Groundbreaking

A great day for the Twins, and for downtown Minneapolis. Now they just need to get that bridge rebuilt.
Have a happy Labor Day weekend; be back on Tuesday.

Oh, Cole + Other Philly Sports Notes

Cole Hamels, even though he’s 100%, demonstrably right, should know better than to say things like this, from an interview with Bugs & Cranks:

MM: Philadelphia fans: Passionate die-hards or Crazy, maniacal lunatics?
CH: 40% Passionate die-hards, 60% crazy, lunatics and fair-weather fans.

Yea, the talk radio people tend to go nuts when Philly athletes talk like that. Not as nuts as they go when McNabb smiles on the sidelines when they’re behind, but still pretty nuts.
Speaking of Philly fans, this has been making the rounds, from the other night:

In some cities, girls try to break up fights at ballgames. In Philly, they shout out “Get him! Get him!”
And finally, one more Phillies note. The second-half resurgence of Pat Burrell has been one of the biggest surprises in baseball in the second half, especially since the owed-$27-million-in-the-last-two-years-of-his-contract left fielder was the most hated man in Philly as recently as two months ago (well, most hated besides John Street.)
Burrell came up big in the Mets series, with two homers in the fourth game. In fact, Pat the Bat has killed the Amazins for his whole career. As the broadcast kept showing over the series, Burrell is now fifth all time in home runs against the Mets. The four men ahead of him- Willie Stargell, Mike Schmidt, Willie McCovey, and Hank Aaron- are all Hall of Famers, as is the guy right behind him (Willie Mays). The guy behind Mays- Barry Bonds- may make it too, depending on what the voters and the BALCO grand jury have to say.

Social Conservatives For Apatow

Call Rich Lowry a charter member. But come on- there’s no way in hell McLovin is a Republican.

Sweep!

Given up and left for dead as recently as Sunday (when all the guys at my fantasy football draft declared them so), the Phillies today completed a four-game sweep of the NL East-leading Mets, getting clutch hits, strong bullpen performances, and a whole bunch of other stuff they haven’t been getting all season.
It was quite a series- the Phils won the second game on a Ryan Howard walkoff homer, the third on a 9th-inning interference call, and the fourth in a wild 11-10 game with numerous lead changes.
The lead has dropped to 2 games in the division in what is, believe it or not, the first-ever Mets-Phillies pennant race. The two teams have literally never been good the same year before, as they’ve taken turns being good for about 40 years, and the Braves won every division title for 15 years. The Phils may be dysfunctional, but the Mets now appear even more so.

A Song For Peter

From Funny or Die, a beautiful, loving tribute to a baseball legend:

The music, I’ve gotta say, isn’t really Peter’s taste. I guess Susan Tedesci said no.

Today on E-Gear

Sony is bringing back the Walkman, complete with video. On the Apple front, a whole line of new iPods is set to debut next week.
You can now get eight HD DVDs, if you buy certain Toshiba players, on Amazon.com. And finally, that NBC/Fox Web site finally has a name: Hulu. Unfortunately, “Hulu” is also the Indonesian word for “butt.”

Dumbest Thing Written About Vick Nominee

Drew Sharp: Only Oprah (Not Jesus) Can Rescue Vick
And we’re now officially… out of column ideas.

Where Are They Now? Part I

Did you know that former Vikings fullback Rick Fenney is now in prison for stealing from a hedge fund? Randball says so. Of all the many Vikings crimes over the years, that’s probably the most unlikely. Well, either that or the James Harris bigamy arrest.

Where Are They Now? Part II

Former wrestler Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, last seen getting arrested in his then-place of employment- the Boston subway system- when his bag of cocaine was mistaken for anthrax, setting off a bioterror scare- was profiled the other day in the Boston Globe. Now 50 years old, the erstwhile Barber/Booty Man now works for a pool supply company, but occasionally climbs back in the ring at county fairs and the like.

Larry Craig: The Cartoon

Yes, this makes perfect sense.