If the NFL made field goal posts five feet wider, the Vikings would be 4-5 instead of 5-4.  The Vikings clinched their win on Sunday after Green Bay BARELY missed a 40+ yard field goal in the final seconds of the game.  Our defense played their best game of the season, providing constant pressure on Aaron Rodgers – including two safeties.  But leave it to our offense and special teams to keep the game close…  Gus threw a few TERRIBLE interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown and another returned deep in Vikings territory which set up Green Bay’s only offensive touchdown.  Our special teams – for what seems like the 20^th time this year – allowed a punt return for a touchdown.  Punts and kickoffs have become the most stressful 30 seconds of my day.  It used to be that I would flip the channel or get off the couch when I knew we were punting, but now I sit with my fingers crossed hoping for anything less than a touchdown.  The Vikings have another tough game this week on the road against Tampa Bay.

Some sad news to pass along…the pins have been pulled from the Chatfield golf course.  I haven’t played for a month anyway, but it’s still depressing to know it’ll be another six months before next season.  Maybe I’ll find a winter hobby to get me through until spring returns.

I’m looking forward to this weekend.  Ann and I are checking out the Lights at Bluff Valley on Friday.  I’ve never been there before, but it looks pretty cool on the website.  That will be fun, but the really exciting part of the weekend is going to the Wild game Saturday night.  We went to our first game last year and had a blast.  You really get a sense of the speed of the game when you see it in person.  I don’t like watching hockey on TV, but it is my favorite sport to watch in person.  It’ll be a great time!

…install a goalpost. <ba-dum-ching>

Wow, it’s been a long time! A lot has happened since my last post. The obvious change is that we’ve moved our blogs to LiveJournal. I’m still figuring things out, but I like what I see so far. If you feel like taking a stroll down Minnesota Sports Mediocrity Lane, you can find my old posts by clicking the “yahoo” link in the tag section on the left. Handy, eh? Let’s review what has happened over the last three weeks.

The Twins managed to kill all the momentum gained during the final White Sox series and wound up missing the playoffs. Probably not the end of the world, considering we would have faced the unbelievable Tampa Bay Rays in the first round. But still, it was pretty frustrating to have such an exciting week end the way it did. As for the World Series, I guess I’m pulling for Tampa Bay. Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Grant Balfour are all former Twins, so that qualifies as rooting interest. I’ll go with Tampa Bay in six.

The Vikings have gone from Superbowl contender to train wreck in a matter of eight weeks. Everyone (myself included) that predicted big things are looking pretty foolish. We head to the bye week with a record of 3-4, including messy wins against Detroit (thanks, referees) and New Orleans. IF there is a silver lining, it’s the fact we’ve lost against pretty tough teams, and the schedule should get easier for the next few weeks. Couple that with a terrible NFC North, and there’s still a decent chance we can find ourselves making the playoffs. Our biggest issue? Special teams… I cringe every time they step on the field. Every aspect of our special teams group is a disaster. We won’t go anywhere until we figure it out.

Jared and I only have one more week of Police Academy. The highlights have definitely been weapons training and the K9 unit. The K9 unit is really what sticks with me – I can’t believe how well trained the dogs are. It’s amazing… We were given a tour of the Adult Detention Center and a demonstration of Crime Scene Investigations last week. I’ve always had mixed feelings on the prison/jail system, so it was interesting to see a little of how it works, and why they do things the way they do. Again, I strongly urge everyone to think about enrolling in a future class!

In more recent news, Ann and I went to a Rock Band Tour concert last night. The Cab, Plain White T’s, Dashboard Confessional and Panic at the Disco all played. I was most excited for Dashboard – they are one of my favorite bands. The tickets were a surprise birthday gift for Ann, so it made for a fun day. Overall the concert was really good. Dashboard was great, so I was happy.

That’s about it! Enjoy the rest of your week…

I hope everyone was able to watch the end of the Twins game last night. We trailed 6-1 in the 4^th inning, and managed to come back and win 7-6 in the 10^th. When Casilla hit the game winning walk off single, the entire bench sprinted on the field and the fans erupted. The place looked like a World Series game… Speaking of the fans…major kudos to them! This was a HUGE series and from what I saw, the fans were great. Everyone was standing on every two strike count, and did a great job of helping the team overcome mistakes. Everyone questions the importance of home field advantage, but I think this week serves as a little proof of what it can do. It was an unbelievable series.

