TheGoldSeat

Here is an incredibly accurate and poignant editorial on exactly what is going wrong with our favorite pro basketball team. It’s written by a college student in Boston, of all sources. Thanks for the insight, Ross!

http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/ - Keep Your Mouth Shut Article

This year the Minnesota Vikings will have the 17th overall selection in the NFL Draft.  Midway through last season it looked like we were a lock to land a top 5 pick.  Then Adrian Peterson realized that he was one of the 3 most explosive, game-changing players in the league and all hell broke loose.  The worst case scenario in the NFL is to narrowly miss the playoffs; in this scenario you not only miss out on the postseason, you also get a lousy draft pick. Unlike sports like hockey and baseball, it definitely pays to tank in the NFL; there’s not even a lottery..  Although the Vikings did pay bigtime for their winning ways the last half of the season in the way of draft order, the way they will not pay is by having to invest in upwards of $30 million guaranteed dollars in what likely will amount to a bust player from college. 

With the 2008 NFL Draft closely at hand (relatively speaking), I for one am glad that our Vikings don’t have the responsibility of picking in the top 10 and paying top 10 money to a player who has never stepped foot on a pro field.  This year the Dolphins have been ‘rewarded’ for having the most pathetic record in the league by being given the opportunity to invest $30 million guaranteed on basically a coin flip.  I will highlight my point by taking you back to the 2005 NFL Draft.  I’m choosing 2005 for a couple reasons.  The first is because the players in that draft have had 3 years to prove their worth.  The other reason is that it was a really bad first round for those selecting in the top 17 picks.  If the 2008 draft turns out anything like the 2005 draft, we should thank our lucky stars to have had our draft status drop like a football clanked off Troy Williamson’s facemask.  Here is what the top 17 picks looked like in 2005:

Draft#:1

Alex D. Smith                     
Position:QB
Drafted From: Utah

CAN BARELY COMPLETE A PASS

Draft#:2

Ronnie Brown                             

Position:RB
Drafted From: Auburn

SHOWS SIGNS OF DOMINANCE BUT CAN’T STAY HEALTHY,  3 YEARS LATER THE DOLPHINS HAVEN’T IMPROVED

Draft#:3

Braylon Edwards                          
Position:WR
Drafted From: Michigan

COMPLETE STUD, TOP 10 RECEIVER IN THE LEAGUE IN MY ESTIMATION

Draft#:4

Cedric Benson                                 

Position:RB
Drafted From: Texas

FAT AND SLOW WITH NO VISION OR CUTBACK ABILITY

Draft#:5

Carnell Williams                               

Position:RB
Drafted From: Auburn

NOODLES FOR KNEE LIGAMENTS, FLASH IN THE PAN HIS ROOKIE YEAR

Draft#:6

Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones                      

Position:CB
Drafted From: West Virginia

MAKING IT RAIN IN JAIL (ABOUT TO BE TRADED TO DALLAS FOR A 7TH ROUND PICK)

Draft#:7

Troy Williamson                                       
Position:WR
Drafted From: South Carolina

TOO SAD TO EVEN MENTION (MAYBE NOT THE BEST DECISION TO TRADE MOSS FOR NAPOLEON HARRIS AND 7TH PICK) 

Draft#:8

Antrel Rolle                                       

Position:CB
Drafted From: Miami(Fla.)

NOT HALF THE CORNER HIS BROTHER IS.  WILL BE MOVED TO SAFETY THIS YEAR

Draft#:9

Carlos Rogers                                     

Position:CB
Drafted From: Auburn

WAS A SLIGHT DISAPPOINTMENT BEFORE TEARING HIS ACL, WE’LL SEE HOW THAT GOES…

Draft#:10

Mike Williams                                      
Position:WR
Drafted From: Southern California

RUNS MORE LIKE PAT WILLIAMS THAN ROY WILLIAMS (HE DID MAKE A ONE HANDED CATCH IN COLLEGE THOUGH…)

Draft#:11

Demarcus Ware                                   

Position:DE
Drafted From: Troy State

ONE DIMENTIONAL 3-4 SCHEME PASS RUSHER (COULDN’T COVER THE AFOREMENTIONED MIKE WILLIAMS)

