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Hayduke

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Everything posted by Hayduke

  1. Thanks. No skin off my teeth when Mainz loses; Bundesliga is always a bonus sport, and for sport's sake. Regardless of what happens, the final weeks of the season are always a happy time -- end of a school year, summer almost here. Always a time to reflect on our kids and our students growing and changing. My grading is almost done for the semester. Finals next week, and I'm going to pick up our son from the Twin Cities on Monday. Daughter's track season in full swing and her relay team has a chance at state for the third year in a row. There's even some Longhorn baseball and softball, maybe, somewhere, although I watched one inning of each last night before giving up, getting back to my grading and then some beer outside with the neighbor. But, yeah, I'm no fan of Bayern, other than the grudging respect for a behemoth. It's just that this season there was an on-field interest because the European spots are so tight and it would be nice to see Mainz get the money and the opportunity. They'll likely need it. I'm assuming they lose Burkardt this off-season, so there will probably be some rebuilding. And as I type they take a 2-0 lead and are in the sixth spot. Lots of interesting and consequential games going on right now. No Champion's League for Mainz, but Europe still a very strong possibility, and five teams fighting for those two or three spots. Headed back to the TV now ...
  2. Like many others, my university is run by 12-year-olds.
  3. Not to defend Aggies in any way, as my time in College Station as a Horn was not particularly pleasant, but I was a TA in a class at A&M with around two dozen football players during the Slocum glory years. We were having some discussion and one player gave his opinion on something from the back of the room (side note: probably not Terrence Kiel, father of A&M's current left fielder, who was in the class but who I don't recall ever saying anything). Bethel Johnson, who later ranked second in KO returns for New England as a rookie, was sitting in the front row. I remember being slightly stunned when he turned around and called over his shoulder, "But that's just YOUR paradigm, man." Bethel was pretty funny and seemed like both a decent and intelligent guy. Got a couple of Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, played a bit for Minnesota, and signed with but didn't do anything for three other NFL teams -- the last of them being the Texans in 2007. I just looked him up on LinkedIn and it seems he's a self-employed business consultant in Arlington. Not much on his page, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing well. TL/DNR version: Bethel used a big word correctly, but still, to hell with A&M.
  4. I do not miss living in Manhattan, Kansas, during this time of year. The smoke from prairie burning was a constant irritant.
  5. Sunday happy hour: first day it's been nice enough to take it back out to the patio, our regular warm-weather location, after a long winter and mud season. Got all the way to 71.6 today, according to the NWS. Started with a Central Waters Tomorrow River Helles. Beer stories associated with the Tomorrow but ain't nobody got time for that. Other notable beers included Dragon's Milk (the original) from Holland, Michigan -- literally, as the wife of one of our regulars was there this weekend and delivered it shortly before happy hour. The regulars also loved New Holland Brewing's Tangerine Space Machine, a tangerine IPA that was more tangerine and less IPA. It was probably just that it tasted like summer and everybody wanted that. Started with 10 beers of three types in the garage mini-fridge. Ended with 19 beers of 11 types. Some will not make it through the week, as yard work season is now in full swing.
  6. Here's the "everything has already been said before we've got nothing new to say so we're saying it all in one thread" thread. Spoiler: no, it ain't Rickrolling, but you've probably all been there before and it's close enough.
  7. Point well taken. Trot was ... uh ... fiery. The part I edited for brevity about throwing the bat toward Rupe (which I should have left in) mentioned several HBPs that I imagine Rupe took part in. Wouldn't want an asshole on the team, but would want a guy who stands for his teammates every time. Nothing in the Horns' team culture right now points to Sark recruiting assholes.
  8. Grilled some prime rib and filet mignon with the neighbors last night and scrounged a Three Sheeps (Sheboygan, WI) Rebel Kent out of their basement fridge. Not a big amber guy but this one is probably my favorite. Nice and malty, very slightly sweet. Good stuff. Love the can, too. Has a tiny castle in Brussels on one side of the can and the tiny brewery in Sheboygan on the other, separated by fields of grain.
  9. Stuttgart gets that necessary win, @Mittens, although it's looking grim for European play through BL play. Gonna take a series of miracles. But you gotta like their chances of getting there through the Pokal on the 24th. I'm not feeling great about chances for Mainz, either. Having Frankfurt at home tomorrow could allow them to crawl back into the sixth spot in the table before traveling to Bochum next week, but I don't like that last game against Leverkusen, even if it is in Mainz. Could be a cracker, though, and it should be an exciting last couple of matchdays. Good to see that Leipzig kept the title on hold for at least another day. Definitely rooting for Leverkusen tomorrow against Freiburg, but as distasteful as it is, I'm gonna hope Bayern wraps it up next weekend and Leverkusen has nothing to play for on the final weekend.