I can’t say enough about how our bullpen has stepped up this week. I’ve ripped on them for weeks (rightfully so…) due to all of the blown leads and saves. It seemed like there was a stretch where I never felt comfortable with a lead until both teams were off the field and in the clubhouse. What a difference a week can make… I don’t have exact numbers, but over the last three games they’ve pitched around 15 innings and haven’t given up a run. They held a 3-2 lead for a bunch of innings on Wednesday, and helped orchestrate the huge comeback yesterday by pitching six shutout innings. Confidence is contagious, so I hope this carries on.

So what happens now? The Twins are currently a half a game ahead of Chicago in the standings (I can’t believe I just typed that). So we are in the driver’s seat, as long as we keep winning… We start a three game series at home against Kansas City tonight, and Chicago has Cleveland coming to town for three. To add another wrinkle, Chicago has a game against Detroit that was rained out a few weeks ago. IF NECESSARY, Chicago will play that makeup game on Monday. So if we win all three against KC, and Chicago wins all three against Cleveland, then we’d still be a half a game ahead Monday morning. Chicago would play Cleveland Monday night, and if Chicago won, they would make up the half game deficit and force a tie. That’s when things get interesting… If we are tied after Monday night’s possible makeup game (have I lost anyone yet???), we’d play one game in Chicago to determine who makes the playoffs. To think a 162 game season could come down to ONE game is insane…

Needless to say, this has potential to be a great weekend. Jared, Ann and I are going to an Oktoberfest event tonight after work at the Peace Plaza. It sounds like the weather will be great, so it should be really fun. The Ice Hawks are home again tomorrow night (7:05 at the Rec Center) and the Vikings play against Tennessee on Sunday. Throw in three Twins games, and I’ve got a pretty busy schedule. Good thing I took Monday off to golf…

It’s been a hectic few weeks! I tried to post a blog entry last week, but time got away from me. Let’s see how long this post gets…

So, the Vikings are 0-2. Very disappointing… We are having a lot of the same problems as last year, which is extra frustrating. I heard at lunch today that Coach Childress is switching quarterbacks for this week – a move I’m totally against. In my opinion, our three biggest issues have been play calling, receivers and quarterback, in that order. What good does solving your third biggest problem do, if you don’t do anything about the other two? It’s like repairing one out of three broken parts in a car – sure it might work a little better, but you’re still holding your breath waiting for the next breakdown. Plus, I’m not convinced our backup quarterback is any better than Jackson. Until Childress gives up play calling, we’ll always be a predictable, easy to stop offense that can’t score any points. We have so much talent this year; it’s a shame to see it go to waste.

The Twins are also struggling. (seriously, why do I even watch sports?!?) Our relief pitchers blew another lead last night, dropping us to 2 ½ games behind Chicago in the Division. And even worse, we are facing the best pitcher in the league tonight, and starting a four game series against Tampa Bay (a great team) tomorrow. I’ve always thought that we’d be in good shape as long as we were within reach of Chicago heading into the three game series next week, but now we’ve put ourselves in a terrible spot to get there. Chicago plays Kansas City this weekend, so there’s a decent chance we’ll be 4-5 games behind to start the Chicago series on Tuesday – that’s a big hole. Keep your fingers crossed!

Last Tuesday was the first night of the Citizen Police Academy program my brother Jared and I signed up for. It’s so interesting! In our first class, we were given tours of the 911 Dispatch Center and the Incident Command Vehicle. It’s incredible to see how much action the 911 Center receives. We were in the call center for about 30 minutes and the phones were ringing almost non-stop. I had no idea they were that busy… The Incident Command Vehicle was really cool too. The Police Department mainly uses the vehicle as a mobile command center during large emergencies like big accidents, natural disasters and other situations where there is a lot of planning and time spent at an offsite location. The vehicle is completely self-sufficient, with generators, satellite TV, internet, phone and other technologies that an emergency might require. The vehicle is equipped with a camera that rises out of the top and can be used to provide surveillance to the people in the vehicle. During the demonstration, the camera was focused on a building a few blocks down the street to show some of its range.

