ScottyBroco

“There is no cheering in the press box.” Told my dad before I even thought about attending a game in the Target Field press box. I parked in Garage in A which has the skyway attached to Target Field for 16 dollars. Not worth the price because the Macy’s Parking Garage is only 5 dollars and one block from Target Field. When arrived there at 5 o clock, about 2 hours from first pitch, I picked up credentials at Gate 29 from the public relations intern named Lizz. I was instructed to take the elevator to level 2 and enter in the press box. There I met up the Official Scorer of the night’s game and Mr. Baseball of Minnesota, Stew Thornley. If you have a question about scoring, any type of baseball history in the state he is your guy to ask. The man is baseball junkie, much like me and most members of SABR the Society for American Baseball Research. After getting set up in the third row with my stuff Stew was nice enough to treat me to dinner downstairs. There almost everyone who was working the night’s game was a having a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes. Roast beef, some type of soup and array of brownie and cookie deserts to choose from. It was all top of the line food and made from professional chefs. There with Stew I sat down with Fox Sports North Baseball Analyst and Former Twin and Ron Coomer who was working the night’s pre and post game shows for FSN. At another separate tables were all the nerdy writers who working the game, the white sox announcers Steve Stone and Ken” the hawk” Harrelson, and all the front office employees such as Terry Ryan and Dave St. Peter. Now, If had the guts to stand up for Sabermetrics I would have challenged the Hawk on his new stat TWTW or the The Will to Win. But instead I was an outside observer who simply looked at his fat, gold American League Championship Ring that he won with the Boston Red Sox and Yaz Impossible Dream 1967 Team and kept my mouth shut. After Ron Coomer left our table a sharp dressed suit wearing Lavelle E Neal the Third one of the Star Tribunes Twins Beat Writers and current Vice President of BBWAA, Baseball Writers Associations of America Joined us stew and I at our table. Again, I could have stuck up for Sabermetrics and questions him on why he switched his vote from Mike Trout to Miguel Cabrera for the 2012 American MVP but I opted to ask him how the sports show was going. Lavelle said that Sid Hartmann usually slows down the show which any one has watched one episode could easily conclude. Stew mentioned how Baltimore had appeal a call Trevor Plouffe and Error instead of a hit on Saturday’s Game and that it was currently being reviewed by Joe Torre the Executive Vice President of Major League Baseball. Plouffe is not defensive stud out there at third. Stew’s call as an error was later up held. Once we finished dinner, we went upstairs to the press box and got ready for the first pitch. Now the basic make up of the press box at Target Field was pretty tame that night. There was no Patrick Ruesse, Jim Souhan, Sid Hartman, Charley Walters, or any other characters of the press box. Monday was big news day for two simple reasons. The first was the Vikings unveiling the plans for the new stadium. The second and more important news was the passing of the same-sex marriage bill in Minnesota. In the left corner of the press box was the Official scorer and Data Casters of the night’s game. One of the data casters works for MLB Advanced Media which appears on MLB Gameday and the other works for Stats INC which goes to ESPN’s Scorecast. Both are saying pretty much the same thing. Both of these positions are paid but certainly not enough to make a living on, unlike everyone else was in the press box . In the middle of the Press Box was the Public Relations department of the Twins which is lead by the director named Dustin Morse, two employees and Lizz the intern. The rest of people in the press box were all writers from the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Mlb.com. Twinsdaily.com and the Associated Press. I was lucky enough to sit by Gregg Wong a former Twins Beat Writer for the Pioneer Press and now part time official scorer with Stew Thornley. They alternative depending on their schedules and game times. Once the game got underway it was all business. The writers started writing and tweeting on their laptops and the players started playing. One thing to note that I was on the only one to two people with a tablet in the press box, besides FSN host Jaime Hersch. (Side Note, a tablet cannot replace a laptop for word processing. It is better for couch surfing and consuming information but it will not replace the laptop anytime soon) the sightlines from the press box are fantastic they remain slightly off from home plate towards the first base line . While the broadcasts booths of the FSN, Twins Radio, Away TV, Away Radio and Spanish home broadcasts are more center. Seems fair to me. “In the 1980’ after the typewriter went extinct all the writers had computer that only did word processing. They had looser deadlines and the atmosphere was more relaxed with constant banter between writers.” Said Gregg Wong, “now today every one is a zombie.” It’s a 24 hour news cycle and writers are expected to write sooner and quickly post it to their account. It there was hardly any banter the whole game I was second screening so to say. They only thing close to banter is the small talk next between writers who sat next to each other. The FSN crew sat up next to me in the third row after the first inning and until the 8th inning. Tom Hanneman and Ron Coomer were pretty quiet during the game. . Once the Twins were about to score for the first time, I got excited and clapped my hands together for about 2 seconds. I cheered. Gregg Wong quickly corrected me and said, “There is no cheering in the Press Box, you can’t do that here” I apologized and immediately texted my Dad and told him that I should have listened to him. Ron Coomer started to give Gregg some crap because of my cheering but about another half inning later one his outsider guests started cheering louder and longer than me. Basically about 90 percent of the time the writers wrote and there are announcements coming from two separate microphones that is also projected to each broadcast booth. One is the official scorer who says what the game time temperature is, how long each pitcher lasted in the outing, wild pitch or passed ball and of course whether a play is ruled a hit or an error. The official scorer basically takes note of everything that happens during the game. It can vary with each Ballpark. The Twins director of PR sits in the middle away from the official scored and he announces, the official attendance, special plays, like after each stolen base or home run. So if you’re listening to the Twins Game or watching it and they announce that is the 6th stolen base for Aaron Hicks they most likely heard it from the PR announcing and if they announce whether the play was ruled a hit or error that comes from the official scorer. However, when there is a call that is objective such as that error the Twins PR will come over to the official scorer and ask him to look at it again. If he still unsatisfied he can appeal to MLB. It really varies, something that is more suited to ask Stew. It was an exciting game to be at as Aaron Hicks hit two home runs and robbed one from White Sox Adam Dunn to earn a curtain call from the Twins Fans since Jim Thome in 2010. The game goes by fast up in the press box and I didn’t want to end. When it did most writers and PR employees had submitted something and quickly left their stuff and went downstairs to get some quotes from players and managers. I could have gone down there but I stayed up. Some returned up the press box to write quotes in and go home. The official scorer double checked his work and faxed in his score sheet to the MLB official office. Once that game ended some premium services employees closed the windows of the press box and cleaned up. The broadcasters finished their post game shows and went home, the grounds crew turned off the lights and started watering the dirt with hoses and other prep on the grass. I went home with a smile on my face.

