Feeling Minnesota

I’ve been in a fantasy football league for about 20 years. I’m still the new guy in the league celebrating its 25th year. In non-COVID years, the league gets together to draft in person. It’s a fun “guys” weekend but we’re not in our 20s or even 30s anymore, so the activities related to the draft weekends usually involve going to a baseball game or other tourist destinations rather than late nights out at bars or clubs. Or so I’ve heard! Based on my schedule and the start of the kids’ school year, I’ve only attended a few drafts in person. Atlanta was fun, Jensen Beach, Florida was interesting, and the Northern Virginia drafts were a blast. Still, after a long break from being at a draft in person, I decided I was definitely going this year. This year in Minneapolis! And the Minnesota State Fair! And with Weird Al Yankovic! Maybe! 

On Thursday morning, I received this email from American Airlines:

Disruptive weather conditions are forecast to impact portions the Northeast, which may affect your upcoming travel on American Airlines. Your flight is currently on time, but we are offering options if you would like to proactively change your travel plans. That means you could travel on a different date or time or use a different airport to make your connection.

I watched Good Morning America in the morning, and though they discussed severe storms between Vermont and Virginia, I didn’t think much of it since the local weather showed thunderstorms starting around 5:00 in the DC area. Our flight was at 3:50. My friends and I got in the car to drive to the airport around 1:15, and just as we left my street, we got notification that the flight was delayed. Our plane was coming from New York and got stuck thanks to poor weather there. Not ideal but not terrible. We went back inside my house and played video games as members of my family arrived home from school surprised to see me and my friends still there.

We finally left around 4:00 and parked at a hotel near DCA since I made parking reservations there. As an aside, hotel parking for the airport is a great deal. With tax, you usually pay about $15 a day to park in a covered garage and you get a shuttle to the airport. Daily economy parking at DCA is $25 for an open-air parking lot and you still need to take a bus to the terminal. We ate dinner at a restaurant at Pentagon City, walked back to the hotel, and arrived at the airport for a 7:55 flight. 

Through security, we got notified at 6:51 that the flight was delayed to 10:00. Lovely. A few minutes later, another notification that the flight was delayed to midnight. What? Then 2:00 AM, then 4:00 AM, then 6:00 AM. What the what?

The weather was the problem earlier but now it was air traffic control issue. We talked to someone at American at the airport who confirmed that the flight was delayed to 6:00 AM the following morning and assured us that we’d be fine leaving the next day. You see where this is going, right? 

We debated about getting the car to go to our respective homes to then try to meet up again before 4:00 AM, go back to the hotel since we had the parking reservations, and then Uber/Lyft to DCA since the shuttle doesn’t operate that early. Seemed like a lot of time and hassle spent to get little sleep, so we decided to get a room at the hotel for the night. Got a great price and Alexis and Tony were extremely helpful. You know, let me plug the Embassy Suites at Crystal City National Airport. Nice rooms with a free breakfast and great staff. And if this Embassy Suites wants to be the official blog of Sean's Ramblings, we can talk! 

And at just after 10:00 PM, we got notification that the 6:00 AM flight was canceled. Not delayed, cancelled. Completed cancelled. We called American and asked about options. We looked into leaving out of Dulles or BWI or even Richmond or Philadelphia. Or flying into Duluth or Sioux City. The “best” option was flying out of DCA around noon to get into Dallas for a 3:30 PM flight to get us into Minneapolis at 6:19 PM, over 24 hours later than the originally scheduled flight. We took it.

After a tasty breakfast at Embassy Suites, including the chef at the omelet station “cooking” two donuts on a grill with cheese in the middle (hey, we planned on spending the entire day at the Minnesota State Fair and the flight cancellation significantly decreased the amount of time at the fair and opportunities to eat fair food), we made it back to DCA and on to Dallas-Fort Worth. 

And then another delay at DFW. Ugh. We landed just before 7:00, got a ride from the airport, and arrived at the front gate of the fairgrounds at 7:33. I got cheese on a stick just minutes later.

We arrived at our seats just minutes before Weird Al started the show.

Weird Al was fantastic. Such a fun show with lots of costume changes. While most of Weird Al’s songs are silly, he and the band are seriously gifted musicians. Although most of the exhibits and venues at the state fair were closed after the concert, I enjoyed a deep fried apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. 

We were unsuccessful in buying a bucket of cookies since the lines were outrageous. These cookies by Sweet Martha's Cookie Jar are a really big deal. However, outside the venue, we saw three guys probably around 18 with more cookies than they were going to eat. We approached them with a $1 bill in hand, explained that we were from out of town and wanted experience the state fair cookie, and offered them money for a cookie. In hindsight, this seems really creepy. Even at the time, I felt like this.

 

They ended up being Minnesota nice and gave us a cookie for free. 