For last night’s class, our instructors were members of the Emergency Response Unit. Their team is called in for more complex situations. During the class, the instructors showed us the various protective gear and technology they use in the field. They passed around some of the firearms and we watched a video that showed pictures of their annual training. They also demonstrated an explosive device they use to distract and confuse criminals when they enter a building. It was crazy! They surprised us with it, so all I remember was a huge bang, a bright flash and a big cloud of smoke – it definitely works. We finished the class by getting to shoot handguns in the firing range. I’ve never fired a handgun – and probably never will again – so it was a very unique experience. We’ve only had two classes so far, but I definitely encourage everyone to sign up for the course next year.

What a difference a week can make! I spent last Sunday walking around the Renaissance Festival in sweaty 90 degree heat, and now it feels like we are a few days away from frost on the ground. I’m not complaining…I LOVE this weather.

One drawback of the changing seasons: I had my first “lost in the middle of the fairway golf ball” earlier this week. Chatfield’s course has a lot of trees that drop big leaves, so a golf ball can easily be hidden. It’s one of the worst feelings to know you hit a good shot, and you just can’t find it. The bright yellow/green golf balls seem to be a little easier to spot, but it still doesn’t help when it is completely covered up.

The Twins are finally finished with their killer road trip caused by the RNC. Luckily for us, Chicago has been struggling so we are still only 1 ½ games out of first place. I heard at lunch today that one of Chicago’s best players is having surgery that might knock him out for the year – a HUGE break for the Twins. We start a series against Detroit tonight.

The Vikings make their long awaited (ok, maybe I’m the only one that has been waiting…) regular season debut on Monday night against the Packers. This is the most excited I’ve been about a Vikings’ season for many years. I would love nothing more than to see us beat Green Bay by 40 points… Kickoff is at 6:00 on ESPN.

I’ve been trying to make an effort to become more politically aware, so I’ve watched most of the big speeches over the past few weeks. I thought Obama’s speech was very strong, whereas McCain’s seemed pretty painful and awkward. I missed Biden’s speech entirely, but I did see most of Palin’s. (I’m still trying to figure her out…) Overall, I don’t take a lot of stock in inaugural speeches. I think debates are a better way to rate candidates.

Have a good weekend. Enjoy the NFL games on Sunday…

A few quick notes on what looks like a hectic Friday…

FACU softball finished our season with a loss on Monday night. It was a really fun year and overall we played pretty well.

The Twins started a huge four game series against the Angels last night, winning 2-1 in 12 innings. I thought it was fitting that we won the game on an “error” by Torii Hunter. Maybe he did it on purpose to help us out… Chicago is playing three against Tampa Bay this weekend, so I hope we can gain some ground in the races.

My brother Jared found out about a Citizen's Police Academy sponsored by the Rochester Police Department. We might sign up... It has potential to be pretty awesome. More on this later, if we end up registering.

Ann and I are camping again this weekend…I hope it goes as well as last time. There is a chance of rain tonight, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. A few friends are meeting on Sunday to canoe, so it should be a fun weekend!

Western Days weekend was very fun. The weather was great and a lot of friends were in town. Unfortunately, Western Days is a sign of the end of summer, so that’s kind of a depressing thought… But then again, fall=football so we have that going for us.

Speaking of football… The Vikings had their first preseason game last Friday. They started the game with 10 consecutive pass plays – great move, considering our passing game is what needs the most work. Peterson didn’t touch the ball – another great move, because an injury to him would be devastating (I’d have him covered in bubble wrap, and under house arrest until Week 1). Unfortunately we lost one of our best special teams players and a promising backup defensive lineman to injuries. Jackson looked ok, which is all we really need him to be. He had a few great plays, but made a few bad decisions. The entire season revolves around how well he plays. The next preseason game is Saturday night.

FACU Softball pulled off an upset last week, beating a higher ranked team in the first round of the playoffs. The win extends our season, and matches us up against the top seed on Monday at 6:15 on Field 7.

