FanHouse Twins

He likes them so much that he might start a pair of pairs on his South Carolina defense in 2007. This stuff is fodder for lazy writers and announcers ... and bloggers like myself?

South Carolina could start two pairs of twins on defense: LB Dustin and DE Jordin Lindsey and LBs Jasper and Casper Brinkley.

This twins story has the potential to get very annoying, very fast. Oh well, CBS' problem in figuring out how not to tell this story a dozen times this year.

As far as the twins themselves, I haven't seen as much from the Lindseys but the Brinkley brothers performed well last year. The fun part this year will be figuring out which of the various brothers is actually any good.

For whatever reason with athletics, there's often one quality twin and one just good enough to get by. Look at the Lopez brothers at Stanford. One is clearly better than the other. I'd mention UCLA's Bosworth twins but neither has made much of an impact beyond Kory Bosworth's heroic stepping in front of a runaway freight train named Thomas DeCoud. Same thing with the hyperactive but ultimately average (and steroid-using) Ting Twins who played at USC. Luckily for the Brinkleys they've managed to distinguish themselves and hopefully the same can be said for the Lindseys.

The Hold Steady, an effusive, Springsteen-loving Minnesota band, is giving "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" a personalized, Twins-friendly treatment.

Frontman Craig Finn, who usually sneaks in about 3,000 words per song, is apparently famous for his Twins love at concerts. To wit:

Though he's currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Finn grew up just outside Minneapolis - as evidenced by his lyrical output, which deals almost exclusively with dead-end kids doing dead-end things in and around the Twin Cities. And, as a lifelong Twins fan, he's taken to delivering onstage sermons about the brilliance of pitcher Johan Santana or the intestinal fortitude of former first baseman Kent Hrbek during the band's epic, fist-pumping live sets.

"If anyone's ever been to one of our shows, I'm always shooting my mouth off about the Twins, so people know what team I'm for," Finn laughed. "I mean, when [Twins first baseman Justin] Morneau was named the Major League Baseball American League MVP last year in New York, they thought it was an outrage, and I had a lot to say about that when we'd play there - until some shoes started coming onstage, that is."

So the Twins musical director, Kevin Dutcher, contacted Finn and mates and asked them to do a version of the song, and they did. Simple enough, right?

Here's video of the band recording the song. Should be an interesting take, that's for sure.

(Thanks to J. Walter Weatherman for the tip.)

Torii Hunter has been a loyal soldier for the Twins for 14 years, but he's in the last year of his contract. Since the Twins' low payroll keeps them out of the free agent market and forces them to build with low-salary prospects from within the organization, Hunter is aware that this is probably his last year in Twins' pinstripes:

"This is my home. I've been here, in this organization, what, 14 years? I don't want to leave home," Hunter tells me, the stereo thumping behind him and his teammates milling around on a brilliant March morning. "But if Mama kicks me out, then I gotta go. She pays the bills."

In classic Torii talk -- Hunter is one of the most gregarious, fun-loving, easy-goingest players in baseball -- "Mama" is the only man that counts when it comes to the Twins.

"Mama? Carl Pohlad is Mama," says Hunter, laughing at the idea of the Twins' owner. "And if Mama wants me out of the house, it's time to go."

This has been a kind of sadly sweet past few months for Hunter, the Twins' 31-year-old center fielder. He watched with more than a little interest as the free-agent market for outfielders went wacko this winter ...

It's got to be a sadly sweet time for Twins fans, too, who have watched Hunter go from green prospect into one of the steadier (albeit not brilliant) offensive center fielders in the league. Defensively, Hunter always seems one or two plays away from a highlight-making catch. It'll hurt the Twins to lose him, sure, but Twins fans can also look on like proud parents when Hunter gets a huge deal next year.