Draft#:12

Shawne Merriman                               
Position:OLB
Drafted From: Maryland

PRO BOWL DEFENSIVE TEAM LEADER (ALTHOUGH HE HASN’T BEEN AS GOOD SINCE HIS STEROID SUSPENSION)

Draft#:13

Jammal Brown                                       
Position:OT
Drafted From: Oklahoma

ALL PRO ON THE FIELD AND AT DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES

Draft#:14

Thomas Davis                                                                  

Position:FS
Drafted From: Georgia

CONVERTED TO OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, SECOND ON TEAM IN TACKLES UNTIL SHOULDER INJURY IN GAME 15

Draft#:15

Derrick O. Johnson                                

Position:OLB
Drafted From: Texas

GOOD STARTING OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, VERY ATHLETIC, NOT GREAT VS. THE RUN

Draft#:16

Travis Johnson                                        

Position:DT
Drafted From: Florida State

ENDED TRENT GREEN’S CAREER LAST YEAR, KEITH OLBERMANN CALLED HIM ‘THE WORST PERSON IN THE NFL’

Draft#:17

David Pollack                                            

Position:DE
Drafted From: Georgia

BROKE HIS NECK AND LIKELY WILL NEVER PLAY AGAIN

Making the beginning of this draft even worse is the fact that with the 18th pick we took Erasmus James, who has absolutely lived up to the hype that he is extremely injury prone.  The point of all this is that it’s not necessarily the best to be at the top of the draft.  Call it sour grapes if you want, but the 49ers rue the day that they had to give Alex Smith $27 million guaranteed dollars, half of it up front!  Bottom line is I’d only want to have 5 of the players on this list on my team, period.  AND, I would only want Edwards, Merriman and Brown for how much they getting paid for their efforts.  So, from a value perspective I would want 17% of the top 18 picks.  Vegas cleans up and patrons have close to a 48% of leaving happy; if I were an NFL GM I would try to trade all my draft picks for players from whom  I was 100% sure what I was getting, even if it meant giving up some upside.  It might be a better strategy long-term, but nobody has had the seeds to try it.  It works in Madden…

Ok, with Denard Span being sent down to AAA and Joe Nathan being inked to a 4 year, $47 M payday, the Minnesota Twins opening day roster is rounding into shape.  Here are my predictions for the upcoming season.  The opening day lineup will look like this:

1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Michael Cuddyer, RF
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Craig Monroe/Jason Kubel, DH
7. Brendan Harris, 2B
8. Mike Lamb, 3B
9. Adam Everett, SS

The best case scenario is that Carlos Gomez becomes Jose Reyes, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau play like they did in 2006, Delmon Young plays like Torii Hunter did last year, and the 7,8,9 spots can get at least 3 combined hits a game.  Worst case scenario is that Carlos Gomez bats .232 like he last year with the Mets, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau play like they did in 2007, Delmon Young is still a couple years away from being a superstar, Craig Monroe remembers that he is old and Jason Kubel continues to deliver nothing on the hype that I have heard for the last 4 years, and our 7,8,9 batters consistently give the Twins only 18 outs to outscore our opponents who are getting 27 outs to play with. 

How about the pitchers.  It looks like the Franchise is going to start the year on a rehab assignment, and Baker will be given as much time to get up to speed as possible; so here is how I see the opening day rotation:

1. Livan Hernandez

2. Boof Bonser

3. Kevin Slowey

4. Nick Blackburn

5. Scott Baker

 Eventually, however, the rotation will look more like:

1. Francisco Liriano

2. Scott Baker

3. Livan Hernandez

4. Boof Bonser

5. Kevin Slowey

Either way, the prospects for keeping opponents under 5 runs a game don’t look good.  Blackburn and Slowey are essentially unknowns at this point.  They are both regarded by those outside of the Twins organization as decent pitching prospects.  To put it into perspective, the Rays didn’t want Slowey or Blackburn for Delmon Young, they wanted Matt Garza.  So expecting either of them to be better than Matt was would be irresponsible.  Boof and Baker both showed signs of dominant pitching last year, but those signs were all too often scattered in between 4 inning outings.  The same goes for Liriano.  He made the all-star game in 2006 after arriving on the baseball landscape like he was shot out of cannon.  Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to know how his elbow will respond to the Tommy John surgery, not to mention the complete transformation of his delivery mechanics.  To me, it looks like the smart bet would be that Liriano will get back to peak form by the end of spring training next year. 

