Dallas Stars fans need to get a grip

Minnesota's current NHL team—the Minnesota Wild—was gifted this year with an outdoor stadium game, which includes an alumni game of former players and is pretty darn cool! Since the Wild are only 15 years old, the vast majority of the players for the Minnesota alumni team are former players for the Minnesota North Stars. So the alumni team is going to wear North Stars jerseys, which the team released pictures of yesterday.

And HOLY COW, are Dallas fans inexplicably and irrationally PISSED about it.

Have we talked about the Minnesota Wild co-opting Dallas Stars history for their outdoor game? This feels criminal. pic.twitter.com/GDSODYmfIa

— Dave Lozhohoho (@davelozo) December 22, 2015

Are people still freaking out over the North Stars/Wild alum jerseys?

— Emilie Wiener (@eminemilie) December 22, 2015

The Wild stole from Stars history for their Stadium Series Alumni Game jerseys https://t.co/OHIC9Anbrp pic.twitter.com/8AF5XXc3pD

— GhostofChristmasPat (@Pat_Iversen) December 22, 2015

(best and funniest for last)

@mnwild Get your own history.

— Wes Tarkington (@racerwes) December 22, 2015

MINNESOTA is appropriating hockey history from DALLAS, TEXAS? Did we hit a "We're not really a hockey town" nerve or WHAT?

15 of the 17 North Star alumni on the roster never played a single game for Dallas. One of the two alumni players who did play for both teams was Neal Broten, who only played one and a half years with the Stars compared to his 12 with the North Stars. The other dual-team player—Mike Modano—I'll give you that; I don't know why he's on the team.

Of the other 15 players, over half of them were either born in and/or currently live in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities metro. Yet, we're supposed to pretend they are not part of Minnesota hockey history? We're supposed to pretend these players, moments, and things are exclusively reserved for Dallas, Texas? Even though they NEVER PLAYED OR LIVED THERE?

The North "Stars" franchise has a longer history in Minnesota than it even has in Dallas, but we're supposed to pretend ALL of that history belongs exclusively to Dallas?

Please.

We aren't trying to steal the franchise from you, Stars fans. It is your franchise history. We get that. We're only acknowledging our longer history in what is only sadly now "your" franchise. See, us here in Minnesota actually have a bond with this sport; it's not just a random professional sports team you may or may not show up to support. We care about this sport, our history with it, and the role it has played in our local lexicon. We love hockey. We love hockey. You think the Texas High School Football Tournament is big? The Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament is even bigger. It might be unfathomable to have a love that deep or strong simply just for the sport of hockey, especially out there in the desert—I get it. And I am glad some of you do actually love our old hockey team.

But don't you ever, EVER try to tell us we are stealing "your" history. This is OUR history just as much, if not probably more, than it is yours.

Just picture this for a moment: The owner of the Dallas Cowboys suddenly sells his team to someone else, and within a year or two that team is abruptly moved and becomes the L.A. Cowboys (partially or mostly due to the fact the new owner has several damning accusations of sexual harassment against him). You no longer have your team, and fans are telling you "The L.A. Cowboys have no history in Dallas! The franchise belongs to Los Angeles! How dare you ever evoke the L.A. Cowboys or anything they have to do with your history! This isn't your team!" Because, according to your "logic", the L.A. Cowboys would have NO history in Dallas.

Seriously. Just chill the fuck out. Let our North Stars who NEVER PLAYED IN YOUR CITY play an alumni game in jerseys YOUR TEAM NEVER EVEN F#$%&^* WORE.

Minnesota fans don't complain about L.A. claiming Lakers history. Minnesota fans don't care about the Washington Nationals hanging Harmon Killebrew's name and number behind home plate. Minnesota fans are smart enough to realize that is an honor, not an insult.

Hopefully the people in Dallas will be smart enough to realize that one day too.

RELATED READING:

A hockey question: Why did the North Stars get dissolved? 

The Minnesota North Stars: Why did they leave Minnesota?

Norm Green sexually harassed his female employees and had to leave town—but hell, why would that bother anyone in Dallas, Texas (as long as we want to play stereotypes)!

ALL 30 MLB TEAMS RANKED, 1st TO 30th (IMO)

In the following, I have ranked all 30 MLB teams onf how much I personally liked them as of April, 11 21 2015. These are the definitive rankings.

Without further ado:

ALL 30 MLB TEAMS RANKED, 1st TO 30th (IMO)

30. CLEVELAND INDIANS

The team that uses "Chief Wahoo" on their uniforms. Their fans boo JIM THOME--who has the most Indian home runs of all time, in addition to being the coolest ever, one of the greatest Indians of all time, and one of the greatest MLB players period of all time. So congratulations, Indians fans, you and your racist-ass have achieved WORST MLB TEAM on my personal ranking.

