Avast! Today Be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It also be me day off, so contact with other people be pretty minimal (Arr!).

The 'poster girl' for this year's talk like a pirate day is actually from artist Earl Moran. This 1956 work is appropriately enough titled Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum. Moran, like Normal Rockwell, Fredrick Remington and Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran signed a contract with St. Paul MN-based advertising firm Brown & Bigelow in the 1930s and was featured in a 1940 Life magazine article entitles 'Speaking of Pictures'.

As famous an artist as Moran was, one of his models was even more renown. In 1946, Moran was approached by an aspiring star and divorcee named Norma Jean Dougherty (nee Mortenson), who in a few short years would go on to be known as Marylin Monroe.


Monroe would later credit Moran's artwork with enhancing her appearence, as she thought her legs looked too skinny in real life.

But where was I? Oh yeah...back to the Piracy. It isn't neccecarily a good era in which to be a pirate right now- the Pittsburgh Pirates just came off a humiliating 15-1 loss to the LA Dodgers the other night, fading fast after a scorching hot start earlier this season. The East Carolina Pirates of Conference USA are off to an 0-2 start on the NCAA Football season, losing 17-10 to Virginia Tech last weekend.

And let's not even start on the Somali pirates, either.



Of course, with that in mind, some pirates have managed to land on their feet.

Today's Train of Thought- Bandits of Wall Street; August 5, 2011

Following a lengthy downward spiral, the Chicago, Milwaukee St Paul & Pacific- the nation's last transcontinental railroad- ceased to exist in 1986 as the beleaguered railroad's assets were purchased and absorbed into the Soo Line's. By that point the CMStP&P- better known as the Milwaukee Road- was a rump of its former self, having abandoned the entire railroad west of Miles City, MT in 1980.

Remnants of the Milwaukee Road west of Miles City still exist in some places such as the Chehalis-Cenralia railroad in southwestern Washington state, the rather self-explanatory Tacoma Rail in Tacoma, WA, the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad north of Spokanne, the St. Marie's River in Idaho's panhandle and the Central Montana Railroad (home of the Charlie Russell Chew Choo).

Between 1980 and 1985, the Milwaukee Road struggled to make ends meet as a much smaller regional railroad, continuing to abandon or sell off underutilized trackage in the Midwest before purchase from the Soo Line. Besides the right-of-way, Soo inherited a number of the Milwaukee Road's locomotives painted in the road's distinctive orange and black. While some of these were sold off or returned to lessor, a number of them stayed in service with the Soo Line. However, the Soo shop forces weren't able to re-paint the entire former Milwaukee Road fleet and a number of the locomotives retained their distinctive orange and black paint scheme with 'SOO LINE' lettering hastily applied- locomotives with the impromptu markings were referred to as 'bandits'.

The Milwaukee's former Twin Cities to Kansas City line (by way of the Quad Cities) remained something of a backwater on the Soo system, even after Canadian Pacific gained full control of the Soo. The line- along with the Sabula, IA to Chicago line- was sold off to the Washington group in 1997 (owners of the Montana Rail Link) and operated as the I&M Rail Link until Cedar American Holdings purchased the line from the I&M in 2002. Cedar American holdings was the parent company of regional railroad Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern- the former I&M/Milwaukee Road segment was operated as the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern up until Canadian Pacific purchased both the DM&E and IC&E from Cedar American in September 2008.

This rather convoluted chain of events coming full circle is summed up rather nicely in this image snapped by railpictures.net contributor JoshD. Here, former Milwaukee Road GP40 #2066 in all its faded orange and black glory is seen with a Soo line GP38-2 trailing as it makes its way down an branchline in the middle of Wall Street in Winona, MN with local freight G77. Besides the middle-of-the-street-running trackage, G77 is something of a throwback as it also regularly features spartan cab four-axle diesels and a caboose to facilitate backing down the street- a Brach's candy factory and brewery are among the customers on this particular branch. Once finished, the train will tie down at the yard leading to the former Milwaukee Twin Cities/Kansas City line.