As you can probably tell, I see the rotation as the biggest question mark.  One which could sway the Twins performance this year by 40 games or more from best-case scenario to worst-case scenaro.  If the starting rotation is a high yield junk bond, rife with risk, the bullpen is more like an index fund; solid performance with less risk exposure.  Joe Nathan is a top 5 closer in the league, Neshek was a top 5 set-up man before he had to take all of his innings and Jesse Crain’s innings the second half of the year.  Speaking of Crain, he is coming back healthy and will be able to spell Neshek and keep him fresh throughout the season.  Blackburn/Perkins/whoever else will be decent long-relievers for those times when the starters show their inevitable inconsistency. 

So, here comes a prediction.  The way I see it, we will be good enough to win 25% percent of our games against Detroit, Cleveland, New York Yankees and Boston.  So that gives us 10 wins in 38 tries against the Detroit/Cleveland and 3 wins in 12 tries against NY/Boston.  I think we are good enough to play .600 baseball the rest of the way in the 112 remaining games against the NL teams in interleague play and the non-elite AL teams.  So this would give us 67 more wins in 112 tries.  Therefore, my prediction for the overall season is 80 wins, 82 losses.  Unfortunately, 80 wins in the AL Central is probably only good for 3rd, depending on if the White Sox can come back to form and pass us.  This is by no means gospel, so if you have any thoughts/opinions/arguments/gripes we would love hear what you think!

This has nothing to do with sports. It will still make you laugh hysterically.

Potentially one of the best articles written on Kevin Garnett and why Glen Taylor continues to fail him.

From Yahoo sports writer Johnny Ludden-

HOUSTON – Kevin Garnett leaned over the scorer’s table, clapped his hands together and out burst that familiar cloud of chalk. As the dust settled into the air, Garnett turned to walk onto the court. The fierceness in his eyes told everyone all they needed to know.

The streak was done.

Garnett makes the same entrance every night, and Tuesday was no different. He pounded his heart three times with his right fist then pounded the Houston Rockets. His Boston Celtics would leave with a 94-74 victory, again solidifying their standing as this season’s most dominant team, and when Garnett was asked whether it felt special to hand the Rockets their first loss after 22 games and 49 days, he had this to say:

“No.”

Garnett doesn’t need to use the NBA’s second-longest win streak as fuel. He carries the same slow-burning fire to the court nearly every game. Nor does he need the words of his former employer as motivation.

Garnett “tanked?”

Garnett’s problem is that he doesn’t have an off button, and Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor should know that better than most. For years, the Timberwolves tried to cut back Garnett’s playing time only to watch him punch in for another 39-minute night. During a six-season stretch he missed only three games.

Yet on Tuesday Taylor told reporters in Minnesota that Garnett “tanked it” when he sat out last season’s final five games to go to California to get his sore right knee checked. Team officials publicly supported Garnett’s decision at the time it was announced.

After Tuesday’s game, Garnett called Taylor’s comments “nonsense” in an on-court interview with TNT. Speaking to reporters 40 minutes later in the locker room, he again declined to criticize Taylor, instead thanking him for the opportunity to “fulfill my dream.”

“Glen Taylor was good to me while I was a Timberwolf and I’m a Boston Celtic now,” Garnett said. “I’m not going to be going back and forth saying tasteless things. That’s not my character. I’ll let him speak if he wants to.

“I have nothing to do with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That’s in my past. I’m in a new chapter in my life.”

Garnett hopes to author a happier ending to this one. Since Minnesota traded him to Boston, Garnett has teamed with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to lead the Celtics to a league-best 54-13 record. With Allen sidelined by a heel injury, Boston rallied from 22 points down to beat the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. One night later, Allen again watched as the Celtics held the Rockets to 34 points on 33.3 percent shooting in the second half.

