Mudcat Grant

Captured a photo of "Mudcat" Grant at the Twins Fest last weekend. He was a former pitcher for the Minnesota Twins from 1964 to 1967, he also played for six other teams during his career. Unfortunately, after this photo, my camera batteries died and that was the end of my photos for the day....

TwinsFest 2010

Made a trip to TwinsFest 2010 last weekend. It's an event put on by the Minnesota Twins baseball club. TwinsFest is one of the largest team-run fan festivals in professional sports, is an annual fundraiser for the Minnesota Twins Community Fund. Since its inception in 1989, TwinsFest has raised more than $3.9 million for programs and organizations supported by the Twins Community Fund. I attended TwinsFest back in it's first year of 1989 and also 1990, but had not returned until this year to bring my son, he enjoyed the trip to the dome. We rode the light-rail from the Mall Of America to the Metrodome to make the trip just a bit different than driving a vehicle.

For Those Of You Who Can't Decide

I have to hand it to Ross Bernstein, his book caught my eye the other day. Being from Minnesota, there are people torn with this decision, despite the Vikings record this year and sitting in the playoffs. I can only image those from Packer land who could have an even great rage for the future Hall Of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. If you look closely at the book, it's a flip book. One side is is for the Love of Favre, the other side is for the hatred of Favre. I'm unsure of how the sale of this book is going, but I do own one Ross Bernstein book called 'The Code'. It's about the unwritten rules of hockey.

Go Go Gophers

Another View From The Gates

It wouldn't be right to post one side of the stadium and ignore the other. This is the south side of the new TCF Bank Stadium. There is a bit more character on this side with a few more levels, the press box is there somewhere and who knows how many of those are suites.

TCF Stadium - View From The Gates

Made a return visit to the new Gopher football stadium. There wasn't a practice this evening, but there were enough lights on inside to snap a couple of shots. If my orientation is correct, this is the north side of the stadium.

Golden Gopher Basketball

Tubby Smith is in his third season as coach of the Minnesota Gopher Basketball team. Tonight's opponent was Steven F Austin. The game was close until around three minutes left in the first half, the Gophers pulled away at that point and never looked back. The crowd started leaving with about five minutes to play, so the place looks really empty. But with a nearly 40 point lead, the game was well in hand.

Oh The Drama

In 24 hours, I've watched the Minnesota Vikings destroy the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. The Minnesota Twins play a one game playoff game to decide the American League Champion for 2009. They came back twice to win. Then the Minnesota Wild win their season home opener, another comeback being down 3-0 and winning in overtime. I'm so not used to Minnesota being in the spotlight and coming out on the victorious side of things.

Sponsored Bikers

Spotted this team bikers group last week while waiting for the stoplight to turn green. The bikers also had to wait their turn to cross Highway 13 in Burnsville.

Big Boat, Little Boat

I saw the rowing team gliding along the Mississippi waters. From this distance, I believe this is a woman's rowing team. Though I'm unsure of any other information about them.

Pee Wee Football

Nighttime Pee Wee football in Cottage Grove is in full swing. My son is playing for the Purple Panthers this year. They are the team on the right side. He was playing in the leftside wide receiver for this game. With the action on the field and the setting sun, I had to set my ISO to a very high level. This of course caused the grainy photo, thus I lost any ability to zoom in with my point and shoot camera. If your monitor is adjusted correctly, it wont be too dark of a photo for you. The red sky made for very decent opportunity for capturing photos this evening.

Fantasy Football Draft

Live from my garage, is the Fantasy Football auction draft headquarters for the league that I run. The evening temperatures were very cooperative and cool this year compared to last years high temps and high humidity. The new edition for this years football draft was the television set to watch the Vikings football game. As you can see, only one is actually watching the game, the rest were intensely debating their next player selection. Good luck to all who play fantasy football this year....well, except for the guys in my league.

Cottage Grove Football

Football season is just starting up. Today's photo is from the Cottage Grove Football Pee Wee division. It is for the boys heading into 5th and 6th grade. This scrimmage between the purple and blue teams was held this week. It's the final scrimmage before the first real game takes place on Saturday morning. In case you are wondering, my son is on the Purple Panthers team.