The date? Try July 2011- there's a reason that paint looks so faded. Hard to imagine, but some 25 years after the Milwaukee Road ceased to exist, Soo Line #2066 is still representing the fallen flag in its orange and black.

Sports Chowdah w/Sugar On Top- Sooners Pound Puppies; Cry TimberWolf!; Soggy Classic; B's Skid Stopped by Leafs; Pats Go (1st Round) Bye Bye

NCAA HOOPS: I blame myself- almost as soon as I pointed out UConn's record breaking performance in women's hoops, they lose on the road to the #8 ranked Stanford Cardinals by a 71-59 final last week. I blame myself for jinxing them and take full responsibility- my apologies.

Still, it will be interesting to see if any men's or women's team can come close to threatening the UConn Women's record and Stanford might end up usurping Tennessee as the lady Huskies main rival.


NCAA FOOTBALL: Let's face it- it simply hasn't been that good a week for UConn on the hardwood or gridiron. The men's hoops (currently ranked #8) lost to Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

But out in the desert on the first night of 2011, the UConn football team demonstrated that mammals were capable of oviparity when the Huskies went out and laid an egg against the Oklahoma Sooners in the second half of the Fiesta Bowl.

Three years after getting blown out by another Big East team (West Virginia) and four years after Boise State's shocking upset over the Sooners in the very same Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma started strong and finished strong against the UConn Huskies, taking a 20-10 lead into halftime.

Oklahoma got out the the early 14-0 lead when UConn CB Dwayne Gratz intercepted Sooners QB Landry Jones and returned it 46 yards for paydirt. Dave Teggart would follow that up with a 37 yard FG towards the end of the first half.

As tenacious as UConn was in the first half, they were pretty much completely absent (aside from a 95 yard kickoff return from Robbie Frey) in the second as the Sooners got two pick-6s from Huskies QB Zach Frasier for the 48-20 Sooners win.

Keep in mind that UConn still hasn't scored an offensive touchdown since the 4th quarter of their Nov 27th game against the Cincinnati Bearcats. So that didn't really bode well for a UConn team that made it to a BCS game on the basis of tie-breakers and Big East rivals screwing the proverbial pooch. While they no doubt had their moments, by and large UConn had this 'not-quite-ready-for-prime-time' feel to their lackluster performance in the Fiesta Bowl.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: As lacking as UConn's performance in the Fiesta Bowl might've been, imagine a whole conference faring worse than the Huskies did as a team on New Year's Day. You don't have to, since there was the Big Ten's woeful results from the various Bowl games on New Year's Day:

Ticket City Bowl:
Northwestern 38- Texas Tech 45

Outback Bowl:
Florida 37- Penn State 24

Capital One Bowl:
#15 Alabama 49- #7 Michigan State 7

Gator Bowl
#21 Mississippi State 52- Michigan 14

Rose Bowl
#4 Wisconsin 19- #3 Texas Christian 21

Actually, the Outback Bowl was a little closer than the score would indicate if not for a late Penn State drive that ended in an interception being run back for a TD with just over a minute remaining in the 4th. As you might suspect, the Rose Bowl actually made for some fine viewing even for those who didn't have a stake in the outcome. Still, that's 0-4 in one day for the Big 10.


ORANGE BOWL: The Orange Bowl on Monday night featured a matchup between #5 Stanford and #12 Virginia Tech amid speculation this could be head coach Jim Harbaugh's last game as a number of NFL teams expressed an interest in his services.

In the first half, things didn't quite seem to be going the Cardinals way, with a missed PAT by kicker Nate Whittaker (one of two missed on the night), a fluky play that would've resulted in a safety no matter what and Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor making an 11 yard TD pass when it looked for all the world like he was being chased backwards and out of bounds. Still, the Cardinals would head into the locker room at the half with a 13-12 lead after Virginia Tech got a FG with 7 seconds remaining in the half.