As for the rest of the weekend, I played fowling (which is a football meets bowling game) and whirlyball (basketball meets lacrosse in bumper cars) for the first time. I was fairly useless in helping our team successfully complete a difficult escape room played in multiple rooms and floors. I ate famous blueberry pancakes and an infamous burger. Went to a Twins game too. We stayed at an awesome sports-themed Airbnb with bubble hockey, video games, a poker table, and a hockey room. Oh, the fantasy football draft also happened. My team has a lot of high-risk, high-reward possibilities which is a nice way of writing that it probably isn’t very good. But you don’t care about my fantasy team.

So that’s it. Or is it. On the flight back from Minneapolis, about 35 minutes out from our scheduled arrival, the captain announced that there were thunderstorms in DC, so he was instructed to slow down and basically hold the flight south of Pittsburgh. He said we don’t have a lot of extra fuel (which you definitely don’t want to hear as a passenger!!!!), but enough to get to DCA and that we’ll land about 40 minutes late. Fortunately, the storm moved past the airport, and we only arrived about 15-20 minutes behind schedule.

The overall verdict is that it was an amazing weekend. I was one of over 200,000 people who attended the Minnesota State Fair, marking a record for the biggest attendance on the festival's first Friday, but I only got a small taste of the event. I'd love to go back, but I think the lesson here is that I'm never flying to Minneapolis again (at least from DCA)!

By the way, I never saw the movie referenced in this post's title.

Steelers Love Merchandising

I'm on the Pittsburgh Steelers mailing list, and the team sends out multiple emails per week. During the off season, while many messages focused on the draft (since it was in Pittsburgh), draft picks, free agent signings, the schedule release, and ticket sales, the majority were about various clothing and other gear. Basically, the Steelers were taking a play out of the Spaceballs playbook.

If you want Steelers beach and pool gear, or Steelers' merchandise to celebrate America's 250th birthday, you got an email about it!

But that's not all. How about other opportunities to purchase items from official Steelers partners!

It's really impressive how many partnerships and different types of merchandise the team sells. Now let's see if the Steelers match their output in merchandising with wins on the football field!

Weekend Update

Ah, the weekend. It's what everyone is working for. Sometimes you're busy with lots of activities. Sometimes you can relax and unwind. Maybe sleep in. The sleeping in part never happens for me. On Saturday morning, I woke up a little after 3:00 thanks to hearing Lucy throw up. After cleaning it up with a carpet stain removal, I went back to sleep...only for Lucy to again wake me up at 5:00 because she wanted food. I love this cat, but she is so annoying. And as I’m typing this she is scratching the couch.

Okay, enough about Lucy. Let’s get to some good stuff.

The big highlight of the weekend was taking my boys to a card show. My dad took my brother and me to card shows regularly when I was in middle school, and I actually sold cards several times at the Eastland Mall Super Flea in North Versailles, PA. I love the atmosphere of card shows. For sports cards (since I skip over tables with Pokémon and non-sports cards), many people love to talk about certain cards or teams or players. At this particular card show, I learned why a guy who grew up in Northern Virginia is a Bills fan. I bought myself a $1 Bryce Eldridge card since I saw him play at Madison High School in Northern Virginia, and I hope he has a long and successful baseball career. This led to a discussion about ultimate frisbee with a father and his teenage son who plays ultimate frisbee with some guys from Madison HS. And I bought a Konnor Griffin card because why not.

The Moose bought several cards that might be valuable in the future, but for the most part, they bought cards of players they like or cool cards. For example, Pedro Tulo bought himself a Detroit Pistons Rodney Stuckey card since it included part of his jersey. While it’s a neat card, I doubt there’s a huge resale market for Rodney Stuckey cards. We did not consider getting a Lamine Yamal card for $15K or a Victor Wembanyama card for $8K. Someone else was trying to sell a signed drumstick by Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. One guy I met named Nicholas creates his own cards via Near Mint Customs. While we talked about the absurdity of Enes Kantor declaring for the WNBA draft (he was selling some of these cards that he made), I really liked his "What If" series (though Russell Wilson should have been in an Orioles or Rockies jersey since those MLB teams drafted him).

I went out to a really nice dinner the other night and mentioned that I’m seeing the Foo Fighters on Monday night. (Future blog post?) When asked who was the opening acts, I replied Queens of the Stone Age and practically had to whisper Mannequin Pussy. At a quiet, fancy restaurant, not quite the environment to say that name loudly! Actually, this was probably a missed opportunity to say the band name loudly!

Wegmans is discontinuing its mac and cheese boxes. I don’t know why. The grocery chain should really inform me of any actions taken. Anyway, did I buy 10 boxes for 26 cents each? Absolutely. I figure that I might make a box or two and I can donate the rest at an upcoming food drive.

When I was in 5th or 6th grade, my dad put a pair of red sweatpants in the washer with whites. All of my whites turned pink. At that point, I decided it was time to do my own laundry. With The Moose about to start his sophomore year in high school, he should have at least done some of his laundry years ago. Still, he did his first load of Sunday.

