The PFZ.

I’ll just hold it.

Tue, 07 May 2013 19:57:44 -0500

I’ll just hold it.

shorm: i-sniff-sharpies: Cats that just couldn’t My old cat...

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:30:41 -0500

i-sniff-sharpies:

Cats that just couldn’t

My old cat used to sleep like this 90% of the time. I guess it’s really good at guaranteeing no light disturbance?

suitsupply: Jamele. Meet the rest of the team at our new...

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:32:50 -0500

suitsupply:

Jamele.

Meet the rest of the team at our new Philly store over at GQ.com

Put some fucking socks on, you look like a d-bag.

More photos. #vikings

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:40:12 -0500

More photos. #vikings

Some looks at the new Vikings uniforms. I’ll have another...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:38:26 -0500

Some looks at the new Vikings uniforms. I’ll have another set up shortly.

thomaslowrysghost: “Minneapolis Miller’s first baseman working...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:50:19 -0500

thomaslowrysghost:

“Minneapolis Miller’s first baseman working out before an April 1937 game”

(image via MHS Visual Resources Database)

Three more days! This is my favourite, a genuine authentic...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:16:13 -0500

Three more days! This is my favourite, a genuine authentic Adrian Peterson that I picked up for $50, as opposed to the $260 retail price.

Only four more days until the Vikings unveil their new uniforms!

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:38:48 -0500

Only four more days until the Vikings unveil their new uniforms!

Happy Earth Day! Photos celebrating some of the wood in my...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:29:00 -0500

Happy Earth Day! Photos celebrating some of the wood in my house.

Skol Speak - Minnesota Vikings News & Stadium Updates: Vikings Uniform Clues UPDATED 4-18

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:50:29 -0500

Skol Speak - Minnesota Vikings News & Stadium Updates: Vikings Uniform Clues **UPDATED 4-18**:

A compilation of leaked images for the new Vikings uniforms. They show hope for the shoulder stripes that they may be going for a more classic look, but they’re keeping those hideous Nike collars. At least they appear to be abandoning the two-tone look, which would be a huge improvement.

The close-up of number 28 shows they two with some curved edges while the 8 appears to retain its sharp angles. Little things like that drive me insane, I will notice it in every single camera shot. I’m also a little disappointed because I love how heavy the numbers are on their current uniforms. I have an authentic Peterson jersey with the huge 28 on the back, and I adore it.

Not much you can tell from the pants. On the close-up of the belt and waist, it looks as if they’re sticking with Nike’s “sweatbox” fabric. Ick. It’s 2013 and the world’s most high-profile athletic apparel company can’t even make a decent fabric for the country’s premier sports league.

A sidebar on belts: Anyone else find it odd that Major League Baseball and the NFL still use belts? Particularly baseball. You would think with guys diving and sliding on their stomachs the league would try to come up with pants that don’t need a giant metal belt clasp.

Greenway Coalition meets with Minneapolis police, public works staff

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:28:47 -0500

Greenway Coalition meets with Minneapolis police, public works staff:

Months before someone tossed a Molotov cocktail on April 3 at a cyclist on the Midtown Greenway, volunteers took to the greenway with light meters in hand in the name of public safety

After the cocktail incident I had an idea for improving safety along the Greenway: Removing many of the trees that effectively let people “hide” from the surrounding area while standing right in the middle of the bridges. It came to me walking up the stairs in my own building. I looked out the window and realized when the trees are covered in leaves that seeing the bridge would be mostly impossible. In comparison, on the other side of the building there are no trees, the bridge is in full view. I don’t have crime stats, but I’d bet there aren’t many such incidents on it because of the visibility.

I grabbed a bunch of screenshots from Google Maps and Street View, but when (if) the weather improves I’ll actually haul my arse down to them and take some real photos of the ones where I think it could have the most effect.

The point is that at some bridge intersections there are people like me who live within sight distance and could help watch for ne’er do wells, but have line-of-sight blocked by clusters of trees.