But that would be the last time the Hokies would find the end zone or uprights. Stanford would score 27 unanswered points to take down Virginia Tech by a final of 40-12.

SUGAR BOWL: Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a Big 10 sighting! The 2011 Sugar Bowl pitted #6 Ohio State against #8 Arkansas on Tuesday night, and the Buckeyes fared much better than the rest of the Big 10 on New Year's Day. Granted that's not saying much....

Although the Buckeyes got out to a pretty commanding 28-10 lead at halftime, the Razorbacks held them to just 3 points in the 2nd half as Arkansas clawed back to make it a 26-31 game in the 4th. After attempting to bleed the clock late in the 4th, the Buckeyes decided to punt on 4th and 3 from their own 38 yard line. However, the punt was blocked, giving the Razorbacks the ball with good field position and very little time.

The first pass attempt from Arkansas' Ryan Mallet was incomplete- the second was picked off and the Buckeyes absolutely dodged a bullet there. Ohio State hangs on to win by the final of 31-26.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Here are some finals from what some would refer to as the 'lesser' Bowl games [not me, tho'- NANESB!] prior to New Year's Day:

December 30:
Music City Bowl:
North Carolina 30- Tennessee 27 (2 OT)

Holiday Bowl
#17 Nebraska 7- Washington 19

December 31:
Meineke Bowl
South Florida 31- Clemson 26

Sun Bowl
Notre Dame 33- Miami (FL) 17

Liberty Bowl
Central Florida 10- Georgia 6

Chick-Fil-A Bowl
#19 South Carolina 17- #23 Florida State 26

NFL: Not that much to report as far as the Pats are concerned. Some of the starters got some rest on Sunday's 38-7 rout of the Miami Dolphins in South Florida, sweeping the season series. This is the 8th straight win for New England and also the 8th straight game where they scored more than 30 points, finishing with a 14-2 regular season record.

Now all that's left is to wait and see who New England gets after Wild Card weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Speaking of- here's the Wild Card weekend schedule:

Saturday- 1/8
New Orleans Saints @ Seattle Seahawks- 4:30 PM ET
NY Jets @ Indianapolis Colts- 8:00 PM ET

Sunday- 1/9
Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs- 1:00 PM ET
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles- 4:30 PM ET

NBA: Well....while I was watching all this football, it seemed to escape my attention that Rajon Rondo is back. He had a fairly low-key return in Sunday night's 93-79 win over the Toronto Raptors with 8 assists, a rebound and 4 points (8? Maybe not that low-key, then).

Getty images

On Monday night's game at the Garden, they got some unexpectedly stiff competiton from the Minnesota Timberwolves as Kevin Love had 24 points for the visiting T'Wolves. After trailing at halftime 47-43, Paul Pierce scored 15 of his 23 points in the 3rd quarter to help close what was once a double-digit gap before the C's went ahead and held on to win by the final on 96-93.

Interestingly, the Celtics have never lost to the Timberwolves since the acquisition of Kevin Garnett in 2007 (KG is still on the disabled list however, and did not play against his former team).

The C's have a tough one coming up Wednesday night at the garden as they'll play host to the San Antionio Spurs as they come to Beantown with the NBA's best record.



NHL: After back-to-back shootout losses against Atlanta and Buffalo (where they at least got a point for their trouble) the Bruins went north of the border to take on the Maple Leafs.

Tim Thomas had the night off and the elusive Tukka Rask got the start between the pipes for the B's instead. Although Toronto got on the board first with a Mikhail Grabovski goal, Rask turned aside 36 shots on goal- many of them coming from former Bruins teammate Phil Kessel.

Nathaniel Horton and Marc Savard would score in the second to put the Bruins up for good by a final of 2-1, snapping their 2-game slide.

The B's will next take on the Minnesota Wild at the Garden on Thursday night, 7 PM ET.

Justin K. Aller/ Getty

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: The 2011 Winter Classic belatedly got underway Saturday night between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals amid intermittent rain showers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA.

The original start time of 1 PM Eastern was pushed back to 8 PM ET [might this be a sign of things to come for future Winter Classics? -NANESB!] in the hopes that the rain would clear by then. But it was a very wet Winter Classic indeed as the Penguins got out to a 1-0 lead on a Evgeni Malkin goal in the 2nd. However, the Caps would come right back with a power play goal from Mike Knuble and follow that one up with a tally from Caps RW Eric Fehr to take the 2-1 lead in the second. Fehr would provide Washington with some insurance in the 3rd with another tally to make it 3-1 Washington- the final score.

Washington's Semyon Varlamov turned aside 32 of the 33 shots he faced while Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 32 shots faced.

IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Jeez- I had no idea that these were underway until Monday night when the Maple Leafs announcers were updating the score of the USA/Canada game.....which alas, the USA lost 4-1. This means that the host USA will play Sweden in the Bronze medal game on Wednesday afternoon while Canada will take on Russia in the Gold medal game at Buffalo's HSBC Arena on Wednesday night.

MLB: Free agent and former Red Sox and Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers have reached a preliminary agreement on a six-year, $96 million contract pending a physical late on Tuesday.

Today's Train of Though- Either Ore, Dec, 20, 2010

Today's Train of Though takes us to the nothern reaches of Minnesota and iron ore country in the grip of one of their notoriously frigid winters.

For nearly 70 years, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range earned its keep hauling iron ore and later taconite from the mines to the north and west of Duluth, MN to the massive ore hauling ships waiting at the Twin Harbors. There also has been significant limestone traffic on the DM&IR as well.

The Canadian National reached the Twin Harbors from the west by way of its Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific subsidiary. In the 1990s, both Canadian railroads were looking to expedite traffic from Western Canada to Chicago. The CP had an advantage in that it had a wholly owned subsidiary in the Soo Line, which ran from the US/Canadian border at Portal, ND to Chicago by way of the twin cities.

Until 2001, Canadian National had to rely on agreements with American railroads to compete with Chicago-bound traffic from CP. In October of that year, the now privately-held Canadian National purchased super-reigonal Wisconsin Central, giving CN nearly direct access to Chicago from the Duluth-Superior area. The only hinderance at the time was a gap of roughly 10 miles on the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range between the end of the DW&P trackage and beginning of the former Wisconsin Central rails.

For CN, this problem was resolved nearly three years later with the May 2004 Purchase of the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range's parent company, Great Lakes Transportation (itself a spinoff from US Steel). The Canadian National's acquisition of Great Lakes Transportation not only gave them the DM&IR, but also the Elgin Joliet & Eastern in Chicago and western Pennsylvania's Bessemer & Lake Erie.

The CN still serviced the mines, ore docks and steel mills on its respective former Great Lakes Transportation property, but it was becoming increasingly interested in increasing capacity on the DM&IR and EJ&E.

And like other railroads purchased by Canadian National, the locomotives and rolling stock bearing the DM&IR colors would be on their way out, either sold off or repainted into Canadaian National colors (see Wisconsin Central, BC Rail). However, railpictures.net contributor Scott Carney snapped Iron Range SD38 #205 leads two bretheren dutifully charging uphill and around Spirit Mtn Curve (featuring a commanding view of Superior, WI) with a load of empty ore cars heading back to the mines on a snowy March 2007 day.

Most of the SD38s would be gone from Iron Range property by the end of 2009, replaced by power from elsewhere on the CN system.

Sports Chowdah w/A Blizzard Update- Bears Mauled By Pats O; Raise Raze the Roof; C's De-Claw Bobcats; New Outdoor Record Set

NFL: These guys must be on suicide watch after Sunday.

