For the past month or two, the Minnesota Twins had been trying to establish their own cable network.  The problem with their own cable network was that none of the major cable and satellite providers were willing to negotiate with the Twins to broadcast the network.  In the end, the Twins had to negotiate an eight-year contract with Fox Sports Network to get their games on television. It seems that the Twins need to choose their battles a little more wisely.  They...

201 Since I was very young, I have been interested in professional wrestling. From that time, my interest in wrestling has experienced its peaks and valleys. In general, I have always tried to keep abreast of what is going on in the wrestling circles. I haven't been watching pro wrestling as often as I had been in the past, but I still faithfully read a locally published newsletter on the topic. The other day, I won a radio contest from which I received two free tickets to a WWE ...

Well, the Twins won their first game. They won it in extra innings with a walk-off homerun by Shannon Stewart. I was especially impressed with the Twins' rookie catcher Joe Mauer. If one game is an indication, he is really good at discerning balls from strikes. That young guy seems to be able to smell a strike quite quickly. It may be a bit early to say, but we may have the next Frank Thomas on our hands. I doubt that he'll have the power, but I'd bet that he'll draw a lot of walks. ...

Kenny and I are getting ready to watch the first game of the year. It starts in about ten minutes! Let's hope that we'll be able to see more games this year. Tonight's game is on broadcast television. Subsequent games will go unseen due to a conflict between the startup Twins television network, and all of the major satellite and cable providers in the Twin Cities area. Let's hope that Dish Network can iron-out an agreement with the Twins. (I am sort of anticipating an anno...

175 I just finished watching day 12 of the Grand Sumo Tournament from Osaka. Coming into today's action, there were four rikishi tied at 11-0. The most interesting match of the day paired Ozeki Kaio with number twelve Maegashira Asasekiryu. I thought that Asasekiryu had no chance! I was shocked to see Asasekiryu get a pull down win against the bigger rikishi. I had no doubt in my mind that Kaio would win on day twelve. If I were in attendance, I would have been tempted to throw...

Hello there friends. I hope that you're having a happy day. I am not doing so well. I am under-the-weather. Over the last week or so, I have been putting extra-stress on myself. I have added new classes, I co-presented a speech with a colleague, and I had to take-on three (complete beginner) non-English speakers into my program. (I had to translate for their parents too.) Coming home from work last night, I felt chills and muscle aches. My body told me that it is time to "slow down...

Hello there friends. I hope that you're all having a happy Sunday evening. I just got back home from playing a round of indoor-golf with my friend Andy. That was a fun spur-of-the-moment way to spend my afternoon. My score wasn't so good (I suppose that Andy did alright... at least better than me,) but I had a lot of fun. I really like to play golf, regardless of how poorly I play. The highlight of my day was sinking a rare chip-in for a birdie. Since I played so horribly, that'...

Hey there friends. I was thinking about a topic for a blog today. After a bit of contemplation, I decided to write about something that I haven't written about before. I have written a lot of articles about: my job, my family, television shows that I like, my house, baseball, video games, Japan, sumo wrestling, and a few on politics. I haven't ever written an article on one of my bigger interests: pro wrestling. I started watching wrestling regularily in 1980. Between then and now...

Hi friends! I hope that your finding yourselves in warm temperatures. It is awfully cold and windy here in Minnesota. Since it is cold and I don't want to venture out these days, I have really been enjoying watching the New Year's sumo tournament on television when I come home from work. I really enjoy sumo. I would say that besides baseball, sumo is my favorite sport. One of the best things about sumo is that it is played in a series of six two-week tournaments throughout each calenda...

Hey there friends. I hope that you've had a nice weekend. I really enjoyed spending time with my wife and my son. As usual it went too fast, and it is back to work tomorrow. This weekend saw the beginning of the New Year's Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo. Kazuko videotaped it last night, and I watched it tonight after dinner. The big question this time will be whether Tochiazuma can get the tournament victory with at least thirteen wins. If he does, he will become a grand champion. It w...

Hey there. Happy Monday morning to all of you! I hope that you're having a good start to your work-week. The biggest sports news (here in Minnesota) as far as I am concerned is: the Twins signed Shannon Stewart to a three-year contract. He really helps the team. It will be a good thing if the Twins and Eddie Guardado can agree to salary arbitration. Now that they have that taken care of, I am convinced that the team will be at least better-than-terrible next year. Now they have to b...

Hey there! I hope that Tuesday was a good day for all of you. I had a nice day. Work went well. I had a nice time with my students today. I also got a haircut on my way home. I look even more like Kenny now (especially when his hair stands up after he takes a bath.) -I will see about getting a picture up of the new haircut later this week. Anyway as I was driving home today, I heard the news that the Minnesota Twins (my favorite sports team) lost their closer to the Seattle Mariners....