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 work to do this weekend.

That is about all I have to offer as pre-game analysis for today.   Twins' starter Nick Blackburn went deep into game 163 in 2008, allowing only one run.  He's capable of delivering in big-games.  And we're all hoping Jason Kubel will contribute, he is known for doing better against right-handed pitchers.  Yanks' starter AJ Burnett is right-handed. 

And I hope we get less of Kate Hudson.

WALTZ WITH DVR

Confession:  I don't know how the Phillies/Rockies game or the Red Sox/Angels game turned out yesterday.  Don't tell me!  I have them recorded.

I've got a DVR and only one truly functioning TV in the apartment I share with my girlfriend.  Bless her soul, she loves watching sports, too, but not quite like me.  Not if it doesn't involve a favorite team.  She had her sis over last night and they just were not interested in the games like I was.   We had other fare to watch (how about that Pam and Jim wedding!!?)

I have a job, too.

Now that I think of it, since I intend to watch tonight's Twins/Yanks game, I don't know how I will not find out what happened in those other two games.  I will have the place to myself tomorrow morning and I had designs on catching up on my non-Twins baseball then.  I am trying to avoid hearing about those other games if at all possible.  We're talking almost two full days of information avoidance.

Is this mad?  Ever see that Seinfeld episode where Jerry triumphantly returns home late at night, someone calls and he answers by saying "If you know anything about the Mets' game, don't tell me, I recorded it!"?    He hangs up the phone, prepares to start the game then is in agony as Kramer enters and says "Boy, the Mets really blew it tonight!"

The unknown outcome is crucial to the excitement of watching the games.   What to do when it's a big game, of the order where unwanted information about it may find its way to you from unexpected avenues? 

I have a neighbor whose big TV is clearly visible from the parking lot of our apartment.  I have often seen the glare of Twins' games emanating from it as I head towards the door.  The other day I repeated to my girlfriend as we arrived home that we had to completely avert our eyes from the direction of his window.   Even if we see nothing, that could be too much info!  A possible sign that it's a blowout for the Yankees and our neighbor turned the game off in disgust! 

As we opened the door to our hallway, I ran down the hall past his apartment, far from empty-handed, so as not to overhear any scores through his walls.  Yes, I did.  I let my girlfriend see me do this.

The other day I made a concerted effort to spend my last two hours at work with headphones on listening to music, lest someone nearby following on the internet announce a score.  I work in a heavily-populated office building.  As the workday ended, I actually turned on my portable CD player and turned the volume on it all the way up before taking off the headphones attached to my work computer... so I could transfer quickly from one barrier of noise to another.

I was carrying a Twins' sweatshirt as I left and at the elevator I folded it up so no Twins' logo was visible, in case the one other person getting on the elevator knew what was happening in the Twins game and decided to attempt to make conversation about it upon spotting a sweatshirt logo.

Paranoia?  Last night I took in just the first inning of the Rockies/Phillies Game 2 while my g/f and her sis were otherwise occupied.  Her sis saw what I was watching and said "Oh!  I heard this was a good game!".   You see!  I let my guard down for a moment and, while this was not too much information, it clearly could've been!  She could've said, "Oh, the Rockies win this one, I heard!"

The DVR idea is it gives you the freedom to watch shows on your schedule.  When it comes to sports, it is a freedom to which the less sane among us can become enslaved.