Coming into Sunday's game at Soldier Field, the Pats were favored by 3 points. Seems a little understated in hindsight.

In the driving snow, Tom Brady went 27-40 with 369 yards and two TDs- including connecting with Deion Branch for 59 yards to find the Bears end zone as time expired in the first half.

And that was just an exclamation point on a half in which the Bears were outscored 33-0. Brady connected with TE Ron Gronkowski for a 7 yard TD Pass on their second drive to open up the scoring, capping off a 6+ minute drive that started on their own 15 yard line. In the 2nd quarter, Danny Woodhead put the Pats up 14-0 on a 3 yard TD run and on the Bear's next possession, a lateral from Jay Cutler to WR Johnny Knox was fumbled and Pats LB Gary Guyton returned it for a TD. Shayne Graham added to the scoring with two chip-shot FGs in the 2nd period as well (although he missed the PAT after Branch's TD as time expired in the first half).

The Bears only socred once- a one yard TD run from Chester Taylor in the 3rd- while the Pats 2nd half scoring was limited to a 29 yard Graham FG.

New England wins this one by a final of 36-7, with the Patriots outscoring their last two opponents by a 81-10 margin and scoring more than 30 points for the 6th straight week. The win clinches a playoff berth for New England as well.

Next Sunday's game will be a nocturnal affair as the Pats host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST: Apparently the Patriots broke the Jets. This time, the Miami Dolphins were able to successfully keep the Jets out of the end zone in their 10-6 win over New York on Sunday afternoon (this would mean the Jets lost their last 2 games by a combined total of 55-9).

Even so, that wasn't the most noteworthy event to take place on Sunday in the Meadowlands. Jet's strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi tripped Miami CB Nolan Carroll from the sidelines as the Dolphins rookie as he was running along the sideline to cover a punt. Alosi issued an apology a few hours after the game but will likely face some sort of fine or disciplinary action.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: There was already talk of moving Sunday afternoon's Vikings/Giants game to Monday night in the wake of a massive blizzard that struck the upper Midwest this weekend.

With the collapse of the Metrodome roof, the NFL announced the game is being moved to Detroit for Monday night. The delay might've given the Viking's Brett Favre enough time to add to his NFL-record 297 consecutive regular season starts streak although the QB appeared doubtful.

The Lions will start giving away free general admission tickets on Monday morning at 9AM Central Time while repair work begins on the roof of the Metrodome. The inflatable roof is expected to be open in time for next week's Monday Night Football game between the Bears and Vikings.


NCAA FOOTBALL: The Army and Naval Academy football teams clashed in Philly on Saturday, with the Midshipmen coming out on top 31-17. This the 9th season in a row that Navy has topped Army. Navy leads the series all time at 55-49-7.

With that said, both teams will be playing one more game this year. The Midshipmen will be taking on the San Diego State Aztecs in the SD County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23rd while Army goes up against the Southern Methodist Mustangs in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on December 30th.

FCS: Not only was I wrong about the number of remaining teams in the FCS playoff, but there are now no more New England teams competing with the UNH Wildcat's 16-3 loss to Delaware.

I completely overlooked two separate FCS playoff games this weekend- Eastern Washington's 38-31OT win against North Dakota State and Georgia Southern holding off Wofford by a final of 23-20.

That said, the Colonial Athletic Association is still going to be well represented in the semifinals, as Villanova handled Appalachian State 42-24 to take on Eastern Washington while Delaware's win over New Hampshire earns them a date with Georgia Southern. The winners of each game will play each other for the FCS Championship on Jan 7th at Frisco, TX.

HEISMAN: Perhaps not surprisingly, Auburn's Cam newton won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide on Saturday. It barely took 5 years for USC's Reggie Bush to be stripped of his Heisman.

SEC: Former Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Will Muschamp was named as the new Gators head coach according to a UF statement released Saturday night.

NHL: So close to a shootout, but it just wasn't gonna happen on Saturday night.

