Live at 5 p.m.: What Minnesota sports figure would like to meet for a beer?
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Today's drafters:
1. Pete Steinert, Sunday editor2. Brian Stensaas, web sports editor and golf writer;3. Naila-Jean Meyers, senior assistant sports editor4. Paul Klauda, high school and soccer editor5. Jerry Zgoda, soccer and golf writer6. Megan Ryan, college football and hockey writer;7. Rachel Blount, horse racing and Olympics writer;8. La Velle E. Neal III, Twins writer9. Chris Miller, baseball and pro hockey editor;10. Michael Rand, senior digital writer
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Welcome to today's Virtual Happy Hour, where we'll be choosing 20 Minnesota sports figures we'd like to meet for beer and a burger. You'll know some of the names, while others are bound to be lower profile but with an interesting story. You can leave your comments before and during the draft, and we'll post some of them along with our picks.
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Thanks for joining our Virtual Happy Hour tonight. Bring along whatever you're drinking and join us. The first opick tonight belongs to Star Tribune sports Sunday editor Pete Steinert, which means he'll also have the last oick of the second round in our snake format. He'll be followed by web editor Brian Stensaas and senior assistant sports editor Naila-Jean Meyers.
Pete, you're on the clock. -
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A certain former Viking turned 60 last year. I'd like to sit down with him and congratulate him on a life well lived. The first round is on me. Yes, Gary Anderson will be forever be known in Minnesota for Wide Left, but he handled defeat with dignity and he turned the page. He kicked four more seasons for the Vikings -- that surprised me -- and retired as the NFL's all-time leading scorer (he is third now) at the age of 45. He was 59 for 59 on PATs and 35 for 35 on FGs in the regular season of 1998. Furthest I can tell he is now living in the Candadian Rockies. Yes, at some point I'd want to ask him how often he still thinks of that miss against the Falcons. But we would move on. Maybe he'd even show me his favorite flying fishing spot.
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I’ve very much enjoyed these weekly Virtual Happy Hours and I think we’ve got a good thing going. Clearly, we’re not alone. These sort of meet-ups are happening all over the shuttered sports landscape. The Detroit Tigers hosted one last week and on it, a fan lamented that he could not be there in person “knocking a cold one back.” Ron Gardenhire stepped up to the plate. “Some guy wants me to shoot this beer. I can do that!” he said. And shoot he did – an eight-second chug that emptied most of the bottle. Gardenhire then gave a double fist-pump as the moderator wished the fans and the night’s sponsor – Surprise! A beer company! – a pleasant good evening. That’s my kind of manager, and one I’d gladly meet for a round of suds.
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If Pete's and Brian's picks are any indication, there are gonna be some interesting questions asked over beer.Sweet photos so far, too.Next three pickers are Naila-Jean Meyers, Paul Klauda and Jerry Zgoda. Two of those three asked the living-or-dead question in the lead-up to the draft.
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When I was thinking about candidates for this draft, I kept coming back to people from the last draft -- on Minnesota sports figures who were worthy of "Last Dance"-style documentaries. I picked Sid in that one, but I will leave him for someone else this time. I'm going to go with symmetry and shameless promotion: The No. 3 pick in last week's draft was Cheryl Reeve... and she's my pick at No. 3 tonight. I love a good chat about women in sports. And oh by the way, you can have coffee -- sort of -- with Reeve tomorrow at Strib Sports virtual town hall.
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The No. 3 pick for two weeks in a row ... and a promotion for tomorrow's town hall with Cheryl Reeve, Richard Pitino and Derek Falvey. A truedouble-duty pick.
Wondering if Paul Klauda can top that. This is Paul's Virtual Happy Hour debut. Welcome himn appropriately, please. -
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White Bear Lake school teacher Gerry Spiess could teach us a thing or two about social distancing, living in isolation and coping with no haircuts. Working from his garage, he built himself a 10-foot sailboat made out of plywood and named it Yankee Girl. In 1979 he sailed it solo across the Atlantic Ocean for 54 days before reaching Falmouth, England. Unsupported. No sponsors. Just a guy with a few navigational aids, a picture of his wife, Sally, pinned inside his tiny cabin, and a dream. Later he did the same across the Pacific. Sadly, he died last year. Farewell and adieu, this toast is for you.
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There seems to be no rules -- only broad guidelines -- in this Happy Hour draft so with some stipulations, I'll select Kevin McHale, but the young, funny one who perennially made the All-NBA interview team as a player and still when in the mood can tell a tale with the best of them. Not the guy who got beaten down in the Wolves' GM job and then on the NBA bench. Get him talking about the league's 1980s glory days or maybe even fellow Hibbing native Bob Dylan. He was priceless as Kevin Harlan's commentator back in the day when they called bad Wolves games with their mouths full of popcorn. When he's on, there's few that funny.
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I don't know why, but the first person I thought of for this was the one, the only, Big Papi (David Ortiz). He was a Twin before he was a Red Sox, and listen, I just think he'd be an interesting person to get to know. I mean, he's a 10x All-Star, 3x World Series champ. He may or may not have used performance-enhancing drugs. He got SHOT. He's got to have legions of stories. And I'd love to share a mofongo, soncocho, pollo guisado, [insert unwieldy name for a Dominican food here) and pick his brain
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I'm reaching into hockey heaven for my pick. During my days covering Gophers men's hockey, I had quite a few cups of coffee--and slices of pie--with Glen Sonmor, one of the most colorful characters in Twin Cities sports history. I'd love to have one more. Glen was the best storyteller I've met in sports, and he had a million of 'em. And he was a warm, kind soul. He could laugh at himself, too; once, on a snowy bus ride back from the UP, the bus got stuck, and Glen (then the radio analyst) and Doug Woog got the last hotel room in a little backwater town. When the bus got un-stuck, someone went to fetch them and heard this from Doug: 'Damn it, Glen just popped out his glass eye and put it in a glass of water.' Glen thought it was hilarious. The guy was one of a kind.Here's a photo of Glen on a day when I would not want to have coffee with him.
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