Meh... I am sure he gets that alot. I am not much of writer but I thought I would give it a try. Thanks for those that read it as I hope it provided some more insight into the PressBox

“There is no cheering in the press box.” Told my dad before I even thought about attending a game in the Target Field press box. I parked in Garage in A which has the skyway attached to Target Field for 16 dollars. Not worth the price because the Macy’s Parking Garage is only 5 dollars and one block from Target Field. When arrived there at 5 o clock, about 2 hours from first pitch, I picked up credentials at Gate 29 from the public relations intern named Lizz. I was instructed to take the elevator to level 2 and enter in the press box. There I met up the Official Scorer of the night’s game and Mr. Baseball of Minnesota, Stew Thornley. If you have a question about scoring, any type of baseball history in the state he is your guy to ask. The man is baseball junkie, much like me and most members of SABR the Society for American Baseball Research. After getting set up in the third row with my stuff Stew was nice enough to treat me to dinner downstairs. There almost everyone who was working the night’s game was a having a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes. Roast beef, some type of soup and array of brownie and cookie deserts to choose from. It was all top of the line food and made from professional chefs. There with Stew I sat down with Fox Sports North Baseball Analyst and Former Twin and Ron Coomer who was working the night’s pre and post game shows for FSN. At another separate tables were all the nerdy writers who working the game, the white sox announcers Steve Stone and Ken” the hawk” Harrelson, and all the front office employees such as Terry Ryan and Dave St. Peter. Now, If had the guts to stand up for Sabermetrics I would have challenged the Hawk on his new stat TWTW or the The Will to Win. But instead I was an outside observer who simply looked at his fat, gold American League Championship Ring that he won with the Boston Red Sox and Yaz Impossible Dream 1967 team and kept my mouth shut. After Ron Coomer left our table a sharp dressed suit wearing Lavelle E Neal the Third and current Vice President of BBWAA, Baseball Writers Associations of America Joined stew and I at our table. Again, I could have stuck up for Sabermetrics and questions him on why he switched his vote from Mike Trout to Miguel Cabrera for the 2012 American MVP but I opted to ask him how the sports show was going. Lavelle said that Sid Hartman usually slows down the show which any one has watched one episode could easily conclude. Stew mentioned how Baltimore had appeal a call Trevor Plouffe and Error instead of a hit on Saturday’s Game and that it was currently being reviewed by Joe Torre the Executive Vice President of Major League Baseball. Plouffe is not defensive stud out there at third. Stew’s call as an error was later up held. Once we finished dinner, we went upstairs to the press box and got ready for the first pitch. Now the basic make up of the press box at Target Field was pretty tame that night. There was no Patrick Reusse, Jim Souhan, Sid Hartman, Charley Walters, or any other characters of the press box. Monday was big news day for two simple reasons. The first was the Vikings unveiling the plans for the new stadium. The second and more important news was the passing of the same-sex marriage bill in Minnesota. In the left corner of the press box was the Official scorer and Data Casters of the night’s game. One of the data casters works for MLB Advanced Media which appears on MLB Gameday and the other works for Stats INC which goes to ESPN’s Scorecast. Both are saying pretty much the same thing. Both of these positions are paid but certainly not enough to make a living on, unlike everyone else was in the press box . In the middle of the Press Box was the Public Relations department of the Twins which is lead by the director named Dustin Morse, two employees and Lizz the intern. The rest of people in the press box were all writers from the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Mlb.com. Twinsdaily.com and the Associated Press. I was lucky enough to sit by Gregg Wong a former Twins Beat Writer for the Pioneer Press and now part time official scorer with Stew Thornley. They alternative depending on their schedules and game times. Once the game got underway it was all business. The writers started writing and tweeting on their laptops and the players started playing. One thing to note that I was on the only one to two people with a tablet in the press box, besides FSN host Jaime Hersch. (Side Note, a tablet cannot replace a laptop for word processing. It is better for couch surfing and consuming information but it will not replace the laptop anytime soon) the sightlines from the press box are fantastic they remain slightly off from home plate towards the first base line . While the broadcasts booths of the FSN, Twins Radio, Away TV, Away Radio and Spanish home broadcasts are more center. Seems fair to me. “In the 1980’ after the typewriter went extinct all the writers had computer that only did word processing. They had looser deadlines and the atmosphere was more relaxed with constant banter between writers.” Said Gregg Wong, “now today every one is a zombie.” It’s a 24 hour news cycle and writers are expected to write sooner and quickly post it to their account. It there was hardly any banter the whole game I was second screening so to say. They only thing close to banter is the small talk next between writers who sat next to each other. The FSN crew sat up next to me in the third row after the first inning and until the 8th inning. Tom Hanneman and Ron Coomer were pretty quiet during the game. . Once the Twins were about to score for the first time, I got excited and clapped my hands together for about 2 seconds. I cheered. Gregg Wong quickly corrected me and said, “There is no cheering in the Press Box, you can’t do that here” I apologized and immediately texted my Dad and told him that I should have listened to him. Ron Coomer started to give Gregg some crap because of my cheering but about another half inning later one his outsider guests started cheering louder and longer than me. Basically about 90 percent of the time the writers wrote and there are announcements coming from two separate microphones that is also projected to each broadcast booth. One is the official scorer who says what the game time temperature is, how long each pitcher lasted in the outing, wild pitch or passed ball and of course whether a play is ruled a hit or an error. The official scorer basically takes note of everything that happens during the game. It can vary with each Ballpark. The Twins director of PR sits in the middle away from the official scored and he announces, the official attendance, special plays, like after each stolen base or home run. So if you’re listening to the Twins Game or watching it and they announce that is the 6th stolen base for Aaron Hicks they most likely heard it from the PR announcing and if they announce whether the play was ruled a hit or error that comes from the official scorer. However, when there is a call that is objective such as that error the Twins PR will come over to the official scorer and ask him to look at it again. If he still unsatisfied he can appeal to MLB. It really varies, something that is more suited to ask Stew. It was an exciting game to be at as Aaron Hicks hit two home runs and robbed one from White Sox Adam Dunn to earn a curtain call from the Twins Fans since Jim Thome in 2010. The game goes by fast up in the press box and I didn’t want to end. When it did most writers and PR employees had submitted something and quickly left their stuff and went downstairs to get some quotes from players and managers. I could have gone down there but I stayed up. Some returned up the press box to write quotes in and go home. The official scorer double checked his work and faxed in his score sheet to the MLB official office. Once that game ended some premium services employees closed the windows of the press box and cleaned up. The broadcasters finished their post game shows and went home, the grounds crew turned off the lights and started watering the dirt with hoses and other prep on the grass. I went home with a smile on my face.

