Gary Faulkner: American Hero

Must watch start to finish. Faulkner, a civilian who has traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to find and kill Osama bin Laden, weaves from kinda bizarre to all-out looney until heading into Charles Manson territory and finally seeming like he has a slight case of dementia. Let's not ignore that he's on dialysis for a kidney ailment. Truly Hilarious.

The Blues Brothers Celebrate 30 Years

Great article from the Chicago Tribune about what went behind making the classic "Blues Brothers" film. A great and interesting read. Makes you wonder how movies like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Home Alone" would've been different without iconic images of Chicago.

Petty Knows How to Deliver

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed for a raucous crowd of nearly 13,000 last night at Xcel Energy Center. Petty came out swinging while playing “Listen to Her Heart”, “You Don’t Know How It Feels”, “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Free Falling.”

It was pretty ballsy to come out with those classics right away, but Petty and his band didn’t blow their load. The band is supporting last week’s release “Mojo.” I’m a fan of the new release, and he played his best stuff off the album in the middle of the show. “Jefferson Jericho Blues”, “First Flash of Freedom”, “Running Man’s Bible” and “I Should Have Known It”. They were effectively used to let the audience have a bit of a comedown, have another beer/toke, and save the pipes for what was coming next.

A real highlight was the stripped-down acoustic sing-a-long of “Learning To Fly.” He also brought the heat to wrap up the set with the psychedelic hit “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and the pantheon rock classic “Refugee.”

Petty’s encore featuring “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and “American Girl” brought an energy that was simply indescribable.

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t hear two of my personal favorites “The Waiting” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.” But they also more than made up for it with the rest of their set.

I guess the best compliment that I can give Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is I’ve seen Bon Jovi, Journey, Eric Clapton, John Mellencamp, Van Halen and Bruce Springsteen (2x) at Xcel and never, and I mean never, have I heard the ovation he got when wrapping up his show. It’s was very remindful of a Vikings game in that respect.

Kudos to the band for keeping their Mojo after all these years.

Set List

Listen to Her Heart
You Don’t Know How It Feels
I Won’t Back Down
Free Fallin’
Oh Well
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Drivin’ Down to Georgia
Breakdown
Jefferson Jericho Blues
First Flash of Freedom
Running Man’s Bible
I Should Have Known It
Learning to Fly
Don’t Come Around Here No More
Refugee

Encore

Runnin’ Down a Dream
Mystic Eyes
American Girl

Lady GaGa Attends Little Sister's Graduation...

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. That girl in the background shoes don't match her dress. How garish!

The Sad Story of Dandy, the Yankees Mascot

Funny story from the Wall Street Journal website, the couple that created the mascot costume are especially funny since they're so serious.

Albom's Flawed Argument

Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom wrote what I would say is a well laid-out article about Nebraska's move to the Big 10. I don’t necessarily agree with much of anything he said, but it was well laid-out.

When I was a kid -- and dinosaurs roamed the earth -- your team being "in a conference" meant you could drive to the away games. Our high school was in a conference. No rival was more than 20 minutes by car. My college was in a conference; no campus was beyond two hours.

…Today a conference -- at least the college kind -- is a different animal. It's a mini-cartel. Its interests are financial. It puts walls up around its members, sells rights, charges fans to watch it.

 At least Albom, the New York Times best-selling author, admits that he’s an old fart. What I truly don’t understand is many of these veteran writers gripe and moan about the BCS and a lack of a college playoff and is now griping about conferences expanding.


So I guess the decades long tradition of bowl-games is stupid, but the decades long traditions of certain conferences are sacred.

I’d like to point out that Yes, it isn’t exactly ideal that schools like Penn State and Nebraska are in the same conference but let’s also point out that they won’t be in the same division and will probably only travel to the opposing school 3-4 times a decade.

In a perfect world Nebraska and Oklahoma would play each other every year because of tradition. But if this argument was so overwhelmingly true I think all the Big Red fans would be going berserk about the switch. I haven’t heard one complaint from a Nebraska fan.