2009 Final Four Office Pool Contest

It's my shameless annual plug for my other website I run this time of the year. It is a free, online office pool that correlates with the NCAA Men's Final Four Tournament. Hope to see you in my final four pool this year. I also have blank brackets and printable brackets if you're in need of one.

My Website: OfficePool64.com

Viewable And Printable 2009 Brackets



If you need tips to win your Final Four office pool, those can be found here as well.

Behind The Glass

Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild

Climb I Say

One of the big chain, local sports stores has a unique idea for a birthday party. The stores gives exclusive access to their climbing wall for two hours of climbing for 10 guests. They have four main climbs from beginner to expert. The easiest climbs on this wall are on the right, with the left side for the more agile climbers. Really the difference is the amount of grips to choose from and the protrusion near the top of the expert climb. It was very enjoyable for all of the boys at the birthday party.

 

Driving Range Snakes

One always has to watch themselves on the driving range in Minnesota for snakes during the winter months. One never knows when a reptile will show it's face, it's a nightmare I tell you....

An Earned Rest

Standing between Gilies and Belanger is Head Coach Jacques Lemaire. He has been the coach of the Minnesota Wild since day one. My normal seats when I am at a Wild hockey game is directly across from the bench, so the view for this photo is quite different from what I am used to seeing.

Center Ice

Some friends of ours invited us to sit with them in their seats as the couple they normally attend the games with could not make it. Having partial season tickets to the Minnesota Wild and normally sitting across from the Wild players bench around the left blue line, this view was quite a different perspective. Being dead center on the red line, at the height I was at, I felt like I was playing a game of hockey on one of those games with the domed plastic covering, stick hockey players, you know the game I'm talking about right?

Thinking Spring

Ugh, it's almost here....WINTER! The long, cold dreaded winter of Minnesota. I've decided that I'm taking the day today to think ahead to the coming springtime. Warm weather, lots of colorful thinks to look at, baseball, being outdoors in shorts and a t-shirt....ahhhh, spring!

Minnesota Wild Win Home Opener

Starting the season off right, the Minnesota Wild was victorious tonight against the Boston Bruins by a score of 4 to 3. With nine new faces on the Wild's team, there are some familiar faces, number 9 is still Mikko Koivu who was selected 6th overall in the 2001 NHL draft. Returning to the team is number 15, Andrew Brunette. He signed as a free agent with the Colorado Avalanche after the 2004 season completed, but has returned to the Wild after signing a three year deal. New to the Wild is number 11, Owen Nolan, he has played in the NHL since 1990. Last season, James Sheppard was number 15, but with Brunette returning to the Wild, his previous number was 15, so Sheppard gave up his number and is now number 51.

   

Minnesota Vikings Victory

After a quarterback change after week two, the Vikings finally earn their first win of the season. This photo I took during the Republican National Convention of a jolly Vikings fan kept coming to mind. I'm not sure why he was dressed this way, or if he was there to protest. He even blew his conch shell that he carried with him and made the trademark Vikings call.

Saint Louis, Missouri - Busch Stadium

Another shot from inside the Gateway Arch during my recent visit to St Louis, Missouri. One can easily see Busch Stadium from the sky. It's a fairly new stadium that hosted the 2007 World Series which the St Louis Cardinal's were the victors. The round building in the lower left corner was the hotel we stayed at. We were easily with in walking distance of the Arch and we could see Busch Stadium from our window. Unfortunately the Cardinals were playing 'away' games during our stay so we were unable to see the stadium lit up at night.

  

Beyond The Home Run Fence

Yesterday I mentioned there was no seating beyond the home run fence in Midway Stadium. I'm sure your wondering what is beyond the home run fence if there are no seats. Wonder no longer, there ain't much to see over the advertisements but trees, buildings and blue sky. Can you believe it rained shortly after taking this photo?

