It Took Awhile, But The Blog Works Again

From today's St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Niklas Backstrom didn't become an unrestricted free agent, but he did choose the team he wants to play for: the Minnesota Wild.

Backstrom today signed a four-year, $24 million contract to remain with the team that plucked him out of the Finnish Elite league and made him an NHL all-star.

"I don't know if it was my last chance to look around, but it's one of them," Backstrom said. "I believe this team has a really good chance to get up there and fight for a (Stanley) Cup."

The blog works again! Although I don't know what took Doug Risebrough so long to sign Backstrom. I wrote about this back on February 7th, for Cliff's sake.

Good move - hockey teams that can't score need a good goalie!

Jeff

Old Fart Gigs?

I wasn't planning on saying much about the Gary Louris/Mark Olson concert that I attended last weekend (which was excellent, by the way). First of all, I wrote a review of the album. Second, while the music was great, it wasn't what I'd call an exciting concert worthy of a blog post. Let's just say it wasn't the same experience as attending a Flaming Lips concert. I really didn't think people would want to hear that much about it.

Well, I wasn't going to mention it again, until I came across a quote by Chris Riemenschneider, music columnist for the StarTribune, in one of his recent columns. Riemenschneider wrote a story about how the economy (it's poor, in case you haven't heard) was affecting concert ticket sales in the Twin Cities. Here is the aforementioned quote:

"The venues that host touring acts are generally finding it harder to sell advance tickets, but crowds often still show up in the end -- especially for shows with college-age fans.

Old-fart gigs are still packing them in, if they're beloved acts at a reasonable price. Proof was in last weekend's sold-out shows by the Pretenders and Gary Louris and Mark Olson, both of which were worth the $22-$35 ticket prices."

Wait a minute - OLD FART GIGS? Is he referring to the gig that I attended and thought I was hip? What the hell does that punk Riemenschneider mean by that? Is this what it has come to? Wasn't I (we) the one who drank a thousand beers and went to countless Soul Asylum gigs? Remember Jase? The Replacements, Husker Du and The Suburbs? Why, that was only...........20-some years ago.

Now wait, I've seen some cool bands lately. A few years back, my neighbor and I saw Shane McGowan and the Popes at First Avenue. We we're hung over for a couple of days after that, though. Hey - we saw Wilco at Northrop. I took the next day off from THE CHECK so I wouldn't be tired - I'm no dummy! And, to top things off, CR, Dave M., and I recently attended the Hold Steady/Drive By Truckers show at First Avenue. We took the bus, man. (Can't be too careful, you know!)

This brings us to the supposed "Old Fart Concert" that Riemenschneider is referring to - Mark Olson and Gary Louris. These guys came from The Jayhawks, one of the coolest alt-country bands of all-time. My brother and sister in-law came into town for that show. We arranged for a baby-sitter for the kids, drove down to The Varsity in his mini-van, and stayed for the ENTIRE SHOW - both encores! One thing that kind of sucked was that all of the chairs and couches were taken by time we got there so we had to stand. Kind of hurt the lower back after awhile. It was cool, though, because the show was finished by 9:45, which allowed us to get home by 10:30 so the babysitter could go home.

So who's calling who an Old Fart?????

Peace,

Jeff

Scottish Dad - So I Married An Axe Murderer

It was about a year ago that my wife and I started planning our trip to Scotland. Personally, I can't believe how fast the year has gone. I was reminiscing about our Scotland trip the other day, and it got me thinking about the movie "So I Married An Axe Murderer."

Now, I have to say that the movie itself is crap. Weak plot, not very funny, except for one character - the Scottish dad portrayed by Mike Myers. I read an interview with Myers after the movie was released, and he said that his real-life dad is from Scotland, and he basically "recreated his dad" for the movie.

The Scottish dad doesn't appear very often in the movie, but when he does, it is priceless. A found a "best of" the Scottish dad on You Tube. If you watch this, you've seen all you need to see of the movie.

So enjoy, and LET"S GET PISSED!

Jeff

Quick Sports Questions

Monday night and the kids have lots of homework. That also means I have lots of questions on the world of sports. Here they are:

1. It is being reported that the Vikings are closing in on making a trade for Houston Texans quarterback Sage Rosenfelds. Now, I realize that Peyton Manning is not available, but Sage Rosenfelds? Do the Vikings really think that obtaining Rosenfelds to compete with T-Jack is going to help sell tickets to their jaded fan base?

2. Speaking of the Vikings, it may not matter who plays quarterback for them in a few years. They are currently lobbying the Minnesota State Legislature to build a new stadium. I have written about this before. It's not that I want the Vikings to leave the state, even though it would have a wondrous effect on my blood pressure. Steve Berg from MinnPost wrote an excellent article recently about the possibility of the Vikings becoming a "casualty of the recession." As we all know, Minnesotans need the proverbial "gun to their head" before building new stadiums. It took losing the North Stars to get the Xcel Energy Center built. It took threats of moving and contraction of the Twins to get Target Field built. Now, it will take threats of moving to Los Angeles for the Vikings to be heard. The timing, however, could not be worse for the Vikings. How does a team, with no financial partner, ask for a billion dollar stadium from a state with a $7 billion dollar deficit? Hell if I know. Thirty homes games and counting until the lease expires in 2011.......

