Thirty By Thirty - Finis

As I approached my 30th birthday, I followed through on a decision of how I would celebrate the last year of my twenties.

A lot of people approach their thirties in a mournful state. I should know as, in the last few years, my peers have increasingly become people approaching and then passing thirty. They think of it as the dying of their youth and the end of their best years. I took the opposite tack. I am much happier be 30 than 20. When I was 20 I had no money, had no girlfriend and didn't know who the fonk I was or who I wanted to be. Well, those three things are no longer true. I wouldn't peel back my twenties in any kind of redo because what I did and what happened made me into who I am today.

Thus I celebrated my twenties as this great time I did, went and saw everything I could and enjoyed myself while doing, going and seeing. In much the same way we congregate together on New Years Eve to celebrate the passing of time instead of mourning it, my turning thirty will not be the dying of one era but the commencement of another. They will be the years when I find my way in the world, grow with those people who will be my life companions and enjoy all of the perks of being an adult instead of being an over-inflated kid.

As a part of this year long celebration I have done thirty things which I had never done before and then came back here to write about the experience. My brother originally called it my "busted list" as in I had to do these things before I'm old and busted. Some of the tasks were small and easily completed. Others required planning and assistance. It was not my intent to have a list of thirty items and only accomplish twenty-something. There was a list which was greater than thirty items and your suggestions were appreciated to expand upon it further and into the future. As I said, the intent was to share in this celebration both in the actual commission of the thirty things and also in writing about it in this space.

To that extent I have re-written the Thirty by Thirty mission statement:

Between his 29th and 30th birthdays, Michael Herman celebrated his transition into his third decade by completing thirty tasks he has never previously experienced and embracing the idea you can always find new experiences no matter how old you are thanks to the wonder, beauty and timeliness of Life. He hopes to continue the rest of his life in the same spirit.

MRH 1/31/10

Come Out On Sunday

This weekend I will be marching in the Minneapolis Gay Pride Parade. I will be doing so as a member of the Orono High School Gay/Straight Alliance Reunion. The parade kicks off at 11 am and follows Hennepin Ave from 3rd St S to Loring Park. If that's all the convincing you need to come to Downtown Minneapolis on Sunday morning, wave as we walk by and we'll wave back.

http://www.tcpride.org/pride_events/2009_Parade_Location.php

Now for a further explanation. Thirteen years ago, the world was a different place for gay and gay-friendly kids. At the time there was no gay marriage, there was no Lawrence V. Texas and there was a need for an organization which supported kids who were gay or had gay friends. From that need sprung the Orono High School Gay/Straight Alliance.

The purpose of the OHS GSA was to create understanding and acceptance where the students already were. The cliche of the closed small town which saw the world in one way and everyone who didn't see it that way was destined to leave wasn't true about our community. For a high school which had tremendous programs in art, band, newspaper, choir, theater and a diversity of sports, this was a vibrant community which embraced its kids and their accomplishments. The OHS GSA felt that should extend to all of the community's kids including those who were gay.

Now it is 2009 and gay rights have advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade. There are six US states which will perform gay marriages, Lawrence V. Texas struck down anti-sodomy laws and there is still a need for an organization which supports kids who are gay or have gay friends. Sadly there no longer is a Gay/Straight Alliance at Orono High School. The group never received official recognition from the school or school district and folded once those who were involved graduated.

That's why we're asking for your support. We are looking to you, our vibrant community, to simply show up. Those who are against gay rights believe they represent a silent majority. They believe they are "saying what no one else will say" or "standing up for what everyone else wants but won't admit it." This is not true.

If there was a silent majority, then support for gay rights would not be helping people get elected. If they were "saying what no one else will say", then the gay rights movement would be shrinking, not growing. If they were "standing up for what everyone else wants but won't admit", there wouldn't be a Pride Parade.

This Sunday The OHS GSA is having a reunion. There are a few of us who have contributed our talents, our time and a little bit of money. It's been frantic at times but the pieces are coming together. If you are an OHS alum and you'd like to march with us, please contact me, Ariel Dumas or Thom White directly. We have a t-shirt for you.