Way to go John on connecting sabr members and twins daily members. I wish I would have Thought about this before you did.

Brock, How is MLB.tv I am seriously considering buying it for this season. And what do you suggest for proxy settings? How is Mlb tv for tablet settings?

Thanks for the graphic but I will show some of my students this in class tomorrow since we are learning percents and fractions.

I agree that Opening day can get over magnified as the Daytona of 500. they said the same thing today on the Baseball Prospectus Effectively Wild Podcast. They call it the confirmations biases of opening day.

I think danny Valencia had some swagger too. Look how that worked out for him. And John I agree that is a great anology

Do you watch the sports show on Channel 45 at 930 on Sunday nights? If you do you may skip the next few sentences. With regards the baseball hall of fame shutout this year mike max asked about changes to the voting system. Reuse and Vice President lavelle both said that the system should stay the same and next will be big to make it up for it. Then people will say they elect too many people to the hall of fame. Sid said it that he can't believe that couldn't elect someone and that is time for a change. And I agree. Maybe we could account for announcers and other Internet writers such as bloggers to reflect the way the sport is covered. It is the most Internet heavily followed sport and with mlbatbat has the highest selling sports application for iPhone and android and smart phone.. What's your take?

Aaron, you have very nice home and have decorated with a classic but delicate touch of bachelor. However, there is a reason why it is so nice, My grandfather had 9 children and lived in a low-income household Every once in a while a friend of the family would come visit him at his home with a nice car and fancy jewelry. He would just flaunt his wealth. After he would leave and a child would say how impressed they were with their guest. My Grandfather would would announce "that there was reason why he had that wealth. No Kids!" Once girls gone gleeman becomes a success you will have a quite a different place.

If you are going make sporting statues I hope you are going to include something about Kirby Puckett's statue. Or better known as Tonya's revenge. The Star Tribune gossip columnist C.J. wrote about this because the statue doesn't look anything like Kirby and is his ex-wife's way of getting back for his sexual harassment business. The Twins wanted it too like as much as him and let Tonya have the final say. Personally he looks like fat chipmunk. Also I hope you are going to talk about the Michael Jackson statue at Fulham's Craven Cottage. If you do not know what I am talking about it is worth a Google.

Bye Bye Robbie. I really didn't like this guy personally because he was a dick to my brother and his friends during a pick up game of hockey. For some reason he got real into it. Also, when I was in Houghton Michigan for Gopher Hockey, Robbie was just a prick at the Downtowner bar. He was on mission that night if you know what I mean. However, after listening to the Gleeman and the Geek Podcast I have changed my opionion on the guy. He really did a great job covering the Twins and brought some respectability back to the broadcasts. Good bye Robbie.