“I’ve never seen defense like that,” Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said after being limited to eight points. “I mean if they play defense like that, night in and night out, the NBA is in trouble.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich dispensed similar praise. Assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has substantially upgraded the Celtics’ defense, but Garnett makes the system works. On Tuesday, he was everywhere, as usual, trading elbows inside with Rockets forward Luis Scola then jumping out to the perimeter to hound Houston’s guards.

“He led the charge,” Pierce said.

Rajon Rondo, Boston’s second-year point guard, initially set the tone. When Rafer Alston tried to clear him out with an elbow on the opening tip, Rondo pushed back then clenched his fists.

“When Rondo spread off I could see it in their faces,” Garnett said. “From that point on, right then and there, I knew they didn’t really want pressure.”

With the first-place teams from each conference squaring off in front of a national TV audience, as well as the largest Toyota Center crowd ever, the tension was thick. On the final play of the first half, Scola elbowed Garnett in the head while trying to heave the ball down court. Scola later received a flagrant foul for cracking Celtics guard Tony Allen to the floor.

“I didn’t think we handled that too well, honestly,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought that’s what sped us up. I thought Rondo wanted to attack Rafer and I told them at halftime, ‘It’s the scoreboard guys. It’s not individual. We just have to let all that other stuff go.’ ”

Garnett has always had trouble letting anything go. His competitiveness can work against him, something the Spurs realized when he sometimes burned out in his heated battles with Tim Duncan. Rivers still talks to Garnett about realizing when to reign in his emotions.

But Garnett simply isn’t built that way. During All-Star Weekend he attended the Rookie-Sophomore Game to support Rondo, but looked more irritated than entertained while sitting in his courtside chair. In what was little more than a free-flowing dunk contest, Garnett chewed on Rondo for not getting back quick enough on defense.

When the Celtics reported to Boston 30 days before the start of training camp for informal workouts, the team needed all of one hour, Rivers said, to realize the depth of Garnett’s intensity.

“After the workouts, he stayed on the court for another hour and a half working, then he went and lifted, then he came back that night,” Rivers said. “You see that before the season and if you’re anybody else then you almost have to (do the same). How can you not?”

That’s what made Taylor’s comments so ridiculous. Garnett was so frustratingly loyal to the Timberwolves that even when the team failed time and again to put an adequate supporting cast around him, he refused to demand a trade. His only goal was to bring an NBA championship to Minnesota, to become a dunking Kirby Puckett.

“Ask anyone in this organization if Kevin tanks anything,” said Celtics guard Sam Cassell, who played with Garnett in Minnesota. “Games? Practices? I wish he did tank a couple of practices.”

Cassell called Taylor’s comments a “personal” shot at Garnett, and he’s right. For if there’s anyone who submarined the Timberwolves, it was Taylor himself. He cost Minnesota three first-round draft picks for signing Joe Smith to an illegal contract. Taylor also has continued to employ GM Kevin McHale even though only once did he put together a team Garnett was capable of lifting out of the first round.

Does Garnett deserve some of the blame for Minnesota’s struggles during his 12 seasons there? Absolutely. But he didn’t quit on the Timberwolves as much as they quit on him. Garnett even balked at a previous trade to Boston last summer. Not until the Celtics acquired Ray Allen did he think they afforded him the best opportunity to win a championship.

So far, it looks like he was right. The Celtics have handled nearly every challenge thrown their way this season. As for concerns that Boston’s two blockbuster trades robbed the roster of depth: On Tuesday, Rivers plucked Leon Powe off his bench and watched him score 21 points.

“It’s satisfying to know that I have a team that’s committed toward winning, not just talking about it,” Garnett said. “That doesn’t mean we agree upon everything that’s said. We have big debates and they are heated, at times. …But when we play other teams we usually take it out on them.”

That was the case Tuesday. The Celtics fed Garnett often in the second half and he tormented the Rockets with his size and quickness, totaling 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks for the game.

With two minutes left and the outcome no longer in doubt, the lane opened for Garnett. He bounced off the court, hung in the air for what seemed like three full seconds then punched in a vicious dunk, also flushing the Rockets’ winning streak.