But in the end we are only asking for the smallest of measures. Please come out and support us on Sunday morning. Go to the early service of church or take your morning run an hour earlier. Then find a patch of pavement on Hennepin Ave where you can see. When we come walking past with our banner and Spartan helmets, wave to us. Wave to us and be counted as a member of a community who supports and is proud of its kids. All of them.

R.I.P. Karen Erdmann

The Story of LeBron James Herman

LeBron James Herman began her life under humble means. The youngest of four littermates LeBron was born to a single mother illegitimately and out of wedlock. Because she was the youngest it often fell to LeBron to help her mother complete such household tasks as folding the laundry, rinsing the dishes and sometimes caring for her three siblings who were just minutes older. But there lived inside her a simple dream. LeBron James Herman was going to be the first female canine President.

Adopted by rank strangers in 2009, LeBron began her campaign for President almost immediately. She was comfortable with the face-to-face person-canine contact required of all great candidates. Able to switch quickly from barking for attention to overwhelming her constituents with playful licks to the face, LeBron was a natural at winning people to her side.

"Awwwwwwww," said local voter Marie Johnson. "Who's a cute puppy? Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

In 2010, LeBron attended law school at the University of Minnesota. She studied constitutional law to get a firm handle on the advanced principles she'd need later in her political career. An excellent student from the first day, LeBron showed an aptitude which was unexpected.

"I have to admit this shit to you." explains U of M law professor John Hamburg. "When LeBron wandered past the door of the classroom, then back in front of the doorway and then kind of hesitantly entered the room and fucking cocked her head expectantly, I thought, 'Whose fucking dog is this?'. Then I realized this dog was in the fucking class like a goddamn straight-to-video Disney movie."

LeBron was on the dean's list her entire academic career and graduated summa cum laude in 2012. Shortly afterward she began working for a local Minneapolis special interest group where she showed herself to be a prodigious talent. She successfully lobbied for increased parks funding, school lunch programs and the introduction of the two-hour midday nap.

In 2013, LeBron began to address her ultimate goal of a political career. Setting her sights on the Minneapolis mayorship, she campaigned night and day (minus two hours) by ringing doorbells and appearing with local celebrities in a full-court press unheard of previously.

"The crazy thing is you think, 'This is just unhuman,'," says campaign manager Inez Munoz. "Then you remember LeBron is a dog and it really is unhuman. She has a secret well of doggie power which gives her an extra gear she can go into and just blow people away."

Elected by a landslide, LeBron's time in Minneapolis was short. With her eyes set to Washington, she accepted the Governor's 2014 invitation to replace resigning Senator Al Franken who was leaving to pursue a career in something else I don't know what. Six months later the people of Minnesota concurred with the governor's decision and elected to another six years in office.

Still LeBron's gaze cast higher with 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as her ultimate goal. She quickly formed an exploratory committee and announced her candidacy in late 2015. Often winning debates by barking until her opponent was quieted (How you like them apples?) and garnering endorsements from both sides of the aisle, LeBron was swept into office on a tidal wave of voter support.

"There was the fucking-shit-ass matter of whether you counted her age in dog years or in fucking people years," says Hamburg. "Then it occurs to you she knew this was an issue and was fucking thinking ahead all the fucking way back in 2010. I mean, fuck."

The LeBron Administration created broad initiatives such as no-leash laws, an end to animal testing and the flat tax. A firm believer in term limits, LeBron stuck by her ideals and served only one term in office before retiring from public life in 2020. She returned to the home of her adoptive strangers where she lived out the rest of her days just chillin' doooood. Shortly after her 14th birthday she went to live on some farm somewhere or something where she could chase tennis balls or something. Dan couldn't explain it very well through the tears so I'm confused, especially since we don't have cousins on Dad's side who own a farm.

"Yes, you are," recalls Johnson. "Just so cute. Sooooooo cute."

The 29 Things About Me At Age 29

1.) I was born at 8:30 in the evening on February 1st, 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The hospital where I was born (Abbott-Northwestern) is still standing. No, Gregory Peck, it did not burn down years ago.

