I guess we should have seen this coming.

I don't like to think about it, but I have to say Rondella.

Oops. Rondelle. My bad.

When I first mentioned Reuben Sierra to Angela, she thought I was talking about the season 2 American Idol winner. Now HE would make a good lookin' woman!

Rubena Sierra looks almost exactly like the L.A. Sparks' Lisa Leslie. Seriously, Batgirl...put a picture of the two of them next to each other. It'll be a scary similarity.

Oh but Batgirl - you missed some great commercials - Torii even had a cameo in one - I was HEY it's Torii! Tho my favs were the Budweiser ads

Yes - I watched the whole game - my favourite team from when I was a young gal - was playing I had to watch - YAY - for the Steelers =) Michael Ryan is a happy lad today too!

Oh I have to go with Rubena here -

Much Love
WW

uh.. yeah.. gotta stick with my preference for no facial hair on a woman. Rubena it is.

with gams like that, rubena wins hands down.

"and the question rings eternal:" WHY!!!

can I vote for none of the above?

Rondelle's head is ENORMOUS! It's like a caricature of a photoshopped transvestite.

Rubena hands down.

I think I just sold my soul to the devil (and strangely enough, he was wearing pinstripes...)...I voted in one of Batgirl's Hottest Chick contests.

What have I done? Is it too late for me? Have I gone over to the dark side?

And why this time? Since these are two of the WORST looking chicks the Twins have ever signed.

Is this the point of no return?

What is wrong with you people? Sure, I've always gone for the THC with the least facial hair too...but Rondelle's got such lovely skin. I'm mesmerized.

TeacherRefPoet,

I wholeheartedly agree. He does look like Lisa Leslie. And that scares me.

After the latest round of Twins Hottest Chick we had to go for the THC too man.

Pitchers and catchers can *not* come fast enough.

Like WW, I was happy to see Torii in an ad.

He was looking good in his little cameo for ESPN Mobile -- better than these chicks.

I need to get a Twins hat with a red bill and one of those dark blue away jerseys like Torii had on in the ad.

Ah, the best part of the Super Bowl: the finish. Now nothing stands in the way of baseball's return. (Unless you consider the worst of all All-Star Games an obstacle. Really, what good is the Pro Bowl other than a vacation for football players in Hawaii?)

Interesting.

Don't shoot the messenger, but Bill Simmons, in reference to the ESPN Mobile commercial called Torii Hunter a second-tier athlete...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060206

I wouldn't have gone that far...

YankeeFan

Sorry -I'm taking away from the Hottest Chick voting -

But what's Carlos Zambrano thiking - silly man -

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2320453

Johan IS the PRESIDENT!

Much Love
WW

I don't know what makes me feel sicker, Twins Hottest Chick, or Super Bowl Referees ? I think I will go throw up for a little while.

Ahh.. It's such a good feeling to get the Super Bowl out of the way. Now, nothing stands between me and my beloved spring training.

Anyone else think that for 2 million dollars, the commercials were kinda lame this year?

I, like Wonder Woman, am also off-topic.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2321075

Once again, baseball is not hard enough on drug abusers. A two year suspension from INTERNATIONAL baseball? That's more of a reward than a punishment.

jerry crasnick has nice things to say about the Twins over at espn:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=2320997

GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE WITH CABLE:

Who: Bitch Sox @ Twins, Garcia vs. Johan
What: Classic Twins 1-0 victory on a Jacques Jones homer in the 8th
When: tonight, 8:00pm CST
Where: Fox Sports Net North
Why: Because they like to tease us

Some thoughts:
- I was at that game and will remember it for a long, long time. I'll bore my son talking about it when I take him to a game some day.

- I know we had to let him go and that he was a very undisciplined hitter, but I'm going to miss Jacques!

- I love that they're broadcasting this game again, but it seems almost cruel to supply such a tastey appetizer of the season when it's still so far away . . .

I will however, definitely be watching.

TDJ - Thanks for forwarding the article. It could be "Spring Training Disease", but I agree with Crasnick: I think the Twins are going to be a sleeper this year.

When people look at the team they forget that the pitching will be as good if not better and the offense will be at least somewhat, and possibly significantly, improved. With our pitching, we don't need to score too many more runs. If Mauer and Morneau develop into better hitters, we'll score enough runs to contend.

I'm too frightened to respond.

YankeeFan: Notice that nobody seems to be arguing with you (or Simmons)??? Torii IS a "second-tier athlete". There's no shame in being second-tier when the first tier is occupied by Immortals (e.g., Bonds, Shaq, etc.). But we both know what he meant. The people in the ad were "don't I know that guy?" types. And when your nine-year career line looks like 267/321/458 with almost 3K per BB and 1 HR every 27 PA, you should be proud to be counted as such.

What Batgirl *should* have been doing during the Super Bowl was tuning into Puppy Bowl II on Animal Planet. Just like the inaugural classic it was three hours of frolicsome puppy-wrestling-puppy action, but this time with kitties scampering as a half-time show.

Unbridled adorability.

There is no contest. Hands down Shannon Stewart is the Hottest Chick. Check this out:
http://www.sethspeaks.net/#names

brianS:

Indeed, it is ironic, because I consider Hunter to be a "first tier athlete." Anyone who can close in on a ball, leap over walls and bring back home runs is a hell of an athlete.

I don't know that Bill was making a distinction between "immortals" and "the next tier" because there is probably a gap between the popularity of the athletes in the commercial and the popularity of the immortals (i.e., a "first tier" layer there).

I love Bill's writing, and usually I can see where he is coming from. Here, he may have meant something like "ESPN Mobile -- that's cool -- anyone who recognizes these athletes is a true sports fan and needs to get this phone." But he didn't:

"...a golfer/bowler/race car driver/sprinter/long jumper/fly fisher I couldn't recognize, and my favorite one of all ... A's pitcher Houston Street. Where was Dr. John? He couldn't have made an appearance?"

He insulted everyone in that ad when he misspelled Huston Street's name (a columnist for ESPN, btw) and asked why Dr. John didn't make it into the commercial. That's heavy sarcasm and I don't think it was too subtle. Of course, I could be reading something into it...

I think if he would have put Gary Sheffield (or Ozzie Smith back in the day) instead of Hunter I'd be miffed. I'm miffed that Torii Hunter was described as a second tier athlete -- he goes all out on every play of every inning of every game of every season, and he's mighty athletic.

My issue is obviously with the term "second tier athlete." Bill should have chosen better words...

As far as nobody there caring...shame on you. This is the offseason -- no time to be apathetic about an incident wherein one of the premeire sportswriters in the nation shreds the emotional core of your team.

Okay, now maybe I've put in too much sarcasm.

YankeeFan

YankeeFan:

So, he should have said "B-list jock endorsers"?? And I really didn't read his references to be a slam on the athletic ability of any of the players involved. Although I was amused at the inclusion of self-proclaimed "best point guard in the NBA" Stephon Marbury.

As a Twins fan, I didn't take offense at the reference to Torii. Hey, we're just thrilled that one of our guys gets face time on national TV!

I demand a recount on the whole "hottest chick" thing. SethSpeaks reports that "Shannon Stewart" was Playboy magazine's "Playmate of the Year" for 2000. If that doesn't qualify Shannon for hottest chick, I don't know what would.

See http://www.sethspeaks.net/ for Tuesday, Feb 7 (no, no randy pictures; just good, wholesome baseball pictures).