The Other White Shadow??

Every time I see NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, I think he could be the brother of Ken Howard.

New Twins Commercial

This commercial debuted during the Super Bowl. It's Michael Cuddeyer, Joe Maurer, and Justin Morneau taking their swings at the site of the new Twins ballpark. (Partially paid for by a tax increase that Tim "no new taxes" Pawlenty signed into law, it should be noted.) Nothing special or exceptionally humorous about the ad, but stick around for TK channeling his inner Seinfeld at the end!

I Didn't Know They Were Called The "Pipers"
(I Had To Look It Up ... "Pied Piper Of Hamelin", Get It?)

Patrick Reusse has a nice column about the Hamline hockey team's rise from worst to first in the MIAC. Hamline's coach is Scott Bell. Is that the same guy who captained the Gopher's in the mid-nineties? I looked up his bio at Hamline's website and sure enough, he is. I once penned this cheap shot about him and his Gophers:

Don’t count Minnesota out for the season, though. You will recall two seasons ago, when Colorado College was running away from the pack in the WCHA regular season race. The Gophers had a team meeting and decided that second place would become their goal. Their captain stood up and starting yelling that settling for second place was no way to play the game and that the team should fight for first place. The Gophers, inspired by their captain, rallied around his words and finished fourth.

Seems that his current team has a little Bell cause-and-effect in them also. A Hamline player recalls a game against Wisconsin-River Falls:

"We went down 3-0 in the first period," freshman Jared Hummel said. "In the locker room, Joe Long got up and said, 'I'm so sick of losing. We're not doing this again. We're not!'

"To me, that's what changed everything for this team. We came out and scored four goals."

But Hamline still lost the game.

In all seriousness, congrats to Scott Bell and the Hamline hockey team on their MIAC championship. Checking out a MIAC hockey or football game is something I think would be a cool thing to maybe check out, then a season ends and I have forgotten about it.

Little Steven And Kid Leo Have A Deep Bench

Like I've said before, the best rock 'n' roll radio station out there is Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius Radio. Since I started subscribing last summer, my fave DJ has been Kid Leo. His playlists and chatter have been great. All I know about him is that: 1) He made his bones as a DJ in Cleveland, 2) He introduced Bruce Springsteen on his infamous Agora Ballroom bootleg, 3) He plays up his Italian heritage in his show intro via audio clips from the likes of The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos.

The Kid has been out recently, though. The Underground Garage's site says that he's "getting hip", as in actually getting a new hip. (Ha! And you thought Dan Donovan was the only great old-guy rock 'n' roll deejay left.) So who has been recruited to take Kid's place? Glad you asked.

This week from what I've been able to check out it's been some dude from the Fleshtones, Simon Napier-Bell (used to manage the Yardbirds), and Dave Marsh (rock critic, check out his book on "Louie, Louie" please.) On Friday (today!) it will Mick Jones from the Clash.

And next Friday the 29th, Drew Carey will be filling in for Kid Leo! Turns out Cleveland kid Drew grew up listening to Kid Leo on the radio and is a big fan.

The Kid Leo Program is aired Monday through Friday at 3:00 pm central time. Fans of the Current don't know what they are missing.

Not Nine Lives, But Perhaps A Longer One For Yours Truly

Cats top dogs again.

A new study suggests cat owners are less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than people who, well, don't own cats.

And no, dogs don't do the same trick.

The study, by researchers at the University of Minnesota, found that feline-less people were 30 to 40 percent likelier to die of cardiovascular disease than those with cats.

Yet dog owners had the same rate as non-owners. "No protective effect of dogs as domestic pets was observed," said the study, which was presented Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

Dr. Adnan Qureshi, a stroke expert at the university, said he decided to raise the question because other studies have suggested pets can help reduce stress. He and his team analyzed a group of 4,435 people who had answered questionnaires about pet ownership and other risk factors.

But the cat-dog differential came as a surprise. "We don't understand this completely," he said, but "it's probably not a coincidence."

The Top 30 Rock Books I Own: #4 Feel Like Going Home

Title: Feel Like Going Home
Author: Peter Guralnick
Year Originally Published: 1971
Edition I Own: HarperPerennial 1994

What They Say: 1) New Musical Express, Rolling Stone 2) The editors of The Rolling Stone Record Guide (the first red one): "The essay on (Charlie) Rich is one of the best insights into the middle-level star's failures and delusions available anywhere."