2.) I grew up in Edina, Minnesota where I lived at the end of a cul-de-sac with a large yard. I'm the oldest of three children with one sister two years younger and a brother four years younger.

3.) When I was really little (my aunt estimates 3 or 4 years old) I kept another little boy from drowning. We were up at my family's lake cabin and this boy hadn't been raised near the water like I had and thus couldn't swim very well. I laid down on my belly on the dock as I held his head above water and shouted until the adults heard me.

4.) I've been to the hospital a few times in my life. I can't give you an exact number because a good number of them happened when I had epilepsy as a very small child. There are the three times I remember.

When I was four, I was playing in the basement of our old house with my dad and my sister. My sister and I were taking turns jumping over a comforter my dad was swinging back and forth. Normally if you tripped you'd fall into the comforter. I overshot once and had to get stitches in my chin.

When I was 13, I had an incident during my sleep at summer camp which made it seem like my epilepsy was coming back. It turned out it wasn't. But I did have to have a battery of tests to verify this. The one upside was my dad and I stayed up all night watching "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" and "The Commitments" per doctor's orders.

Then when I was 20, I fell into a door frame and needed stitches in my eyebrow. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. It was a klutzy trip into a door frame, not a shameful display of foolishness. Move along now. Nothing to see here.

5.) Since I was very young I've been fascinated by the news. As a kid I would read Newsweek and US News and World report while being glued to CNN Headline News. On the morning the democratic demonstrations in Tienanmen Square were suppressed I watched the news report on CBS's This Morning with Charles Kuralt. It was the same day the Ayatollah died.

6.) The very first time I was on the Internet was in 1988 or so when the kid up the block got a modem. He had to place a long-distance call to Houston in order to sign into a very basic version of Prodigy. Later his father got the phone bill and hit the roof. The point was we were there.

7.) I was there in-person with my dad, my sister and my brother when this happened.



The fact I love baseball is not entirely unrelated.

8.) After my ninth grade year I transferred away from Edina to Orono where I graduated in 1998. Being at a smaller school allowed me to letter in varsity basketball, concert band and theater while participating in the school newspaper, the literary magazine and ultimate frisbee. I would not have had the opportunity to participate in all these extra curriculars at a school like Edina High School.

9.) I lived in the state of Wisconsin across three academic years while I attended school near Green Bay. This experienced exposed me to what it's like to live in a town smaller than Minneapolis.

10.) While I was in school at St. Norbert, I was a member of a "frat." It wasn't frat really. It was technically a "men's independent social group" and it was made up of a the really smart, really independent kids who "would never join a frat except... Hey, what's this?" To this date, my best and closest friends are people I met through this group.

11.) In the fall semester of my junior year, I won a student-faculty grant from the school to write a manuscript under the supervision of a professor. The college gave me $2000 which I promptly dumped back into tuition. To this date I have yet to finish the manuscript. But at one point in my life I was technically an endowed writer.

12.) I published the on-campus underground satirical newspaper while I was at St. Norbert. We were pretty serious about getting the paper out every two weeks. So serious that one time I drank too much, got up the next morning, puked during class (I was running to the restroom at the time), went home to sleep it off and still got up to meet my own self-imposed deadline of that evening.

13.) After my junior year of college I was blown out. I wasn't feeling challenged by my school work so I was making up impossible challenges to complete this school work. For example, I would type my papers for the critical writing class (the hardest class in the English major) on the day of class. When this wasn't enough, I started writing them in the two hours before class. In April I took incompletes in all of my classes and moved home.

14.) I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2003. Since I'd missed some gen ed classes on my first time through I took an extra two semesters (fall and summer) to finish. Recently I saw my diploma for the first time in five years. I put it back in the box it was in and don't expect to see it for another five years.

15.) I've visited 31 out of the 50 states. My family was very good (and fortunate) at taking a lot of trips when I was growing up. Since then I've added to my 50-state tally by taking long road trips to each coast either with my friends, my high school band, protest trips or just by myself. These are the states I've visited.




16.) I've been out of the country three times total. I went to Canada with my mom for a week and I've been over the border from Brownsville into Matamoros twice. I don't consider this a deficiency. Do you know how much of the United States there is to see?

17.) The one time I ever tried to hitchhike I was successful. In fact, it was someone I knew who picked me up. My friend Pete and I were leaving the Phish concert in the middle of the Everglades for Y2K and he needed to be on a plane the next morning. We were holding a sign near the front gate when my friend Jake drove by in an RV. It's possibly the luckiest moment of my entire life.

18.) When I got out of college, I didn't know what to do with myself. So I did what any person would do in that situation. I went into whatever paid me the most. In this case, it was insurance.

19.) There was one Friday night when I was nary a year post-college I was sitting at home watching a re-run of "Cops." Suddenly it occurred to me. I was sitting at home on a Friday night watching a re-run of "Cops." Even worse, I'd seen that episode previously. It was that night I decided to be more of an extrovert.

20.) I've had seven girlfriends in my lifetime. I loved all seven of them in their own way. I've felt bad about how things ended with all seven of them. The good news is three of the last four will probably read this so I'm getting better at staying friends.

21.) I lived in the state of Illinois for two years while my now-ex-girlfriend pursued an acting career. This experience exposed me to what it's like to live in a city larger than Minneapolis.

22.) When I lived in Chicago, I worked for the insurance arm of a large property holding firm doing complex filings of yada yada yada and blah blah blah. Our offices were on the Magnificent Mile and I would ride the train down from Evanston every morning. This was the best job I've ever had. The work was challenging, I was given a great deal of autonomy and there was an amazing culture of camaraderie amongst the young people of the office.

23.) The best part about living in Chicago for me was the really cool concert festivals I attended in that city's parks. I went to Pitchfork three times, the Touch and Go 25th Anniversary weekend and numerous great bands famous and otherwise playing at the summer street festivals. Still one of my five favorite moments ever was at Lollapalooza last year when this happened by accident.



24.) Three of my friends have died in my lifetime. The first was my childhood friend Brendan who used to come down the block to play when we were little. He died from a sudden onset of meningitis when we were in high school. The next was my college friend Emily who crashed her bike and flipped over her handlebars while not wearing a helmet. She used to call everything "fascist!" and I'm sure would've actually exploded if she had lived to see the Bush years. Then I was 24 when my friend Chuck who worked across the hall passed away after coming home from the bar. He complained to his girlfriend about feeling ill and went to bed. That "feeling ill" was his vital organs shutting down.

25.) I have only one grandparent left, my paternal grandmother. I was six years old when my dad's dad died and that makes me the youngest member of our family who remembers him. My mom's mom died when I was a sophomore in college and my grandfather died two days after I'd visited him when I was 26. I realize how lucky I am in all four circumstances.

26.) I cried when Kirby Puckett died. I actually cried twice, once when I heard the news and once when they held a moment of silence for him at the T'Wolves game two days later. After the moment of silence I turned to my then-girlfriend, pointed at Kevin Garnett and said, "That's the only other athlete I will cry over when he dies."

27.) I've been quoted twice in the newspaper of the metro area in twice I was living. When I was in high school, I was a part of an article about kids who transfer high schools under Minnesota's open-enrollment rules. When I was in college, I was a part of an article about a protest trip we took to the School of The Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. I also appeared on the front page of the newspaper in the later article.

28.) My brother and I were in a band together called MidDef when I was in college and he was in high school and even wrote a few original songs. We played exactly two concerts; once in Dad's basement for X-mas and once in our Mom's backyard for some friends.

29.) When this posts I will be when I have just turned 29 years old. If I live until at least 70, my life isn't even halfway over. The best part isn't that I feel like I've done a lot with the 29 years I've had. It is that I feel like I can do even more in the coming years ahead.

President Barack Obama (2009 -

Auld Lang Syne, My Friends

It's easy to look back on a year like 2008 and reflect it wasn't a good year. When I compare where I was last year on NYE and where I am now, it's easy to see things have not worked out the way I thought it would. My projection was certainly different than where things ended up. Still it was a good year.

It was good because good things happened this year. A certain Hawaiian was elected President, I shed 50 pounds of unneeded weight and I took a fully-funded trip out West. I saw both AL and NL baseball games, pro basketball games and my favorite band Radiohead with my brother at the south end of Grant Park as fireworks exploded in the panorama behind them. I also walked away unscathed from a car crash which could've easily killed me and I met a lot of new people I can see being good friends in the years to come.

There were bad things to happen too and I won't reflect on them here. The truth is they, like this year, are now in the past. As a friend told me once by paraphrasing someone else, "Everything I've done has lead me to here. And I am better for it."

Happy 2008 everyone and I'll see you again soon in 2009.

Going To California - Day Five - Bakersfield To San Francisco

Departure Bakersfield - 54 degrees and clear
Arrival San Francisco - 59 degrees and cloudy

Sundown - 4:55 pm
Miles Traveled - 253 miles
States Visited - 1
Major Cities - San Jose, CA; San Francisco, CA
Average Speed - 62 mph



Can you know a city by staying there one night? No, it would be impossible to know the geography let alone the heart and the spirit of a city in an evening.

Can you try to see an entire city in one night? Yes, if you have the proper guides and a willingness to stay up until 4:00 am on your internal clock.

When I knew that my trip was going to be ending in San Francisco it pleased me greatly. It was one of the five Great American Cities I hadn't visited yet and, as someone who had always though himself a little Beat and Boho, it was like the mothership calling me home. Add on the number of Beat/Boho friends I have who are already on the mothership and it was going to be on like Genghis Khan.

The tricky thing is I only had one night. I knew I wasn't going to see everything or even everything I wanted to see. With the right priorities I could get a good taste of San Francisco.

So I got into town, took the BART into the city, met Schwa, saw the circus, had some drinks, met Meg, we all got picked up by Viv, the four of us went to the sushi place, I ate a prawn head in the most digusting way possible, was met by Will, rode over to City Lights, said "Bye" to Meg and Viv, went into the Poetry Room, got my picture taken on the stairs, got drinks at Vesuvio, walked up Russian Hill (to the TOP!), got in the car, talked to Boston, rode to the Golden Gate Bridge, took some blurry photos, rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, took some blurry video, rode to Haight-Ashbury, got my picture in front of the street signs, met up with Jamie, had a beer, walked into Golden Gate Park, saw the outside of a museum I'll need to go into next time, stood and BS-ed in an amphitheater, walked back to the car, dropped off Jamie and Schwa and was dropped at my hotel by Will.

The only thing I know is I need to come back.

A List of Items

One winter jacket, red
One sweatshirt, grey (printed)

One gymbag/suitcase, black

-contains-

One swimsuit, black
Two pair shorts, one red/white and other tan khaki
Four t-shirts, two blue (printed) and two white (one printed, one not)
Four pair underwear, patterned
Four pair socks, two pair navy calf cut and two pair white ankle cut
One pair sunglasses, black
One toothpaste tube, half full
One toothbrush, could be replaced
One can bodyspray, full
One stick anti-perspirant, half consumed
One can shaving cream, half consumed
Two safety razors, unused
One phone charger
One package to mail to a friend
Two books to return to a different friend

One green backpack w/ "What Would Elvis Do?" patch

-contains-

One winter hat, navy w/ forest green
One pair winter gloves, navy
One scarf, tan/grey
"Downtown Owl" by Chuck Klosterman
Batman collection "War Drums"
Free Darko's "The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac"
Four DVDs

-"Lost In Translation"
-"Serenity"
-"Live Free or Die Hard: Unrated"
-"Gigantic: A Story of Two Johns" to return to a third friend

Six music CDs

-Catch 22 "Keasby Nights"
-LCD Soundsystem "45:33"
-Aesop Rock "None Shall Pass"
-Bad Religion "New Maps of Hell"
-Of Montreal "Skeletal Lamping", packaging difficult to open
-Atmosphere "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold"

One Audiobook

-"The Day the Universe Changed" by James Burke

One digital camera, borrowed
One mp3 player w/ headphones
One cellphone, company-provided
One notebook with directions
One composition book, "Story Arcs" written on cover
One laptop (pending deposit in bag)

Today Was A Good Day

Four years ago, the day after the election, I wrote the following blog post on my old blog Captain Handsome.

