Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Even More Bina!

Bina goal tops YouTube.

The CSTV version of the goal gets a better camera angle than the FSN one.

Sioux fans: Sioux hockey beat writer Brad Schlossman's blog linked above is a good source for Sioux info throughout the week.

Monday, January 29, 2007

The Bina Goal Gets Its Own Post

Only the Golden Gophers could give such a gift only ten months after their last beauty.

Here's the video of Robbie Bina chasing Jeff "not Vergas, but" Frazee from goal Saturday night with a 170-foot shot.

The goal made ESPN's top plays.

Today, it made ESPN's Around the Horn today during the Showdown portion at the end of the show. The question was: "Do you feel sorry for the goalie?" Woody Paige argued "yes", Jay Mariotti argued "no", and Mariotti of course got the point.

It then also made ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, the gold standard of sports talk shows. Michael Wilbon called it "an unbelievable shot" and wondered how Frazee could allow the goal. Tony Kornheiser said: "I'm glad I don't know the name of that goalie!" and referred to it as "a Bill Buckner situation," which made Wilbon cringe.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Character Counts

The Sioux swept the #1 team in the country in their building this weekend. The beatings were so bad that the Sioux gave their penalty kill units major workout times in both games and still won convincingly both nights.

This was the Sioux's first road sweep of the Gophers since I was in ninth grade. (Holy moly!)

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Gopher-Slurping Homer Gets His Due

Yes! Jeff Dubay has been removed from Gopher hockey coverage by FSN, so I won't have to deal with his homer takes before and after the Sioux's games against the Gophers this weekend. Dubay loudly disparaged a referee last weekend (Rule #1 for Minnesota Homers: The refs are out to screw us) and the WCHA had FSN look into it.

The story doesn't say whether "Bunny" was outright fired, which would be even more glorious.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Hockey Day Minnesota's Nightcap: Starring The Suomalainen

Minnesota's population: 4.9 million
Finland's population: 5.2 million

Number each had participating in last night's Wild vs. Stars game-ending shootout (including goalies):

Minnesota: 1
Finland: 7

Saturday, January 20, 2007

State of Punching Bags

It's "Hockey Day Minnesota", with a high school game, Minnesota vs. Denver game, and Wild vs. Stars game all on FSN. I have the Gophers/Pioneers game on, and a Gopher player just ran into the goalie. The first contact may have been accidental, but as the players went to the ice, Gopher O'Brien threw a hard forearm at DU's goalie. A donnybrook (as FSN's Frank calls 'em) breaks out and soon I see on the ice two DU players on top of two UM players, the Denver guys wailing away and the Gophers taking the punishment.

What a pitiful display by the maroon and gold. Run the goalie and then fold like a card table. I thought this edition of the Gopher team wasn't soft?

I'm off to the Xcel soon for the Wild game. Hopefully both teams tonight have tough guys.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

My Pal Joel Calls It Star Search

American Idol starts tonight (and Fox 9 actually had a "news" story on it last night, crap like that is why I rarely watch local newscasts.) Which means it's time to dust off that timeless Charles Barkley quote:

"I got two pet peeves: If you watch American Idol, or you're one of those doofuses who dress up as Star Wars and sleep outside, you're a stone-cold loser."

Monday, January 15, 2007

The Furthest East I've Ever Been Is Cincinatti. And It Was For Work And I Got To Drink All Afternoon On The Company's Tab (And Somehow They Also Ended Up Paying For My Long-Distance Phone Conversation With Bob Schultz)

Deejayed Saturday night at The King & I. It was a blast. I had finished up a set that included New York Dolls, Stooges, Husker Du, 'Mats, Soul Asylum, and Prince. Somebody asked: "Are you from New York?"

I replied: "No, I'm from North Dakota."

Sunday, January 14, 2007

I Can't Decide Which Analogy I Prefer

Craig Crawford's:

Instead, the president chose a direction that is destined to be undermined by Democrats, denounced by the news media and dismissed, if not ridiculed, by his most hawkish supporters. To many, the latest iteration of his unilateral decision-making comes across like a scene from the Three Stooges, trying to bail out of a sinking boat by drilling another hole in hopes that it will drain the water.

or Thomas Friedman's:

Whenever I hear this surge idea, I think of a couple who recently got married but the marriage was never very solid. Then one day they say to each other, "Hey, let's have a baby, that will bring us together." It never works.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Conservative Coalition: Where Does Reality Fit In?

After thinking about President Bush's escalation address with his belligerent threats at Iran and Syria, suddenly it fell into place ... the neoconservative dream of installing democracy in Iraq as a beacon to the rest of the Middle East makes about as much sense as the theory of intelligent design.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Surge Escalation

Do you think that an escalation will stop the ongoing civil war between the Sunni and the Shia? If we send twenty or thirty or forty thousand American troops to Iraq, will they truly put a halt to this civil war?

Do we pull out troops now and save American lives ... or get bogged down for five or ten more years, waste more American lives, and have the same outcome?

If you think the "troop surge" can be successful, just check out the Bush administration's other campaigns: their occupation of Iraq after the invasion, their handling of the post-Katrina relief efforts, their management of the Clinton budget surplus, their pursuit of Osama bin Laden, their handling of Social Security reform, Dubya's campaigning for all those GOP congressional and senatorial candidates in 2006 ... and back to Iraq: this crowd hasn't gotten it right from the start. Now they want more troops?

Write your Congressman. Write your Senators. No more American lives wasted in an Iraq civil war. Bring the troops home in 2007. Don't let Bush put this off on his successor.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Music and Drinks, The King and I Lounge, Saturday January 13th

You're invited to The King and I Lounge when the Fun Boys (Benjamin Pagel & Justin Martinez) and Exiled on Main Street (Bill Tuomala) deejay a night of rock 'n' roll.

The music starts at 10:30 p.m.

King and I Thai
1346 LaSalle Ave.
Minneapolis


(I was digging through the vinyl archives over the weekend and came across a Neil Young dance remix single I have. Alas, it is warped and I don't know if it will straightened out by Saturday. If you think the idea of a Neil Young dance remix is some sort of Tuomala Goof, then you have forgotten his Trans album from 1983.)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

James Brown, 1933-2006

From Rock Dreams, prose by Nik Cohn:

Soul Brother Number One, with his private aeroplanes, in his silken robes, moving in a cloud of perfume and wealth; without rest, he travelled back and forth throughout his nation, like a sultan, like a healer, and everywhere that he moved, he dealt out largesse for the afflicted, joy for the sorrowing, rage for the faint of heart ...