I hold no ill will toward Griffin Jax but I’ll go to my grave saying he’s dramatically overrated. Great stuff, peripherals, etc, blah, blah, blah. He’s a 30 year old reliever with a 3.9 career WAR who is 12-22 over the last three years. He gives up too many crushing hits when it counts the most.

Spent the week before traveling tonight thinking about potential TSA issues. Get through security quickly and to Denver on time. Flight to San Diego is delayed by 2+ hours because of air traffic controllers. I can’t keep track of all the shortages/crises. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/f...

Neo’s evil cousin Reo

1. Doughy first basemen from Bloomington that chain smoked and held on to wayward Braves as they fell 2. Dome dogs 3. Getting to the dome early to get a first row seat in upper GA for the leg room 4. Starters that never pitched less than 7 innings 5. Being able to read about the game in the paper

Boarding my first Southwest flight with a reserved seat. Up is down, black is white. Nothing makes sense.

I wrote in cursive by choice 100% of the time through high school. Stopped in college for no good reason. Haven’t done it since. Now as a teacher I HATE when I have a rare student that writes in cursive. So goddamn hard to read when you’re trying to grade papers. Good thing Im not in PA, I guess.

The nature of baseball makes it such that in any given game even an awful team has a reasonable chance of snagging a win. Having said that, is tomorrow the Twins last best hope to sniff .500 this year? 0-2 just might me an insurmountable hole for this collection.

The Twins blowing a 1-0 lead with two of their “top relievers” giving up runs on opening day is a little on the nose.

They’re all just such pathetic losers. Imagine debasing yourself like this on a daily basis.

He’ll also discuss the value of sending up a right handed batter to face a left handed pitcher. It’s called playing the percentages. It’s what good managers do to win ballgames, even if the player being pinch hit for has nine home runs today.

My mom and I have a normal, healthy relationship.

PSA: If you’re at a show and see a t-shirt at the merch table with the “Comfort Colors” tag, BUY IT. I now have three from that brand (Futurebirds, Joshua Ray Walker and, most recently, Fust) and they are the most comfortable, highest quality best fitting tees I have.

Since Stu started this newsletter, today’s is almost certainly two things at the same time: 1. His least funny newsletter 2. His best newsletter It’s like when Alan Alda made MASH super preachy in the late seasons but actually good.

My Twins fandom goes back over 35 years. I haven’t cared less about an impending opening day since the wasteland that was the late 90s. Thanks, Pohlads!

Reminder: The Flying Burrito Brothers version of To Love Somebody slaps. Gram Parsons > The Bee Gees youtu.be/270pzwk5QbE?...

@dbrauer.net Don’t be so negative. I’m feeling 64-98.

As someone who grew up in the town with one of the two Minnesota Happy Joe’s, I implore you all to make your way to Mendota Heights once this opens. You can thank me later.

Dale Watson doing Mandatory Merle. A tradition unlike any other. I was going to request I’m a Lonesome Fugitive but someone beat me to the punch. Not a bad fallback.

Two major local sporting events ended early enough yesterday to make it into today’s Strib. I’ll be damned.

Look at these absolute dorks. No wonder they wanted to wear masks.

I’ve done long road trips over days and weeks with thousands and thousands of miles. Longest single day: Mpls to Spokane. 8/6/09 (Phish fans know why I remember the date). About 1400 miles. Left at 6am central, got into Spokane between 2 and 3am pacific. The 2 hour drive the next day was nothing.

First ever show in Nebraska tonight. Have now seen shows in 34 US states. Fust with a tight and powerful middle set tonight after closing last night in Des Moines.

The 94 degrees this afternoon in Omaha was a bit much but sitting outside between sets at 9:40 in shorts and a t-shirt when it’s still 79 degrees:

Finally got to see what all the fuss was about. Pretty damn solid.

Do I need a new drug rug? Absolutely not Am I buying this drug rug? 100%, without question It has to happen

If you’re in Omaha, have 99 cents and want a VHS copy of Kevin Costner’s 3rd best baseball movie, head over to Homer’s Records ASAP. This bad boy is sure to move fast at that price.

Jerry Garcia: a true American hero

If Coke and Pepsi can co-exist in the same machine, maybe there is hope for peace in the Middle East.

I know nothing about the opening band at this Fust/Merce Lemon show in Des Moines but I know this is a badass shirt.

Just saw a guy driving a car with Poop 911 emblazoned all over it. Near as I can tell, his whole job is going around to people’s yards and picking up dog shit. Norm MacDonald once said the two worst jobs in America were crack whore and assistant crack whore. I do believe I have found number 3.

I’ll remember it as the movie where I saw a mouse in the aisle at AMC Rosedale and when I told a staff member after the movie and asked if that was a common occurrence his response was, “I’m not really at liberty to say.” 😬

There’s an item in today’s @randballsstu.bsky.social Midwest Excellence newsletter about disgraced Twin Cities car salesman Denny Hecker. It reminded me that I once taught one of his children. You’ll be shocked to learn that Denny was not an involved father and he did not come to conferences.

Today’s Wordle.

I see Kyle from Tenacious D is doing a solo tour. He should do some co-headlining dates with Oates. It would be a medium sized hit in secondary markets.

@randballsstu.bsky.social Big above the fold cover story about Morrison County in today’s Strib. Finger on the pulse.

As we watch Markwayne Mullin get confirmed as DHS secretary it is crucial that we remember why: John Fetterman fucking sucks. GOP didn’t have the votes to get him out of committee but he advanced by one vote: Fetterman.

Happy New Tedeschi Trucks Band Album Day to all those who celebrate.

Ed and Gordy from The Band of Heathens have the silver fox look on lockdown. I’m not gay but my goodness if I was…

As a history teacher, updates/revisions to language/terminology are common. Ex.: for years I taught about Japanese Internment. Recently I switched to Japanese Incarceration as historians have moved toward preferring that language. The shift for Cesar Chavez is going to be just a little bigger…

It just can’t be overstated how great it is to have Steve Sack back drawing again.

The ice may not be out on Lake Harriet yet but if you want to go for a swim, there are numerous potholes on Lake Harriet Parkway that are big enough to swim laps in.

The northern suburbs in human form:

TIL that Young Dirty Bastard is now one year older than Old Dirty Bastard when he died. (I also learned that there is a Young Dirty Bastard)

There’s going to be so many great things about him finally going when that time comes but I think the greatest for all of our mental health will simply be when the dust settles and we stop seeing and hearing his name dozens of times a day. Never has a figure in American history been more inescapable

Brent crude? You mean like the end of the 7/7/89 Blow Away?

This past weekend’s weather had one very positive outcome: I wasn’t going to be able to see Sunday’s Clover County show at Turf Club originally due to a scheduling conflict but it got bumped to tonight, when I was free. I’m madly in love.

Every time John Smoltz shares an opinion:

Road tripping to Des Moines Friday and Omaha Saturday for a couple of shows this weekend. Didn’t see this coming: