We should all be thankful Jim Thome doesn't know how to use a cel phone. Otherwise he'd be in danger of becoming Brett Favre.
Think about it. He's got the backwoods accent. His last name could be pronounced differently than his family chooses to pronounce it. (Shouldn't it be Thhhh-ome?) Ask him a question, and he'll smile and filibuster for a while. Favre did it with misdirection; Thome does it by repeating himself.
Both are all-time greats. Both are charming. And both really want to play forever.
Asked before the game how much longer he expects to play, Thome, whose green card says he's 41, gave a Favrian answer:
``I have to be honest, I do like to compete, I really do. I like to dig in that box. I like to work. I like to come to the ballpark. That, I think, is a tough part. I know I’m getting toward the end, but I can still go out and do it. That’s what drives me to come back every year. It’ll be interesting going forward here.”
 
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My NBA finals pick (and I don't know why anyone would care, after I picked San Antonio to beat OKC): Thunder in six. I say that even as Miami gets out to an early lead against the Thunder tonight.
More specifically, I have the Thunder winning Game 1 and Game 6, with the teams splitting the four in the middle.
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Had Mike Modana on the Sunday radio show this week. Asked him where he sees Zach Parise playing next season. Modano said Jersey has such a good young roster he sees Parise staying put.
Plus, he gets to summer in Minnesota, and work a cab ride away from Manhattan, when he's young and without kids. Who wouldn't take that deal?
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Wrote tonight about the passing of Dave Boswell, for the Wednesday paper. Sounds like a great character, and if you look up his numbers, he was pretty dominating before hurting his shoulder.
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Trevor Plouffe has 10 home runs. Yes, it's important for him to improve at third base, but if he's going to hit for this much power, he's already fine as an every day third baseman. As Gardenhire says, now when Plouffe walks to the plate you expect him to hit the ball hard somewhere. His first out tonight was a hard shot that could have been a single to left.
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