He's certainly looking Super! Henry Cavill shows off his buff body in new Man Of Steel trailer

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:30:00 -0500

He's certainly looking Super! Henry Cavill shows off his buff body in new Man Of Steel trailer:

In the clip the 29-year-old actor is seen running and showing off his impressive muscles as he sprints across the screen.

I am sorry, but Superman is not 29 years old. Cast adults and I’ll look forward to a Superman movie.

Update: Yes, I know Christopher Reeve was cast at age 24. But it’s the movies, people play above and below their age all the time. He didn’t look 24, he looked 40. Henry Cavill, in everything released so far, looks like he’s a few hours older than Brandon Routh, who was awful.

Arts Orbit: What to say (and not to say) on social media when tragedy strikes?

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:33:05 -0500

Arts Orbit: What to say (and not to say) on social media when tragedy strikes?:

artsorbit:

Like many people across the country, I was at work on Monday when the Boston Marathon was hit by a deadly attack. The nation’s attention was rivited on the tragic scene unfolding in Copley Square. There was nothing we could do except watch, hope that the worst was over, and…talk. Talk on…

Good read. I don’t do the tweets like “Thoughts and prayers with Boston” or ones similar. Best practice: Just shut up.

Necessary Sacrilege

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:59:03 -0500

Inspired by UniWatch’s post about user-submitted Vikings uniform designs, I sat down to create my own. The look builds on my post from a while back emphasizing how strong I think the purple and gold color combination is and can be if the Vikings do it right.

To put it together I went to NFL.com and snapped screenshots of the Greg Jennings Packers jersey. I altered the colors in Photoshop but didn’t alter one single thing about the jersey design, that’s how great I think the Green Bay jerseys are and how well purple and gold work. If I had to make any change at all I would get rid of that little boopitty-boo on the corner of the 5. I think it’s ugly.

The pants are simple white, the three stripes should be equal width although they don’t quite appear that way. (I’d like to see you try to make that mask selection!) No purple or gold pants for the white jerseys. I’m deeply, deeply opposed to purple pants.

Because the look shuns all of the more modern styles in the team’s current uniform, I put in the old helmet with the round white horn. The new look with it doing whatever it is doing around the front curve wouldn’t work, and I hope that whatever the Vikings end up doing they will get rid of that useless feature.

Here’s how it all looks.

Minnesota Twins Airlines

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:29:36 -0500

The Minnesota Twins unintentionally stepped in it with their fans yesterday. A new ticket option allowing earlier entry into Target Field for $15 was met with instant mockery and anger. The team quickly pulled back the announcement, saying it was not properly vetted. Whether or not that is true is irrelevant. The announcement went out, the reaction happened. Much of the blowback was based on incorrect assumptions by fans, but that is also irrelevant. Perception is reality. Fans perceived the Twins were taking away batting practice from people who didn’t want to pay an extra $15, so that’s exactly what the Twins were doing, true or not.

What went wrong?

Let’s look at this from a fan experience perspective. I had the opportunity to do this very thing two years ago as a season ticket holder minus the $15 charge. It’s really not that exciting, and I say that as someone with many, many hours under my belt in the outfield at the Metrodome watching batting practice. The Twins put you in the little overlook section in the right field corner and you’re not allowed to go anywhere else. While I love sitting outdoors watching baseball practice, it is also true that the Twins don’t really have many players who can hit the ball over the fence. When they do, it is rare that the ball lands in this small area.

Therein lies the Twins’ first mistake: They weren’t offering fans very much for their $15. Trying to figure out who is standing in a cage from 350 feet away as the player hits soft line drives to the outfield is not an exciting offer. It appears what they did is port the idea directly from the season ticket program without any changes. That’s a failure to see outside their own bubble, buying the assumption that if season ticket members thought this was neat then the general public would, too, and slapping on a $15 price tag.