Philly jumped out to the 1-0 lead against Boston at the Garden early in the second period of Saturday night's game. Nathan Horton managed to tie the game with his goal about 10 minutes into the third. From then on, neither Tim Thomas or Philly's Brian Boucher let anything by them for the rest of regulation and overtime. Well....most of overtime.

The Flyer's Mike Richards managed to tally an unassisted goal against Thomas with all of 3 seconds remaining in sudden death OT, thus ending the game before the shootout was necessary. Although the way Boucher was turning away the puck on Saturday night, one had to wonder if a shootout would have more work to get to the same net result.

Boucher stopped 35 of 36 shots faced, while in the Bruins net Thomas stops 31 of 33 shots faced. The Bruins have to settle for the one point and Horton gets the only Boston goal of the night.

The Bruins next game won't be until Wednesday at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. The Sabres are coming off of a 5-2 loss to the Penguins on Saturday night.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Bruins sent Marco Sturm to the LA Kings before Saturday's game against Philly. Technically the Bruins would be getting 'future considerations' from LA, but GM Peter Chiarelli admitted in a statement that the future considerations 'meant nothing'. The Bruins GM admitted the trade was done to make more room under the current salary cap. Currently the Kings have close to a $6 million salary cap and could absorb the cost of Sturm's contract for the rest of the season.

NBA In what could be considered the least shocking outcome of the NBA this weekend, the Celtics continued their win streak at 10 with a 93-62 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday.

Nothing like the Thursday Night cliffhanger against the 76ers, but it's not like these games are being decided by style points.

The C's will next take on the NY Knicks in a game that's scheduled to be televised on ESPN at 7PM ET on Wednesday night.

MLB: Perhaps lost in the news surrounding the signings of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez is the fact that the Red Sox have signed catcher and team captian Jason Varitek to a one year extension worth an estimated $2 million plus another $300,000 in incentives should he start 80 or more games as catcher.

NCAA HOCKEY A new NCAA Hockey attendance record was set this weekend when 113,411 fans came to Michigan's Big House to see the outdoor contest between the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans.

The Wolverines won by a final of 5-0.

[H/T Eat it or Wear It on Metrodome footage]

This Day in History- The SS Edmund Fitzgerald is Lost With All Hands

	Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the sinking of the ore carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior during a November gale. All 29 officers and crew members were lost that day.

Up until a few years prior to her demise, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship to ply the Great Lakes and earned the nickname 'The Mighty Fitz'. Built in 1957 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works of River Rogue, MI, the Mighty Fitz was 729 feet long and tipped the scales at a hefty 26,600 deadweight tonnes.

The ship's final load turned out to be taconite from the Duluth-Superior area en route to a Detroit-area steel mill, when the November gale hit. Following not far behind was the freighter SS Arthur M. Anderson. Captain McSorely of the Mighty Fitz was in radio contact with Captain Cooper of the SS Arthur M Anderson until approximately 7:10 local time. Although there was no distress signal, Captain Cooper reported to the Coast Guard that the Fitzgerald had disappeared from his ship's radar and he had lost radio contact with them.

In the midst of a punishing gale, the Arthur M Anderson, the Coast Guard and two additional freighters began a search of the missing vessel, but their efforts only yielded debris and lifeboats. Five days later, the wreck site was located by a US Navy aircraft with a magnetic anomaly detector flying over Lake Superior.

The cause of the wreck was through to have been the cargo hatches topside giving way and the ship taking on water with each successive wave.

Some three decades later and a well known Gordon Lightfoot tune later, family members and friends of the 29 sailors on board the Edmund Fitzgerald find themselves in the unusual position of having to remind people that the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald wasn't a work of fiction as some have thought.

From the Sandbox to the State House- 4 Years in the Life of SSG John Kriesel

There are a bunch of election results for me to try and get caught up on, but after glancing at this New York Times article about gains the Republican party made in state legislatures across the country, I was reminded of something Philly blogger Wyatt Earp fist brought this to my attention nearly 10 months ago.