  10. Highlights from Wikipedia entry on Trot Nixon: May 5, 2002, threw his bat toward Devil Rays pitcher Ryan Rupe, pretending the bat slipped out of his hands while swinging. Fined $2,000 and suspended four games. Best year was 2003, hit .306 with 28 home runs, 87 RBIs. On October 4, in Game 3 of ALDS, had a two-run pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the 11th to win the series over Oakland. Hit .333 (8 for 24) with 3 home runs and 5 RBIs in the ALCS but Sox lost to the Yankees. Herniated disc and a tight thigh muscle kept him out of much of 2004, but hit a two-out, two-run double off the right field wall at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in the top of the third to give Boston a 3–0 lead -- the final score in the fourth game of Boston's World Series sweep, bringing its first title in 86 years. Batted .357 (5 for 14) with 3 doubles, 3 RBIs in the series. Endeared himself to Sox fans by briefly wearing a mohawk hairstyle, "one of many unconventional and bizarre hairstyles the Sox sported over the course of the 2004 season." Known for his "extremely volatile temper and steadfast dedication to his teammates. In August 2005, while officially on the disabled list, Nixon remained in uniform and in the dugout with the rest of the team during the game. When teammate Gabe Kapler ... hit a long fly ball off of the Green Monster, the umpires ruled it a double. Nixon leapt off the bench and argued with such passion that Kapler's hit had been a home run (television replays confirmed that the hit had landed above the home run line...) that he was ejected from the game." If Trott is like Trot, he deserves the spot.
  11. Can I say I don't know so that you have to let us see your avatar again?
  12. Doesn't look like Mississippi State is top 10 in total baseball wins, which is just one metric, but it's fun to revisit this: the 9 winningest baseball teams in NCAA history. Bulldogs probably top 15 or 20 at 2,812 wins now. Fordham still way out front by about 1,000 games over Texas in 2021 (but 161 seasons at the time to 125 for Texas). Texas in clear second by about 600 wins over teams 3-9, which were all clumped in the 2,900+ win range. Google says MSU has won 13 SEC tourneys (more than anyone else) and is one of four schools to make the CWS in six consecutive decades.
  13. Bummer. Kept meaning to check what the schedule even was today but got too wrapped up with work ... and a little bit of happy hour. Gonna miss the Mainz game tomorrow because I've got to judge a public-speaking contest. Probably not a good idea to be looking at my phone while the high schoolers are giving their spiels.
  14. Couple of stouts that are virtually indistinguishable in photos but very different on the palate. Heard that Surly's 2024 Chocolate Limoncello Darkness was on tap downtown so made a special trip to try it; the guys at our basement happy hour, which I missed about three weeks ago, said it was surprisingly good (one of them had brought it from the Twin Cities). I didn't believe it could be good at all. But it was. The lemon overshadowed anything else for me, but not to the point of being overbearing or dominating. Good stuff. The second is Central Waters El Ganador, an imperial stout aged in tequila barrels with coffee beans and cocoa nibs. Cocoa and coffee were not too much. Didn't get the tequila, but I rated this a 4.25 on Untappd, which would be top 10-15 percent for me. Liked it a little better than the Darkness, which I gave a 4. Early Friday drinking at one of our semi-traditional bars downtown (meaning it's only about 50 years old but has long ties to our culture, especially where I work). My wife didn't complain when I went, even though she was home cooking tortillas, as she doesn't work Friday afternoons. Thus the pic of these jalapeño-cilantro tortillas to separate the two fine stouts.
  15. I've had pretty good luck getting to SECN+ by starting at texassports.com and just clicking the "video" button for both the softball and baseball teams, whether I'm on my desktop or on the NVIDIA Shield Pro connected to the living room. Before I got into that habit, I had regular issues just finding the games in ESPN or YTTV listings, despite YTTV and Disney+ subscriptions, and then getting them to recognize that I was already paying them.
  16. Yeah, not a fun day in the Bundesliga for me or you so far. Maybe you saw that Mainz gave up the tying goal on a corner-kick header that went off the leg of a defender in the 89th minute, and Freiburg came back to win its game after Hoffenheim scored two goals in extra time of the first half to tie that one off. Maybe that extra time will work out better in the end for Stuttgart. Think I'll peek in here -- have been spending the ensuing time switching the audio on and off between UT softball and baseball on separate ESPN+ windows and trying to destress from that heart-stopper by the softball team. Holy crap. Edit: just saw the final five seconds. Bummer for Stuttgart.
  17. Second week in a row I miss the opening minutes while prepping breakfast and turn on the TV to find Mainz down. This time at home, down 1-0 to Wolfsburg in the 3rd minute. Frenzied game so far and a lot of fun to watch. American midfielder Kevin Paredes gets the start for Wolfsburg. His first action of the year. Jae-Sung Lee ties it for Mainz in the 38th while I am putzing around on my phone. Dominik Kohr gives them the lead on a little backflick off a corner in the 40th to make it 2-1, and suddenly the 05ers are back in the top four.