Midway Stadium

Jim of Terrel Daily Photo mentioned in his comment from my August 14 photo that my seats looked pretty decent. While this is very true, I thought I would show a photo that was panned back a bit to show more of the stadium. Midway Stadium in St Paul, home of the Saint Paul Saints is quite small in size. Not sure how many it holds, but there is no seating beyond the home run fence. The outfield seats are very limited and generally all of the seats sport a great view. If you look across the field and can figure out where the pitchers yellow hat is, that is a comparable area from where I am sitting taking this photo.

Saint Paul Saints

The Saint Paul Saints are currently the only professional baseball team in Minnesota that plays outdoors. This has been the main attraction for this American Association of Independent Professional Baseball teams. Starting in 2010, the Minnesota Twins will open an outdoor baseball stadium. The Saints have been a team in the Twin Cities for 10 plus years and this summer, I finally went to my first outdoor ball game. Despite the sunny weather in the photo, it rained shortly after taking this photo. Haha! Something to look forward to once the Twins start their play in their outdoor stadium.

Gophers Tubby Smith

The regular season for the Minnesota Gophers has come to a close. New head coach Tubby Smith in his first year brought the basketball team from a seven win team to a twenty win team. It was a very welcome improvement as the majority of the players were leftovers from the previous coach. Tubby was able to get them to play very well together, something the previous coach was lacking.

It's my shameless annual plug for my other website I run this time of the year. It is a free, online office pool that correlates with the NCAA Men's Final Four Tournament. Hope to see you in my final four pool this year. I also have blank brackets and printable brackets if you're in need of one.

My Website: OfficePool64.com

 

My Daily Photo Favorites: returning soon....

Interesting Links Of the Day: Final Four | Blank Bracket | Printable Bracket

Hats Off To The Gophers

This isn't a photo from this weekends games during the Big Ten Conference Tournament, it was from this past December when the Gophers faced off against Santa Clara. I took this photo from my seats and they easily won this game. The Gophers has mixed emotions this weekend with a memorable highlight ending shot by Blake Hoffarber versus Indiana Hoosiers. Threw across the length of the court to Hoffarber and sank the winning shot. It was a thing of beauty. Those of you that have never heard of Hoffarber before, you must watch his game tieing shot from the Minnesota State High School Tournament. This is the most amazing shot you'll ever see in your life, trust me on this. It also won the ESPN award for Play Of The Year. Two Miracle shots in ones lifetime! Have you ever seen such a thing before?

The Gophers were not so luck in Saturday's contest, losing to Illinois and should be out of the NCAA Final Four tournament. We shall see, there is a chance, a very slim chance they'll make it in, but honestly I can't see them going very deep into the tournament.

My Daily Photo Favorites: returning soon....

Interesting Links Of the Day: Hoffarber Game tieing Shot | Hoffarber Game winning shot

My Lens Is Bigger Than Yours

During the last Minnesota Gopher Basketball game with new head coach Tubby Smith, the photographer for the athletic department spent about five minutes in the empty seat in front of me. He had two cameras with him for taking photos. One with a shorter lens that he used when the play was on the near side of the court. A much larger camera and lens was used, the one shown in the photo, when the action was in play on the far end of the court. It was really interesting to watch, every time the the ball was on one side of the court or the other, he would seamlessly switch cameras. Though it's not quite visible in this photo, there was a remote trigger attached to the camera, when he snapped a photo, there was a quick flash of lights that was barely detectable to the fans in the crowd. But there it was, the guy who made the lights flash was sitting right in front of me taking photos for various UofM magazines.

Behind The Scenes

I took this photo from my seats at the last Minnesota Wild hockey game. Our opponent for the evening was the Vancouver Canucks. It's my favorite rivalry to watch and every game is a close one. The FSN North sports network has been broadcasting their shows directly behind my seats for the Wild games. It's kind of fun to watch and when the announcers are waiting for the period or the game to end, they like to stand behind my seats to watch the game. I've chatted with them a few times and they all like to kid around and seam eager to talk with you. The announcer you see behind the desk is Anthony LaPanta.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Minneapolis, Minnesota | San Francisco, California | St Paul, Minnesota