The crowd gasped. Garnett clenched his fists and growled. His eyes blazed just as bright as they had some 2½ hours earlier.

“KG,” Pierce said, “was hungry for this win.”

No more than usual.

Group Name: thegoldseat
Group Password: gophers

Each user can fill out 2 brackets.  Once you fill out the first and save it, you’ll see a link in the top right above the orange bar that says add bracket.

Scoring and Rules:

The rounds are worth 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 plus the total of the seed, so if the 12 seed beats the 5 in the 1st rd, you would get 1 pt + 12 = 13 total points for picking that game correctly.

The tie breaker is the final score of the championship game.

Each user can fill out 2 brackets, so hedge your picks well.

Following the 1960 season the Washington Senators moved to the Twin Cities and became the Minnesota Twins. Since becoming the Twins they have had their share of memorable moments. Here is a list of the ten greatest moments in Twins history. 

April 11, 1961. The Minnesota Twins defeat the New York Yankees 6-0 in their first game as the Twins for their first win. Pedro Ramos pitches a complete game shut out for the win. Bobby Allison and Reno Bertoia hit home runs. 

September 26, 1965. The Twins defeat the Washington Senators 2-1 to clinch the American League Pennant. Jim Kaat pitches a complete game shutout, striking out ten batters.

September 22, 1969. The Minnesota Twins win the American League Western Division title when they defeat the Kansas City Royals 4-3. Bob Miller is the winning pitcher and Harmon Killerbrew hits his 47^th home run.

September 23, 1970. The Minnesota Twins win their second consecutive division title when they defeat the Oakland A’s 7-4. Tom Hall is the winning pitcher and Bill Zepp gets the save.

September 28, 1987. The Minnesota Twins win their first division title since 1970 when they defeat the Texas Rangers 5-3. Juan Berenguer comes out of the bullpen to get the win and Jeff Reardon saves the game for his 31^st save of the season.

October 12 , 1987. The Twins win their first American League Pennant since moving to Minnesota when they defeat the Detroit Tigers 9-5. The Twins win the American League Championship Series 4 games to 1. Bert Blyleven is the winning pitcher.

October 25, 1987. The Twins win the World Series in 7 games when they defeat the St Louis Cardinals. They win the seventh game 4-2 with Frank Viola pitching 8 innings for the win. It is the Twins first World Championship.

October 13, 1991.The Minnesota Twins win their second American League Pennant by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series 4 games to 1. They win the fifth and deciding game 8-5. With the game tied at 5 in the eighth inning the Twins score 3 runs to take the lead for good. David West pitches three strong innings out of the bullpen for the win and Rick Aguilera gets his third save of the series.

October 27, 1991.The Minnesota Twins win their second World Championship by defeating the Atlanta Braves in seven games. The Twins win the seventh game in 10 innings 1-0 with Jack Morris pitching a complete game for the win. The Twins win the game and the series in the bottom of the 10^th when Gene Larkin singles to drive in Dan Gladden with the winning run.  Most importantly though, as Kirby homers to keep the Twins championship alive in game 6, the Gold Seat is born.

October 6, 2002. The Minnesota Twins defeat the Oakland A’s in the American League Division Series 3 games to 2. In the deciding game the Twins score three runs in the top of the 9^th inning and hold off a rally by the A’s in the bottom of the inning to secure the win. Brad Radke is the winning pitcher. The Twins advance to the American League Championship Series.

Unfortunately, none of the top moments have occurred in the past 6 years or so.  What do you think is the best moment in the history of Minnesota Twins baseball?

Bored on a Wednesday night…might as well make your beer league basketball skills look silly. Look at Garnett’s expression…hilarious

With Gerald Green gone and cut by Houston, are these the dunks we might have missed out on? If anyone could have done them it would have been Green.

Had to throw in the Vince Carter High School Highlight Package.

Well, for those of you who are anxiously awaiting a new year of Twins baseball and longing for the sights and smells of outdoor baseball, here are some really interesting specs, pictures and comparisons between the new ballpark and our beloathed Metrodome.  Not sure if I just made up the word beloathed or not, but it seems to perfectly describe my sentiments.

http://www.minnpost.com/galleries/twins_stadium/