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From the Webmaster
We all wear a lot of hats here at TWT, and I'm not talking about the collection of Dairy Queen Hat Day ones Smitty has in his closet (next to his 83 game-worn Barry Sander's OSU jerseys). One of mine is webmaster, and I am (back) here at TWT to let you know about some formatting changes. Not to worry loyalists, nothing major.
TWT Brain Trust and Managerial Staff at Company Picnic 2007 
First and foremost, the tragic (and necessary) departure of Namesake has caused us to (slightly) change the name of this hallowed website, as you will notice at the top of the page. Our URL, however, will not change in order to preserve links to said URL on other pages in the internets that we have no control over. Such is life and internets.
Secondly, we are no longer campaigning openly for Terry Ryan for president in 2007, as will be noticed visually by the removal of his campaign button from the sidebar. The staff here at TWT has learned that the presidential election is actually THIS year...and furthermore, that legendary GMs do not generally run for public office. Our mistake. We figured that the A.J. deal to San Fran was roughly the equivalent of 10 years of military service in terms of political capital, but apparently we were mistaken. We reserve the right to put Bill Smith on a button in the future, but seeing as how we probably couldn't pick him out of a crowd right now, the name (and face) recognition might be lacking.
Thirdly, although our acceptance process is rigorous (ie. randomly running across them on the internets) we have added a couple of new promising blogs to the reading list on the sidebar.
-That's right....it's a real Royals Blog. And not about suicide methodology.
-Walk-off Walk (Funny title, but still not as funny as the Onion article a month or so back about Derek Jeter leading the league in Walk-off Intangibles)
Lastly, I for one am considering a change, or at least a streamlining, of my personal fan philosophy for this year's 2008 Minnesota Twins. And as a result, am looking forward to this season probably more than even last year's (eventually meh) version. My fandom has always been a curious mix of roots in personal childhood nostalgia (fond '87 and '91 memories through the rosy lens of kid-dom), communal glory and misery (high-fiving and catharsis with friends), and plain aesthetic appeal (Canadian- and namesake-jacks and Johan sitting bitches) and stood somewhat paradoxically against my backlash against blind provincialism and non-liberated fandom (being a die-hard for the sake of being a die-hard, and/or just because I happen to live in Minny). A season like 2006 is the kind that gets you reinvigorated on a very visceral level -- I mean, how many times do you have a second-half comeback like that, not to mention crown a batting champ, an MVP, and a Cy Young winner. It was easy to be a fan that season. But every season can't be like that, so what do you hold onto in the leaner years? For me, although what exactly constitutes the "right way" to play baseball or run a front office can be debated, I have felt that the Twins philosophy has been spot on and I have been a fan of both that style and their resilience in sticking to it. It's not always the sexiest thing...in fact, the waters are murky as the Mississippi sometimes when trying to assess "success" of a trade/roster move/lineup change/insert random baseball move that can be nitpicked to death. And trying to assess the "success" of a philosophy itself is even worse. In a grey world (and in my opinion, baseball is very grey), the ultimate assessment is not always wins and losses -- especially when the playing field is propped up in one corner by the YES network and Ted Turner's gargantuan head in another (which is to say, uneven). But at least it is something to hang onto during reloading years, and a connection to the team in a slightly deeper way than just sharing a zip code with them. Their philosophy of buy low, sell high (or at least medium), build from within, be better at player assessment than everyone else, may not be Right in the universal sense (Truth with a capital T), but it befits my own (overly analytical) personality in a way that provides an additional personal connection. And that is something I can invest in. Because if they are rewarded for careful analysis and diligent due...er, dilligence...than maybe I will be in real life too by utilizing the same methods and life will be worth...you know, living. And maybe I'll get rich or something.
So to recap.... Carlos Gomez becoming an All-Star = Kaiser financial freedom = excited about the 2008 season.
First and foremost, the tragic (and necessary) departure of Namesake has caused us to (slightly) change the name of this hallowed website, as you will notice at the top of the page. Our URL, however, will not change in order to preserve links to said URL on other pages in the internets that we have no control over. Such is life and internets.
