I was watching, and I was all prepared to write a post complimenting Jonathan Byrd, who held a two shot lead over Tiger, Jim Furyk, and Davis Love III through twelve holes. Despite the charge by Woods (he was -5 on the day at this point), Byrd just kept doin' it and doin' it and doin' it well, and was looking like he wouldn't follow Sean O'Hair and Alex Cejka as guys who recently collapsed with the lead on Sunday.
Of course, he then proceeded to three-putt for a bogey (including a miss from four feet) on 13 and double-bogeyed 14 to cough the lead right back up, before birdying fifteen to stay in the mix. It was very entertaining golf in the end, with Tiger, Furyk, Woods, and Byrd all holding the lead at different points before Tiger, of course, pulled away with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 with two of the best approach shots you're ever going to see. God he's freaky good. And it was awesome to see some good golf on Sunday instead of the usual collapses we've been seeing lately (yes, the two guys tied for the lead after 54 holes shot +1 and +3 to drop out of contention, but there were enough good players and good golf to make it a fun tournament.) US Open in two weeks at Bethpage should be awesome. And I already know who's gonna win. I can't tell you yet, he's quite the sleeper pick, but I'll let you know in a couple weeks.
- Watched some of the Twins game as well, which they lost of course because that's what they do, and at one point Mauer took a strike to fall behind in the count 1-2. Dick says, "Most hitters struggle with two strikes, but with Mauer the count doesn't even matter." Since I like accuracy, I naturally had to look it up to see if there was any truth to this, or if it was another example of Dick wildly throwing out words that may or may not be true.
Guess what? Dick was just making shit up. I know, I couldn't believe it either. For his career, Mauer hits .323/.405/.476, but with two strikes he drops to .262/.316/.379. Maybe he was talking about this year alone, you say? More of the same. Overall he's at .419/.507/.812, but with two strikes drops to .270/.343/.444.
So despite all anecdotal evidence to the contrary, Joe Mauer is a human being who is affected by many of the same things other mortal human hitters are, such as a 2-strike count. Consider my world rocked.
- We rented The Uninvited this weekend, and I would recommend it. It's a horror movie, a remake of a Japanese horror movie, about a hot chick (Emily Browning) who comes home from a mental institution to her hot sister (Arielle Kebbel), dad (the guy who played Eddie Cicotte) and his hot new, younger wife (Elizabeth Banks). There's a ghost, some scary dreams, and the hot sisters become convinced their new hot step mom killed their real mom - the event which sent sister #1 to the nut house. It's got some legit scary moments, and is more of a psychological thriller than a supernatural thriller, which gives it a nice edge. If you're looking for something to watch, you could do a lot worse.
- The MLB draft is Tuesday, and our beloved Twins are picking 22nd. The first mock draft I found by using the Google has them taking a high school outfielder named Evert Williams. I have no idea who that is. I have heard of only a handful of guys who are going to get drafted, and other than Stephen Strasburg that's only from a little bit of reading I did this weekend. After the draft, I'm sure I'll have more opinions as I read them from other people. As for the #22 pick, Glen Perkins was picked there by the Twins. David Aardsma, noted Twins killer, was a #22. As were Gil Meche, Rick Helling, Steve Karsay, and Jayson Werth. So it's impossible to get a good player at #22.
- Finally, I was watching the NBA Finals and J.J. Redick proving he's the only shooting specialist in the league who can't make a wide open shot, and they had one of those "Where Amazing Happens" commercials featuring this shot:
This shot continually appears on lists as one of the greatest moves of all-time, but can somebody please explain to me why? I didn't get it then, I didn't get it year after year when it is always replayed, and I still don't get it now.
First of all, it's not hard. In my very short basketball prime I couldn't jump and my strengths did not include athleticism, and yet I could go up with one hand and switch to the other and make the shot without much trouble. Secondly, he didn't even need to do it. There's no reason when he goes up with his right hand to even switch to the left. There's NOBODY there. Just lay it in with your right hand, show off.
Can anyone explain this to me? Is it just because it was Jordan and everybody wants to make out with him? Is it because Marv Albert reached Kevin Harlan levels of excitement? I don't get it. At all. And yet that play is always included in all sorts of all-time lists, so either everybody is an idiot or I just don't get it.
But fear not, blog fans, they are combining their efforts to form the Gopher Superblog The Daily Gopher. It looks good. It looks fancy. It looks slick. They are writing a lot and are packing each post with tons of quality. It makes me feel really badly about myself.
So head on over and take a look at the beginning of a new era of Gopher blogger. I'm going to be over here in the dark, sifting through my bullets to decide which would work best for a rousing game of Russian Roulette.
Posts
