Monday, April 26, 2004
EL DOMO Y EL CENTRO
It looks like the Twins have new turf on the ground in the Metrodome, and I think it might be the FieldTurf but I'm not sure. It sort of looks like it though. Anyway, this turf has apparently claimed Torii Hunter (though he's back now) and claimed Greg Myers tonight with what is likely some sort of knee injury.
So I tried to go to the Twins website and see if I could get some info on the new turf. I didn't see any, but I did get the stadium history page. Here you learn things like how the roof is 1/32" thick, that Mark McLemore robbed a home run off Chili Davis when a ball went off a speaker, and that Rob Deer popped out twice to Greg Gagne with the balls hitting the ceiling and coming down.
Also at the Twins page is what they hope to be the new ballpark. I went through the artists' renderings, and it doesn't look too bad. In that part of the Midwest, there's sure to be a retractable roof, and there is one in these drawings. It'd be kinda weird if it worked, seeing the Mariners on TV on road trips and knowing the Twins wouldn't be in the dome anymore with Bob Casey's voice echoing off the walls, seats, and roof. "Centerfielder Kirbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Puckett!!!!" My lamentations over the sad decline of post-baseball Kirby Puckett are reserved for a post somewhere in the future.
One last thing about the Toronto/Minnesota game...the Blue Jays' road tops are brutal. They have to go with a darker shade on those numbers, because that light blue isn't very discernable from the road gray of the rest of the uniform on television. They can go with a black or navy blue number with the bright blue as trim, I won't mind. The point is, I can't identify players from far away on television, and it probably isn't better from far away at the ballpark either.
The 8pm PT SportsCenter was a waste of an hour today. It just reminds you of how dependent they are on baseball, because without a full slate of games tonight, we were treated to...
>> the first twenty minutes centered around Kerry Collins leaving the Giants and Eli Manning being thrust into the spotlight. TWENTY FREAKIN' MINUTES.
>> showing the Pistons/Bucks meaningless Game 4 before showing Colorado/San Jose Game 3 highlights. As you already know, I think the Stanley Cup Playoffs are infinitely superior to the NBA Playoffs, especially with the NBA Playoffs in their current state. The NBA really messed up when they extended the first round to a best-of-seven format DURING THE SEASON last year. How much more likely is an upstart team going to upset a higher seed when they have to come away with four wins instead of three? Who knows. What I do know is this...all rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are head and shoulders above the dragged-out wake-me-when-it's-over NBA Playoffs
>> Quarterback JP Rosman being followed around with a camera on his way to combine workouts, etc.
>> Some weird thing (short film) called "The Scout" which is apparently part of a new thing called "ESPN Shorts." What was this? Doesn't this belong with that ESPN Original Entertainment stuff?
I guess I just miss SportsCenter, that's all. Luckily, they probably can't hit rock bottom like they did when they had Freddie Prinze, Jr. conduct a Sunday Conversation. That's something I like to forget.
So I tried to go to the Twins website and see if I could get some info on the new turf. I didn't see any, but I did get the stadium history page. Here you learn things like how the roof is 1/32" thick, that Mark McLemore robbed a home run off Chili Davis when a ball went off a speaker, and that Rob Deer popped out twice to Greg Gagne with the balls hitting the ceiling and coming down.
Also at the Twins page is what they hope to be the new ballpark. I went through the artists' renderings, and it doesn't look too bad. In that part of the Midwest, there's sure to be a retractable roof, and there is one in these drawings. It'd be kinda weird if it worked, seeing the Mariners on TV on road trips and knowing the Twins wouldn't be in the dome anymore with Bob Casey's voice echoing off the walls, seats, and roof. "Centerfielder Kirbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Puckett!!!!" My lamentations over the sad decline of post-baseball Kirby Puckett are reserved for a post somewhere in the future.
One last thing about the Toronto/Minnesota game...the Blue Jays' road tops are brutal. They have to go with a darker shade on those numbers, because that light blue isn't very discernable from the road gray of the rest of the uniform on television. They can go with a black or navy blue number with the bright blue as trim, I won't mind. The point is, I can't identify players from far away on television, and it probably isn't better from far away at the ballpark either.
The 8pm PT SportsCenter was a waste of an hour today. It just reminds you of how dependent they are on baseball, because without a full slate of games tonight, we were treated to...
>> the first twenty minutes centered around Kerry Collins leaving the Giants and Eli Manning being thrust into the spotlight. TWENTY FREAKIN' MINUTES.
>> showing the Pistons/Bucks meaningless Game 4 before showing Colorado/San Jose Game 3 highlights. As you already know, I think the Stanley Cup Playoffs are infinitely superior to the NBA Playoffs, especially with the NBA Playoffs in their current state. The NBA really messed up when they extended the first round to a best-of-seven format DURING THE SEASON last year. How much more likely is an upstart team going to upset a higher seed when they have to come away with four wins instead of three? Who knows. What I do know is this...all rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are head and shoulders above the dragged-out wake-me-when-it's-over NBA Playoffs
>> Quarterback JP Rosman being followed around with a camera on his way to combine workouts, etc.
>> Some weird thing (short film) called "The Scout" which is apparently part of a new thing called "ESPN Shorts." What was this? Doesn't this belong with that ESPN Original Entertainment stuff?
I guess I just miss SportsCenter, that's all. Luckily, they probably can't hit rock bottom like they did when they had Freddie Prinze, Jr. conduct a Sunday Conversation. That's something I like to forget.
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