The Marlins have a fantastic new ballpark that they are having trouble filling. They tried building a winning a team and hired a world series winning latino manger. Instead he made the comment that he loved Fidel Castro and the team failed to live up to the hype. Attendance suffered and Ozzie Guillen lost his job. Now there are more factors on why that happened but I am not going to get into them. Today, Mike Redmond is now the manager with a fantastic personality that helps build chemistry within the clubhouse. I propose that Redmond should walk naked around the Clevelander during high scoring games.

My favorite part about this is the joke that Patrick Reusse said on twitter today about Terry Steinbach leaving Wayzata Baseball team as a assistant to join the twins. Patrick Reusse ‏@1500ESPN_Reusse Pay cut? @PMac21 @LakeMinnPatch Steinbach current an assistant at Wayzata H.S.

This was originaly posted my own blog at blogspot. Then John Bonnes left me a nice message telling me why he deleted it. He thought that is was spam because it wanst baseball related. Which is fine but I have retuned this post to make it more Twins and Baseball Centric TED talks are one of the most popular ways a college student can waste time surfing the internet. If you are unfamiliar with them I highly reccmend that you stop reading this and check it out. here is his most popular talk and there is another that has similar point but more clever animation to keep you engaged.According to Sir Ken Robinson he believes that schools are killing the american dream because of its standardization and constant assessment that ruins creativity. In my education classes at the University of Minnesota, we always talk about being creative and what an import skill is it in the word today. What is creativity? is means that you "think outside of the box!" Which is by far one of the worst definitions in the world for creativity because it concretely defines somethings that is far from it. I bought the The element ( on ebook no less) because I knew it would be a great investment for me as a future educator and could help me to develop some of my own passions. In the book he makes several quotes that really stood out to me.. Here are the highlights with my own analysis. " Finding the right tribe can be essential to finding you element. On the other hand, feeling deep down that with your the wrong one is probably a good sign that you should look somewhere else" Find people that share your passions, they become a great support system. If you don't find them than you are probably in the wrong in area. THIS IS WHERE TWINSDAILY.COM COMES INTO PLAY. If you love baseball, the twins, writing, better quotes than the cliche ones that players provide than go for twinsdaily. My prediction is that eventually, newspapers will be replaced. by online. Because why should the newspaper force to read "battle your tails off" " never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that you for you is play. This turns possible underachievers into happy warriors" When you are a child you like to play because it is fun. Simply try to find work that is fun for you. One of my friends from college when he was younger loved playing in the garden and looking at worms. After graduating with a degree in biology and evolution he is about to enter graduate school for a masters in science that will lead him into the DNR " what is true is that if your unprepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original" This is Sir Ken Robinson classic line and is found on his webpage. Simply look it up " The Element is the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion" Once you are here you will always find happiness. Twins Daily Can you help you find that element. " the real question is not are you intelligent but how intelligent are you? Think what are you really good at? "Other examples of tribes inspiring individuals to greater heights abound: the sports teams- the 1969 New York Knicks, the "no Name defense" of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 1991 Minnesota Twins ls " The MN Twins of 1991 get a huge following here in this book and I think it is well deserved. Because they really played as a tribe not as a team. " the Social psychologist Robert Cialdina has term for this. He calls is Basking in Reflected Glory or BIRGing. in the 1970's Ciadlina and others conducted a study about BIRGing and found that students at a number of american universities were much more likely to wear university-related clothing on the Monday after the their school won a football game. " BIRGins is really just another term for bandwagon fans. My personal opinion is that the Minnesota Market is full of BIRGers because there are four sports teams in one area. rarely do all of the teams do well at the same time. Robinson also adds that you need be a real fan that is with you in the good times and the bad. ( something that is a testament to the recent seasons and the past) "The idea of luck is a powerful way of illustrating the importance of our basic attitudes in affecting whetere or not we find out our element" You make you own luck, or the harder you work the luckier you get. Attitude is crucial. Robinson speaking on the podium on the Baseball Cooperstown about when Pee Wee Reese put his arm around him " I had lost my confidence and Pee Wee picked me up with his words of encouragement. He gave me hope when all hope was gone" Another baseball cliche story but this shows how important it is to have mentor when you pursue your passion. " for a long time, he couldn't even grasp the difference between net and gross income. One days in exasperation his director of finance took him aside after a Virgin board meeting and said 'Richard, think of it this way;If you go fishing and throw a net into the sea you catch in the net is yours to keep thats your net profit. Everything else is the gross" I finally get this analogy for years as a caddie I was a having difficulty with gross and net scores. Net is what you keep... gross is everything else. " .. the Best way to improve education is not to focus on primarily on the curriculum, nor an assessment, important thought these things are. the most powerful method of improving education is to invent in the improvement of teaching and the status of great teachers" I love to here these because assetment and exams doesn't always predict academic success. I learned in one of my educational psychology teachers that the ACT only predicts college success for two years really. Other than that is doesn't predict a student's life. Never let an exam predict your knowledge or success. Bottom life you are thinking about pursing something that gives you great happiness in your life. Read this book and develop a plan to pursue. Happiness is there you just need to go out and get it. And Twins Daily is a great to way find your tribe, a mentor, and pursue your passion

