Power Drunk

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their latest album "Hypnotic Eye" this week, and one of my favorite tunes is "Power Drunk." The album starts out a little slow, but by the end the Petty we know and love shines through.

This past week I covered some church league softball and RecFest. Both took place at Rec Park in Milaca. This week I have a kickball event, a county emergency drill and another music festival.

It is finally time for some more fantasy football talk. I am going to share my predictions from last year, and how they actually stacked up to the finish. I started doing this last year, and I had a lot of fun. This week I'll focus on quarterbacks, and next week I'll reveal this year's rankings.

QB fantasy football:

2013 prediction No. 1: Drew Brees. Actual finish for Brees: second.
Pretty much knew he'd be up there. Good pick. Nobody really expected the next guy on the list to beat him by that much, at least I didn't.
2013 prediction No. 2: Peyton Manning. Actual finish for Manning: first.
I know for a fact that I had him higher than many people last year, and even caught some flack for it. However, I just knew that the addition of Welker would help Manning's production to swell. What I didn't know was that it would explode into what it was, and that Julius Thomas would have as much or more to do with the jump as Welker did.
2013 prediction No. 3: Cam Newton. Actual finish for Newton: third.
Two years in a row that I correctly predicted Newton's actual finish. Thus far, I've done a really good job of predictions.
2013 prediction No. 4: Aaron Rodgers. Actual finish for Rodgers: 24.
This looks really bad, but injuries derailed what would have likely been another spectacular season for A-Rod.
2013 prediction No. 5: Matt Ryan. Actual finish for Ryan: 12.
Not a great pick. Certainly did not expect the Falcons to fall off so quickly. Certainly didn't help to not have a healthy Roddy White all year, or Julius Jones for the whole season.
2013 prediction No. 6: Tony Romo. Actual finish for Romo: 11.
Was a lot higher on Romo then he turned out to finish. I even drafted him in my most important league, which sort of worked out OK. He was hurt for a game with the rib injury. Not that it should be an excuse.
2013 prediction No. 7: Matthew Stafford. Actual finish for Stafford: seven.
Boom. Right on the money with this one. I think Stafford is pretty much relegated to this or lower each year. Don't think he has the stuff to become elite.
2013 prediction No. 8: Tom Brady. Actual finish for Brady: 15.
Though I did predict a decline for Brady from year's past, I didn't predict the drop to be far enough.
2013 prediction No. 9: Robert Griffin III. Actual finish for RGIII: 19.
Should have known he would be injured and ineffective.
2013 prediction No. 10: Russell Wilson. Actual finish for Wilson: Eight.
Underrated the most consistent performer of the year, but not far off.

11. Andrew Luck (actual: five)
12. Josh Freeman (actual: LOL)
13. Ben Roethlisberger (actual: nine)
14. Andy Dalton (actual: four)
15. Joe Flacco (actual: 18)
16. Eli Manning (actual: 21)
17. Jay Cutler (actual: 22)
18. Alex Smith (actual: 14)
19. Matt Schaub (actual: 32)
20. Philip Rivers (actual: 6)

Overall, I feel like I did about as good a job as one can do to try and predict the unpredictable world of the NFL.

Anyways, I have a few pictures to share from softball and RecFest.

Brian Kiel rips a hit. The catcher is Bock Emanuel's Jim Flom, and the ref is league head Don Stob. 

A Bock Emanuel player fouls off a pitch. 

Ben Sluis helps Joey Lyons with a craft project in the kids arts and crafts tent last Saturday afternoon at Trimble Park.

Milaca Mayor Pete Pederson made the rounds at RecFest and chatted with several people. 

A third baseman makes a play. 

Goodie Bag

This week I chose to use one of my guilty pleasure artists Jesse McCartney's (how 14-year-old girl of me I know) "Goodie Bag" off his new album "In Technicolor." It was a light week for album releases, OK.

I only have a couple of pictures from the Foreston Fun Days steak fry because sports are starting to wind down, and I didn't take too many pictures last week.

However, I will be starting my fantasy football preparedness series of opinion pieces next week. For this week I'm going to share the column that I ran in the paper this week about sports movies for kids, and adults too.

Why can’t we make more 

feel-good sports movies for kids? 

