The Old Blog

The third Monday of April can only mean one thing to Bostonians–Patriot’s Day! It’s the best made-up holiday next to Christmas: you get out of school or work, you are ardently encouraged to drink and grill, and your day is filled with sports–from the early Red Sox game at 11:00am to the Boston Marathon. My friend Dan has an apartment overlooking Beacon Street near the 25-mile marker–a perfect viewing location, both for runners and for BU co-eds trying to grab runners’ attention. The best part of my Patriot’s Day? Seeing Will Ferrell (yes, THE Will Ferrell) jog by. You can look up his interval times here.

Crazy Carl Everett was hit in the back of the head by a cellphone Saturday–a cellphone thrown by a fan in the upper deck, no less! And while no player should have to put up with that kind of crap, I’d rather Everett get hit than just about any other player. Perhaps the phone knocked some sense into his “dinosaurs never existed/the moon landing was faked”-believing head. Meanwhile, can somebody sign that fan to a contract? After he gets out of jail for assault with a deadly weapon, that is.

Tupac isn’t dead, he’s been reincarnated as an annoying dinosaur! Yeah, it’s stupid, but it’s damn funny to watch everyone’s favorite prehistoric purple putz rap while jumping around, toothbrush in hand.

Yeah, this was a Jack Buck quote from the 1991 World Series (the 1991 Twins retrospective was on ESPN Classic today, btw), but I’ve appropriated it and given it to hockey. The Minnesota Wild refused to be beaten on their home ice tonight, even after giving up the game-tying goal with less than two minutes remaining. They won 3-2 in overtime on Korean Wunderkind Richard Park‘s second goal of the game, and will play the Colorado Avalanche at Colorado in game 7. Even if they don’t win, they’ll go out knowing they lasted longer than the Timberwolves.

Dave Campbell takes a sentimental look at Herb Carneal, longtime announcer for the Minnesota Twins. I don’t get to hear Carneal much anymore, as he no longer calls road games. It’s a shame, because John Gordon is slowly approaching senility–often mixing up counts, names, scores, and game situations–and Dan Gladden’s style of “mullet speak” leaves much to be desired. Nonetheless, I was still happy to shell out 12 bucks for the privilege of listening to every Twins game this year via MLB.com.

Baseball Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey, in hot water after canceling a celebration of the film “Bull Durham” due to his personal political conflicts with actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, admitted that he really, you know, should have called and actually voiced his concerns with the actors instead of eliminating a weekend’s worth of fun exclusively because of his own paranoia.

The latest major website to fall for the Andrew Carlssin hoax is slashdot.org.

A joke from the Minneapolis craigslist singles forum. But if she were real, who wouldn’t want to date this woman?

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is quickly undoing some of Jesse Ventura’s best work by cutting the “Snowbate” rebate incentive given to film producers looking to shoot in Minnesota. Pawlenty’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year would cut all funding to the Minnesota Film Board, which, strangely, exists mainly to provide revenue for the state. The Film Board, in turn, is down to four full-time employees. And while I didn’t particularly enjoy “Joe Somebody” or “Jingle All the Way” and I hated, hated, hated “Feeling Minnesota” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous” (I adored “Fargo,” however), is it asking that much for a state that turns out so many proven and fledgling filmmakers to have an actual operational film board?

Billionaire John Paul Getty, Jr. died today. And while his death will probably be overshadowed by that of Dr. Robert Atkins, it is important to remember the contributions Getty brought to the world–especially his pivotal role in providing the early financing for ESPN (search for his name within the page).