This was originaly posted my own blog at blogspot. Then John Bonnes left me a nice message telling me why he deleted it. He thought that is was spam because it wanst baseball related. Which is fine but I have retuned this post to make it more Twins and Baseball Centric TED talks are one of the most popular ways a college student can waste time surfing the internet. If you are unfamiliar with them I highly reccmend that you stop reading this and check it out. here is his most popular talk and there is another that has similar point but more clever animation to keep you engaged.According to Sir Ken Robinson he believes that schools are killing the american dream because of its standardization and constant assessment that ruins creativity. In my education classes at the University of Minnesota, we always talk about being creative and what an import skill is it in the word today. What is creativity? is means that you "think outside of the box!" Which is by far one of the worst definitions in the world for creativity because it concretely defines somethings that is far from it. I bought the The element ( on ebook no less) because I knew it would be a great investment for me as a future educator and could help me to develop some of my own passions. In the book he makes several quotes that really stood out to me.. Here are the highlights with my own analysis. " Finding the right tribe can be essential to finding you element. On the other hand, feeling deep down that with your the wrong one is probably a good sign that you should look somewhere else" Find people that share your passions, they become a great support system. If you don't find them than you are probably in the wrong in area. THIS IS WHERE TWINSDAILY.COM COMES INTO PLAY. If you love baseball, the twins, writing, better quotes than the cliche ones that players provide than go for twinsdaily. My prediction is that eventually, newspapers will be replaced. by online. Because why should the newspaper force to read "battle your tails off" " never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that you for you is play. This turns possible underachievers into happy warriors" When you are a child you like to play because it is fun. Simply try to find work that is fun for you. One of my friends from college when he was younger loved playing in the garden and looking at worms. After graduating with a degree in biology and evolution he is about to enter graduate school for a masters in science that will lead him into the DNR " what is true is that if your unprepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original" This is Sir Ken Robinson classic line and is found on his webpage. Simply look it up " The Element is the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion" Once you are here you will always find happiness. Twins Daily Can you help you find that element. " the real question is not are you intelligent but how intelligent are you? Think what are you really good at? "Other examples of tribes inspiring individuals to greater heights abound: the sports teams- the 1969 New York Knicks, the "no Name defense" of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 1991 Minnesota Twins ls " The MN Twins of 1991 get a huge following here in this book and I think it is well deserved. Because they really played as a tribe not as a team. " the Social psychologist Robert Cialdina has term for this. He calls is Basking in Reflected Glory or BIRGing. in the 1970's Ciadlina and others conducted a study about BIRGing and found that students at a number of american universities were much more likely to wear university-related clothing on the Monday after the their school won a football game. " BIRGins is really just another term for bandwagon fans. My personal opinion is that the Minnesota Market is full of BIRGers because there are four sports teams in one area. rarely do all of the teams do well at the same time. Robinson also adds that you need be a real fan that is with you in the good times and the bad. ( something that is a testament to the recent seasons and the past) "The idea of luck is a powerful way of illustrating the importance of our basic attitudes in affecting whetere or not we find out our element" You make you own luck, or the harder you work the luckier you get. Attitude is crucial. Robinson speaking on the podium on the Baseball Cooperstown about when Pee Wee Reese put his arm around him " I had lost my confidence and Pee Wee picked me up with his words of encouragement. He gave me hope when all hope was gone" Another baseball cliche story but this shows how important it is to have mentor when you pursue your passion. " for a long time, he couldn't even grasp the difference between net and gross income. One days in exasperation his director of finance took him aside after a Virgin board meeting and said 'Richard, think of it this way;If you go fishing and throw a net into the sea you catch in the net is yours to keep thats your net profit. Everything else is the gross" I finally get this analogy for years as a caddie I was a having difficulty with gross and net scores. Net is what you keep... gross is everything else. " .. the Best way to improve education is not to focus on primarily on the curriculum, nor an assessment, important thought these things are. the most powerful method of improving education is to invent in the improvement of teaching and the status of great teachers" I love to here these because assetment and exams doesn't always predict academic success. I learned in one of my educational psychology teachers that the ACT only predicts college success for two years really. Other than that is doesn't predict a student's life. Never let an exam predict your knowledge or success. Bottom life you are thinking about pursing something that gives you great happiness in your life. Read this book and develop a plan to pursue. Happiness is there you just need to go out and get it. And Twins Daily is a great to way find your tribe, a mentor, and pursue your passion

I will be there John as I am excited to finally meet everyone in person after a busy Summer following everyone on twitter and joining twins daily.

