Tuesday, December 20, 2005
1st Inning - Up Close & Personal
2nd Inning - Another Q&A with Pat Neshek
SEVEN INNINGS with Seth
Good morning everyone! Well, I am going to try to get more than three innings today. (Are you sick of the "Innings" Concept yet?) Not sure how many I'll end up with, but we will see. Hopefully there are a few of these topics that you will enjoy. If there are, or if anything jars a thought, be sure to either send me an e-mail or post some comments at the bottom of the page. There is no Q&A today. I am still trying to line up some more guests, Twins players, minor leaguers or media members, who would be interested in participating in a Q&A. Also remember that tomorrow, I will share with you the final GuardDog Watch "Why Baseball?" article. So be sure to stop by.
Enjoy your Monday!
1st Inning - Up Close and Personal
The schedule for the Twins Winter Caravan came out yesterday, and I am incredibly excited to read that the Twins will be coming to my town, Warroad, MN. Adding to that is the fact that the Twins will be in Warroad for the evening session, known as the "Hot Stove League" which I understand is a bigger program. The members of the Twins organization that are scheduled to be in the Northwest League of the Caravan include manager Ron Gardenhire, pitching coach Rick Anderson, OF Lew Ford, SS Jason Bartlett and WCCO's John Gordon You will remember that last year I saw the Twins Caravan in Thief River Falls, a 90 minute drive. Lew Ford, Grant Balfour, Dan Gladden and Clay Matvik were in that group. Click here for a description of that event.
2nd Inning - Another Q&A with Pat Neshek
I have been fortunate to be able to post Question and Answer segments with Pat Neshek twice in the past year. Once was before he went to the team's minor league spring training, and once after his excellent 2005 season, the week after he was added to the Twins 40 man roster. Well, yesterday, Toby Boyce who writes the site Minor Details for the MVN let me know that he posted another Q&A with Pat Neshek on his site. Check it out. It really is very interesting.
So, at 7:00 last night, I'm flipping through the channels. I first turned it to The WB, just hoping there was a new episode of 7th Heaven, but there wasn't, so I continued through the channels. How excited when I flipped by a E! True Hollywood Story on the kids of Dawson Creek. James Van der Beek, Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams. Yes, I admit that I became an addict of the show. Maybe it was Katie Holmes? I don't know. I actually think I had a thing for shows about high school kids. I have mentioned several times in the past that I was a huge fan of Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210. Maybe it was just the fact that my life in high school was pretty uneventful, so I could live vicariously through these characters? I also enjoyed the writing of Kevin Williamson. The kids were all smart, quick witted, yet totally vulnerable. I really don't know. But yes, I became a huge fan of Dawson's Creek. I was so disappointed when I missed the series finale a few years ago. So, what did I do? I went on ebay and bought the series finale for like $8 or so. I got it, and immediately watched it and again, I fully admit that my eyes were sweating!! Are there any shows like this for you?
By the way, after that was an E! True Hollywood Story of The Girls of American Idol. It was the stories of Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barrino and Carrie Underwood. Very interesting stuff. And, don't forget, the new season of American Idol starts on January 17th with the always fun introductory episodes! Who will be this year's Leroy Wells!? I plan to again post my American Idol Thoughts each week once the actually competition starts.
4th Inning - Ten Good Bloggers?
There have been some interesting articles on blogging in the last few days. I was reading BaseBlogging.net yesterday and Bill had linked to an article on The Baseball Toaster by Will Carroll. The article, titled Ten Good Bloggers, Carroll essentially says that there may at any time be ten good bloggers. I will completely agree with this part of his posting when he discusses success to a blogger:
all bloggers do it for feedback, whether that's praise, readers, comments, or money.
I have said on numerous times that what I most enjoy about the site is the interaction with the readers. Sure, I keep track of my daily hit counts to see what kind of traffic the site brings in, and that does mean a lot. But many days, I will measure the success of the site by the number of e-mails I receive as well. If I receive a bunch of e-mails one day, it is obvious that I wrote something worth discussing, and that is good. Recently, I added Comments to the bottom of each day's posting in an attempt to encourage more reader interaction. So, he is absolutely right about that.
However, Will also then discusses how the Top Ten list
continues to change for many reasons. Guys like Alex
Belth and Jay Jaffe enter the main stream media.
Some of the good ones like The Twins Geek 'retire'
from the blogging world as other priorities enter their
lives.
Now, do I agree that there are only Ten Good Bloggers?
There are a couple of answers to that. Are there ten out
there that everyone would read daily and just know that they
were good. They provide entertainment along with statistics
and other essentials to a reader. However, I happen to
believe that there are a LOT of very good blogs and bloggers
out there. For me, the key to being a truly good blog is
consistency. I want to be able to go to the site every
morning and see some new content. To be good does not mean
that I have to agree with it. There are times when I
disagree with the likes of
Stick and
Ball Guy or even
Aaron Gleeman,
and that is OK, but I enjoy reading the other opinions. But
there are a lot of very good blogs that do not get noticed.
(By the way, did you see
the write-up that Gleeman got in the Pioneer Press
this weekend?)
