Brian's Weekend in Review

I must say, and I think many will agree, it's been a tough time to be a Twins fan lately. The highs and lows of a baseball season are always part of the game, and part of any team's season in any given year, but hopefully, after the Twins' rousing come-from-behind win over the, um....White Sox (for lack of a better term that I might get my hands or mouth slapped for) on Sunday, maybe a win like that can prove to be a major turning point for the rest of the season. When the Twins have made the postseason in the seasons of the recent past, they've done it with great second halves, and now that we're past the All Star Break, well, now is the time to get going again. I am hoping, though, that there is still a difference-making pitcher out there somewhere, since Cliff Lee was stolen from us, that can take the spot of either Blackburn or Slowey, and maybe those guys can get some confidence back in the bullpen. If not, let's just plug Duensing into the rotation and let him do his thing. This 3-team race should be fun the rest of the way, though, that's for sure.

If I may, this thing about LeBron James and crew in Miami now, where it seems that there is very little doubt who runs the show in the NBA.....as if we needed another reason NOT to watch the NBA anymore!! I'm very respective of players who are able to make some of their own decisions based on their longevity with a team and/or the league, like no-trade clauses in their contracts and such, but for crying out loud, how can a major sports league just sit back while its stars sit up on their pedestals and tell the world, "This is how things are going to be from now on"? I don't know, maybe it's all legit, but it seems clear to me that the players are much bigger than the league, or the "business," you might say. If any blue collar worker went in to tell the boss what's what, that person would get thrown out on to the streets. I guess maybe that's why they needed an hour long press conference on national TV to make the announcement. God forbid the league office raise a stink about anything that was probably the highest rated show on television that whole week! Okay, so the Heat have the money to pay all 3 superstars, and then Mike Miller as well, (and I'm pretty excited for him, all things considered), but you know, not even the Yankees have ever been able to make everything go their way without trying build it themselves. At least the Yankees go out buy people, rather than having people come to them saying, "Okay, you can lease me for 60 months with half the team's net worth due at signing." Put the Heat and the Lakers in the Finals next season...........WHO CARES?!?!?!!?

On a lighter note, this weekend in Pierre, we welcomed the State USBC Bowling Jamboree, a weekend of gatherings and seminars and honors and fun for bowlers from all over the state who came to participate. The featured guest of the weekend was a young lady by the name of Kelly Kulick, who is a professional bowler originally from New Jersey. For those of you that don't follow bowling as a sport, Kulick made a name for herself in January by beating all the guys in winning one of the Professional Bowling Association's major tournaments, the Tournament of Champions. In the championship match, Kulick defeated Chris Barnes, who is widely considered as one of the top 3 bowlers on tour, if not the outright #1, 265-195. Kelly has won several other tournaments also this year and has really put together an incredible run. In fact, her 2010 has been so good, that her previous stop in her travels, before coming to Pierre, was out in Los Angeles last Wednesday, where she was nominated for two ESPY awards. She lost out to skier Lindsey Vonn as the Female Athlete of the Year, which Vonn is certainly worthy of, but she got hosed on the vote for Outstanding Bowler of the Year, for which there should have been no doubt - kind of like when Jethro Tull beat out Metallica for the Best Heavy Metal Performance of the Year at the Grammy's some years back. Proof positive that voters in these awards shows, even in sports, can be downright clueless sometimes. Anyway, after meeting and talking with Kulick, who was really less upset with not winning those awards, and more upset with the fact that the entire show featured virtually nothing on bowling in general, despite the great things that she and others have accomplished this season, it was clear to me that this young professional athlete was one who had her head on straight - someone who didn't feel she was bigger than the game. Take notes, LeBron! Whatever the case, if your children need a sports role model to look up to - someone who has been successful by beating the odds and who hasn't let that success go to her head, watch the Pro Bowlers Tour, and keep an eye on Kelly Kulick, among others. In addition to all of her on-lane accomplishments, Kulick also pulled off a spot-on rendition of Terri Clark's "You're Easy on the Eyes" during Friday night karaoke at the Lariat Lanes. :o)

As for the Honors portion of the Jamboree weekend, congratulations go out to the State Tournament champions from around our area, who were recognized and presented with their championship awards Saturday night at the Ramkota. Several youth bowlers from Pierre won various events at the State junior tournament in Rapid City in April, including Brianna Dufour, Allison Bruce, Slater Pauly, Annie Hanson, and Jared Erickson. Also receiving awards were the State Womens Doubles champions, Laretta Swanston and Cindy O'Connell, who bowl in Philip, and the State Womens Singles champion, Heather Hloucha, and the State Womens Scratch All Events champion, Danita Allen, both of Chamberlain. Senior tournament division champions Vicky Stanek of Timber Lake and Linda Koeck of Miller were also recognized. And, two Pierre bowlers were also given awards for registering the highest league averages in the State - Nick Coolidge for the youth (220) and Cally Hall for the women (224). Congrats to all!!! It's still hot, but league bowling registrations for the upcoming season are only about a month away.

