Mr. and Mrs. Kraus Blog

My heart was racing on 3rd down with 19 seconds left in the game.  My beloved Vikings were a Ryan Longwell kick away from storming into the Superbowl for the first time in my lifetime.   My Vikes were going to pull it off!  So many turnovers, and they still had a team good enough to beat the number 1 seeded Saints.   Then the whistle blew– a flash of yellow.  What? Why?  12 men in the huddle.  The resulting 5-yard penalty pushed my team out of field goal range.  Then, another turnover.  My heart crashed into my stomach and bounced back into my chest.  Disbelief.  But still hope.

Overtime.  An unlucky coin flip, a killer kick return, a drive with many second looks.  An opposing team’s winning field goal as straight and true as they come.  I watched the kick I was so excited to see with 19 seconds left to go, when my team had the ball, when it would have sent the men in purple running onto the field, arms held high.  My heart sank again, and did not resurface.  Game over.  Season over.

The morning after, I woke up to a man and woman on the radio talking about how Emmett Pearson won’t be able to shave his beard for another year (he won’t shave until the Vikings win the superbowl).  Even the state’s weather was in mourning, as school kids were sent home early because of blizzard conditions.

After work I called my dad, and afterwords an old friend from college who is a big Vikes fan.  Now I’m feeling better, and I can’t help but think how remarkable a football game can be.  About how one game of football can take you through such a range of emotions.  And I realized, the loss last night won’t change that.  I’ll be right back there the next time, banging on my air conditioning vents when the Vikes score, throwing my hands up in disbelief when they don’t, and gasping for breath when a game-winning field goal is lining up.

Thanks for a great season guys.  You were a joy to watch this year.  Thanks Brett, for playing like you always wore purple.  Have a good rest, and hope to see you again.

Chad Kraus Minnesota Vikings

Baseball games like tonight’s ALDS Game 2 in New York inspire the invention of new words for Twins fans to express frustration.  Fuggerdonker! (Google confirms that it has never been used before: Your search - fuggerdonker - did not match any documents.)  Every game in New York this year the Twins got a lead, and lost in the end.  It’s just so fuggerdonking  frustrating! (Haha, sweet: Your search - fuggerdonking - did not match any documents.)

Tonight’s game had its moments.  It would be an amazing game for a Yankees fan.  But I’m not a Yankees fan.  Looking at it as a Twins fan, there were some sweet moments.  Any game where your team gets men on base EVERY inning is exciting.  The chance to score every half inning is thrilling.  It just didn’t work out.

The three most fist-pound-on-coffee-table moments would have to be:

1. Gomez slipped off second base and got tagged out about 1 second before a runner crossed home plate.  If he had just gotten up and played hard to get by running toward third, he would have bought enough time for the run to score.

2. 3-1, bottom of the 9th, Nathan blows the save.  Thanks a lot A-Rod.  Tired of Colin Cowherd giving him crap on the radio every Fall about his postseason under-achievements I guess  (Colin did make it funny every time though).

3. Bases loaded with Twins, no outs, top of the 11th.  No dice.

Just a reminder that in the great sport of baseball, 3 strikes and you’re outta there.  So, down 0-2, what next?

Fly home, have some rest, and beat em up in Minnesota, that’s what’s next.  Time to write one last magical story for Twins baseball in the Dome by evening the series 2-2!  Then our Twins will get a shot at one more game in New York, and THAT game will be the only one that matters.

Chad Kraus Twins Baseball

First let’s talk about the elephant in the room: my last article titled “The Joy of Being a Twins Fan”. Well, we all know they went on to miss the playoffs by one run, losing the tiebreaker game with the White Sox 0-1. I stand by my claim from the previous article. I really love being a Twins fan, win or lose.

OK, so what is this article going to be about? A coin toss. Because, in my opinion, that was the deciding factor in who got in. Sure, either team could potentially beat the other on the road. But it didn’t happen often this year. The Twins took 8 out 10 games in the Metrodome against the White Sox, and only 2 games in Chicago. Home field advantage for this tiebreaker was HUGE. And it was decided by a coin toss.

In the future, I think this rule needs to change. Home field advantage for a tiebreaker game should be determined by who won more games when they played each other that year. The Twins won 10 games, and the White Sox won 8, so the Twins should have gotten to play the tiebreaker at home.

The year the Yankees and Red Sox finished in a tie, they used this method to determine the division champ. The difference in that situation was that both teams got in because one was the wild card. So in that situation there is no point in a tiebreaker game.

The Twins and White Sox however, both had worse records than the team that earned the wild card this year. And so a tiebreaker was needed. Why not pick home field based on who whooped up on the other team more that year?

Anyway, no use crying over what’s done. It was a great season and very fun to watch.

Comments from old site:

Written by adam
Posted: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 11:26 AM

If we win the toss I think we don’t complain. I’m kind of a homer for the Twinks so I wanted home field bad but I agree the toss was not the right way to decide. I still think you have to score more than zero to win any game anywhere though.:) p.s. I have your blog as an RSS feed to my iGoogle page, so I find out when youve written pretty soon after you post. I’ll see you at practice.

Chad Kraus Twins Baseball

Wow. Last night was probably one of the greatest Baseball games I have watched in quite some time. Down 1-6, the Minnesota Twins came back to win the game 7-6 in 10 innings at the Metrodome, which completed their three-game sweep of the rival Chicago White Sox. Fantastic. What’s more, the Twins were behind the White Sox by 2.5 games going into this series. The Twins are now in first place in the division by a half game, with just 3 games left in the season.

I first started watching the Twins sometime before the 1991 season when I was 9 years old. I remember staying up late on school nights to watch the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. Kirby robbing a potential game-winning home run in Game 6. Are the Twins for real, or is Kent Hrbek just pulling Ron Gant’s leg? Jack Morris pitching a 10 inning shutout in Game 7 for a 1-0 Twins win. The failed attempt by Atlanta to win 3 at Home and 1 in the Dome. That was a magical experience.

Sure, there were a few bad seasons in the late 90’s that lead to the threat of Contraction. But it was that 2001 team that made me fall in love with Twins baseball again. Being a Twins fan is a joy. They don’t spend as much money as other teams, and so their roster isn’t always as good on paper. But they consistently over-achieve, year after year since the threat of contraction in 2001. Somehow, some way, this team finds a way to be in the playoff hunt. They don’t quit, and as a Twins fan I really appreciate that.

One thing is for certain, the last three games promise to be exciting ones. Just as the fans can count on the fact that those guys won’t quit, the Twins can count on one thing from us in return.

We’ll be watching and cheering.

Comments from old site:

Written by Adam
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2008 at 2:31 PM

That was a pretty sweet victory. I just hope they don’t stumble over K.C. on the way to the playoffs. Even if they do they did so much better than predicted and it has been a wild ride that has been entertaining to the last. I don’t know how much more you could ask for out of a team.

Written by Aaron
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2008 at 12:04 PM

Go Twins!!!

Chad Kraus Twins Baseball