The Twins took two out of three against the fading Yankees this week, and start a three game series against Seattle tonight after an off day yesterday. Chicago beat Kansas City yesterday, putting us a full game back in the standings. I have a feeling this is going to come right down to the end…

I have turned into an absolute Summer Olympics Junkie. I’ll watch anything… I found myself watching 20 minutes of Equestrian last weekend – I don’t know the first thing about horses, or any of the “tricks” they were performing, but I was locked in. (side note: how do they get the horses to China? Talk about a logistics nightmare…)

I love the Olympics for a lot of the same reasons I like the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Almost every event you watch has big consequences. Even though I realize every game counts, it’s hard to get too worked up over a Twins game in June – win or lose; there are still 100 games to go. With the Olympics, there is such a small margin for error.

Swimming is probably my favorite event. (The Men’s relay on Sunday night was one of most exciting sports moments I’ve ever seen) Gymnastics and Synchronized Diving tie for most impossible sport a person could try to take up in their spare time… And baseball and softball tie for major events that could be cut and people wouldn’t even notice (the future doesn’t look good when your games are aired on MSNBC).

Besides the negative story lines (random violence and all of China’s shenanigans), there have been a lot of moments to enjoy. Swimming wraps up this weekend, with track events starting next week.

Enjoy the weekend. Go USA…

Favre-apalooza 2008 might be coming to an end. After showing up at Packer camp over the weekend, Favre left yesterday – a pretty solid sign that he won’t be playing in Green Bay this season. The latest news is that trade talks have started again with the Bucs and Jets. They are the same two teams that were original pegged as candidates, which means this all could have been settled six weeks ago. The light at the end of tunnel is getting a little bigger.

Way to go, Twins… After a strong week, we started our series against the Mariners (side note: the Mariners might be the worst team in baseball) with two straight losses. On Monday, they gave up a 6-1 lead by allowing 10 runs in one inning. Perkins gave up a grand slam, to make it 6-5 and our ever-frustrating bullpen gave up another six runs. After losing last night, we fell back to a game behind Chicago in the standings. One more game with Seattle today, before heading to Kansas City for three this weekend. These are games we have to win…

FACU Softball finished our regular season by splitting a doubleheader on Monday night. We played against two very good teams, so getting a split was great. The playoffs start next week, with our first game at 9:15 on Monday. It has been a fun season.

We are three days away from my favorite weekend of the year – Western Days in Chatfield. There’s a ton of stuff to do – the City Park is filled with food vendors, live music and a Bingo tent all weekend, there is a big parade Saturday afternoon, Johnny Holm Band plays at the street dance on Saturday night (definitely the highlight of the weekend), and everything wraps up with fireworks Sunday. There is also softball and volleyball tournaments, and a local-talent musical that has performances every night at the auditorium. The whole community hangs out downtown, so it makes for a really fun weekend. Check it out, if you’re looking for something to do!

Enjoy the rest of the week.

The Brett Favre thing is getting completely out of control. Here’s my question – what did Favre do to the Packers? It feels like part of the story is missing… It can’t be the constant “I don’t know if I’m coming back or not” conversations, because that has been going on for years. It must be something big, because Green Bay is basically saying they don’t need one of the top five quarterbacks in the league – a pretty gutsy statement, considering their other option is a QB that hasn’t made a start, and has only thrown 100 passes. I heard the Packers coach say that Aaron Rodgers is their best option for the present, and the future – how can you say that?!? If Favre wants to play, and you have him under contract, you let him come back!

That leads me to my next point… There have been stories about the Vikings coaching staff having communication with Favre about playing in Minnesota (a league violation, by the way). This has caused a mini uproar from Vikings fans. There have been callers to the radio station saying that they’d rather miss the playoffs with Jackson, than win the Superbowl with Favre. Are you crazy? With the amount of trades that go on from year to year, I’ve stopped caring about individual players. Sure, I like to see the Packers lose every week, so by default I root against Favre – but that doesn’t mean I won’t take him on MY team. Sports fans can be stubborn sometimes…

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The Twins started a CRUCIAL four game series with Chicago last night. Kevin Slowey pitched a complete game shutout to help the Twins win 7-0, moving them 1 ½ games behind the White Sox for first place. A sweep would be huge, but even taking three out of four would be great. This is our last series against Chicago until the end of September, so we need to take advantage of the opportunity to gain ground.