Marney Gellner and Tom Kelly both appeared at my old Chaska High School for the American Legion Baseball Championship Opening Ceremony August 3rd My uncle randomly called and let me know that there was a dinner for 35 dollars, sponsored by the American Legion which followed an award ceremony. So I grabbed some dinner beforehand and showed up on a whim. (Tuition is expensive) For those that do not know, the American Legion sponsors an annual baseball league for teenage baseball players. Basically this is for teenagers who are too old for little league and are playing competitively for their respective high schools. Their season runs from mid June to Late July, with the championships in early August. Gellner served as Masters of Ceremonies and opened the night with a story about her career. Here is the story in her words "I started my career right after college and was working for a local affiliate in Bismarck North Dakota. I was lucky enough to land the weekend sports anchor gig. I thought I was pretty cool because I had a job in the field I wanted and I was living on my own for the first time in my career. Now, one weekend night the phone rang in the main reception room. Since I was the only the working and the office was quite I picked up the phone and said Hello. The lady on other line asked if this was the Bismarck TV Station. I said yes and she said that she had some advice for that young, new sports weekend anchor.' I cannot stand her, the way she looks, the way she talks, or the way does the sports. She should stop working immediately' After I heard that I really wanted to say what a poor mother she was and bad role model towards she kids. Instead I Hung up the phone and cried. Later in the night I called my mom to make myself feel better. “ After Gellner's great story, the rest of ceremony dragged on. Selfishly, because I really wasn’t there for the Teams, even though my cousin was on the Hopkins team or the veterans for the American Legion. They presented awards and milked everything for the rest of the night that lasted about two hours. Then good Old Tom Kelly, TK, appeared on the stage. Now personally, I really do not understand TK the manager but you cannot deny his two World Series rings, respect for the game and work ethic. Perhaps cause I was too young to see his work in action. In recent years though he has been regular fixture at Spring Training for infielders and spot fill in for FSN sports telecasts when Boring Bert, or Tim Laudner or Roy Smally cannot fill in. TK is great because he calls Dick Bremer, Richard on air, openly criticizes Twins players and adds an instant perspective to the telecasts. This is always lacking on regular broadcasts. I wish that he was on the air more because Bert and Dick...well that’s for another blog. When TK finally, for what seemed like a whole day, got to the stage he was well worth it. He told everyone about his recent years of retirement of playing golf. He said his nieces and nephews really like the game and has realized what a great asset he is in the family. However, they play catch with him like twice a month, which " aint gonna get it done" if they want to develop their passion. So he preached, preached, preached about working hard. Which sounded pretty familiar to his managerial views and current Twins manager Ron "battle your tails off" Gardenhire. TK mentioned that Al Newman was in the room and complimented him on what hard worker he was and that he was one of the best defensive players he had ever seen. Too bad that he couldn't hit worth anything Next he told the players to thank their parents for working so hard for driving them to practices, buying them gloves, and providing an awesome upbringing so they can have the freedom to Play Ball. Lastly, he told the players of all the teams to play for respect of the game. Much like the Twins Way. Then Marney was about to say thank you and blah blah blah. Then out of nowhere, TK comes back to the podium and steals the microphone from Marney. TK said " that story about that Bismarck lady Marney that is nothing. Fans throughout the Major leagues are just awful. Onetime, I think I was in Chicago, or something. Everyone was standing for the national anthem like we did tonight for the national anthem. Then something hits me out of nowhere. It was a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich! That someone from the stands through at me. So if you think you have seen it all let me know. “ The whole audience burst out laughing. Then Marney closed for ceremony and topped it all off. She closed with this story “ I was keeping track of golf scores at a Bismarck charity golf event. It was a par 4 and after every score I would go up to individual players and ask them on how they shot on the hole. Finally after asking one overweight guy his score he responded arrogantly ‘I shot a Birdie. ....That is one below par, so that is a 3’ after he told me what a bird was I promptly gave him one... Good night everyone

Marney Gellner and Tom Kelly both appeared at my old Chaska High School for the American Legion Baseball Championship Opening Ceremony August 3rd My uncle randomly called and let me know that there was a dinner for 35 dollars, sponsored by the American Legion which followed an award ceremony. So I grabbed some dinner beforehand and showed up on a whim. (Tuition is expensive) For those that do not know, the American Legion sponsors an annual baseball league for teenage baseball players. Basically this is for teenagers who are too old for little league and are playing competitively for their respective high schools. Their season runs from mid June to Late July, with the championships in early August. Gellner served as Masters of Ceremonies and opened the night with a story about her career. Here is the story in her words "I started my career right after college and was working for a local affiliate in Bismarck North Dakota. I was lucky enough to land the weekend sports anchor gig. I thought I was pretty cool because I had a job in the field I wanted and I was living on my own for the first time in my career. Now, one weekend night the phone rang in the main reception room. Since I was the only the working and the office was quite I picked up the phone and said Hello. The lady on other line asked if this was the Bismarck TV Station. I said yes and she said that she had some advice for that young, new sports weekend anchor.' I cannot stand her, the way she looks, the way she talks, or the way does the sports. She should stop working immediately' After I heard that I really wanted to say what a poor mother she was and bad role model towards she kids. Instead I Hung up the phone and cried. Later in the night I called my mom to make myself feel better. “ After Gellner's great story, the rest of ceremony dragged on. Selfishly, because I really wasn’t there for the Teams, even though my cousin was on the Hopkins team or the veterans for the American Legion. They presented awards and milked everything for the rest of the night that lasted about two hours. Then good Old Tom Kelly, TK, appeared on the stage. Now personally, I really do not understand TK the manager but you cannot deny his two World Series rings, respect for the game and work ethic. Perhaps cause I was too young to see his work in action. In recent years though he has been regular fixture at Spring Training for infielders and spot fill in for FSN sports telecasts when Boring Bert, or Tim Laudner or Roy Smally cannot fill in. TK is great because he calls Dick Bremer, Richard on air, openly criticizes Twins players and adds an instant perspective to the telecasts. This is always lacking on regular broadcasts. I wish that he was on the air more because Bert and Dick...well that’s for another blog. When TK finally, for what seemed like a whole day, got to the stage he was well worth it. He told everyone about his recent years of retirement of playing golf. He said his nieces and nephews really like the game and has realized what a great asset he is in the family. However, they play catch with him like twice a month, which " aint gonna get it done" if they want to develop their passion. So he preached, preached, preached about working hard. Which sounded pretty familiar to his managerial views and current Twins manager Ron "battle your tails off" Gardenhire. TK mentioned that Al Newman was in the room and complimented him on what hard worker he was and that he was one of the best defensive players he had ever seen. Too bad that he couldn't hit worth anything Next he told the players to thank their parents for working so hard for driving them to practices, buying them gloves, and providing an awesome upbringing so they can have the freedom to Play Ball. Lastly, he told the players of all the teams to play for respect of the game. Much like the Twins Way. Then Marney was about to say thank you and blah blah blah. Then out of nowhere, TK comes back to the podium and steals the microphone from Marney. TK said " that story about that Bismarck lady Marney that is nothing. Fans throughout the Major leagues are just awful. Onetime, I think I was in Chicago, or something. Everyone was standing for the national anthem like we did tonight for the national anthem. Then something hits me out of nowhere. It was a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich! That someone from the stands through at me. So if you think you have seen it all let me know. “ The whole audience burst out laughing. Then Marney closed for ceremony and topped it all off. She closed with this story “ I was keeping track of golf scores at a Bismarck charity golf event. It was a par 4 and after every score I would go up to individual players and ask them on how they shot on the hole. Finally after asking one overweight guy his score he responded arrogantly ‘I shot a Birdie. ....That is one below par, so that is a 3’ after he told me what a bird was I promptly gave him one... Good night everyone

