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Happy Saturday! The last time we met, two weeks ago, we had three inches of snow on the ground and I was writing about our January-esque weather. Today, I'm planning out a day full of yard work. This doesn't make a lick of sense and we all should complain to someone, if possible.
After two weeks away, though, I've got a backlog of links to get through, so on we go:
*I liked this analysis from John Bonnes, detailing the delta stream of future probabilities resulting from a single Drew Butera at-bat late in a game in Toronto. And while we're talking about Twins-related analysis, you can't do better than Parker Hageman - who this week is studying the video and correlating a slight change in Denard Span's pre-swing hand positioning with Span's new troubles with hitting the fastball. Marvelous stuff.
*Kyle Nelson, writing for Inside Minnesota Soccer, has the strange-but-true story of how a bunch of second-division players almost ended up playing for the men's national soccer team in an important World Cup qualifier. (Longtime US soccer viewers may now insert their own "anybody's better than Jeff Agoos" jokes here.)
*In stadium news, the Vikes Geek doesn't seem too happy with the Vikings. To put it mildly. Chalk at least one fan up in the "Let The Bums Leave Town" group.
*The baseball season's already started, which makes this particular preseason prognostication a bit late, but I still encourage you to listen to Michael "Ken Tremendous" Schur and Joe Posnanski make their 2011 baseball picks. I'm not normally much of a podcast kind of guy, but this one's worth it.