Election Results
Today I feel both disappointed and relieved.

I feel disappointed because John Kerry and John Edwards didn't win. It's a little like cheering for your favorite sports team if your favorite sports team directed the economy, the military and the governance of law.

A lot of people like cheering for the Yankees because the Yankees win. If you had to choose your favorite team based on how they played, how they treated their fans, etc., the distribution would be more even. Or people just wouldn't care which is what happens more often in politics.

When John Kerry and John Edwards didn't win, it doesn't mean I won't vote for Democrats two years from now. I'll still be back cheering for the same team because the same things will be important to me then and it will be the same team which will be able to deliver them to me.

As I've expressed elsewhere, this one in particular would've been nice to win.

I'm relieved because it came down to votes. There was no last minute surprise "Hey, we have Osama bin Laden," or "Holy shit, President Bush raped a bear. And that bear was my father!" shit. I think that's the stuff which really turns people off to politics and makes them think their vote doesn't count. This election really was about courting the voters, talking about issues and who is the better man for the job.

There are still votes to be counted and the television networks don't choose the president. It would be great if Bush were ushered out the same way he was ushered in. However, I'm waking up to an America in which George W Bush is the President and I can finally react to that.

The nation selected George W Bush. They elected a foreign policy where the United States actively uses its military might, a domestic policy which supports businesses who are then responsible for supporting their employees and a moral policy which is very conservative. They also selected leaving things as they are over how things could be.

And I'm not sure I fit with that. I don't fit with the Bush Administration's interpretations for sure. Yet a lot of voters looked past the pragmatic and went on the basis of values. While I can relate to those values, they aren't mine.

Atleast I know where I stand. And I can start setting my course from there.

Whether that is me following through on my festering urge to move out of the US or just into a deeper blue state or the exact opposite by going into a red state and helping to bridge the gap, I don't know.

Today is a brand new day. Today my relief is to be starting.

Now it's four years later and I can tell you what happened.

After getting over the initial shock, I decided to commit myself to work and spent the next term floating astray and trying to fit into the corporate world I found odd. For three of those years, I had the support of a wonderful and caring woman and she did more than her part to help me see the cheer in my life and why I should continue on. But the stress of our relationship pushed us apart and this summer things fell apart. I moved home from Chicago and looked around at my options.

There are two realizations I've come to in the last two months. I've found I'm back where I was four years ago and my old burning is coming back. I never really forgot that feeling and anyone who was there will tell you volunteering was the part of my Chicago job I enjoyed the most. It's no coincidence that I'd supported a community organizer for President. Then last night that community organizer won.

Yesterday the nation selected Barack Obama. They elected a foreign policy where the United States uses its military might judiciously, a domestic policy which asks people to make sacrifices for the greater good and a moral policy which is open and liberal. They left behind things as they are and want to see how things could be. And I fit with that. I can relate to those values because they are mine too.

So, with the economy in the tank and the corporate world a suit that fit poorly to begin, I'm going to look into making service my full-time occupation. I don't know if that's going to be foreign service, the Peace Corps, Americorps, some form of government job, some form of non-profit or non-governmental organization, etc. All of that is to be determined. The point is I woke up this morning in an America that needs help and I plan to do my part in helping.



In 2008, Yes We Can!

Twins Win!!!

I just got home from the second best baseball game I ever attended. I feel so high right now that I didn't even send taunting text messages to my Chicago friends who are White Sox fans. It was a hell of a way to pull into first place.

The Twins came into their three game series against the White Sox with two fewer wins and three more losses. To get back into contention they would need to win all three games and thus also hand the White Sox three more loses too. So their goal was simple. Win all three games and they controlled their destiny. All they had to do was just keep winning.



On Tuesday night the Twins ran up the score 9-3 backing up Scott Baker's brilliant pitching performance. Then on Wednesday night the bullpen held an early lead and the Twins edged the Sox 3-2. Now Thursday night's game was the single most important game of the season. Win and they would be in first place. Lose and they would be counting on the Indians to do their work for them.