What ever happened to all the feel-good sports movies for kids? 

I remember several hit sports movies geared toward the child and adult audiences alike when I was growing up. 

I mean “The Mighty Ducks” (and its sequels), “Cool Runnings,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “Space Jam,” “Little Big League,” “Little Giants” and even “Air Bud” were all feel-good sports movies. 

They couldn’t have possibly used up all the good ideas for movies like that. Did it become unsuccessful to make those types of movies? Unprofitable? 

I was watching “The Mighty Ducks” not too long ago, and I was eating up every cheesy line and remembering a day that was so full of innocence and potential. I want my godson to feel that same way when he grows up, but right now those kinds of movies just don’t exist anymore. 

Why are there no more “Rookie of the Year” movies? What about “The Sandlot”?

There is no way that they are fresh out of ideas for movies like this. I refuse to believe that there isn’t a market for this type of movie. I mean participation and interest of kids and sports can’t be that low that a great movie in the vein of the aforementioned ‘90s classics couldn’t draw a profitable audience. 

I mean, there hasn’t been a golf movie yet, right? Why not get, say, the kid from the Sprint framily commercials to play a young teenager who buys some magical set of golf clubs from a garage sale that used to belong to Bobby Jones or Jack Nicklaus or heck, even Tiger Woods? The clubs instantly make him a world-class golfer, and he gets on the pro tour. “Gordon,” the goth weirdo that nobody really knows why he is around, could caddy for the kid. This could totally work. 

With the piqued interest in soccer throughout the United States thanks to the U.S. doing well at the World Cup, don’t tell me that some sort of underdog story about a kid making his way onto some all-star soccer team wouldn’t be a great movie. 

I can’t understand why this genre of movie has fizzled. I mean, it’s also been more than 20 years since the Mighty Ducks came out in 1992; why not remake it? It has passed that point where that’s a possibility. There is no doubt a plethora of child actors in the stable at Disney Channel would be willing to learn how to skate and film in Minnesota during the winter. 

Why can’t we make this happen? 

I want my godson and possible future children to have that same experience of a magical sports story that I did when I grew up in the ‘90s. 

And I have to admit that I would like to have some more movies to enjoy myself – the cheesier the better.

A couple photos to share too: 

The Mille Lacs County Dairy Princesses chat last Friday evening in at the steak fry to kick off Foreston Fun Days.

Doug Ohman girls up steaks last Friday. 

Foil

It was about time that Weird Al Yankovic stuck his head back into the music game in a big way, and he did just that this past week with the release of his new album "Mandatory Fun." The song that stuck out the most to me was a parody of Lorde's "Royals" called "Foil" about aluminum foil and saving food and the like. That Weird Al cracks me up every time.

Lately I've been doing quite a bit of news events and trying to keep the area up to date on Legion and VFW baseball. The Milaca Legion team has been doing quite well, and have won their last seven games in a row.

In two weeks I will unveil my picks for the best quarterback options in fantasy football. I'm crunching numbers, checking out personnel, offensive schemes and whatever else it takes to make a comprehensive assessment on who the best QBs should be for this fall's fantasy season. Then I'm going to forget all that information, throw it out, and just pick from my gut the best 10 QB options, as well as some honorable mentions (shout out to Drake last night at the ESPY's. He did a great job hosting.) I might throw some stats out there still in my rankings, but mostly it will just be my brain and my gut making the picks.

I'll also once again show how I did with my predictions last year, which is usually pretty amusing, and occasionally triumphant.

Anyhow, I have several photos to share from the past week. Enjoy.

Milaca 18U's Natalie Bernard makes a catch in left field on July 8 against Apollo 18U

Maddie Shores rips a single up the middle. 

Makenzie Horrigan fouls off a pitch on July 8.

Olivia Kragt makes a play on a foul ball from her third base position late in the game.

Hannah Johnson delivers a huge pitch.

Elizabeth Keeney and her band rock the stage on July 8 at The Depot in Princeton.

Keeney and the band sang several country classics and other classic tunes.

The Milaca Legion players stretch and warm up in front of the American flag in centerfield on July 8 at Mark Park in Princeton.

Keeney belts out a note.

Milaca shortstop Kaylee Rothanburg lays down a bunt. 