With that in mind, I thought I'd check the election results in Minnesota to see how John Kriesel had done. As it turns out, he's now the Representative-elect for Minnesota State House Seat 57A.

St. Paul, Minn. -- It was just 10 hours after John Kriesel had learned he won Minnesota House Seat 57A; he stood in front of a barrage of cameras and reporters in room 125 of the State Capitol.

"Well, compromise is what keeps me from having to sleep on the couch every night," the newly elected Republican from Cottage Grove said when asked about the state's budget. And that was the beginning of his political career.

"Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, he makes us a better body," House Minority leader Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove remarked.

"I'm banged up, I'm sore, and I'm tired. It's been a long campaign," he said a few hours later, finally sitting in his living room. "Just where my life is now compared to where it was 4 years ago, you know, I can't hardly believe it," Kriesel said.

4 years ago, Staff Sgt. Kriesel was on routine patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. "We drove over a 200-pound improvised explosive device and it killed my two best friends and I lost both of my legs in the blast," he recalled.

John Kriesel woke up in a hospital bed in Washington D.C. 8 days later. It was then he realized his two friends did not survive the blast. He vowed to live his life in their honor; he was determined to walk again and return to Minnesota. He never forgot the conversations he had with his friends while serving in Fallujah; they often talked about politics.

"I think they would be proud, we talked a lot over there about stuff like this," he said.

Kriesel campaigned hard in Cottage Grove, South St. Paul, and the surrounding communities. He just about wore out the Segway he used to get door to door. The day after the election, he was waiting on a doctor to fit him for a new socket for his leg; he wore that out too, while on the campaign trail.

Bruised, battered, and still running on adrenaline, John Kriesel left his Cottage Grove home at 7 p.m. Wednesday night, for a book signing in St. Paul. He was working on 3 hours sleep and ready to sign 2nd addition copies of his book, that hit stores in July.

A former soldier and soon to be lawmaker; still making strides to honor the men he served with. "I won't take this lightly, it means a great deal to me," Kriesel said about his new position at the State Capitol.

[Hat tip- Support Your Local Gunfighter; KARE]

Hearty San Francisco Sports Chowdah Update- Giant Gains By the Bay; Leafs Shut Out; Celtics Turn Down Heat; Ponder-ous Florida State Loss in Raliegh

I was flipping around between the World Series, the Bruins and the NC State/Florida State games last night, so instead of being able to tune in to all three games, it was more like trying to get caught up on all three games.

WORLD SERIES: And just like that, the San Francisco Giants are out to a 2-0 lead in the 2010 World Series. I'm not really surprised by that as much as I am the margin of San Francisco's victories.

They jumped all over Cliff Lee in Wednesday night's 11-7 win- the Ranger's starter didn't even make it through the 5th inning, getting yanked with two away after giving up an RBI double to Freddy Sanchez and RBI singles to Aubrey Huff and Cody Ross. It got even worse for the Ranger (who did lead 2-0 early in the game) when Darren O'Day came on and gave up a homerun to deep left off the bat of Juan Uribe to make it 8-2 by the time the 5th inning was finished. Despite that, the Rangers were able to cut into the lead on a Bengie Molina RBI double and a David Murphy single to make it an 8-4 game. However, the Texas bullpen would continue to self immolate, giving up three more runs in the bottom of the 8th, and while the Rangers were able to score 3 more runs in the bottom of the 9th, it was too little too late.