3. I actually started to watch the Timberwolves again when they went on that little run in January. Then their one legitimate All-Star candidate, Al Jefferson, suffered a season-ending injury. Of course he did. Folks, is there a more snake bit, self-defeating, unlucky, hapless, cursed franchise in sports than the Minnesota Timberwolves? Ok - maybe the Cubs, but you get my point.

4. I watched the Wild pull out a 2-1 road victory over the hated Chicago Blackhawks last night. It was one of those games that was won single-handily by the goaltender. This time it was backup Josh Harding. He absolutely stood on his head while making 44 saves, many of them at point blank range. Including this one. Incredible. It makes a guy wonder if the Wild have no intention of retaining starting All-Star goalie Niklas Backstrom this off season and thereby declaring Harding next year's starter?

5. On a positive note, is anyone else out there getting some good vibes about the Twins 2009 season after the Joe Crede acquisition? It's the last season in the Metrodome, you know.

Those are my questions for tonight. Anybody have any insight???

Jeff

The Blog Works Again.

From today's St. Paul Pioneer Press:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Minnesota Twins are expected to announce the signing of free agent third baseman Joe Crede to a one-year, incentive-laden contract at a 3 p.m. press conference today.

The one-year deal is worth $2.5 million in base salary and up to $7 million with incentives that are contingent largely on plate appearances. Crede, who had been working out in Arizona, is expected to be at the press conference for the announcement.

Crede, who had offseason surgery on a back injury that cost him considerable time the past two seasons (he played 47 games in 2007 and 97 in 2008), will step in as Minnesota's starting third baseman. Minnesota will have to make a corresponding move to make room for Crede on the 40-man roster.

Good move!

Jeff

Pitchers and Catchers. Plus - Just Sign Joe Crede.

Twins pitchers and catchers report today in Fort Myers, Florida. Ahhhhh, this day serves as the glorious start of spring training, and the first true sign of the beginning of the end of winter. The Twins are returning virtually all of last year's players from a young team that nearly made the playoffs. While there is hope, the natives are restless because the front office did absolutely nothing this off-season to strengthen the team through free agency. I must say that I really like the 2009 edition of the Twins except for one position - third base.

First, the Twins were outbid by the Dodgers for Casey Blake, a player who has played with the team before and wanted to return to Minnesota. The Dodgers offered 3 years, $17 million and the Twins thought that was too rich for their blood. Now, Billy Smith and the front office is taking their sweet time with free agent Joe Crede. Smith is getting some heat locally for not making any deals this off season. Smith, a man in his 40's, almost seems like a guy who lived through The Great Depression (the one in the 1930's - not the current one). Let's just say he is a bit of a Penny Pincher. He also seems a little gun-shy to pull the trigger (sports cliche's) on a deal after last year's Delmon Young fiasco. I don't know.

The word is that Crede is looking for an incentive-laden 1-year contract in the range of $7 million to become their third-baseman. Oddly enough, it was thought that Crede was asking for roughly $5 million to sign, but his agent Scott (A.K.A. "Satan") Boras keeps upping that figure as teams get interested. The Twins are skeptical about Crede's health, due to a myriad of back injuries over the past couple of years. Boras claims that Crede is 100% healthy, but you can never truly trust an agent, particularly a demonic one.

Personally, I think the Twins should take a chance and sign Crede, for a few reasons:

1. Crede's only looking for a one year contract. If he is a miserable failure, they can part ways at the end of the year. The Twins are not going to get burned with a long-term contract in this case. If Crede was asking for anything more than a year, I'd laugh and walk away.

2. Crede is an upgrade from the team's current platoon at third of Brian Buscher and Brendon Harris. Nothing against Buscher and Harris personally, but Crede may hit more home runs and drive in more RBI's than those two if he plays half the year. Look, I have no illusions that a Scott Boras client is going to sign with the Twins long-term, but if Crede can provide some power, he may be the guy to put this young team over the top in 2009.

3. Crede kills the Twins. Sometimes you have to sign a guy just so he stops playing against you. Crede is one of those guys.

4. The Twins are waaayyyy under their self-imposed salary cap. The Twins have operated recently with a self-imposed salary cap in the $70-$75 million range. They like to say they always plan to spend 52% of their revenue on players. Currently, they are around $57 million. This gives the team some leeway to spend money on a player like Crede. When Target Field opens in 2010, by the way, they need to be at least in the $80-$90 million range to retain credibility with the fans who helped pay for that field. I have a feeling that resigning Joe Mauer and a couple of the starting pitchers will easily put them in that range.

5. There is really nobody else out there. Personally, I would stay with the platoon of Buscher/Harris rather than trying to make deal with somebody like Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre. Beltre strikes me as a Head. Case.

So there you go. I think something is going to happen with Crede this week. It sounds like he with end up with either the Twins or the San Francisco Giants.

Anyway, pitchers and catchers reporting is enough to put a smile on my face. I guess we'll see what happens.

Jeff

Joaquin Phoenix Interview - Have You Seen This?

Talented (and somewhat creepy) actor Joaquin Phoenix recently appeared on the David Letterman show to promote a new movie and, of course, his "budding hip-hop career." What ensued is nothing short of bizzare. Phoenix joined the ranks of Farrah Fawcett and Crispin Glover in appearing on the Late Night show in an incoherent, babbling fashion.

Phoenix is either so high that he is not aware that he is actually being interviewed, or this whole thing is a hoax and a big joke. Either way, it's bizarre.

What do you think - real or hoax?

Jeff