So, looks like Matt won’t be Painting the town red at Mizzou.

If you are a B1G Ten basketball fan, you are aware of what has been going on at Purdue this past week. Matt Painter took a meeting and at one point, was rumored to have signed on the dotted line with Mizzou. This was pretty bitter sweet for me. Reason being, on one hand, it would be good to have Purdue maybe take a step back and make room for the Gophers. On the other hand, I want the B1G Ten to be as strong as possible and Matt Painter helps out with that.

I do have to give Painter some props here. Yes, the reason he was going to leave was due to money, but it was money that he wanted his other coaches to get. Mizzou was going to pay Painter a nice 7 year-14 million dollar contract. Painter was making 1.3 million last year (not chump change by any means) which was the 8^th highest salary in the B1G Ten. So, I could see why he would have left, but he didn’t.

It looks like Purdue realized there was a real chance they were about to lose one of the best coaches in the B1G Ten, if not the country. So, they did what they should have, an gave him an 8 year contract. The dollar amount of said contract hasn’t be disclosed as of yet, but it must have been enough to make Painter happy. Overall, this is a good move and just means Purdue is here to stay for awhile….Ugh.

You down with D.E.A.C? Yeah you know me!

            Well, the first game is in the books. Things looked to be starting off on the wrong foot when 3 out of the 6 guys playing last night, weren’t sure if they were going to make it on time. Luckily, with about 2 minutes to spare, our 5^th and 6^th men showed up. I know I said 3, but the 3^rd guy showed up for shoot around, so it worked out. This was the first game in a league that is playing its first annual 5 on 5 men’s league. The rules are pretty simple. You play two 20 min halves, you do scoring by 1’s and 2’s instead of 2’s and 3’s, which is no big deal, because we only keep score by how many points the other team is up. The 20 min halves, however, is a different story. There is no clock running, the lady keeps time on her I-Phone and comes in and tells us when to start and than comes back when there are 5 mins left in the half. This got really confusing towards the end of the game. We were up by 2 with (under 5 mins because that is the last time we heard anything) so Jordan went in for a lay-up, missed, the other team came down hit a 2 and the lady said, “GAME”. Well, we were tied and now had to play overtime. We ended up winning by 3 in OT, but it never should have gotten there. Oh well, it’s the first week and I’m sure some things will be tweaked.

            How did everyone play? For the most part, I think everyone played pretty well and knew their role on the team. We only had 6 of our 8 guys as noted above, but we still managed to run and gun. Our starting line-up was:

Jordan

Joe

Kenny

Ben

Jake

Jordan is a very fast paced player. Every rebound that we got on the other end, he was looking to push. This is a pretty good style for us though because Ben, Joe and I all like to run out to the wing and pop an open 3 in transition. If we miss, no worries, we have Jake down there to get the rebounds. Or 6^th man was Derrick. He was nice 6^th man to have because he, like Jordan, likes to push the pace at the PG spot and gets to the rack pretty easily. He is always a sneaky defender, he likes to lie in the weeds than sneak up and poke the ball away. I think it will be interesting to see how the other 2 guys gel in. Overall, I give our team the following grades:

3 point shooting: B

Rebounding: C-

Screen Setting: B+

Passing to the open man: B+

Defense: B

Transition layups: B+

Overall, I think we played a B game and still won. So, hopefully that is just a sign of things to come.

“Hot Girl of the Day”

Lebron James has won the war, but the Cavs won the battle….at least last night.

Lebron must have thought he still played for the Cavs last night. He showed up to the arena in his own car and brought his entourage with him as well.  He even went as far as to wear a “Long Live the King” T-shirt. As Sludge said this morning on K-Fan, “If he wants to be called King, put douche bag at the end of it.” Where the story gets funny, is when he tried to pull into the arenas garage. Now, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I guess the NBA doesn’t allow non-home team players to park in the arena without advanced permission. Lebron was turned at first, but than was eventually let in. His entourage however, was shot down and had to pay the same $10 event parking fee as everyone else.