Secondly, the goals for every blogger are different. I know that the Twins Junkie does not write every day. He uses his site to write things as he feels like it, or as topics pop up. Pat Neshek told me that he really enjoys having his blog now that he doesn't feel the need to post every day. Some bloggers just write during the baseball season. So bloggers like writing about multiple topics. Really, it is to each his or her own. Each blogger has their own goals and objectives for their site, and if they are meeting them, in their own minds, then good for them.
Now, I write this knowing that I am far from a good blogger. I am not very well-written. I don't really have a consistent structure from day to day. I will discuss any topic. I will throw some stats out there for your to peruse, but I also like just voicing an opinion and trying to understand another opinion. So, I know I will never be 'big-time' and that is fine with me. I am very happy and comfortable with this site. I feel that I have a very strong and growing and active group of readers, and have met many great people, and I am very, very happy with that. I have also been lucky enough to be mentioned by a few articles in the main stream media as well as multiple radio appearances. I enjoy these opportunities so much.
So, I may not have a Top 10 blog, or even a top 1,000 blog, but I enjoy it, and I consider it to be successful; at least in my mind. Let me know what you think of this topic. Send me an e-mail or post some comments.
While we are discussing quality blogs, JD Arney (definitely one of the Good bloggers!) of Reds Reporter came up with an idea to award the top blogs. he is still taking nominations in his comments section for the best MLB Blogs, the best NBA Blogs, the Top Humor Blog and more. So, please stop by his site and make your nominations. If you want... I'm just kidding, I won't ask for you to nominate by site. However, if you're looking for something to post in the Comments below, how about, tell me your favorite baseball blogs, or what other blogs do you read on a daily basis?
If you are still looking for some last minute Christmas gifts, here are a couple of quick ideas:
First, I have to point out the obvious. If you're a big baseball fan, you will certainly want to pick up The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006. I got my copy about two weeks ago. There are two ways to read the book. You can start at the front and just read great article after great article. Or, you can do like I have so far. Each night, I open the book to a certain page and just read an article, and then I go to their amazing stats section and just peruse the numbers. I find myself saying "Wow!" or "That's interesting!" or "That is something I did not know!" If you're like a copy, click here.
Second is another
book, but this one is a little bit older. Check out
Jeff Angus's
Management by Baseball book. You remember that I
have been linked to on
his blog
a couple of times, but he wrote the aforementioned book.
I want to encourage people to check it out because he
included one of my "Analysis" articles as a chapter of
the book. Remember that Jeff's site takes baseball
articles and happenings and puts them into terms that
help explain a business theory or situation. This is not
only fun to read, but I can also see it being used by
business classes, or at least Sports Management courses.
For example, on his blog, he recently wrote a three part
article called Management Lessons from Terry Ryan:
(check here for
Part I - Weapon of Mass Construction,
Part II - Second Base Strengths and
Part III - Humility, Stability & Personality)
And, finally, if you're looking for a good way to organize your Christmas shopping lists, check out this great site. It was created by a friend of mine, and I would encourage people to check it out.
7th Inning - NFL "Expert" Picks - Standings
Well, we are now done with 15 of 17 weeks of picks. Things are still tight at the top of our leader board, but there are just two more weeks to go and Cory Hepola would need to make up three games on Trevor Born for the title. This week's winners are Trevor, Cory, Aaron Gleeman, Mike Brasel and Stick & Ball Guy.
| Final Standings | Total | Week | 15 | Over | All | ||
| Name | Site |
W |
L | Win% | W | L | Win % |
| Trevor Born | Twins Junkie | 12 | 4 | 75.0% | 165 | 59 | 73.7% |
| Cory Hepola | KTVH-TV Sports | 12 | 4 | 75.0% | 162 | 62 | 72.3% |
| Seth Stohs | SethSpeaks.net | 10 | 6 | 62.5% | 157 | 67 | 70.1% |
| SethSpeaks Panel | 11 | 5 | 68.8% | 153 | 62 | 71.2% | |
| Aaron Gleeman | Aaron's BB Blog | 12 | 4 | 75.0% | 155 | 69 | 69.2% |
| Mike Brasel | Fantasy FB Guru | 12 | 4 | 75.0% | 153 | 71 | 68.3% |
| Stick & Ball Guy | Stick & Ball Guy | 12 | 4 | 75.0% | 154 | 70 | 68.8% |
| Will Young | Will's Twins Blog | 9 | 7 | 56.3% | 147 | 77 | 65.6% |
| Ben Jacobs | Hardball Times | 8 | 8 | 50.0% | 144 | 80 | 64.3% |
| Brent Hanson | BrentNet | 11 | 5 | 68.8% | 146 | 78 | 65.2% |
| Melissa Lien | SethSpeaks.net | 10 | 6 | 62.5% | 146 | 78 | 65.2% |
| Grant Balfour | Twins Relief Pitcher | 11 | 5 | 68.8% | 142 | 82 | 63.4% |
| Kevin Slowey | Twins Pitching Prospect | 11 | 5 | 68.8% | 131 | 93 | 58.5% |
POST-GAME...
That's it for today! We got seven innings today. That's a full high school game, or a mercy-rule amateur game. So, that is not too bad. Hopefully you found something worthy of writing about. If you would like to, send me an e-mail and we'll talk about anything you'd like! Have a great day!