Andy Shoe's Scuttlebutts

I have always dreamed of going to watch the College World Series in person. It's a thing that every little league player wants to play in but if you can't play there then at least go and watch. Last month I got to fulfil that dream of watching when I went and watched a semi-final game between Clemsen and South Carolina on a hot Saturday evening. I arrived at the game around a half hour early and then made my way to the gate. Before I reached the entrance a young man stopped me and asked if I had tickets. I told him I did, at that he asked me if I wanted to upgrade my tickets. Of course I am not condoning the practice of scalping tickets but I did want to get a little closer to the game and so I asked him if he had something closer then the tickets I had purchased. He told me he had front row seats and for a little extra cash I could have them. It was too good to pass up and so I found myself in the front row on the first base line. I was so close I could feel the dust from the field and could hear the players chattering at each other. I was in heaven I thought, with the exception of the heat and when I say heat I mean it was one hundred six degrees and very humid. Don't get me wrong I am not a fair weather fan I will go out and watch a football game in a blizzard so I don't think a little oven like heat will keep me away from a chance to watch a great game like a College World Series game. The game was great a back and forth battle that featured great pitching and even better fundamental baseball with some big hits during the game. I was more thrown back about the stadium. I think it is a shame that Rosenblatt Stadium is going to no longer be the home of the CWS. What a place, and the fans could never have a better place to watch the game. It is a real "Field Of Dreams." With it's dark blue exterior, multi colored seating sections, giant scoreboard and carefully groomed field it is everything and more for a serious baseball fan. The fans vantage point is great anywhere on the field. You literally can not find a bad seat in the place. I know what you are thinking, it easy for me to say when I was sitting in the first row but at the conclusion of the game I took a little walk around. I went to the corner bleachers in right field thinking that would be the worst place to watch a game but I was surprised to find that even there you could see the entire field with out missing any of the action. The people in Omaha and the entire Midwest have something to be very proud in the fact that the college baseball world converges to the prairie for a couple of weeks of great baseball. I feel lucky to be one of the small few that had a chance to watch a game form the Omaha Jewell that they call "The Best Show On Dirt." I only hope the fans will show up when they open the new field for the 2011 CWS. If you are planning to go down for the games next year I highly recommend that you take some time and go to the old market down town Omaha and see for yourself the best of Midwest hospitality. If you think about it get there Saturday morning and take in a great old fashioned farmers market. I could go on and on about my experience, but I will just say that now I can put a check by "See a great game in great place," on my bucket list. Next I plan on going to Target Field in Minneapolis for a Twins Game so I will report back about that experience as well. Until Next time then I encourage you to get out and watch some baseball weather it be your local Little League or a trip to a Major League field somewhere, just get out and see a game.

Rod's Wednesday Take N Things

I did not go to the Post 8 Legion game last night. I did listen to the game a bit and it sounded like Pierre played a complete game in their 7-0 shutout of the Rapid City Post 22 Expo's. Pierre plays 5 games this weekend and considering how they played in their last two games vs. Rapid City Post 320 in the rain out Tuesday and then last night, they should do ok.

No, I went golfing last night at the Dunes in Ft. Pierre. Played the back 9. Shot a 41 which was not bad for me. I can only remember hitting three really bad shots the whole round. I had a 6 on the par 5 18. Otherwise I had 3 5's and 5 4's. It was the best I have played I thought this year. The back 9 at Dunes is wet from all the rain that we have had and there was some standing water here and there but for the most part I did not have to squish around and I only lost 1 ball. That was on the 15th hole, a par 5 that runs east to west. I lost the ball on the drive. I was going to keep it low because the sun was directly causing a hazard. Well, I hit it high, lost the ball, heard it hit somewhere, but it wasn't in the fairway so I took the stroke penalty and made a 5 on the hole. The greens on the back 9 at Dunes were soft and I left a couple of divits that I fixed. On the front 9 at Dunes, the greens seem to be harder and when the ball hits on the green on the fly doesn't seem to leave the mark. Still, I had a pretty good round and am looking forward to my next round hopefully this weekend.

