Busy, busy, busy. After a soggy and cold October, we have finally seen a decent stretch of weather and it felt good to get out and tackle a month's worth of yard work. There's still more to do, but I think I'll be able to get the yard put to bed for winter in reasonably good shape.
I can't let the 20th anniversary of the demise of the Berlin Wall pass without comment. It, and the Iron Curtain as a whole, was a glaring and constant reminder of the utter futility of statism and the pursuit of a utopia in this life. Even as a kid I was aware of its existence and the evil nature of the ideology that had to build something so monstrous in order to survive. Later I read about the gulag and the secret police societies that lurked behind that dismal wall and curtain. They, and the evil that seemed ready to burst forth from them at any time, loomed over me for almost three decades of my life.
I remember coming home from work and watching the people from East Berlin pour through open gates and celebrate on top of parts of the wall. Even with the growing protests of the months before it was something that I had never expected to see in my lifetime. So I watched in utter amazement as the Soviet-bloc as a whole turned away from the options of '56 and '68 and embraced the death of an era. It was THE tipping point towards the end of one of the most loathsome empires in human history. I was surprised, and overjoyed.
On the FFL front, I'm up by 8 points going into tonight's game. I've got Brandon Marshall going while my opponent has the Denver kicker on his side. I need this one to get back above .500 and at least keep a share of the division lead.
I picked up the Teddy Roosevelt biography again while I was up north. I didn't make a lot of progress, but at least I'm past his childhood. The dude was pretty much a rich kid twerp. I'm hoping it gets better.
Antacid, alcohol, and headache medicines are all going to take a slight ding in sales in Minnesota with the news that Carlos Gomez has been traded to the Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy. If he lived next door to me I would probably like the kid, but as a Twin he drove me nuts. When he came on the scene in 2008 I was dazzled by his speed on the bases and in the field and the first thing I thought I saw was the second coming of Ricky Henderson and the Twins' lead-off man of the future. Hahaha, what was I smoking? Somebody slip something into my Marlboro Reds? There were only two problems with that scenario: The dude can't hit consistently, and while he does have tremendous speed on the bases, the next gear past overdrive that he has is "brain fart", and that baby has seen plenty of action the last two years. I would rather see the Twins give him one more year to develop, but the Twins have infield problems that they need to solve and maybe this is a start in the right direction. I don't know too much about Hardy, so no opinion yet.
Bye week for the Vikes yesterday. Brad Childress is starting to look like a genius for bringing in Brett Favre. I'm deeply worried that this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse.
My advice, not that you asked: Skip Teddy and go for his daughter, Alice. A very colorful character, smart, outspoken, flamboyant, a little touched, Republican most of the time, a Kennedy Democrat when she needed to be. Actually, you can skip Alice, too, since I just told you all you need to know. LOL. Love that girl, however.
Seriously, I'm sure you're trying to gain knowledge. In which event, ignore this comment.
Posted by: Marie | November 09, 2009 at 10:47 PM
Hahaha...no, you may be right, though I'm going to continue to try to plow through it for now. I will say, for a conservationist he sure killed and stuffed an awful lot of critters from around the world.
Posted by: Dave E. | November 10, 2009 at 07:31 AM
The Brett Favre signing is a double-your-pleasure kinda thing. He's lifting Vike fans spirits with his great play and driving Packer fans nuts at the same time. What's not to like? I think you guys are unduly harsh on Brad ... he says from 1300 miles away. For what it's worth, Colston dropped a few that would have given you some breathing room.
Posted by: Rob | November 10, 2009 at 08:29 AM
Rob-I was wondering what the story was with Colston. Just an off game for him? And yeah, maybe we have been too hard on Brad, though it's hard for me tell if it was that the QBs before were just that bad or if having an experienced and effective QB now masks some of Brad's deficiencies in managing the game.
I pulled it out by 6 points. Fitzgerald and Cutler came through big for me this weekend.
Posted by: Dave E. | November 10, 2009 at 09:41 AM
"Just an off game for him?"
He called it his "worst game ever". He dropped two that I remember on the field and had two tough chances in the end zone that he has made in the past. Meachem and Henderson picked up the slack. Deep as the ocean at that position. We don't appreciate that here as much as we should.
As for game management, Sean Payton threw out his challenge flag a few seconds AFTER he called timeout. The play stood. Lost two timeouts. It was late in the 4th quarter and the game was tied at the time. And did you see some of Andy Reid's game management Sunday night? Those guys are so absorbed in whatever they're doing that I'd be surprised if any of them can get out of that mode and make a correct decision quickly. They need to get better advice and they need to listen to it.
Posted by: Rob | November 10, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Hopefully Colston will bear down from here on. I'm glad the Saints are deep enough that nobody can just focus on Colston. I'm going to stick with him in my lineup each week. How can you not.
Yeah, I saw that Sunday night game and a couple times thought that Eagles fans must be tearing their hair out. I missed Payton's mistake. though. That one sounds like it could have hurt badly.
Posted by: Dave E. | November 10, 2009 at 12:54 PM
I have Colston in one league, too. I start him every week. They spread it around pretty good but he gets the most. He's a huge threat around the goal line. I'd like to see a few people remove him from their starting lineups so he can go off, though. :)
Posted by: Rob | November 10, 2009 at 01:25 PM
Hey...you talkin' to me? (and my well known talent at leaving points on the bench) :)
Posted by: Dave E. | November 10, 2009 at 05:27 PM
Figured you'd catch that. I have perfected that talent. I know it well. We are on intimate terms.
Posted by: Rob | November 10, 2009 at 07:14 PM
Me too. I left Favre and nine points on the bench week eight and it cost me the game.
Posted by: Dave E. | November 12, 2009 at 07:23 PM