It’s now time for the starting line-up. “Starting at SF for the visiting heat, #5, Lebron James” Sounds normal right? Well, the thing is, he wasn’t there. Apparently he had to take a quick bathroom break. That, or he just didn’t want to hear the boo’s rain down on him. I’m going to go with the latter.

The game itself was good for the fans in Cleveland. They are having a horrible year, but this win for them is like the Twins beating the Yankees in the playoffs, no one saw it coming. I wonder if this humbled Lebron at all. I’m guessing it didn’t, but it really should have. I mean, he thought he could just come in there like he used to and got shot down. This isn’t the first time he has been back, so I don’t know if something changed. The tweet from Dan Gilbert kind of summed it up “Not in our Garage!!” Uhh, hey Dan, he did end up parking there, so please, stop trying to be Mark Cuban. You will never be him and Charlie Sheen doesn’t want to be your friend. Speaking of Charlie, that brings me to my next topic.

D.E.A.C. By now, we should all know what that stands for. If you don’t, it is Droopy Eyed Armless Children/AKA the name of our 5 on 5 basketball team. Yeah, I know, it is also one of the many things Charlie Sheen has said the last month or so. Well, we start tonight and our line-up is as follows:

Kenny

Ben

Joe

Jake

Cory

Derrick

Reed

Jordan

All that sounds like to me is, UNDEFEATED. Well, maybe not, but we should have a pretty good team. I will let you know tomorrow how we did.

Don’t think I forgot about “the hot girl of the day”

Target Field: New Year, New Scoreboard and most important, NEW FOOD!

As a lot of you found out last year, Target Field had some really good/great food compared to the day/week old hot dogs offered at “The Dome”. This year, there is a whole new crop of food coming in. I have listed them in order of the things I am most excited for. Man, this is almost as exciting as opening day itself. No, not really, but it is still pretty cool.

Turkey to Go: A favorite at the Minnesota State Fair since 1959, the Giant Juicy Turkey Sandwich -- marinated overnight, served hot and fresh, and pulled from the bone -- makes its Minnesota sports debut in a portable stand behind home plate on the main concourse. Turkey to Go also has a food truck at Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The sandwich is served with Ken Davis BBQ Sauce, created in Minneapolis in 1972.

• This has been my favorite thing to get at the state fair. If you like turkey, you have to try this thing. It will blow your mind.

Lift Bridge Brewery: Added to the local beer offerings this year is Farm Girl Saison from Lift Bridge Brewery based in Stillwater, Minn.

·          This is a great brewery. I have tried a few of their selections. You might even see an appearance from them on STOB.

Hebrew National Hot Dog: For Twins fans seeking a Kosher selection, the Hebrew National Hot Dog comes to Target Field this season. The preparation of the main attraction at Target Field’s first kosher hot dog portable cart will be supervised Sunday through Thursday by a Rabbi or one of his representatives. The cart will remain open Friday and Saturday, but in observation of the Sabbath, it will not be supervised. All food items – including bread, condiments and specially packaged soft drinks – fall within kosher standards.

·          I remember the first time I tried one of these hotdogs…..it was awesome. These might be the best hotdogs money can buy. I like that there are now about 4 hotdog choices at Target Field. Everyone knows, no matter how nice the food is at a ballpark, you can’t leave without trying a hotdog.

Kramarczuk’s Sausage: Twins fans can enjoy two Food Network takes on the highly-popular Kramarczuk’s sausage in addition to the bratwurst, Polish and Hungarian sausages already served at Target Field. The new Food Network specialties are a smoked bratwurst with horseradish cream and a wild rice bratwurst with pickled red cabbage and beer mustard. The sausages will be made fresh daily just one mile away from Target Field at Kramarczuk's and will be served at a Food Network cart at section 114.

·          I can’t lie; I have never tried the sausage from this place. This is way it is 4th on the list. People rave about them, so they must be good.