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I went camping for the first time last weekend, and had a great time. We went to Eagle Cliff Campground in Lanesboro. It’s right on the river, so we were able to go tubing on Saturday (another first). I think camping every weekend might get a little boring, but I could see going once a month or so.

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FACU Softball got back in the win column last night with a 20-0 victory. I think we scored 15 of our runs with two outs in the inning, so we rallied well. We have a double header on August 4^th (7:15 and 9:15) before starting the playoffs on the 11^th. I can’t believe the season is almost over already…

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It’s going to be an exciting couple weeks – this week is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel (possibly the best week of TV all year), Chatfield’s Western Days is only 10 days away (THE best weekend of the year) and the Vikings’ first preseason game is only a few weeks away. August rocks…

The Twins hit the All Star break within a few games of the division, and the wild card race. After dropping three against Boston last week (including the absolute drubbing mentioned in Lisett’s last post), they took three out of four against Detroit over the weekend. Morneau has played great, and calling up Span during Cuddyer’s injury seems to be working out. The Span/Gomez/Casilla combination is really fun to watch.

Speaking of Morneau, he won the All Star Game Home Run Derby last night. Not that anyone would know, considering that all we’ve heard about is Josh Hamilton’s explosion in the first round. At the risk of sounding biased, why hasn’t anyone criticized Hamilton for his strategy? In the Derby, the scores reset after the first two rounds. So even though Hamilton almost doubled Morneau’s total homeruns, Morneau won because he hit more in the final round. Because of this rule, there have been a lot guys who will stop hitting in the first or second round if they are confident they have enough to advance to the finals. I assume Hamilton didn’t care as much about actually winning; instead he just wanted to put on a show – which I guess is what the Derby is all about in the first place. Either way, it seemed like a pretty fun event for the fans, and the whole “Josh Hamilton Comeback” story continues to grow.

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FACU Softball is on a two game losing streak. We lost our game last week the same way we won the week before – the other team scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh for the win. Last night, we were 10-runned in six innings. We trailed 9-2 in the second, so it was never really close. There were a few awesome defensive plays, so the night wasn’t a total bust.

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I was able to golf twice over the weekend. I hit my driver better, and my chipping was great. Too bad my fairway irons and putter took the weekend off… I swear if it’s not one thing, it’s another! It would be awesome to have everything go well for a few weeks.

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A bunch of us went to the St. John’s Block Party on Saturday. The Block Party features a bunch of bands on two different stages, along with food booths from local restaurants. The weather was great, and there were a few really good bands. Soul Asylum and the BoDeans were the headliners, but I really enjoyed two of the earlier bands - Ari Herstand and Cloud Cult. Cloud Cult had a few string instruments, and two of their band members made paintings during the set that were auctioned off after the show with donations going towards an environmental group. It was a really fun day, and I encourage everyone to check it out next year.

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That’s about it. Enjoy the All Star Game tonight – be on the lookout for Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan from the Twins!

So, there are rumors about Brett Favre “postponing” his retirement, and returning to the league. I put “postponing” in quotes, because I don’t think you can call it a postponement if a guy never considered retiring in the first place… I know he talked about it and had the press conference where he cried like a little girl, but I don’t think anyone thought he was 100% serious.

I don’t care if he comes back or not, but for the Green Bay fans’ sake, I hope he makes a definite decision soon. The team needs to put a foot down and make him decide one way or the other. The longer he drags it out, the harder it gets to move forward as a franchise. Favre’s need for attention is reason #45325 why he bugs the heck out of me…

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As predicted, FACU softball didn’t do so well at the Elgin tournament last week. I don’t know what it is about that tournament, but it’s the second year now that we’ve been destroyed in all of our games. We always seem to get burned by the “three run” batter, and never seem to catch any breaks. It didn’t help that we had to play in a monsoon, and that our field had three inches of standing water for most of the day. Not that we can really use that as an excuse – it didn’t stop the other teams from scoring 20 runs against us. But in the end, everyone had a good time and we raised money for a good cause.

In other softball related news…FACU won by scoring seven runs in the final inning of Monday’s game. Exciting stuff.

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So I lied about the Twins last week – they won’t be undefeated for the rest of the season. But still, they’ve won something ridiculous like 13 of their last 15 games…pretty incredible. They have a few big series coming up against Cleveland, Boston and Detroit before hitting the All-Star break.

