What’s going on with the Vikings?

Apparently the Vikings should not play on Sunday nights. For those that haven’t seen much of the Vikings this year it is a tale of two teams. The Vikings have two more weeks to shore up the offensive line and practice tackling. If they don’t get this fixed it will quickly become another disappointing season for Vikings fans. They way things look after last night’s debacle in Charlotte, it will be another one and done in the playoffs.

Debacle In Detroit

I've been chronicling the shameful quality of umpiring in the Majors this year. Last night in Detroit it hit an all time low. Three of the four umpires got into the act. We'll start with third base umpire Brian Knight who missed the tag on the runner going to home. In the post game interview the runner confirmed what replays clearly showed - he was tagged out on the foot. First base umpire Dana Demuth couldn't resist getting into the comedy act either last night. What looked like a foul ball was ruled fair by Demuth. I'll cut him a break here since it was a very close play. Where I won't cut him a break is that he missed blatant fan interference on the same play. How Demuth could miss this one is a mystery for the ages. Now for the disgrace for the night Hunter Wendelstedt. He had one of the worst nights I've seen in ages. The safe call he made at home plate wasn't even close - the runner was tagged out at least a foot from the plate. Apparently Wendelstedt doesn't know what is in the rule book. Galarraga was not coming to a set with runners on and it was completely ignored by Wendelstedt. Where do you start on Wendelstedt's complete lack of professionalism on why he threw out Gardenhire from the game. He basically did it because he could and then had the nerve to ask Gardenhire how he liked that. From the research I've done, Wedelstedt has a history of this kind of behavior.

How many more games must fans and teams endure before commissioner Bud Selig has the fortitude to hold umpires accountable? The current system is completely broken. Gardenhire will get fined and or suspended and the incompetent umpiring crew will not be punished.

Mr. Selig, I'll ask again. Are your umpires incompetent or are they throwing games?

Golf Update

Many of you know I made the commitment to improve my golf game this summer. After many buckets of balls at the range and many days on the course I'm starting to see some results. I'm not as consistent as I'd like, but I guess if I were I'd be on TV on Sunday afternoons. At the start of the summer I had a couple of goals. 1) Start golfing 9 holes in the 40s instead of the 50s. 2) Start golfing 18 holes at 100 or less. This weekend I had a 49 and a 45. I also had a round of 18 at 100. Now comes the hard part - consistently doing this every time out!

Rough Week for Major League Umpires

The past 8 or 9 days has not been too impressive for the umpires. Let's start with the Twins and Rangers on July 18. Home plate Brian O'Nora wasn't feeling well (that's an understatement) and had to twice leave the game to hurl. The second one was captured on camera for all to see. If you have to leave the game not once but twice, you shouldn't be behind the plate. To make matters worse, crew chief Gary Cederstrom did not take control of the situation and send O'Nora to the dressing room.

Fast foward to the Twins and Rangers on July 19. Brian O'Nora is now the third base umpire. Early in the game one of the Rangers hit a foul ball that was initially ruled a home run. Thankfully after the umpires reviewed the replays they got the call right. What was disconcerting is that Brian O'Nora had probably the best view in the stadium and blew the call.

Now we'll move to Oakland and highlight one of the worst calls at home plate in a long time. Mike Muchlinski was working the plate in a wild high scoring game. Mike Muchlinski was lazy which resulted in him being out of position and making a terrible call. Replays clearly showed Cuddyer was safe, however the game was over instead of now being tied.

Mr. Selig - are you seeing any of these embarrassing incidents? Umpires make $100,000 to $300,000 per year. Is it too much to ask that people making this kind of money make a better effort to make the correct call?

First Trip to Fenway Park

On July 8, 2009 I visited Fenway Park for the first time. It was unseasonably cold, however the experience was great. We had great seats - about 24 rows up right behind the left handed batters box looking down the left field line. If you've never watched a game at Fenway I highly recommend it. I was amazed by the number of people on the streets around the ball park. Tim Wakefield was the starting pitcher for the Red Sox. It was amazing to see his knuckle ball dance. The A's hit him pretty hard, however the Red Sox bat came alive late in the game to take the lead. Papelbon had a very labored save.

