Yesterday was a very interesting football (emphasize foot) Sunday.
First, Hines Ward (a family favorite) all but punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame. One of the criteria used in voting is noting how the player changed the game. Well, yesterday, Ward caught a 70 yard touchdown pass. At the 30 yard line, Ward lost one of his shoes. He ran the last 30 yard with only one shoe. Back in the 80s, they started talking about YAC yards. It started out Yards After Catch (number of yards the player ran after catching the pass). Then, they wanted running backs in on the action, so they changed it (in the 90s) to Yards After Contact (the number of yards the player ran after the player first made contact with a defender). Now, we have YAS (Yards After Shoes) or, for the more traditionalists, YAC (Yards After Cleats). See you in Canton, Hines.
The other interesting thing was Antwaan Randle El ran a punt back for a touchdown. Interesting enough, but his team lost. Not that I minded that. I’m not a fan of Washington, so that wasn’t so heart-breaking. But, for the first time this season, a team scoring off of a punt lost the game. There have been 8 scores off of punts this season (6 punt returns for TDs, 1 punt blocked for a TD, 1 punt blocked for a safety). The first 7 times, the team won. Washington lost–ruining the streak. Nice going, Washington.
Okay, I found those things interesting; even if you didn’t.
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Oh, my 15 minutes keep coming and coming!
First, I was recognized by Edd Dykhuizen in his daily birthday quiz. The quiz, to my knowledge, no longer exists but was enjoyable while it lasted. My mention was my reward for sending him an e-mail message when he posted “send me an e-mail message and I’ll put you in tomorrow’s quiz.” Sometimes simply following orders is rewarded.
Then, I got into some guy’s top ten list. Pete McEntegart is his name. Imbroglio is his game. Check out item 7–I’m the calendar guy. Who have guessed I’d be so rewarded? And it didn’t stop there. Now, ol’ Pete sets aside entire columns for viewer input. Even though I had nothing to do with that, I’ll take full credit. Not only do I get 15 minutes of fame, but I paved the way for others to get their 15 minutes also. I’m just that kind of guy.
Finally, last week, I gained a third 15 minutes. My message to Dr. Z was actually answered. Some–like Stephanie’s brother, Matt–would not necessarily find that impressive. Matt, last I knew, was not a big fan of Dr. Z. And, I quote, “It’s sprawling at times, but still uncomfortable, angry viewing in a time when apathy and resignation rule.” Okay, that quote wasn’t from Matt, nor was it about Dr. Z. But I promise you that when I mentioned that I’m impressed by Dr. Z, Matt mentioned his disapproval of the good doctor.
So, I’ve got a good 45 minutes of fame, so far. That should count for something.
Right?
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Stephanie and I steam cleaned our carpet this morning. Doggone if we didn’t discover that our carpet had a pattern. Who knew?
I have a fantasy baseball team. My starting lineup includes 8 position players, a DH, and 7 pitchers. I get 5 backups plus I can have one injured player on the disabled list. That’s a total of 22 players.
As it stands right now, I have 8 players who are on the real disabled list — and that doesn’t include Jim Edmonds and Brad Radke, both of whom are missing significant time right now because of injuries but are not on the DL. So 10 players of 22 are not going to be playing any time soon, giving me 12 players to fill 16 lineup spots.
 By some stroke of good fortune, I am still in 2nd place in the league, although I have no clue how much longer I can hold onto that position. Still and all, that’s a pretty decent position considering I chose players based on things like a name sounding like it was in pig Latin.
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In today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, there’s a story with the headline “Kline flier slings more mud at Rowley campaign aides.” It’s about how Rep. John Kline of Minnesota has released campaign literature questioning his opponent’s competency.
Here’s a quote from Kline’s spokesman Marcus Esmay:
“To accuse us of calling her crazy is just wacky.”Â
It would appear that Mr. Esmay doesn’t get it. If you’re going to suggest that you’re not calling a person crazy, try not to call the person crazy in the process of saying you’re not calling her crazy. Who’s lost control of his or her campaign now?
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Last night, there was a huge thunderstorm in Minnesota. (We call them thunderboomers or, sometimes, hotdish) Here in Rochester, our power was out for several hours. Normally, a power outage–especially at night–leaves us scurrying for candles and flashlights. Not this time (although the Toddler of Tonitrophobia got plenty of use out of his dinosaur flashlight Nope. We just turned on out Dell Inspiron laptop computer and let the flames spewing from the battery pack fill the room with a lovely glow until the outage was corrected.
Thank you, Dell and Sony, for helping us in our time of darkness!
I’m not big into product placement. Okay, I am big into product placement. Here is one now
The Baseball AlmanacÂ
 It’s a baseball fanatic’s dream.
It’s got all kinds of information on players, teams, statistics, etc. It even has box scores from decades ago. If I had hours, I could spend them on that web site.Â
If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll love it. If you’re not a baseball fan, you’ll probably not love it. (Although, it does have a joke page.)
 Please enjoy