Walk A Taco (El Burrito Mercado): A tortilla-based cone, stuffed with authentic taco ingredients. Owned by the Silva family, El Burrito Mercado has featured its Walk A Taco at festivals like TwinsFest 2011, Taste of Minnesota, Cinco de Mayo and Grand Ol’ Day.

·          This sounds like a walking taco (Doritos and taco fillings all in one small Doritos bag), but better. Depending on price, could be worth a try.

Minneapple Pie: Apples inside a deep-fried, flaky crust and topped with cinnamon and sugar. For an additional cost, the pie can be topped Blue Bunny Ice Cream. Armed with a century-old family recipe, the Atsidakos family developed this individual apple pie in the 1960s at Peter’s Grill in Minneapolis and now serves it in the family-run Cottage Grill in Rogers, Minn. It’s featured at the State Fair and will now be at the State Fair Classics stand at Target Field.

     *        Another product I have never tried. It is last on my list because I just don’t see pie as being something you eat at  a game. I know the saying, “As American as Apple Pie and Baseball”, but I’d rather have a beer and a turkey sandwich.

It’s Thursday! Ok, more like Tuesday, but Thursday sounds better than Wednesday.

Yeah, I ripped off the “Common Man” from K-Fan there, but that is ok, he is used to people stealing his material by now. So, what does everyone have going on this week? I see that there has been an increase in readers of the blog, love it. What I’m hoping will happen now is you guys giving me some feedback. I’m always ready to hear whatever it is you guys have to say. Be it good, or bad. I want to make my site and my combined site with Mr. Duke http://sportstearsinourbeers.blogspot.com/ as user friendly as possible. So, for this blog, you can email ksmi136@yahoo.com and if you want to contact the S.T.O.B crew, you can email sportstearsinourbeers@yahoo.com This is a good way for you and us, to interact and have a good time. If you have any topics you would like us to write/podcast about, let us know. If you have a beer that you think is the best and we should try it while podcasting, let us know. Don’t worry, we won’t steal your ideas, you will get full credit for any topic we use and you can even send in a picture of yourself that we will post next to the topic. So please, visit one, two or all 3 of the blogs and share with us, while we share with you. Also, if anyone has any good band recommendations, please share those with us as well. Just remember, it can be about anything, doesn’t have to be just about sports. Mr. Duke and I hope to hear from you guys soon and have a great day. Also, shout out to all the people in India that seem to be reading the blog. Thanks, that is really cool of you guys…or girls out there.

On a side note, I have come up with a prescription for any day of the week. It is the new, “hot girl of the day”. Here is today’s picture.

Sidefx of a Monday = Boredom and trying to figure out how to get through the workday.

    Prescription = New Yellowcard CD "When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes"

I just purchased this cd on Friday before a road trip to Omaha and I gotta tell ya, it made the trip go by pretty quick. Yellowcard took off right from where they left things. The come out and punch you in the mouth with the first song “The sound of you and me”. It is about 4 mins long and is everything you would expect a Yellowcard song to be. It is fast, slow, soft, hard, powerful and amazing. They continue on with the first single “For you and your denial”. This was the first song I heard off the cd and I loved it. However, this might be the song I listen to the least, even though it may very well be the best, as I have had it for a few months and it was the only new Yellowcard out there. There are 8 other tracks, for a total of 10 that will make you feel like Yellowcard never took a break. If you just want a few samples of the songs, check out this link http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Through-Thinking-Digital-Booklet/dp/B004R98LSI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301329512&sr=8-1. I think that you will be happy you did. Not to mention, you can get it for $10 at Target, so instead of getting you and your girl a classy dinner of two $5 footlongs, pick up a cd that you can enjoy forever.

Another day, another Gopher thinks the grass is greener on the other side and the Twins are hoping to play on some of that grass.

