Daily Archives: August 17, 2010

Favre makes predictable trip to Minny

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On the day that the man who hit the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” died, the man that sent the “Text Heard ‘Round the World” appears headed for a second season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Bobby Thomson – who died at the age of 86 – became famous for what he did on the field. Brett Favre, meanwhile, has seemingly gained more fame for what he does and doesn’t do off the field.

But Minnesota Vikings fans couldn’t care less. All they want is Favre back on the roster, and that appears to be just what they’re getting.

Favre’s flight from Mississippi landed in the Twin Cities just a couple of hours ago, and it’s expected that later tonight Favre will announce he’s back with the Vikes.

Minnesota’s Super Bowl chances just improved significantly with the return of Favre. I agree with most of the pundits today that said a Tarvaris Jackson-led offense makes the Vikings merely a Wild Card-berth contender.

I for one am glad the Favre drama for this year appears to be over. And it’s nice that it happened on a day off for me, too. I’m getting a little worn out of Favre “will he or won’t he” talk and have done my best to avoid blogging about it. But it appears that it will all end today.

Closer look at Inge

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Came across an interesting little rumor today. The Detroit Tigers will reportedly move third baseman Brandon Inge through waivers sometime this week with the possibility of trading him.

MLBTradeRumors.com speculates the Minnesota Twins are the first team that could have interest in him, despite how well Danny Valencia has played.

Valencia has done well enough where the Twins would not add Inge to supplant him at third base. But Inge could be a nice bench player on a contending team. He’s in the final year of a four-year, $24 million contract, so there isn’t much left owed to him.

Inge is hitting just .252 with seven homers this season, one year after hitting 27 homers. So his numbers are down. But he ranks as a solid defensive option at third base, though not quite what he used to be.

And Inge has had versatility. As recently as 2008, Inge started 12 games in center field and 56 games at catcher. His catcher days are now on an emergency-only basis, but playing all of these positions at least shows that he’s a good athlete who has an understanding of the game from a lot of different positions.

Would Detroit trade Inge to an intra-division rival? That I don’t know. But they have to figure he’s a free agent after the season anyway, so why not get some prospects from a division rival?

Two media members break one of industry’s cardinal sins

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Ran across this story today about Tim Tebow. I know, I know. You’re tired of Tebow, but this story isn’t what you think.

Tebow reportedly was asked for and provided autographs to two members of the media following a weekend exhibition game.

I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about this until now. This is just a no-no. It’s part of being in the media.

I’ve gotten the opportunity during my relatively brief journalism career to meet the likes of Cy Young winner Johan Santana, NASCAR Cup series champion Kurt Busch and NHRA legend – and at one time, TV reality series star – John Force. And at no point did I ever think about seeking autographs from these guys.

Whether or not the two media members have their identity revealed doesn’t really matter to me. I’m just surprised in a major market that something like this would happen.