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I have a pretty busy weekend. I think we’re going to the street dance in Stewartville tonight, a friend is having a cookout tomorrow, and we are going to Shawn’s wedding on Saturday. I haven’t golfed all week so I’m REALLY hoping to get out a few times.

Have a safe and happy 4^th!

What was your favorite O.J. Mayo moment? The Timberwolves drafted Mayo with the 3^rd pick of last night’s NBA draft. Around four hours later, he was gone… The Wolves traded Mayo for Kevin Love, a player out of UCLA. The Wolves are carrying a few guards already, so getting Love instead made sense to me. This deal might haunt the Wolves front office – fans will always compare Love to Mayo, so they better hope Love works out. I’m sure we would have been five years away from being competitive with either player, so it really doesn’t matter…

The Twins might not lose another game. Ever. The Twins won their ninth straight game yesterday, by capping off a sweep against the Padres. Boy, they look good… Starting pitching has been great – they’ve only given up like 19 runs in those nine games. Even the offense has started to come around… Just think – we traded Torii Hunter (a regular All Star/Gold Glove player) and Johan Santana (a top three pitcher) a year ago, and we’re only ½ game out of first place. AND Liriano isn’t even healthy yet… I know it’s still early, but things are going very well so far.

Pretty quiet on the Minnesota Vikings front. Training camp will start in a few weeks, and we’re within a few months of the first preseason game. Dr. Z from Sports Illustrated picked the Vikings to win the Superbowl. Sounds awesome, but in the same breath he admitted to only picking them because nobody else had, and he wanted to be different. He picked the Saints to win last year, and they didn’t even make the playoffs… So it’s not worth a lot, but hey, at least we’re good enough to be relevant.

FACU Softball is playing in a benefit tournament this weekend in Elgin. The tournament is supporting a local family’s goal to purchase playground equipment in the Elgin City Park, in memory of their son who died unexpectedly at very young age. We played in this tournament last year, and had a lot of fun. Most innings have unique rules like running the bases backwards or batting opposite handed (yes, it’s as tricky as you’d imagine). Needless to say, it’s a pretty casual! Taking part in this benefit is another example of First Alliance supporting area communities.

And finally, I heard “The Outfield – Your Love” on the radio earlier this week, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. Listen to the song (or better yet, watch the original music video on youtube – hilarious) and I guarantee you’ll have the same problem. Not that I’d really call it a problem, it’s a pretty awesome song.

Have a good weekend!

Wow, another week is just about in the books. Maybe it’s the weather, but “summer” seems to be flying by. I can’t believe we’re heading towards the end of June. It seems like I’ve been really busy, but I can’t really think of what I’ve done. If that makes any sense…

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Last Saturday a few friends and I went to the Rochester Giants football game. I like to support local teams, so I was happy to finally catch a game. The team plays at the new football field at RCTC – what a nice place! The field is made up of “field turf”, so it has the look and feel of grass but it is artificial so the conditions are always perfect. It was a little strange to watch outdoor football in 70 degree weather. Definitely unusual for Minnesota… I found the game itself a little boring. I like low scoring defensive games, so the fact there was 60+ total points didn’t do anything for me. Rochester ended up winning by six.

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I also watched quite a bit of the US Open. Is there anything left that can be said about Tiger Woods? Some of his play over the weekend looked like a video game. I know it’s good when Jake, my golf-hating brother, even admitted he was impressed by the highlights from Tiger’s Saturday round.

I watched the end of his round on Sunday with my family, and everyone freaked out when he made his birdie putt on 18. It was a really cool moment… My favorite thing about Tiger is that he isn’t afraid to show emotion. If you watched enough over the weekend, you saw at least three slammed clubs and a couple celebratory fist pump/scream moments. He’s pretty entertaining to watch.

To make the weekend seem even greater, everyone found out on Wednesday that Tiger has to have another surgery to repair his knee and will be out for the season. Everyone but Rocco should be concerned that they weren’t able to beat Tiger, even while he played with a bum knee and two broken bones in his leg. He’s THAT much better than everyone else.