Johnson throws to first for the out. 

Our House

To commemorate the release of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young box set "1974," I named this week's blog post "Our House." It is one of their more memorable songs. CSNY had some great harmonies, and also a great clash of egos, and the album tour recordings and DVD performances show both according to reviews.

This past week I covered a good number of baseball games, as well as some July 4 celebrations. I have many, many pictures from all of them. I will have pictures of some softball, baseball and some other events for next week as well.

This past week I once again did another mock draft. I feel like the more I do, the better prepared I will be come the time to really draft. I usually only do a couple to prepare, but this year I'm really looking forward to the sweet joy and release of fantasy football, which has me preparing harder than ever. In a couple weeks I will start revealing my rankings one position per week. I have done this the past few years.

Anyways, in the mock draft this past week I had the eighth spot. I'm trying to get a feel for each spot, but the first round is kind of a crapshoot this year, so it hasn't really helped to do different spots. However, in the eighth spot in the latest mock draft I took Jimmy Graham. It was the first time that I had taken a tight end this early so far in my mocks, but my top option of Megatron was already gone at this point, and there weren't really any top-tier running back options left, so I took this as my best course of action, despite being against my strategy of taking wideouts earlier.

This turned out pretty good as I was able to nab a strong wideout in Brandon Marshall on the way back in the second round. I snatched up last year's breakout star Keenan Allen in the third round. Despite only two receivers on my roster (at this point having three has seem best) I decided to take the plunge and grab C.J. Spiller in hopes he can A) stay healthy and B) not suck like last year. In the fifth round I was happy to see Shane Vereen available, and took my second running back.

At that point I really needed a third receiver before all I'm left with are lottery tickets and flyers. I was able to get T.Y Hilton in the sixth to round out my receiver rotation. I then got what could very well be the steal of the draft in Ben Tate in the seventh. Chances are he will flame out in Cleveland, but he has looked good in the past, and now that he should be the man, you never know.

At this point I decided it was time for me to grab a passer. Though there were still a half-dozen strong options at quarterback left, I figured Andrew Luck would be a solid pick at this point. In round nine I made my obligatory Mike Evans pick. Seriously, am I totally wrong about this guy or what? He always seems to be available in round 9-11.

I rounded out my receiver corps with Riley Cooper in the 10th and Danny Amendola in the 12th. I nabbed two more running backs to fill my stable with Knowshon Moreno in the 11th and DeAngelo Williams in the 13th. I was once again able to fill my Vikings quota with Blair Walsh in the 14th, and then I took Chicago (Jared Allen's new home) in the final round to close it out.

I have to say that this was a pretty productive draft, despite going away from my mantra of nabbing three receivers in the first 3-4 rounds. It actually turned out great, considering I have a big point getter at tight end. I could be in a lot of trouble at running back if none of these guys pan out, because none are anything close to a sure thing. However, the way I see it, no running back is really a sure thing anyway, so you may as well just grab as many lottery tickets as possible, and hope you get lucky. There is always free agency and trades too.

As always, feel free to follow me on twitter @typhoonater467, and enjoy the many photos.

Princeton VFW batter Josh Swanson fouls off a pitch in a July 1 game at Mark Park in Princeton.

Hurler Allen Linder threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 win on July 1. 

Shortstop Jack Thompson fires hard to first base.

Milaca Legion left fielder Ian Carpenter fouls off a pitch during a July 1 doubleheader against North Branch in Milaca.

Blake Kiel throws from second base to get an out.

Wyatt Foss takes a big cut.

Brian Kiel was the starter in the victory in game one.

One of the muscle cars in the Bock Fourth of July parade burns out on Main St. 

Milaca-area representative Sondra Erickson, smiles to the crowd as she marches in the parade.

Arlan Koppendrayer was the first speaker of the evening at the July 4th celebration in Pease.

Dan DeKam, former principle of Community Christian School speaks at the 99th annual Pease Fourth of July festival last Friday evening.

A young lady gets a tatoo on her face at the face painting/tatoo stand.

Current pastor of Christian Reformed Church of Pease Michael Ten Haken speaks to a full crowd last Friday.

Children wait patiently for candy and goodies to be thrown their way. 