This time, it is Jr. Colton Iverson. He would have been a senior this coming year, but I kind of think he saw the writing on the wall. He didn’t get much playing time last year (which was a mistake I believe) and he probably would not have gotten very much this coming year. It is still strange that he would leave going into his Sr. year. I think he will probably transfer to a D-II school so he won’t have to sit out a year. I hate to see Colt leave, but we do have enough size to where it won’t hurt the Gophers. The have Trevor, Ralph, Mo and Elliott (who Tubby is ga-ga over). This is a good move by Colt, just comes at a bad time as it seems like Tubby is losing someone every month.

Well, on a brighter note, the Twins get started with real games this Friday. They are playing in Toronto against the Blue-Jays. I think this will be a huge coupld of games for Justin. I for one want to see him break up a double play in the first inning and have nothing happen. That will get whatever scare that is left of getting hurt, out of his mind. I have big expectations for this team this year. I would like to see us run away with the central by winning 100 games and hopefully getting out of the first round. I don’t think I can take another first round exit. But hey, that is a long ways off. For the time being, we can just hope they get off to a fast start and starting thinking of that first game at Target Field on the 8^th. Hopefully by then I won’t be ordering chili to stay warm, but just because it is so good. I just looked at the forecast on accuweather.com and it is showing 68 on the 8^th. That would be amazing. We know the place will be packed either way, but it would be great if the temps were warm and the twins were coming in at no worse than 5-2. That will be tough with the first 7 on the road (3 @Bluejays & 4@the devils…or Yankees.) But, we should be ready to go and our line-up will be in full swing. Now all we need to do is get through this work week and than we will be good to go with sports for the summer. Have a good day and we will see ya later.

Side note: Mr. Duke and I are starting a blog/podcast together. It is http://sportstearsinourbeers.blogspot.com/ it is under construction, but check it out soon, it will be amazing.

I was really feeling the sidefx of a crap MN sports winter, but I'm back baby!

In the words of the great Slim Shady...."Guess who's back".

It was nice taking a little break away from all the crap that we called sports. I mean, my favorite team, the Gophers' Men's Basketball team really went in the dumps. I'm not even going to get into the Favrings, I mean Vikings. That team was more of a train wreck than Charlie Sheen. That's OK though, we have the Twins starting and a few months for Tubby to right the ship for our Gophers next year. So, today, that is what we will be talking about. Let's take a look at next years Gopher team shall we.

Roster:

Andre Hollins
Austin Hollins
Rodney Williams
Mo Walker
Trevor Mbwake (maybe)
Ralph Sampson
Colt 45
Joe Coleman
Julian Welch
Mavrick
Chip Armelin
Oto
And some others that probably won't see the court.

So, who would you put in your starting line-up? I would have my starting 5 be Julian, Andre, Coleman, Trevor and Mo. I know that gives a young back court, but Andre and Coleman are no joke, they can flat out play. It also gives us a lot of size inside. If Mo can cut down his weight, he could be our Draymond Green. Trevor will be Trevor. It also gives us some great bench players with experience. We all know Tubby likes to play two 5 man squads, so this could be a good idea. I mean, here would be the 2nd five. Chip, Austin, Rodney, Ralph and Colt. Not to mention, the 11th and 12th players would be Mav and Oto....not bad. I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited about this team. Granted, I say that every year and it never really works out. However, I think the 2011-2012 team can really be different. Finger's crossed I guess.

On a side note, is winter ever going to end? This is just getting crazy. Granted, we did see an amazing day on St. Patricks day (Best outdoor drinking day ever), so that was nice. Come on winter, we are all yelling uncle...can you not hear us? I can't even get myself pumped to write about the Twins. If the Dome was fixed, would they have moved games there if snow was still in the air?? Meh, probably not.

On another side note, I want to give a shout out to my buddies blog http://mrdukesthoughts.blogspot.com/ He has some good basketball stuff up there.

Well, that is it for today. See ya soon. Don't forget to vote on the poll.

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to say Welcome to Twins Territory to Tsuyoshi Nishioka. I think this is a great move by the twins and will really set us up in the middle for some years to come.

Welcome (Kangei)