Where’s the outrage been from Larry the Cable Guy?!

It also should be pointed out that because of incredibly cheap airfare (compared to Albom’s time in college 35 years ago) that traveling from city to city isn’t exactly the end of your savings account.

I checked Delta Airlines and found that if I was to book a flight from Pittsburgh to Omaha, with a stop in MSP, this coming October, it would cost $305 round trip and take less than five hours.

So if I’m a huge Penn State fan who likes to travel to at least one road game a year, I could do this trip for less than $750 including hotel, rental car and overall travel expenses.

I think if I was planning roughly a year ahead I could save up $750.

Nebraska in the Big Ten? Nebraska playing Northwestern, Wisconsin or Purdue? It sounds about as right as ketchup on ice cream.

Why is that? Why is it ridiculous for Nebraska to play Wisconsin but not Miami playing Virginia Tech in ACC play? Or Washington playing Arizona St.?

It is too late to bemoan college sports no longer being about college. Or about sports. The BCS, the bowl games, the NCAA, the TV contracts and now the behavior of the conferences are so clearly about grabbing all the available money while inventing ways to find more of it, that you'd seem like a nerdy freshman whining that the seniors got more dates.

While I understand a frustration with college sports not being about academics, let’s not take a blind eye to the facts.
Last week alone the University of Minnesota came out with a budget plan for a 4.4% increase in tuition. Wisconsin’s public schools are considering a 5.5% increase. So you’re damn right it’s about the money. More revenue for the athletic departments means less of a headache for the school’s overall budget.

I will say I’m pretty surprised to see any complaints about the upheaval of Nebraska from the Big 12 (a conference that’s been in existence since 1997.)

I’ve been so nostalgic for 1997 lately.

The year was 1997, Titanic was breaking records, the world was jiving to the Macarena and Tim Allen was grunting his way to the top. But most importantly the Big 12 conference was formed so that 13 years later people could complain.

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, If the super conferences get more “super”, it will only prove who the best of the best is and gradually either get us closer to a playoff of a complete lack of a need for a playoff.

I promise you this, Mitch. I will stay off your lawn.

Twins 1st Round Pick...Alex Wimmers

Right-Handed Pitcher Alex Wimmers from Thee Ohio State University. Here's a scouting report via pnrscouting.com:

Wimmers will be closely followed this spring after strong showings in 2009 with OSU and this summer with the Bourne Braves on the Cape. His curve has excellent potential and the ability to overwhelm hitters already. His ultimate ceiling will be determined by the continued development of a promising change and mechanical tweaks (as Pat steps through in his report). Wimmers could develop into a solid mid-rotation arm, but he'll have to show he can continue to miss bats while working more frequently in the strikezone. He won't blow professional hitters away, so it will be very important to prove to them he can throw all three pitches in any count. Pat should get some good looks at the Buckeye righty during the spring, so we'll monitor his progress closely. 

I'm just so shocked the Twins selected a pitcher who probably won't blow professional hitters away and projects to be a mid-rotation pitcher.

Surely all the scrappy utility infielders were selected before the Twinkies had a chance.

Tis' a shame.

Examples 672 and 673 of Why Dan Gladden Needs to be Fired

672: In the third inning of today's (6/6) game Gladden referred to everyone's favorite outfielder as "Dangerous" Delmon Young. I will never NOT refer to Young by this name ever again, simply because of its ridiculousness.

673: In the sixth inning of today's (6/6) game Gladden and fellow announcer John Gordon were talking about phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg's upcoming debut. Gladden kept mistakenly referring to Washington's team as the "Generals", not "Nationals."  I wouldn't have batted an eyelash if he had referred to them as the "Senators", since Washington's baseball teams from 1891-1960 and '61-'71 were known by that name. But the Washington Generals are a basketball team that won a total of six games from 1953-1995 while facing the Harlem F'N Globetrotters.

Moron.