My friend Brian and I agreed that while riding bikes would be fun, going to the Twins game was just that much more essential. As I was preparing for the game, Nicky sent me a text message. It was a prayer to Kirby Puckett to "guide us in our quest to win the division", that "our hits may be guided through the gap", that "our fielding be strong" and "our pitching be accurate." It's basically what the Twins needed to do. Play strong fundamental baseball and get just a little assistance from luck. I loaned Brian my Santana home jersey and I wore my Mauer home alternate jersey and we were off.



The Twins began the game well. Mauer poked a ground rule double over the center field fence to score Denard Span from second and Kevin Slowey pitched three perfect nine up, nine down innings to give the impression this would be a small ball victory. Hell, I was even excited about the prospect that I might finally see a no-hitter.

Then came the inning that almost undid the entire Twins season. In the top of the fourth the second batter for the White Sox, Orlando Cabrera, hit a one-out barely-homerun into the second row in left field. Then Jermaine Dye singled. Then Jim Thome doubled advancing Dye to third. Then Dye scored and Thome took third on a Konerko fielder's choice. Then Ken Griffey walked. Then Alexi Ramirez singled with Thome scoring and Griffey being forced to second. Then A.J. Pierzynski ended a long at bat by being hit by the eighth pitch he saw.

So the bases were loaded when Juan Uribe hit a line drive right back at Slowey. The ball glanced off of Slowey's pitching wrist and when he went to throw the ball to first everything went haywire. Morneau couldn't dig the throw out of the dirt and Griffey, Ramirez and Pierzynski all scored to make the game 6-3 in favor of the visitors. This single play could've been the Twins 2008 season going down the drain. But the Twins kept on clawing back. Casilla scored in the 6th to cut the margin to two runs.



Then came the inning that saved the entire Twins season. Brendan Harris began the inning by doubling and scored when Carlos Gomez took a single off of Chicago closer Bobby Jenks. It was at this point I turned to Brian. "Do you think Gomez can score from first?" I asked. "I mean, I'd certainly like to see him try." The next batter Denard Span was up to the task. His groundball to the rightside of the infield slipped under Paul Konerko's glove and Gomez got on his horse. As he crossed home plate the crowd reached ThunderDome levels. All 43,601 fans in attendance were jumping up and down, screaming and giving each other high fives.

The game ended up going to extra innings and that's were the Twins closed the deal. Joe Nathan pitched two perfect innings, often falling behind in the count during the tenth only to get the guy out anyhow. The bottom half of the inning was even more dramatic. Nick Punto walked, took second on a fielder's choice and then stole third on a wild pitch. After Span was intentionally walked, Alexi Casilla came to the plate.

Casilla had previously had an opportunity to win the game in the eighth following Denard Span's RBI triple. He tried to drop down a suicide squeeze bunt and missed. On the very next pitch he struck out waving at the pitch as it went by. The inning ended when Mauer grounded out to first. Now, two innings later, Casilla had the chance to win the game again.

He looked at the first pitch at the belt for a strike and then blooped the second pitch at his knees into centerfield scoring Punto to win the game.



From the drama of coming back from being down by four to the playoff like atmosphere in the crowd, this game eclipsed all but one other that I've ever attended in my lifetime. The Twins squeezed out a must-win victory over a hated division rival at a time when they could assert themselves as the better team. They used sound baseball fundamentals to outmanuever their opponent and to do so as a team. Even when they were down by four I thought to myself, "There's some way they're going to back into it and win this game." Then when they did, it was that much sweeter. As the line from the new Conor Oberst song goes, "Victory is sweet/Even deep in the cheap seats."

Now there just need to be a combination of Twins wins and White Sox losses that equal four and the post-season is ours. So this weekend say your Hail Kirbys as Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins and Scott Baker take the hill. As I said to Nicky when we saw a game earlier this month, "To be a Twins fan is to know how to succeed by wit, cunning and advancing the runner."

P.S. The greatest game I ever attended? Well, y'know...

USA BASKETBALL WINS GOLD!!!

I didn't comment on this yesterday when it was new news despite watching the end of the game online. But I'm glad that the USA Mens National Basketball Team won the gold medal in Beijing and winning all of their games can go back to being no news. Is it time for the NBA season yet?