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Would all the Derek Jeter worshippers please catch the next train to ShutYourYapsVille?As we recently learned, it was possible for a Minnesota Twin to win the AL MVP award and not have the universe instantly collapse in upon itself in a spasm of righteous anger. However, the more I hear about how Jeter was “robbed” of the MVP award, the more I come to realize that a sudden cataclysmic end to civilization as we know it would at least quiet the shrieking furies that are disappointed Yankee fans.

What Jeter apologists forget is that not everyone in America worships at the alter of the Pinstriped Devils. It’s all well and good that Jeter is a good player on a good team, but does that make him an MVP? Apparently, the majority of baseball writers in American League towns don’t think so. And that is where the story begins and ends.

The MVP award, like the Cy Young, is handed out after votes are counted. Hence, if you don’t like the outcome of the vote, then perhaps you ought to look at what influenced the voters.

Morneau and the Twins didn’t buy the award (they squeeze nickels until the coins bleed) and an army of Washington lobbyists certainly weren’t dispatched across America to put their formidable powers of persuasion to work. In fact, deep down, the Twins probably wish that Morneau hadn’t won the award as it will now be harder to keep him for the long term due to his greater potential earning power. Winners of an MVP award simply cost more to retain.

Jeter was simply held to a high standard of performance and found wanting by MVP voters. The story is as simple as that. All the carping in the world about how Jeter should have won doesn’t change the fact that he had, at best, a good but not great year. If a good, but not great, year is now the gold standard for MVP play, then the award probably isn’t worth winning anyway and the Yankees could hand them out in the locker room like towels for all I care.

Until then, AL MVP voters clearly have stated a preference for awarding the trophy to players who have great years. Even if they don’t play for the Yankees.

So says Jim Caple at ESPN.com.

With the end of the holiday weekend, Thanksgiving has come and gone once again.Sarah and I hosted a small gathering this year as her parents came out to visit. In addition, we invited some friends and co-workers, of whom just two could join us this year. All in all, we fed six people and one dog, counting ourselves and Dalla. The menu was actually fairly easy to prepare:

• Mushroom lasagna
• Meatballs
• Squash soup
• Sourdough bread
• Salad
• Vegetable sticks
• Olives and artichoke hearts
• Wine
• Tuxedoed Penguins

In addition, one of my co-workers brought sweet potato pecan pie, which we ate for dessert. The lasagna was easy as Mike and Tina (Sarah’s parents) helped us put it together the night before so all we had to do was pop in in the over on Thursday. The meatballs I threw together on Thursday morning because I worried that we wouldn’t have enough food otherwise (as it turned out, we had plenty, of course). Sarah made the squash soup and whipped cream for the pie. Mike, Sarah, and I worked together to turn piles of olives, some cream cheese, and a carrot into the Tuxedoed Penguins that were cute, but nothing special to eat.

All in all, everyone seemed to get plenty of food and nobody (other than me, strangely) was all that interested in dinner.

After the meal, we broke out the croquet set, and played a mean game on the finely manicured turf that is our back yard. Despite being sent to the far corners of the yard three times, Mike and Tina won the game when Tina went on a hot streak as they approached the far post.

The weather all weekend was great with temperatures in the fifties with no rain or snow. On Friday, Mike, Tina, Sarah, Dalla, and I went down to State St. for some shopping. Dalla, of course, generated all sorts of conversation from people passing by. She was even invited into the sporting goods store, as they are “dog friendly.”

Friday evening, the four humans ate at Cocoliquot, a new-ish restaurant in downtown Madison. The food was generally quite good, though nothing near cheap. We all enjoyed ourselves to one degree or another, though perhaps Sarah’s entree wasn’t all that she was hoping for.

After we got home, Sarah had some wicked heartburn which kept her from sleeping very well. The next morning, she felt nauseus, groggy, and generally quite unhappy. Apparently, something she ate the night before did not sit well with her.

Short of sticking a finger down her throat to induce vomiting, there wasn’t much we could do beyond making her comfortable and providing some peace and quiet, so Mike, Tina, and I went off to visit the winter headquarters for the downtown Farmer’s Market. We picked up some apples, tomatoes, flowers, sausages, and popcorn from the non-trivial number of vendors in attendance.

In the afternoon, while Sarah continued to rest and recuperate, Mike, Dalla, and I went hiking for a couple of hours while Tina kept Sarah company. When we got back to the house, Sarah was feeling better, so we all sat down to dinner before heading off to the hockey game.

It wasn’t until today that Sarah was feeling back to her old self. Whatever she ate at the restaurant seems to finally have released her GI tract from its unholy grip.

More than a month has passed since I’ve posted to this space. It’s not that I don’t have anytyhing to say, but rather, too much to say and too little time to say it.Sarah has been very busy trying to finish up her Master’s degree. Given our schedule for the upcoming two months, it seems likely that she will finish her work in February. There is almost no way to overstate how ready she is to move on with her life. The past month has seen her furiously working away in the lab to process her samples, and reading endless academic articles on archaeology, geology, and paleoecology in an attempt to establish a firm academic basis for her thesis.

While she has been doing that, I’ve been getting ready for my trip to the South Pole. My job at IceCube is sending me to the South Pole via New Zealand for three weeks in December. On December 9th, I leave Madison and after something near 10,000 flight miles, I’ll arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 11 Dec 07. After a couple of days in New Zealand taking care of some administrative details, I’m scheduled to take a military transport flight to McMurdo Station, located on the coast of Antarctica, on 14 Dec 07. On 15 Dec 07, I’m scheduled to board yet another military flight to Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole. Once I’m at the Pole, I should be there through 05 Jan 07, when I’ll start the multi-leg process of returning to more temperate climes.

Sarah bought her ticket to join me in New Zealand once I get out of Antarctica and we’ll spend roughly eleven days kicking around New Zealand before flying to Sydney, Australia. After spending three days in Sydney, it’s back on board an aircraft to start another set of nearly endless flights back to Madison.

Suffice it to say that between Sarah’s thesis, my work, and getting ready for those trips, we don’t much spare time, it seems.

We still find time to take in Wisconsin Men’s Hockey games, though the team this year isn’t nearly as talented as the team that won the college championship last year. We bought season tickets again this year, even though we’ll both be gone for the year’s big highlight (the home game against Minnesota).

Curling season has started and we’re both playing on teams again this year. My team is unchanged from last year, while Sarah’s league has been shaken and stirred so she has completely new teammates. So far, neither team is doing that badly. Her team is 2-1 while mine pulled out a squeaker on Thursday night to run our record to 3-0.

Two weeks ago, I started brewing some beer, and now that its initial fermentation is done, I’m hoping to get it into bottles this weekend. Otherwise, I probably won’t get to drink any of it before I leave the country.

The election is finally done and even though Wisconsin’s results didn’t exactly mirror my desires, I can’t be too disheartened with the outcome. If nothing else, Dave Zien, the ever-so-wonderful state legislator who pushed again and again for concealed carry in Wisconsin, was booted out of office quite unceremoniously by residents of his district. In addition, John Gard, the lying fascist who previously headed up the Wisconsin state senate, failed in his bid to represent a good-sized chunk of north-eastern Wisconsin in the US House. Beyond the fact that he was a hypocritical weasel, I like to think that voters in that district got tired of electing someone who pretended to represent them, yet lived no less than four hours outside of that district. Even visits by Cheney and Bush weren’t enough to propel Gard to a victory over a local allergist with no prior political experience.