Secondly, we are no longer campaigning openly for Terry Ryan for president in 2007, as will be noticed visually by the removal of his campaign button from the sidebar. The staff here at TWT has learned that the presidential election is actually THIS year...and furthermore, that legendary GMs do not generally run for public office. Our mistake. We figured that the A.J. deal to San Fran was roughly the equivalent of 10 years of military service in terms of political capital, but apparently we were mistaken. We reserve the right to put Bill Smith on a button in the future, but seeing as how we probably couldn't pick him out of a crowd right now, the name (and face) recognition might be lacking.
Thirdly, although our acceptance process is rigorous (ie. randomly running across them on the internets) we have added a couple of new promising blogs to the reading list on the sidebar.
-That's right....it's a real Royals Blog. And not about suicide methodology.
-Walk-off Walk (Funny title, but still not as funny as the Onion article a month or so back about Derek Jeter leading the league in Walk-off Intangibles)
Lastly, I for one am considering a change, or at least a streamlining, of my personal fan philosophy for this year's 2008 Minnesota Twins. And as a result, am looking forward to this season probably more than even last year's (eventually meh) version. My fandom has always been a curious mix of roots in personal childhood nostalgia (fond '87 and '91 memories through the rosy lens of kid-dom), communal glory and misery (high-fiving and catharsis with friends), and plain aesthetic appeal (Canadian- and namesake-jacks and Johan sitting bitches) and stood somewhat paradoxically against my backlash against blind provincialism and non-liberated fandom (being a die-hard for the sake of being a die-hard, and/or just because I happen to live in Minny). A season like 2006 is the kind that gets you reinvigorated on a very visceral level -- I mean, how many times do you have a second-half comeback like that, not to mention crown a batting champ, an MVP, and a Cy Young winner. It was easy to be a fan that season. But every season can't be like that, so what do you hold onto in the leaner years? For me, although what exactly constitutes the "right way" to play baseball or run a front office can be debated, I have felt that the Twins philosophy has been spot on and I have been a fan of both that style and their resilience in sticking to it. It's not always the sexiest thing...in fact, the waters are murky as the Mississippi sometimes when trying to assess "success" of a trade/roster move/lineup change/insert random baseball move that can be nitpicked to death. And trying to assess the "success" of a philosophy itself is even worse. In a grey world (and in my opinion, baseball is very grey), the ultimate assessment is not always wins and losses -- especially when the playing field is propped up in one corner by the YES network and Ted Turner's gargantuan head in another (which is to say, uneven). But at least it is something to hang onto during reloading years, and a connection to the team in a slightly deeper way than just sharing a zip code with them. Their philosophy of buy low, sell high (or at least medium), build from within, be better at player assessment than everyone else, may not be Right in the universal sense (Truth with a capital T), but it befits my own (overly analytical) personality in a way that provides an additional personal connection. And that is something I can invest in. Because if they are rewarded for careful analysis and diligent due...er, dilligence...than maybe I will be in real life too by utilizing the same methods and life will be worth...you know, living. And maybe I'll get rich or something.
So to recap.... Carlos Gomez becoming an All-Star = Kaiser financial freedom = excited about the 2008 season.
7 comments:
Before reacting to your bigger words...let me clean-up some of your smaller ones.
I was hired, unofficially, in 2007 to be a speech writer for T.Ryan's 2008 SENATE campaign. Having not actually written any speeches, I've been let go. I still have hopes for an official candidacy, as all current candidates make me want to move to South Dakota.
For future reference...Bill Smith looks like John Goodman in The Big Lebowski.
There are no small words...just small ...er, batting averages.
You've just successfully set the stage for making comments about Bill Smith like, "Say what you will about Terry Ryan. At least he had an ethos."
I don't know that movie as well as you do...but I'd like to think Bill Smith has at least one friend he insists on calling "Dude".
Do you think Walter Sobchak is a better nickname than Phuck? I'm not convinced.
I personally like Walter Sobchak better. I think the possibilities are more endless (is there such a thing?). Like, Billy Smith can trade, oh I don't know, say Joe Nathan for a box of Virginia Slims and we can then write, "You're not wrong Walter...you're just an idiot."
I'm prone to calling Carlos Gomez, "The Jesus" as well.
Lew Ford is kind of a Donny. Does he still play for us?
We already have The Jesus...you can't just reassign names willy-nilly. I don't care what your name is.
Carlos Gomez' nickname has yet to reveal itself...but the earlier leader is "The Guy Bangin' Joe Mauer's Mom".
I'm here to beg for forgiveness for my accidental-deleting sins.
Also, is baseball here yet? I'm tired of waiting.
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