Trump - he can't stop

More crazy.

"In the meantime we can't get a f---ing school in Brooklyn," he said.

He also cursed the spike in gas prices: "We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, you're not going to raise that f---ing price."

Trump even dropped what's considered the most offensive f-bomb when he promised to use swear words while negotiating with China.

"Listen you mother f---ers, we're going to tax you 25 percent," he said. . .

But he later said: "There is a really good chance that I won't win because of one of these blood-sucking politicians."

Or, perhaps you won't win because the American people will rightly judge you to be delusional and scary.

Christian Ponder - QB of the future

There is a lot of local negativity about the Vikings first round pick in the draft yesterday.

Others disagree.

I love this pick. I think he will be the best in this class. Smart. Tough. Sees the field. Great move, Vikings. Grade: A.

Time will tell whether Mr. Ponder is closer to Drew Brees or Cade McNown, another number 12 pick who was a bust.

Twins games so far this year

So far this year, luck has not been with us.

1. April 10 - Athletics 5, Twins 3
2. April 22 - Indians (rainout that is announced only as we approach the ballpark)
3. April 27 - Rays 8, Twins 2. More.

MINNEAPOLIS --

At snowy Target Field, Ben Zobrist tripled and drove in three runs Wednesday night as the Tampa Bay Rays pounded Francisco Liriano in an 8-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Temperatures dipped below 40 degrees during the game and flurries turned the ballpark into a late-April snow globe.*

* "So, other than that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”

Just watch

Prior posts on this hero are here and here.

The man is impressive

Trump

This morning on the elevator ride we stopped at our reception floor, and I saw "Breaking News: Trump Speaks" on the monitor. Obviously, I could not wait to hear our future Dear Leader's words.

"Today I am very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump said . . .

At what point does a person become so self-absorbed and self-important that it is just not possible to go any further? All prior known boundaries of ego-mania shattered?

Fierce doggy

This has shades of watching our cat wiping the floor with our little dog's butt.

Free Libya

Link.

BENGHAZI, Libya — . . .

As the fighting on the front line in eastern Libya settles into a stalemate 100 miles south of here, this city where the revolution against the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi began in earnest on Feb. 17 has started to grapple with a daunting problem: building democracy in a society where there never was such a thing. Far out of the range of Colonel Qaddafi’s artillery and no longer worried about his air force, “Free Libya” is free to reinvent itself.

Brazil

This story about the evolution of Brazil and its relationship with the U.S. is very interesting. The conclusion:

[I]f you want reasons to be optimistic about where the human race, the western hemisphere and American foreign policy are going — watch Brazil.

GOP - Send in the Clowns

This is an opinion that is likely to be repeated ad nauseum on this blog over the next 15 months: The GOP is dominated by goofballs. As I have said before, it is maddening that a major political party's leading candidates look like the cast from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Mitch Daniels: Please come to the rescue. The country deserves a serious debate and a real choice before we walk into the voting both in November 2012.

What part of "volunteer" did you not understand?

Not from The Onion.

Huffington Post bloggers who think they ought to get paid for their volunteer writing. . .

I'm speechless. You "volunteered", and now claim that you were exploited because you were not paid? Are the NY Times and every other newspaper exploiting people who send letters to the editor because that content helps sell newspapers?

Masters 2011

The most wide open "back nine on Sunday at the Masters" in a long time, maybe ever. With an hour left, 9 guys from around the world (only Tiger from the U.S.) were within 1 shot of the lead.



More highlights here.

Another link.

Who conceives these scripts? . . .

By the time Tiger Woods whipsawed that 8-iron onto the sixth green – the only man to play the hole correctly all day – for birdie, you could tell this was going to be a wild afternoon.

After third-round leader Rory McIlroy and playing competitor Angel Cabrera birdied the seventh hole, Peter Kostis asked, “Does it get any better than this?” . . .

For sheer tragedy, McIlroy’s collapse was evocative of Greg Norman’s 15 years ago. And as things became officially unglued during the ugly triple bogey on the 10th hole, Nick Faldo, the beneficiary in 1996 of Norman’s self-immolation, pointed out in thoughtful terms that only he can know, how “pressure finds your weakest point” – by which he meant McIlroy’s draw. . .

Throughout it all, we were able to track the fireworks – a tribute to the telecast and the quality of the golf. I thought The Masters of 1975 and 1986 were thrilling. And they were. But I don’t recall ever seeing so many players from so many countries having so many good chances to win on the back nine. “Every continent but the Arctic and Antarctica are represented on the first page of the leader board,” Feherty said as the drama unfolded.

OK, the Arctic isn’t a continent, just an ice sheet. But we were watching golf, not Geography 101. It was the kind of telecast where, midway through, you knew that you also were watching history.

Twins' Home Opener

I was stuck on a train trying to get through flood waters near Fargo when the Twins played the home opener, so I have to go exclusively by the highlights that I can find and the StarTribune's extensive coverage of the game. But it sounds like it was one for the ages. A movie director might complain that there is just too much going on.

• Bert Blyleven Hall of Fame induction countdown started.
• Gardenhire received 2010 Manager of the Year award in pre-game ceremony.
  
• Morneau's return.
• Morneau proceeded to get his 1,000th career hit, and the ball is ceremoniously removed.
• Pavano struggled a bit early but steadied the ship.
  
• The Twins couldn't hit anything for 7.5 innings, facing a pitcher having a very good day.
• Bottom of the 8th, Twins down 1-0. They start a piranha attack of seeing eye singles, score a run to make it 1-1, and Joe Mauer comes to the plate. The place is raucous. The man who has amazing hand/eye coordination, picks his spot on the third base line and nails it, 2-1. Good stuff. (Video link.)
  
• The best was yet to come. Joe Nathan's return after missing the 2010 season with Tommy John surgery. He comes out of the bullpen to preserve the win, his job and one that he is very good at. Target Field turned up the volume.

"Stand Up and Shout" already was pumping when the bullpen door swung open to start the ninth inning, but the Target Field crowd didn't need Steel Dragon's cue to erupt.

"The place kind of started shaking," said the object of that clamor. "It's the loudest I've ever heard a crowd in this city."

That's saying something, considering the decibels that once reverberated around the Metrodome. But of course the Opening Day crowd went jet-engine raucous -- it's as if Twins fans collectively remembered all at once: "Hey, Joe Nathan is on this team!"

It had been 18 months, an elbow surgery and one ballpark ago since Nathan last threw a pitch in Minnesota, an out-of-sight-out-of-mind eternity so lengthy, Nathan's name doesn't even appear in the scorecard the Twins sold on the concourse. But as he stood on the Target Field mound, he looked as though he had never been away.

"It picks you up to see him run out of that bullpen," right fielder Michael Cuddyer said. "We've been missing that."

Everyone had. Starting pitcher Carl Pavano turned to manager Ron Gardenhire during the clamor and said, "If that don't make you get the jitters, nothing will."

Nathan got them, too -- and that's a problem for a closer. The score was 2-1, after all, and it's his job to make sure it stayed that way.

We have tickets for tomorrow, 1st date of our limited game season ticket plan.