Sometimes a blog entry deserves an entire post devoted simply to linking to it.

A queer medley of factors has kept me awake the last 24 hours.  The first factor is melatonin.  The second factor is what I think might be Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.  A third factor was that I had not fallen asleep until 5 a.m. two nights ago (Thursday morning, technically).  R… Read full post »

(continued from part 1)

Kurt Cobain killed himself and my love of sports in 1994.   Just as “Crunch Course” sowed football reverence in me (see Part 1), the Cobain post-mortems on MTV cultivated my fascination with his band.  Nirvana’s music is known for its a/… Read full post »

I’ve never lived closer than a good day’s drive to Buffalo, NY.   I lived in northwestern New Jersey from the ages of 11 to 16, that was the closest I ever got.  I mostly grew up in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. 

I’m a Bills fan because my dad… Read full post »

Note:  Except for a few edits made before posting, I wrote most of the following on October 1, 2006, a day after the described incident. I am a live-away, every-other-weekend father, we usually visit my parents on those weekends.

- - - -

"I don't think I'm tough."

Words spoken… Read full post »

Well, the leaves have yellowed.  It's already snowed in Minnesota.  The NBA season is under way.  Almost time to close the book on baseball.  Except one series remains!   A recent baseball champion is set to face-off against the league's most historical, dynastic franchise.

Y… Read full post »

Imagine your town has a few families that are much wealthier than everyone else.  Imagine that many of the town's wealthy couples are able to alter some of the genetics of their unborn children to immunize them against certain diseases, or certain disabilities or other problems that run i… Read full post »

NLCS Game 1

The curtain-raising for this season's LCS went well, I'd say.   As Manny came up in the 5th, my brother and I agreed that it was very much a "Manny" situation, the kind he seems to come through in every time since he's joined the Dodgers.   Seriously, there was… Read full post »

Despite the exhilaration of the Minnesota Twins’ late-season hot streak which propelled them to the playoffs, Twins’ fans are sore after another early exit from the playoffs for a Minnesota pro sports team.   The Minnesota Timberwolves with Kevin Garnett were notorious for such… Read full post »

Yankees fans have a special cheer for Derek Jeter.  They may not know it, but I've been to the old Yankee Stadium and I've heard it.  It starts as a low rumble like an orchestra tuning up and it doesn't always get loud, but it gets... confident.  It sounds just like… Read full post »

Woman:  "So do ya think the Twins will win today?"

Man:  "Nope!"

-Overheard (by me) in the Minneapolis downtown skyway this morning.

It was a slightly older pair of people.  The man spoke with certainty and no despair, answering as if he was being asked if he had a lot of hard… Read full post »

The Twins faced the Yankees in the opening round of the playoffs in 2003 and 2004.  Like this year, the series opened in the Bronx.  Unlike this year, the Twins won Game 1 of both series.  They followed both games with three straight losses to the Yankees (the 2004 Game 2… Read full post »

Any article to tell the story of the Minnesota Twins' victory last night, clinching their 5th American League Central Division title since 2002, is an exercise in planned obsolesence.  In 10 hours, the Twins will begin the ALDS against the Yankees in their Stadium.

As my dad has said, it'… Read full post »

As this past weekend began, local news media were billing it as one of the biggest weekends for sports in the Twin Cities in recent memory.  The cross-border football rivalries of the Minnesota Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers, and the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers were both being renewed/… Read full post »

I am blogging!  What should I write about?  What can I write about?  Am I selfish for writing?  Am I a writer?  I don't think I'm a writer.

I am learning Italian via Michel Thomas discs.  I just finished the 4th disc and I don't know how to say "I… Read full post »