This young man looks a bit puzzled. 

Suckers were flying from all sides of this float. 

If that isn't a portrait of America, I'm not sure what is. 

This Princeton VFW batter swings at a high pitch last Monday against Milaca VFW in Milaca.

Milaca second baseman Nathan Hass tags a Princeton runner, who was called safe.

Milaca third baseman Riley Moos fires to first.

Princeton first baseman Brent Chambers has to reach high to catch a throw to first.

Hass makes a nice running catch in shallow right field. 

Hass catches the throw from home and goes down for a tag on a steal attempt.

Classic

The smash "Classic" from MKTO is a straight up pop song, one of the few on the charts today. It's on the way up, currently at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It has a catchy hook, and overall is a pretty solid song for what it is.

I only have a couple pictures this week since the only thing I covered last week was a golf tournament, and I used most of the pictures of that in the paper.

However, I will have many more pictures next week, and I participated in two more fantasy football mock drafts in the past week, which I will share.

In the first draft I had the seventh pick of the draft and got Calvin Johnson, meaning to try out my strategy of taking a couple top-tier receivers at the top of the draft. I also got Brandon Marshall, but then I was sucked back into my strategy of taking running backs, and wound up not being able to take a reliable third receiver. Once you get past the top 20 or so receivers there is a huge gap until you get to the guys you would maybe take a flyer on as a fourth, fifth or sixth receiver.

In the next draft I made sure that I shored up three wideouts early, so that I knew for sure I had three solid, reliable guys. I believe it all worked out nearly as planned.

I had the fifth pick, so I assumed that Megatron would again fall to me, but I was wrong. Somebody must have thought the same as me. Despite several strong running back options available (Eddie Lacy, Matt Forte, Marshawn Lynch) I stuck to my guns and took who I believe is the second best receiver in AJ Green. I held tight to my strategy by taking Alshon Jeffrey at 16 in the second round. Luckily, Antonio Brown, a player I really like, was still available in the third round, so I snatched him up.
This means that I arguably have three first-tier or No. 1 wideouts on my team, but now I have to hope that I can find a couple useful or breakout running backs with my next few picks.
Fortunately for me Zac Stacy somehow dropped to round four (I took him in the second round in my first mock). With him anchoring my RB corps, I managed to snatch a boom-or-bust pick with Reggie Bush in the fifth round, which I feel is a pretty strong pick. I really think Shane Vereen can be solid, especially in PPR formats this season, so I was pretty excited to get him in round six. Normally I'd wait a little longer to take a quarterback than round seven, but Matt Ryan was available, and there were not really any strong other players that I wanted left, so he became my seventh round selection.
Hoping to load up some more running back depth in case my top three don't work out, I took old reliable, Frank Gore in round eight. I gobbled up Dennis Pitta for an upside tight end pick in round nine. I then took another lottery ticket in Miami's newest back Knowshon Moreno (not sure why he was still available in round 10). Took a flyer/upside pick in Mike Evans in round 11. I'm pretty sure I've taken him in every draft, because he seems to be available in these late rounds. He's a big, physical specimen with strong hands, and I see no reason why he can't produce right away in the NFL, but whatever, rest of the peoples loss.
I nabbed a flyer in Hakeem Nicks in round 12, and James Jones in round 13. You never know, they've had success before, and they are in new homes this year, where they should see more balls. Plus I already have three stud receivers ahead of them, so why not take a chance? Then it came down to the part in the draft where I take the obligatory kicker and defense. Today it was Blair Walsh (had to have one Viking) and the Dallas defense.
I feel like this was my best draft yet, and I really believe in this taking two (and even three in this case) receivers with the first three picks. This seems to me like the only way since receiver thins out so much in the middle rounds. I mean do you really trust taking Mike Wallace, Eric Decker in the seventh round or Emmanuel Sanders in the eighth to have as your third wideout. I certainly don't.

Anyways, I have a couple golf pictures to share, and follow me on twitter @typhoonater467.

Travis Johnson hits a chip last Thursday at the Duffer's Delight Tournament at Stones Throw Golf Course north of Milaca.

Dave Dillan celebrates after sinking a putt last Thursday in the Milaca Chamber of Commerce fundraiser.