Tuomala's Attempt At A Take: I think I bought this at the now-defunct Baxter's Books in downtown Minneapolis. I have fond memories of reading this while on the bus home from a crappy job. Books and music have always been good forms of salvation in times of crapiness.

Whatcha Reading?

At Reveille magazine, Jim Walsh asked some people what they are reading these days and published their responses. If they were to compile the repliers' names alphabetically, you would find "Tuomala" two after "Tosches." (holy crap!)

Anyway, the other night I finished David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter, his history of the Korean War. Highly recommended (c'mon: it's Halberstam.) Reading it may help you to better understand this scene from Back To School.

Not A Good Omen To Start The Week

So I just finished up doing one of my physical therapy rituals to help my back - icing the lower back for twenty minutes. I decided to lay on the floor, propped up on my elbows, and read a book while the ice did its work. I had Little Steven's syndicated show on KQRS. After a few minutes, I realized that about halfway through my icing, the show would end and KQ would revert to its usual programming. No big deal, I thought, it'll be the all-request hour. You've actually heard some good tunes during that. It's not like they will be playing the Doors or Eric Clapton.

So what did they play to start off the hour? The Doors FOLLOWED BY Eric Clapton. Arrgh! The ice was feeling so good that I didn't want to get up to change the station and the remote was out of reach. Eventually, I tried throwing a nerf basketball that was on the floor next to me at the on/off button on the receiver. Two tries (left-handed!) just missed but hit so that the ball bounced back to me. The third try (right-handed, my natural way, but a little tougher angle) was off to the left and only succeeded in knocking my Discwasher on the floor and leaving the ball on the stereo stand.

The Doors and Eric Clapton. Some things make a bad back worse.

Again, I Love Reusse

The Gopher hockey team is off this weekend, giving Patrick Reusse an opening for some patented cheap shots.

The Gophers are off this weekend, giving Lucia, his players and their smug followers extra time to contemplate how the college hockey program with the most money, the widest-ranging television exposure and its choice of elite recruits can find itself in seventh place and with six victories in 22 WCHA games (6-11-5).

I Heart Myself

Valentine's Day night usually involved some combination of Motorhead, the Stooges, Metallica, and Jagermeister but I can't remember the last time I did that.

Tonight was a fun combo: KFC, cheap red wine, Heinekens, and an all-time fave, Almost Famous, on TBS HD. (The commercials were actually welcome - they let me surf the movie on the web during the breaks.) I hesitate to make grandiose statements, but prior to me (finally) putting away those stacks of CDs and vinyl a couple of weeks ago, my apartment was starting to look like Lester Bangs's.

Mitt: Such A Bad Candidate That Fellow Republicans Hate Him (Google It)

I was so busy last week that I forgot to raise a beer to Mitt Romney dropping out of the presidential race, but thankfully things have slowed down so that now I can observe moments like this that make me feel a little better about the way our country will be headed once the Doofus-In-Charge gets taken home from day care.

This cold one is for you, Romney, you empty suit of a huckster. You won't be missed.

New Podcast Posted

Exiled Radio #16. It's all Bo Diddley songs and/or Bo Diddley beats.

Fuck Pet Sounds.

The Top 30 Rock Books I Own: #3 The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock and Roll

Title: The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock and Roll
Author: Charlie Gillett
Year Originally Published: 1970
Edition I Own: First Laurel printing - January 1972

What They Say: 1) Time 2) New Musical Express (and others, including Marxism Today!) 3) The editors of The Rolling Stone Record Guide (the first red one): "The most thorough and scholarly history of the music, although far from the breeziest read."

Tuomala's Attempt At A Take: Bought this at Rag & Bone books circa 2000. I've read it twice. It's study of rock 'n' roll's rise in the fifties - its different regional nuances and how the major and indie lables handled them - is invaluable.

Ron Paul Auditions For The Stage Presentation of Network

Chad over at Fraters Libertas posted my Super Tuesday Separated At Birth.

Props To Doug Woog

During one of the games this past weekend, FSN's Marney Gellner was talking about T.J. Oshie's special contacts that are custom-made by Nike. Gellner said that he needs these because of "his oddly-shaped eyes." Woog immediately spoke up and said: "Let's use 'uniquely-shaped.'"

I'm confident that Gellner meant no slur (Oshie is part Ojibwa) but as someone who because of the shapes of my eyes was called "chink" more than once while growing up, I have to give major props to Woog. Good job, coach.