  18. Well, I'll follow the rules, then ...
  19. The "mean girl mentality" and the takedown are directly related. As others here and elsewhere have pointed out, it's clear in the facial expression of McKee as she is looking directly at Mitchell all the way in. You can see on the video (the play starts at 6:53) that McKee starts taking her turn a full six steps from the time she hits Mitchell. The first step, with her right foot, lands her on the baseline as she starts moving from inside the baseline to the outside portion. The next five steps take her curving through the area outside of the baseline and back into the field of play. There's a direct line of sight for McKee past Mitchell to Maroney (I think) already preparing to throw the ball from right, and as the announcers point out, there is clearly no play and no opportunity to get to second. McKee still has basically two steps at that point before she blasts McKee. I'd say she could have easily gone around Mitchell to on a sharp cut off the bag to the left or an easy curve around her to the right. She has already slowed down enough at that point to be able to judge exactly what's going on, which is no play, but an opportunity to try to take advantage of Mitchell's position. That's why she immediately looks at the umpire when she recovers from the impact. She knows exactly what she's doing. McKee is not readying herself to lessen the impact, which she has plenty of time to do. You can see her look harden on the outfield view, an extraordinary camera angle and shot on the replay. She's not looking like someone facing a surprise impact; she is morphing her face into a predatory snarl. It's pure malevolence. Instead of bracing with her arms, she pushes outward and upward. The laughing afterward makes it clear. The announcers are also clear. There's no play; not sure who the woman was, but she immediately says there was a similar instance with LSU in the previous week (I would assume against A&M, but haven't found anything). She calls it "abrasive." Yeah, Mitchell could have done a better job getting out of the basepath, but the notion of a "basepath" becomes a little more gray when you're at a point where the reasonable assessment is that the play is over. Definitely bush league. I hope it was a series killer for LSU.
  20. A guy who, painfully enough for Sbbruin, is from Tennessee. But at least Gore was a Harvard roommate of bona fide Texan Tommy Lee Jones.
  21. We also used some of our cash to buy an instant perspective generator for times when we run out. It doesn't always work properly, but because you seem like a reasonable person, we'd be glad to loan it to you anyway.
  22. Somewhere near Antigo, Wisconsin. Not sure of the exact location, other than it being close to or on the Ice Age Trail, which I've mostly finished up in that area (I'm section-hiking, about 600 miles in now with about 500 to go). We've talked about that but keep missing our opportunities.
  23. Look away for five minutes and suddenly it's 2-1 Bayern. Not sure Dortmund will be able to grab this one back on the road, so it looks like Bayern will have a full six-point lead in the table over Leverkusen with just five more games to play. Home games against Mainz and BMG sandwiched between away games with Heidenheim, Leipzig and Hoffenheim. Leverkusen with games at St. Pauli, Freiburg and Mainz with home games against Augsburg and Dortmund. It would be pretty damned impressive if they somehow take the title with that slate -- especially with four of those five teams in the top nine and fighting for European play. And, before I can even finish this post, it's 2-2, but now only two minutes and stoppage time left. Regardless, things look much better for Bayern than Leverkusen. Also, Kentucky coach gets booted, and with good reason. That guy definitely moved into the pitch instead of away. That announcer insisted he was bracing, but if you have time to move to "brace," you're drawing in, not pushing out.
  24. Nice counterattack by Dortmund early in the second half -- 1-0 over Bayern. Had this open in another window and happened to catch it during the Horns' pitching change ... nice goal.
  25. Newsletter update this week from our former neighbors that @Captain Ron and those who love this thread should appreciate: It's been a productive, but challenging season. We've made nearly 1,000 gallons of syrup, and potentially have a couple hundred more gallons to cook. The sap run has been sporadic, but strong. The sugar content of the sap has been high (we're likely averaging above 2.5%), and the syrup quality has been good. Even though it's been a productive season, it's been a challenging one. There are problems every year, it's just the nature of maple syrup production. But this year has been exceptional. We had a massive ice storm that brought down a lot of trees and branches and knocked out power for four days at the farm. That lack of power put us significantly behind in cooking syrup--it's now over a week later and we're still trying to catch up. Thankfully, the temperatures were cool enough that we didn't lose any sap. Adding to our challenges this season, one of our storage tanks collapsed. It's hard to explain how a stainless steel tank just collapses, but it did. We also had random hoses disconnect and spray hot sap, sap tanks overflow, and electric breakers blow out. Fortunately, these were temporary issues and no one was hurt during any of these events. Uff-da. All of that considered, we're grateful for all of the sap from the trees. Without the sap, we wouldn't have syrup. Without the syrup, we wouldn't be able to eat Saturday morning pancakes. And so on.... And, we appreciate all the help we've had in the woods and the sugarshack. We've had a great crew of people supporting us through the season. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us make this season possible!
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