They missed noticing that for season ticket holders this was a perk, something neat and free they got to do one time on top of the other benefits of being a season ticket holder. But for the rest of their fans, this was something completely new, an added cost of going to a Twins game. They saw it, however erroneously, as being asked to pay for something that used to be free. Sound familiar?

It should. The Twins came across to their fans yesterday like an airline, nickel-and-diming their customers. Their fans reacted with all the disdain with which they usually react toward airlines. They found themselves feeling not like fans, but as fliers. First they lost their checked bags, then they had to pay for a pillow, a blanket, a fuel surcharge. What next, charging for mustard on your hot dog? All to watch a team coming off back-to-back seasons of more than 90 losses.

A team historically viewed as cheap but with a new taxpayer-funded stadium that created the expectation of higher payrolls. A team that, rightly or wrongly, chose to sit out last winter’s free agent market.

Aha. The Twins yesterday found themselves the victim of a fan base upset with how the team performs on the field and how it is perceived to operate in the front office, one that in the eyes of many fans is not living up to its end of the bargain. Early entry batting practice tickets were just the match that lit the powder keg of frustration in many disgruntled Twins fans. If it hadn’t been this, it would have been something else.

Consider this

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:58:05 -0500

Those $8 tickets the Twins are advertising? The reason they are $8 is because the Twins are over-charging for premium seats and club-level options. That’s part of how ticket pricing works, over-charging high-end customers allows teams to lower the box office cost of other tickets. In essence, the most expensive seats are subsidizing the cheapest ones.

So if you’re upset that the Twins were going to offer you the chance to see MORE batting practice for $15, how would you like it if they announced they will stop gouging the other fans who have been paying for part of your $8 ticket?

Thought so.

mn70s: Birds-eye View of the Foshay Tower, Minneapolis, 1973...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:39:03 -0500

mn70s:

Birds-eye View of the Foshay Tower, Minneapolis, 1973 (by Peter Stratmoen)

The Foshay had reigned as Minneapolis’s tallest building for more than four decades by the time the new IDS Center went up in the early 1970s. From this vantage, near the top of the IDS, the Foshay suddenly looked almost puny.

Photo via Old Minneapolis

Casual Bosnian Interpreter

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:56:38 -0500

Casual Bosnian Interpreter:

To the lay person like myself who is not in the field of interpreting, I read that job title and envision this…

“Yeah…he’s Bosnian. He’s saying…you know…he has pain. In places. Do we have any new magazines?”

But I’m sure that’s not at all what it’s like.

umadbrodin: kevinwatterson: Maybe the worst jersey-hat combo...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:37:22 -0500

umadbrodin:

kevinwatterson:

Maybe the worst jersey-hat combo of any team? They don’t even look professional.

Thanks Kevin, us Twins fans are flattered by such wonderful comments

Maybe some deeper context is in order, as displayed by my thoughts on the full slate of Twins uniforms here: http://kevinwatterson.tumblr.com/post/43127044596/ranking-local-uniforms

theboysofthebronx: umadbrodin: kevinwatterson: Maybe the...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:33:13 -0500

theboysofthebronx:

umadbrodin:

kevinwatterson:

Maybe the worst jersey-hat combo of any team? They don’t even look professional.

Thanks Kevin, us Twins fans are flattered by such wonderful comments

I don’t see a problem with this hat jersey combo? (aside from the fact that either the picture quality or the tv quality suck…or both). They’re both blue with red accents. What is the problem with that?

I think we can all agree upon the fact that one of the Miami Marlins’ alternate combinations is far worse.

They look like a damn traffic cone.

No offense, Marlins fans.

Hahaha, totally. The Marlins went to outer space for those. It’s an iPhone photo, I guess you have to see them to see how truly hideous they are. The colors on each don’t match the other, it’s really amateur work. Understand also how much I truly, truly hate the regular Twins road uniforms that they are wearing today.