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Boston destroyed Los Angeles on Tuesday to clinch the NBA Finals. Good for Garnett… He played a lot of years on a lot of bad teams in Minnesota.

While we’re here, let’s all agree that the Boston area doesn’t get to win anything for like 10 years now – it seems like one of their teams wins every year. Sorry Lisett, but you’ll just have to wait your turn for a while.

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I don’t have much going on for this weekend. We might try to catch a Honkers game either Friday or Saturday… Hopefully we’ll make it to the river sometime, but we haven’t been having any luck so far! Other than that, I’ll probably sneak in a round of golf.

It has been a hectic couple of weeks! Here are a few of the highlights...

I took last Friday off, so I had back-to-back three day weekends - something I could definitely get used to! Not that I had a lot of fun or anything. We decided to tackle some landscaping at the house... It's something I've wanted to do for a while, so I'm really glad we got it done. Four trees and a flagpole later, I have a new appreciation for my desk job. But as luck would have it, one of the craziest wind storms we've had in a while rolled through a few days ago. I think everything survived.

FACU Softball (maybe we need to come up with a nickname?) suffered our first loss of the season. In our other games this year, we've always scored a bunch of runs early. When we pretty much went down in order the first couple innings, I worried we were in trouble. Having two weeks off didn't do us any favors! We start a consistent string of games now, so I'm sure we'll rebound. Our next game is at 7:15 on Monday.

It has been a busy week on the sports scene. The Red Wings closed out the Penguins on Wednesday night. The game was very exciting... Pittsburgh BARELY missed the game tying goal with seconds to go. One comment: I never like it when a team wins a championship/series on the road. It completely wastes the excitement... It would have been great to see 18,000 Detroit fans going crazy, but instead you saw people filing out of the stadium and a few fans giving weak applause. But there isn't much you can do about it.

Game 1 of the Celtics/Lakers series was Thursday night. Boston pulled away in the 4th to win it. I'd like to see Garnett win one, so I'm rooting for Boston. Along with every other Celtics fan, I took a pretty big gasp when Pierce hit the ground. I thought the series was over for sure... As it turns out, he was out for about five minutes, came back and hit two HUGE three pointers. It was a pretty cool moment! One more comment - if Sam Cassell even dresses for game 2, he'll have done too much. I counted a stretch of five consecutive possessions where he made a mistake. He was pretty washed up in Minnesota 3-4 years ago, and has just gone downhill since then. Give up on him...

The final leg of the Triple Crown takes place today. Why should you care? There hasn't been a Triple Crown winner in 30 years... So today has potential to be a pretty cool day in sports history! Big Brown won the first two races pretty easily, and the supposed challenger for today's race came down with an injury and isn't running. I follow horse racing for 10 minutes a year, but anything that gets PETA riled up is cool in my book.

That's it for now! The weather looks iffy again for this weekend... If things clear up, I might catch the Rochester Giants football game tonight. Hopefully I can sneak in a round of golf between the storms...

Enjoy your weekend!

So, I had to watch a few lame movies over the weekend. I’ve made Ann watch 100’s of hours of sports, so I have no right to complain. She cried all the way through “P.S. I Love You”, and afterwards said she hated the movie because it was so sad. I think it’s amazing that people can get so attached to a movie or TV show, that the “story” actually brings them to tears. Story is the key word – it’s not real! Maybe it’s because I have a weak imagination, but I can’t picture getting that involved it something fictional. I’d be way more likely to get worked up over a news report or article, than a movie. This isn’t a knock on her – I’ve been to plenty of movies where half the audience is crying on their way out, so she isn’t the only one…

I’m very excited the weather has turned around. I was able to golf twice on Sunday, and play a little softball. Golf went pretty well… I still can’t drive the ball, but chipping and putting have been solid. I’m about ready to give up on my driver. I need to spend some time at the driving range…

The Jason Mraz cd is really good. I nice combination of what his old stuff sounds like, with a few twists. If you like his other cds, you should check it out!

A quick comment on Lisett’s entry about John Lester’s no-hitter. Lester was part of the Red Sox trade package the Twins turned down for Johan Santana. Boy, am I glad we dodged that bullet! <banging my head against the desk>

Enjoy the long weekend… No big plans for me. I hope to golf a little, and relax for a few days.