Darren Boyle's weekly words of wisdom

Big news in the NBA this past week with the beginning of the free agent signing period. It has been known for awhile that LeBron James was going to be a free agent this season along with Dewayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and others. Many have talked about the possibility of two perhaps three of these free agents getting together to sign with one team to persue a championship. In fact, Dewayne Wade proposed a "summit" for potential free agents to see who would like to play with whom. To be sure this has been the most anticipated free agent signing periods in any sport. And it will reach its peak Thursday night, as LeBron James will make his choice of team known on ESPN at 8:00 central time. Get this, LeBron's people approached ESPN with the idea of having a special program for his announcement, with one BIG condition. LeBron's people sell the advertising with the $$ going to the Boys and Girls Club of America. Kudos to whoever came up with the idea. Kudos to ESPN for letting it happen. To be sure, I will be one of the millions watching. It is not often that you get know in advance when a great moment in sports is going to happen. One of those great moments will happen Thursday night. Maybe we will get to see Brett Farve is one of the ads, maybe he will be @ Sears doing some more waffling. Will he have a ESPN special to announce that he isnt going to retire again? Believe it or not I feel sorry for Farve and the Vikings, they got screwed back in January, but I digress. One thing to think about as you speculate where King James will sign. President Obama made his feelings known recently. The President has been on a roll as he has picked the Saints to win the Super Bowl, and the Lakers to win the NBA finals. Now he believes LeBron will sign with ..........The Chicago Bulls.

Rod's Wednesday Take N Things

Wouldn't you know it. Once again weather struck and cost Pierre Post 8 an American Legion baseball victory last night. After losing to Mitchell 10-6, Pierre was playing a team that stands between them and a trip to the state tournament at Hyde Stadium. Rapid City Post 320. And Pierre was hitting the ball with authority. They scored 3 runs in the first inning off of Zach Cimburek, a pitcher Post 8 was seeing for the third time this season, and a pitcher who had shut them down in the previous 2 matchups. After allowing Post 320 a run in the top of the first, Pierre answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-1 lead. Post 320 answered with a run in the third and another in the 4th inning to tie the game. But Pierre came back in the bottom of the 4th. They scored a run to take a 4-3 lead and they had the bases loaded with 1 out, when lightning struck to close to the field. The umpires (Paul Titze and Terry Keller) motioned both teams to their dugouts. After covering the mound and home plate area with tarp, the players came out and took it off. It looked like the game was going to continue. But alas, the clouds filled in, it started to rain and the game was called. Pierre did not get the win because it was not an official game. For a 7 inning game to be official, you have to play 4 complete innings. Post 320 got bailed out by mother nature, and much like the game against Bismark last month, Pierre was stopped by the weather just when it looked as if they were making a move. So, Pierre will not play Post 320 anymore this regular season. And the next time they meet, if they do, will be on the Post 320 home field and a trip to the state tournament will probably be on the line in a couple of weeks from tomorrow night.

Post 8 still has alot of baseball to play though til the Region tournament. They have the Post 22 Expos, a team that beat Pierre back in late May, tonight in Pierre. They have 5 games this weekend and 6 next week with doubleheaders on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tuesday will be a triangular with Sturgis and Spearfish at Sturgis. Thursday at Aberdeen and Saturday afternoon at Huron. And although the Post 8 record is 18-19, there is still plenty of baseball to get things going the right way.

Brian: just talkin' baseball

The Twins played their 81st game of the season today (Saturday), so while the All Star Game might be the event that divides the season into the first and second half, I guess now is an even better time to look at the season so far, since it is exactly half over, at least for the Twins. Watching the Twins game today on FOX, I noticed when the graphic game up with the National League standings. I was aware of who all was in first place, but it never really hit me how neat of a story they all were until I noticed them all grouped together. The Braves lead the NL East, which really isn't anything new, but where all the experts expected the Phillies to run away with the East, maybe only to be contended by the Mets, the Braves are actually quite a story in that regard. But if the Braves are a good story, then seeing both the Reds and Padres in first place in their respective divisions pretty much speaks for itself. The Padres, like the Braves, are an amazing 15 games over .500, which kind of reminds me of the 2001 Twins, who got off to such a hot start only to fizzle a little after the All Star Break. I remember they had a five game lead at the break, which was pretty amazing for a team that no one expected anything from. Things didn't work that year for the Twins, but that season still set the stage for the impressive run of postseason appearances that they have had ever since. Maybe the Padres will fall like that later this season, maybe they won't. Funny thing is, I remember predicting that the Twins might make a trade deadline deal with the Padres for closer Heath Bell, figuring the Twins would be in contention and the Padres would not. Well, Rauch has done nicely for the Twins in place of Joe Nathan, but the Padres won't need to move anyone right now, that's for sure. As for the Reds, they lead the NL Central, and for me, they've done it very quietly. People always know what the Cardinals and Cubs are doing, but the Reds have just played good ball all season, really without any superstars to speak of.