For Game 2, Branch Rickey's quote about baseball being a game of inches never seemed more accurate when Ian Kinsler led off the top of the 5th inning with a booming double off of Giants starter Matt Cain that bounced off the top of the wall and teetered back into play. Had it rolled the other way, it would've been a 1-0 Texas game. Instead, Kinsler was stranded at second and Edgar Renteria belted a solo homer that put San Francisco up 1-0. Texas' CJ Wilson went 6 decent innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. But all of that would be forgotten when the Rangers bullpen once again took over and self-immolated, giving up 7 earned runs on fice hits and four walks to give San Francisco a 9-0 lead. The Giant's Matt Cain threw 7 and 2/3rds shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out two for the Giants' 9-0 win on Thursday night.

For Game 3, the series heads to Arlington, TX with Colby Lewis getting the start against Jonathan Sanchez on Saturday night. Lewis has gone from closing out the Yankees to being the last, best hope for the Rangers in this World Series. First pitch is at 6:57 PM Eastern Time.
NHL: Phil Kessel earned the gratitude of the crowd at TD Banknorth Garden Thursday night when the Bruins played host to the Maple Leafs after 1st round draft pick Tyler Seguin tallied an insurance goal. Almost as soon as the red light went off behind Toronto's Jonas Gustavsson, the Bruins faithful broke out into a spontaneous, taunting chant of "Thank you, Kessel!".


Kessel's demands for a new, pricey contract or else be traded from Boston culminated in the September 2009 deal where he wound up in Toronto in exchange for Toronto's first overall draft pick in the 2010 NHL Draft as well as another one in the 2011 draft. Let us not forget that the Maple Leafs are responsible for giving us Tukka Rask as well....

But back to last night's game....Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring with his first goal of the season coming on a Bruins power play with less than a minute left in the first period. Seguin's goal- even strength- came in the second period with assists from Michael Ryder and Dennis Seidenberg and Tim Thomas faced on 20 shots from the Leafs in Boston's 2-0 shutout win. The Bruins head into Saturday night's game at Ottawa with a 5-2-0 record.

The Bruins had the option of sending Seguin down to Providence after nine games, but after the game, Claude Julien announced that they plan on keeping him in Boston for the rest of the year.

NBA: Can you believe the NBA season's here already? After beating Lebron James' new team pretty convincingly, the Celtics stumbled against a LeBron-less Cavs. In the 4th quarter, with the game tied 86-86, Cavs Guard Anthony Parker hit a 3 pointer that was subject to review over whether or not the shot clock had expired and if his toes were on the line. Doc Rivers, not surprisingly, objected- saying it was one of the longest seconds in NBA history.

So after beating the Miami Heat at home Tuesday night by a final of 88-80 (this coming despite a 31 point night by LeBron), the C's fall to Cleveland by a final of 87-95, giving them a .500 record. The C's will next host the Knicks on Friday night.

NCAA FOOTBALL: The North Carolina State Wolfpack managed to come back from a 21-7 halftime deficit against #16 Florida State on Thursday night. Facing a 4th and goal from the 1-foot line with 2:44 left, the Wolfpack decided to go for the go-ahead touchdown instead of the game tying field goal, and it paid dividends, putting NC State up 24-28. But Florida state would march right back down the field from their own 29 yard line on the next possession, and when it looked as though the Seminoles would score the go-ahead TD with less than a minute left. However, 'Noles QB Chris Ponder fumbled the ball inside the NC State 10 yard line, effectively putting away the game for the Wolfpack by the 28-24 final.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NCAA: A 20-year old Notre Dame Student died Wednesday when a tower used to film the football team's practices collapsed. Declan Sullivan was filming the practice from a hydraulic scissors lift for ND's athletic department. Most of the Midwest had been experiencing harsh weather for the past few days and the National Weather Service reported that there was wind gusts of up to 51 MPH in the area at the time of the incident.

NFL: The Minnesota Vikings have listed QB Brett Favre as questionable for starting Sunday's game against the New England Patriots. Two fractures were discovered in Favre's ankle after the Viking's Sunday night game against Green Bay. The latest injury puts Favre's NFL-record of 291 consecutive starts in jeopardy. Head coach Brad Childress announced that it will likely be a gametime decision on his part.