Every Monday of the baseball season I have to check the ESPN mlb website by noon. why might you ask? Too see the power rankings and where the twins rank in compassion with rest of MLB. Here is the link for this week's rankings http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings Now, I am sure there are more rankings out there that are more accurate and fair to teams that are not covered in the Eastern Sports Programming Network.(the Twins are near the bottom) But one of the reasons I like these rankings is the comment section on the right column of the table. Most of the time , if I am not mistaken, there is a comment by Twins Daily's own Nick Nelson. He usaully provides a great sentence that accurately describes the week that the Twins had. Then ESPN lets Nick post the Twins daily link after his comment. This is link is part of the reason I found this website. However for some reason, this week NICK didnt provide the comment. Instead ESPN.com did.!!!! They wrote some silly thing about Scott Diamond. So my questions for you all are.. What is ESPN's connection with Twins daily? Why is there some weeks they provide the week and sometimes they do not? Maybe Nick could elaberate..but a curious fan wants to know. Thanks Also the term power rankings makes me think about this classic YouTube Clip

Every Monday of the baseball season I have to check the ESPN mlb website by noon. why might you ask? Too see the power rankings and where the twins rank in compassion with rest of MLB. Here is the link for this week's rankings http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings Now, I am sure there are more rankings out there that are more accurate and fair to teams that are not covered in the Eastern Sports Programming Network.(the Twins are near the bottom) But one of the reasons I like these rankings is the comment section on the right column of the table. Most of the time , if I am not mistaken, there is a comment by Twins Daily's own Nick Nelson. He usaully provides a great sentence that accurately describes the week that the Twins had. Then ESPN lets Nick post the Twins daily link after his comment. This is link is part of the reason I found this website. However for some reason, this week NICK didnt provide the comment. Instead ESPN.com did.!!!! They wrote some silly thing about Scott Diamond. So my questions for you all are.. What is ESPN's connection with Twins daily? Why is there some weeks they provide the week and sometimes they do not? Maybe Nick could elaberate..but a curious fan wants to know. Thanks Also the term power rankings makes me think about this classic YouTube Clip

hahahThe Smalley comment could not have have been said any better. Have you scene the shape that guy is in and the head of hair? I sure hope that I look that way when I am his age!

Jim- Keep the ipad a secret from you daughter as long as possible... Glunn, Thanks for the compliment. A first time blogger needs positive support. Fire Dan Gladden, We need to talk on why you hate Gladden. I personally love having him on telecasts. But why the hate? Maybe you have a recent post or comment or blog on why you hate him? John Thanks for the Ipad Tip. Although I have just bought 50 dollar belkin case, one crappy screen 3m screen protector which is now in the waste basket, and one top of the line one from Zagg, I think I will hold off on a keypad for now at least. Also, does Twins Daily do any meets up during the year? I think it would be a great tradition if we rented out the Budweiser Roof Deck for a game once a year. That way we could all mingle, not be restricted by phsyicalily of seats and drink. Although I hear that the Roof Deck is high demand and sold out for ever game. But maybe that is hearsay. Also, my next blog will be about TK and Marney Gelhner..... I need to edit them more...