In the American League, of course it's business as usual in the East -- Yankees and Red Sox on top, although the Red Sox have been pretty amazing lately, considering how slow they started. I guess that's no different than what the Yankees have done for about the last five straight years. Go Rays and Jays! - please?? In the West, the Angels were expected to be on top, as usual, but thanks to a slow start, they're still four games behind the Rangers, who are a very impressive 16 games over .500, which is a bit of a surprise, as far as I'm concerned.

And so that brings us to the AL Central, and for me it has been awesome to see the Twins start as strong as they did, but they did struggle quite a bit in June, which has helped the Tigers, and even the White Sox hang around. Now, after the Twins blew it today against the Rays, the Tigers have pulled back even with the Twins for first place. The pitching had better come around again, and if it does, I think we're in for an exciting second half of the season. Four words for the Twins: Go get Cliff Leee!! The most frustrating thing for me as a Twins fan this year? They've been in first for most of the season, but they have yet to go as many as 12 games over .500 to this point. By contrast, as mentioned, teams like the Padres and Rangers are 15 and 16 over, and I don't think one would have to argue too loudly to make people think the Twins are better than both of those teams. Okay, so the Rangers offense is pretty scary, but the Twins did sweep three from Texas a few weeks back.

A few other thoughts:
**Twins fans - if you didn't before, do you find yourself nowadays just dropping whatever you're doing when Jim Thome comes up to bat?
**Tigers fans - Joel Zumaya has a special arm, but if he doesn't change something for the rest of his career, he's really going to have a "special" arm before long.
**A lot has been made of the 4 no-hitters thrown so far this season. Two perfect games (ok 3, to be fair to Armando Gallaraga), which have been amazing, but the two non-perfect no-hitters have been about as ho-hum as they can be. By that I mean, how many guys can you allow on base before your no-hitter starts to lose its luster? Ubaldo Jimenez walked six batters in his no-no in April, and Edwin Jackson walked eight in his last week. Yielding no hits is great, but when you have to pitch half the game from the stretch, is it really that great? Incidentally, I had neglected to make Roy Halladay active on my fantasy team the day he threw his perfect game. :o( No worries, I'm still running away with the league. :oP
**A lot is also being made of Stephen Strasburg and whether he should make the All Star Team or not. The kid is 2-2 without a win in his last 3 starts, after a no-decision today. He's gonna be great -- he's already great -- but do we really have to debate this subject? I'd say not even close. Maybe they should play a "Futures Game" like they do during the NBA All Star Weekend, and then Strasburg would be worthy of trip to Anaheim next week.

Speaking of All Stars - here are my votes for who should be starting (some not so conventional):

AMERICAN ----- NATIONAL
C - Joe Mauer, Twins ----- Miguel Olivo, Rockies
1B - Miguel Cabrera, Tigers ----- Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2B - Robinson Cano, Yankees ----- Dan Uggla, Marlins
3B - Michael Young, Rangers ----- Scott Rolen, Reds
SS - Alex Gonzalez, Blue Jays ----- Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
OF - Josh Hamilton, Rangers ----- Cory Hart, Brewers
Carl Crawford, Rays ----- Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies
Vernon Wells, Blue Jays ----- Chris Young, Diamondbacks
DH - Vladimir Guerrero, Rangers ----- Aubrey Huff, Giants
P - David Price, Rays ----- Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies

HONORABLE MENTION
1B - Justin Morneau, Twins ----- 1B - Joey Votto, Reds
Paul Konerko, White Sox
2B - Dustin Pedroia (inj.), Red Sox ----- 2B - Martin Prado, Braves
3B - Adrian Beltre, Red Sox ----- 3B - David Wright, Mets
OF - Shin-Soo Choo, Indians ----- OF - Ryan Braun, Brewers
Alex Rios, White Sox ----- Marlon Byrd, Cubs
SP - Andy Pettitte, Yankees ----- SP - Josh Johnson, Marlins

Plenty of food for thought here, but it's not like we've given you much to read lately anyway. Happy Birthday, America! And way to go, Brock Lesnar!!
- Radiooo