Let's Go Green, Let's Recycle

It was the homecoming theme for Park of Cottage Grove this past October. There was a parade to kick off the football game that was played later that evening. I really enjoyed the homecoming parade and how many of the students dressed in accordance to the theme. The theme was Go Green, Recycle The [Visiting Team]. Their name escapes me at the moment. You can see in today's photo some of the dress that resulted in the theme. They had fun dressing up, the boys football team won their game. It was quite the event for the community.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Minneapolis, Minnesota
West Sacramento, California
Phoenix, Arizona

Wee Pees In Action

From one of my sons football games a few weeks ago. I've been having a bit of trouble getting out and taking photos this month. I say month because, there has been rain on 17 of the 18 days in the month of October. We were very lacking in rain during the summer months, now it's complete opposite. We are about to set a record for rainfall in a three month time period. Today is the 19th day of the month....I'm betting on rain today

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Port Vila, Vanauta
Barcelona, Spain
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Night Of Smiles

Just panning back a bit to show all of the teams that participated in the half time show that I mentioned in yesterday's posting. Eight football teams in all, with 18 to 19 third and fourth grader per team, about 140 kids in all. Now times $6 dollars admission fee, by the number of the parents there to see their child during the half time show. The football players all get in free. The stands were very full that night as you can imagine.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Selma, Alabama
Boston, Massachusetts
Melbourne, Australia

Half-Time Entertainment

It was a proud moment for me and wifey a couple Friday's ago. As part of the half-time entertainment, my son and his football team showed their talent and skills on the field for the Park of Cottage Grove high school football game. He was so thrilled to be out there on the real football field. The squad did very well considering the hundreds of people watching them perform. My son is in the Wee Pee division which is for 3rd and 4th graders only.

If you are wondering which one is my son, he is in the red uniform, on the front offensive line. His left foot and left hand are touching the yellow circle painted on the turf. He is the only one visible that is touching the yellow line.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Palm Springs, California
Torino, Italy
Wellington, New Zealand

Under The Lights

I'm finding night photography can be a challenge, especially when there is movement involved. Throw in a lack of a tripod and to me this is a so-so photo. I'm so new at night time photos, so for me, this is on the job training. Try a a setting, see how they turn out, tweak the settings, see how it looks now. It's coming around, photo by photo. The darkness adds in so many elements to discover. Those of you who are familiar with nighttime photography, I'll take any advice I can get.

Any way, today's photo is from the same game as yesterday's football photo between Cottage Grove and Woodbury. This time, the sun has dropped below the horizon, the lights are on, and Zentmrs of San Diego, California, formerly of Woodbury, Class of 1984, Woodbury Royals are victorious. I graduated from St Paul Humboldt, so this doesn't bother me all that much.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Jakarta, Indonesia
Miami, Florida - little older, but a great football photo
Detroit, Michigan

Cottage Grove Wolfpack Football

Last Friday, the Wolfpack of Cottage Grove played host to rival city Woodbury Royals [the city directly to the north]. Despite the Wolfpack leading at halftime 21-10, they couldn't hold off the Royals in the second half and lost, 22-21. My son plays his first football game tomorrow morning, he's in 3rd grade football. The boys on the team are encouraged to attend the varsity team play on Friday nights. So last Friday was the first high school football game I had been to in 20 years. The school pride by both schools was a bit over the top for me, but again, it's been a while since I had gone to a high school game.

My 4 Daily Photo Favorites:
New York, New York
Van Buren, Arkansas
Brighton, UK
Selma, Alabama

Fantasy Football Season 2007

It is that season once again, Thursday, September 6 kicks off the new NFL season and the Fantasy Football craze begins. These photos were captured at the football draft that I host with a few of my friends about a week ago. There are 12 of us in the league and everyone one of holds on to the hope of winning it all at seasons end. I am in this photo, I'm the one with the red shirt, Nick is in the middle and fellow blogger, Short Arm Guy is on the right. The smaller photos below has everyone else in the league except for myself and our auctioneer, he's just out of frame unfortunately.

More than 13 million people play fantasy football via the internet, yeah, 13 million people. That just boggles my mind. I heard the best online video game only has about 8 million people, that game is World Of Warcraft.