(Bob Feller is completely excluded from any of this. Bob Feller ruled. Objectively. Not up to debate with anyone. Period.)

29. CHICAGO CUBS

The number of African-American players who have played for this team and expressed racist treatment by fans is troubling. The only reason the Cubs aren't last is because they haven't won a World Series in 105+ years, and that is actual hysterical.

28. ATLANTA BRAVES

27. LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM 

 I am so apathetic about this team I have listed it lower than teams I dislike.

I hate Josh Hamilton. He compared himself to Jesus because Twins fans heckled him. Now, the Angels have treated him so bad I think I hate the Angels more? That's how messed up this organization is.

If this team didn't have Mike Trout, they would be so SOL (even more) on my list. Trout is really cool. He was really responsive to fans when he was out in left field at Target Field.

26. BOSTON RED SOX

Mostly because of how crappy the majority of the fans are. They gloat even worse than Yankees fans did 10 years ago, and they don't even have the history to back it up. 

25. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Best fans in baseball.

24. TAMPA BAY RAYS

They play inside an "ugly" dome. Domes suck.... Who would ever get emotional over a dome? A DOME? Excuse me.

23. TEXAS RANGERS

I still just love that they gave A-Rod that contract back in the day.

22. HOUSTON ASTROS

 Biggio! Bagwell! Clemens! Fun team. Plus: http://howmanyaltuves.com

21. CINCINNATI REDS

 The fact they made a secret nod to Pete Rose in the stadium is cool. Otherwise, mostly apathy towards them.

20. WASHINGTON NATIONALS 

Love Wilson Ramos and Denard Span. This has been a good team. I'm mostly apathetic about this team too, sorry.

19. COLORADO ROCKIES

Obviously, this team has had Michael Cuddyer, (more importantly now) Justin Morneau, and LaTroy Hawkins. While I love all those guys, there's not much else going on here.

18. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Got some relatives out there. And it's hot. Nice stadium.

17. PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Watching the Pirates in the playoffs 2013 was freaking awesome. And Justin Morneau. Not to mention, how about that ballpark?

16. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 

      Be happy you made it this far, Giants, since a lot of it had to do with me having to re-number everyone after you because I completely blocked out any memory of your awful team. Also, the only reason you made it this far at all is because of the greatness of Barry Bonds.

15. SAN DIEGO PADRES

I'm not even sure why I've always kinda liked the Padres. Tony Gwynn? Maybe. Also: shout out to my Padres' friend Joe who I think is awesome.

14. BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Good team. Never go wrong with the uniforms. Cal Ripekn Jr. Awesome stadium. I dunno, just always liked them

13. MILWAUKEE BREWERS

GREATEST. MASCOT. OF .ALL. TIME.

12. DETROIT TIGERS

Despite the Tigers-Twins couple rivalries in the past decade, I never disliked this team. I'm not sure how long my sympathy for the 2003 Tigers team will run, but there is still a bit of it there to this day.

11. TORONTO BLUE JAYS

"Touch them all Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" This just kills me.

10. CHICAGO WHITE SOX

I came to admire and love this team in the 00's, much due to Ozzie Gullien's colorfulness and the great rivalry between my favorite team and them. I've met some great White Sox fans too, and we've had a ball at Twins games. I feel like this team is a "brother" to the Twins more than any other.

9.  OAKLAND ATHLETICS

I have no real connection to this team, but have always admired them for their "Moneyball" ways. The A's and the Twins were both playoff competitors much of the earlier parts of the 00's decade, and both had small payrolls. They proved the others wrong, like I felt we did.

But remember--the Twins beat "Moneyball".

8. NEW YORK YANKEES

Many Twins fans, and others, hate the Yankees. Some might be surprised at this placement. Frankly, I'm a baseball fan, and I would be an idiot to ignore the history of this team and the role it has played in baseball.

Furthermore, why to people even despise the Yankees so much? Because they spend a lot of money? They are smart and have used their market as an advantage and have companies that make a ton of money (unlike the Mets). They would be dumb not to use their market and financial opportunities.

 The Yankees have one of the richest and strongest histories in all of  baseball. Babe Ruth? Lou Gehrig? Ignore that if it makes you feel better about yourself, I guess. As someone who hated the Yankees, but came around to thinking they're okay, I can yell you one thing: hating the Yankees is just wasting your god damn breath and life in general.

And if you just want to complain about annoying Yankees fans, um, have you seen Red Sox fans anytime in the past 10 years?

7. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

This ranking of the Phillies is almost entirely due to how awesome Phillies fans are. Oh, you don't agree? *Reaches for spare D Batteries*

6. NEW YORK METS

I've often said I considered the Mets an older cousin of the Twins. The Mets were made to replace the loss of the Dodgers (Blue) and Giants (Orange) to New York City National League. The Twins replaced the Twin Cities minor league teams: Minneapolis Millers (formerly a Giants farm team) and the St. Paul Saints (formerly a Dodgers farm team).

Also: "Can't Anyone Here Play This Game?" is my favorite baseball book ever,

5. SEATTLE MARINERS 

Two of my top three ever players were Mariners. So they should go here. 

P.S. Junior + Ichiro forever

P.S.S. And A-Rod.

4. LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Vin Scully.

3. MIAMI MARLINS 

What a lovely little low-budget team that can win two World Series-es out of nowhere? Family connections to this team, I love them. The Dinger Machine is also probably the greatest ballpark feature of all time. Don't agree? I will fight you. Literally. Come to Liquor Lyle's and tweet me.

2. KANSAS CITY ROYALS

I was born July of 1985. My aunt, as long as I will always remember, wore a Kansas City World Series pennant around her neck. Her husband got a ring for scouting, she got the necklace. I will always love this team until the day I die.

1. MINNESOTA TWINS 

Baseball has eternal hope. I want to see the Twins win the World Series again, but if I don't, that's okay. I'm so lucky, I've seen it twice, and even better, as a small child who could never imagine anything else. Can you watch Hrbek's Grand Slam or Kirby's Home Run without crying? Because I can't. I mean, crap. I think I'm gonna start crying right now...

All Ten Original Star Trek and TNG Movies Ranked

This has nothing to do with baseball. Sorry. I just watched 10 Star Trek movies in 48 hours, and I have to share my observations.

10. Star Trek 1 -- Sucks. I hated it. I watched it drunk and didn't even like it.

9. Star Trek (10) Nemesis --All of the concepts in this movie could have been used to make a great movie. But the exact opposite happened.

8. Star Trek (8): First Contact -- The borg make me piss my pants on the fright scale; and the Earth scientist guy is interesting. It's eh, but gets the job done.

7. Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier -- The best part of this movie is the birth of the line: "What does God need with a starship?" Has intriguing parts, but tons of wasted time.

6. Star Trek (9): Insurrection -- I have this rated here for some reason,

5. Star Trek 3: Search for Spock -- This movie that's really just dedicated to bring Spock back to life is pretty cheesy, but did a really good job reaching that end goal. Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon is also a good move.

4  Star Trek (7): Generations -- Seeing the captains together. Enjoyable for Star Trek fans, but probably not others.

3. Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country -- KIRK AND BONES GET SENT TO THE ARCTIC KLINGON GULAG!! But seriously this was one of the best movies. Good, unique plot.

2. Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (aka "The one with the whales!") -- This is definitely the funniest Star Trek movie ever. The actual premise of the movie is that an alien probe is destroying earth looking for (now extinct) whales, so the Enterprise crew has to take their stolen bird of prey back to the 1980s and kidnap some whales. . Especially since I was like 9 the last time I saw this, the joke about Chekov (with his heavy Russian accent) asking mid-80s Americas where "da nuclear wessles!" were went completely over my head and cracked me the hell up. Also, when Spock jumps in the whale tank to mind-meld with the whales.

1. Star Trek 2: Wrath of Kahn -- This is a perfect movie of its era. This is a perfect sci-fi movie. It even still holds up now. The line-graph plot of this movie is incredible. I was completely sobbing by the end. This wasn't just a good Star Trek movie, or just a good sci-fi movie; this is a good movie.


Do you agree?

MLB and their Baseball Pace of Play rules can GO TO HELL!!!

MLB has apparently come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with baseball's pace of play. American football—the most popular sport in America (and also the slowest sport in America)—is just SO FAST that baseball pales in comparison.

In view of these facts, what has MLB been doing? Trying to make baseball more like football.

Baseball has added instant replays, complete with a "challenge" system like the NFL. They are now trying to add and enforce more rules to take more of the moments of tension that make baseball what it is out of the game.

MLB bigwigs are completely out of touch with the very product they are in charge over.

Why isn't MLB trying to market baseball in the other direction? Marketing the unique aspects of what makes baseball baseball and that make it better than football? Why is MLB trying to market baseball by just making it more like the NFL?

Guess what, MLB: if you try to market baseball by making it more like football, you will always be chasing the NFL. A lot of the supposed weaknesses of baseball are, in fact, its greatest strengths. Seriously. Come on.

This isn't rocket science.

This is an epic marketing failure.