I am writing on this website because of my ipad. When I started graduated school this June at the University of Minnesota in the Masters in Education/Mathematics Education initial licensure program my professor gave everyone his ipad education sales pitch. He said to us that through his experience and constant networking he found that school districts in the state are now starting to put curriculum on their on ipads. Thus getting one could highly increase the probability of us getting hired. So I had a little extra money saved up, and splurchased on the ipad 3 64 GB. Which I now realize that 64 GB is way way way more memory that I needed. But such is life.. Anyway, through the ipad I download the twitter app and I started just out of curiosity to follow some seroius twins fans. I think it went a little something like this.. Twins President Dave st. Peter lead me Parker Hagman ,who happens to live in the same town as my parents. (We should meet up sometime Parker...) Then I followed Twins Geek, and then through SABR i started to follow Cee Angie.... haha I can tell I am addicted twitter becauseas I write this I am expecting to @ mention them. My twitter addcition continued as the summer progressed and through the SABR 42 convention. I attended the SABR 42 convention and met some more serious baseballs fans, some of which I was following on twitter. Although I did not introduce myself to some of the hardcore fans like, Cee Angi, Aaron Gleeman, and Twins geek because honestly I couldnt come up with anything good to stay. Also THE AVERAGE OF AGE SABR MEMBERS IS 55. I am only only 22....But that convention changed my life because it conviced me that I needed to stop consuming and start producing on my passion, obsession, and addiction of Baseball. I can read about it all day if time allowed. I would love to be a professional newspaper reader who everyday reads the newspaper of all 30 teams in the country. Even today, the only way I can get myself out of bed in the morning is convinceing myself that I get to read the Star Tribune and see how the twins did. But now that I have a smart phone with the ESPN scorecenter app I simply do not read what Lavell E Neal ( wavle as we call him in our family) and Joe C write everyday. Because I know how my Twins did. Plus I really get sick of Gardy and some of the players saying the same old " we won today because we battle our tails off" or another old cliche. Ugh give me freshness, give me spice ,give me something. Anyway through twitter, I found Twinsdaily.com a fan forum that has an excellent hub of seroius twins fans like me. My first comment was about why the Twins shouldnt trade with the cardinals because of Kyle Lohse. Which there really was not any merit behind it as but I just wanted to get my first comment on there. I was ripped a new one. Lesson learned. Come up with something good say and do not care what other people think. As I mentioned in a comment before my Brother is a serous college hockey fan/UMD Bulldogs fan and he started posting on http://board.uscho.com/ every weekend. He even met his fiance out of it. So that might be possible but who knows what life has in store for me. As TwinsGeek said on his website, The easy part of blogging is getting going, the hard part is keeping people interested. I will try to have some different opinions about baseball besides Joe Mauer sucks this year even though he is having a good one with some numbers that I am too lazy to post. Also, one last thing.. WARNING MY TYPING AND WRITING SEEMS TO LOVE TYPOS. SO IF YOU SEE ONE I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE. And who knows what this blog has store for me. But I know that I love baseball, I love my ipad, and I love twitter.

I am writing on this website because of my ipad. When I started graduated school this June at the University of Minnesota in the Masters in Education/Mathematics Education initial licensure program my professor gave everyone his ipad education sales pitch. He said to us that through his experience and constant networking he found that school districts in the state are now starting to put curriculum on their on ipads. Thus getting one could highly increase the probability of us getting hired. So I had a little extra money saved up, and splurchased on the ipad 3 64 GB. Which I now realize that 64 GB is way way way more memory that I needed. But such is life.. Anyway, through the ipad I download the twitter app and I started just out of curiosity to follow some seroius twins fans. I think it went a little something like this.. Twins President Dave st. Peter lead me Parker Hagman ,who happens to live in the same town as my parents. (We should meet up sometime Parker...) Then I followed Twins Geek, and then through SABR i started to follow Cee Angie.... haha I can tell I am addicted twitter becauseas I write this I am expecting to @ mention them. My twitter addcition continued as the summer progressed and through the SABR 42 convention. I attended the SABR 42 convention and met some more serious baseballs fans, some of which I was following on twitter. Although I did not introduce myself to some of the hardcore fans like, Cee Angi, Aaron Gleeman, and Twins geek because honestly I couldnt come up with anything good to stay. Also THE AVERAGE OF AGE SABR MEMBERS IS 55. I am only only 22....But that convention changed my life because it conviced me that I needed to stop consuming and start producing on my passion, obsession, and addiction of Baseball. I can read about it all day if time allowed. I would love to be a professional newspaper reader who everyday reads the newspaper of all 30 teams in the country. Even today, the only way I can get myself out of bed in the morning is convinceing myself that I get to read the Star Tribune and see how the twins did. But now that I have a smart phone with the ESPN scorecenter app I simply do not read what Lavell E Neal ( wavle as we call him in our family) and Joe C write everyday. Because I know how my Twins did. Plus I really get sick of Gardy and some of the players saying the same old " we won today because we battle our tails off" or another old cliche. Ugh give me freshness, give me spice ,give me something. Anyway through twitter, I found Twinsdaily.com a fan forum that has an excellent hub of seroius twins fans like me. My first comment was about why the Twins shouldnt trade with the cardinals because of Kyle Lohse. Which there really was not any merit behind it as but I just wanted to get my first comment on there. I was ripped a new one. Lesson learned. Come up with something good say and do not care what other people think. As I mentioned in a comment before my Brother is a serous college hockey fan/UMD Bulldogs fan and he started posting on http://board.uscho.com/ every weekend. He even met his fiance out of it. So that might be possible but who knows what life has in store for me. As TwinsGeek said on his website, The easy part of blogging is getting going, the hard part is keeping people interested. I will try to have some different opinions about baseball besides Joe Mauer sucks this year even though he is having a good one with some numbers that I am too lazy to post. Also, one last thing.. WARNING MY TYPING AND WRITING SEEMS TO LOVE TYPOS. SO IF YOU SEE ONE I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE. And who knows what this blog has store for me. But I know that I love baseball, I love my ipad, and I love twitter.