It was also a treat to see a game where a top-notch umpire worked the plate. Tim McClelland called a fantastic game. He didn't give up on Wakefield's knucklers. I only recall one instance where a batter looked back questioningly. Baseball could certainly use more umpires like Tim.

America Is Watching

The current Administration and Congress is acting like they think no one is paying any attention to what they are doing. It would be wise for Washington to understand America is watching. Those that support the 2nd Amendment are not sitting on their hands. In fact those that belief in the 2nd Amendment are bringing the economy out of recession. Since the November election companies producing firearms and ammunition are doing record business. The next time you go into your favorite sporting goods store, try to buy ammunition, reloading supplies, or certain models of guns. If you haven't been their in awhile, you'll probably be amazed to see empty shelves, signs stating shortages of certain items, and back order dates of weeks or months.

Washington - America is watching and understanding what you are doing.

Umpire Incompetance

I watch many baseball games over the course of the season as well as most of the playoff and World Series games. I've followed baseball very closely for over 25 years and I continued to be amazed at the arrogance of the Major League umpires. Granted there are some very good ones, however if you look at the collective group their incompetence amazes me. Tonight's Twins vs. Royals game provided a prime example. Home plate umpire Larry Vanover ignored the fact that Kubel hit a foul ball off of his shoe or leg protector and allowed Kubel to be called out at first base. Replays with sound clearly proved it hit Kubel in the batters box. When Gardenhire asked Vanover to ask the third base umpire whether it hit Kubel in the batters box, Vanover refused. As expected Vanover ejected Gardenhire for having the audacity to question him. The situation even got more pathetic for Major League baseball when crew chief Charlie Reliford finally wandered up to home plate. Instead of being the "leader" he's paid to be and make the foul ball call, he started yelling at Gardenhire. In the end this was yet another example of the umpires covering each other's ass instead of getting the call right.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig faces quite a delima with the advent of state of the art technology. High Definition TV, sensitive field mics, and the k-zone have finally exposed the incompetance of the umpires. Mr. Selig, are you even remotely interested in improving the quality of the game?

Where is the pork?

The market plunge today was a real vote of confidence for the Senate version of the "Spendulous" bill. It certainly disingenuous to say there are no earmarks in this bill. No earmarks were required - the pork was loaded into the bill right from the beginning. I started to read the bill - it is a real page turner. I'm going to post the ludicrous spending items here on my blog.

Pork in the stimulus bill.

• $50 million for new TSA uniforms
• $4 billion for community activist programs such as ACORN
• $400 million for global warming research
• $335 million for STD prevention
• $50 million for National Endowment of the Arts

Hey Washington - WAKE UP!!

For the past couple of weeks I've been listening to the debate in Washington on the economic crisis. The more I learn what is in this bill the more I think I am watching a horrible movie and wonder when the credits will roll so that I know it's over. There must be something in the air in Washington DC that makes our elected leaders lose all common sense when they arrive. The pork and outright payoffs in this stimulus bill are unconscionable! This congress is on the verge of saddling the American people with ANOTHER trillion dollars of debt.

Hey congress why don't we keep it simple! The economy will get going when people have money to spend. A bill could be passed next week and made retroactive to January 1 with the following elements. 1) $50,000 tax credit for buying a new home 2) $20,000 tax credit for buying a new car 3) low interest home loan guarantees for existing homeowners 4) suspend the payroll tax for the first 90 days of the year. Once this is done, the debate can begin on what type of government involvement should be for maintaining our existing infrastructure and investing in the future infrastructure.

Americans have had enough of government bailouts. Especially when we learn that $78 billion was overpaid. Companies receiving bailouts paid for prostitutes and took lavish and excessive junkets. When is congress going to wakeup and realize that economic recovery starts from the bottom up and not the top down.

Tim Johnson, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter please think twice before voting for this massive pork bill. VP Joe Biden is right when he says there could be a backlash. American's did not send the congress to Washington DC to turn us into a debtor nation.

The British called - They want their guns back!

A friend of mine sent me this link to a video on youtube. For those of you that are defenders of the Second Amendment, I'd ask that you invest a few minutes. It is eye-opening.