When the kids were away at camp, we ran the dishwasher twice a week at the most. Now that they’re home again, we’re back to running the dishwasher every day or two. So many cups get used by them!

It’s Dad Camp week, so more about that to follow.

Random Ramblings: August 2026

I'm really enjoying The Pitt. It's non-stop action, and I'm amazed how well the actors just spout off medical terminology. I guess that's why they are really talented actors. Sure, maybe they don't need to show all of the blood and gore, but I sense that this is a fairly realistic look at a busy emergency room. Completely related, I plan on donating blood again soon. 

The other day, I went on Facebook using my Sean's Ramblings profile. I follow/like dozens of people, companies, etc. In scrolling through my feed, the first 63 entries were either sponsored posts (meaning ads) or something that "matches my interests." 63! How about showing me posts for something that I follow?!?!

I saw Styx and Chicago play recently. Definitely worth the $20 Groupon tickets. The only negative was there were no Terrible Towels or Steelers celebrities for Renegade. 

Did you know that geese hiss? I've mentioned numerous times that one of my favorite summer activities is taking walks on our neighborhood golf course after the golfers finish for the evening. I regularly see deer and foxes and geese on these walks. Recently, while walking on the cart path, I said "hey guys" to a group of geese who were eating and walking on the grass next to the path. My thought was that I wanted to announce myself and not startle them. In response, one goose lifted its head from the grass, looked directly at me, and hissed. I walked right by and didn't look back until I was a safe distance away!

Sheffield Wednesday plays its first match of the season in the first round of the EFL Cup on Saturday. There's some optimism for the season under new ownership since anything has to be better than last season when the team only won league matches. Still, I'm not ready for the season to begin or seeing Wednesday play League One matches against teams like Leyton Orient, Burton Albion, and Doncaster. Feel like it's going to take a few years for Wednesday to get close to getting back to the Championship League. And I'm not sure if they'll ever get to the Premier League.

My dentist asked me to see a periodontist for receding gums, and I put it off for years. I finally went, and the periodontist says that I need to have tissue graft surgery. I'm not going to get into details, but this all seems ridiculous to me. I feel like receding gums and graft surgery is something for people who are AARP members. Uh oh.

Finally, the best way to end any blog post is with Cookie Monster.

The Return of Sean Analyzing Song Lyrics

In the earlier days of this blog, I occasionally wrote posts where I pointed out and analyzed various pop song lyrics. While it turns out that I haven't done a post about song lyrics since 2019, now seems like a perfect time to bring back a classic.

Stella Lefty - Boston

On a train back to Boston and we're jumpin' the gun

And I'm tellin' you, baby, this the part where I'd run

But I like it when you're nice, like it when you're nice to me

Like it when your partner is nice to you? That seems like a fairly low bar.

Bella Kay - iloveitiloveitiloveit (Video NSFW due to language)

I love it when we fight and I like it when you’re mean.

We don’t have to get into what that says about me.

My apologies to Ms. Lefty. Maybe nice isn’t such a low bar.

Ella Langley - Choosin' Texas

This is the song of the summer and will likely be the song of 2026. And sure, most people think that this song is about an ex-boyfriend of Langley who decided to return to another woman in Texas. But what if this song is about something else entirely? I've included the entire lyrics to the song below. It definitely hits differently if you picture the song from the point of view of the University of Tennessee football program and its fans lamenting its loss in attempting to recruit quarterback Arch Manning, who chose (the University of) Texas!

Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee

I shoulda known better than to take him back to Abilene

I put him right back into her arms

I wasn't a match for that kinda spark 

She's from Texas, I can tell by the way

He's two steppin' 'round the room

And judgin' by the smile that's written on his face

There's nothin' I can do

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see

A cowboy always finds a way to leave

Drinkin' Jack all by myself

He's choosin' Texas, I can tell

Well, I guess he forgot about the Smoky Mountain rain

Them old Hank tunes, the Memphis blues we used to sing

He always loved Amarillo By Morning

I shoulda taken that as a warning

She's from Texas, I can tell by the way

He's two steppin' 'round the room

And judgin' by the smile that's written on his face

There's nothin' I can do

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see

A cowboy always finds a way to leave

Drinkin' Jack all by myself

He's choosin' Texas, I can tell

When I'm eastbound and down and I can't help but cry

'Cause I-40 gets lonelier with every mile

I'll know that his mind wasn't ever gonna change

'Cause his heart still belongs to the Lone Star State

She's from Texas, I can tell by the way

He's two steppin' 'round the room

And judgin' by the smile that's written on his face

There's nothin' I can do, nah, yeah

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see

A cowboy always finds a way to leave

Drinkin' Jack all by myself

He's choosing Texas, I can tell, no

Drinkin' Jack all by myself

He's choosin' Texas, I can tell

Come on, baby

Oh, yeah

Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee

Niall Horan - Tastes So Good

I freeze

When you're not swimming in my bloodstream

I don't know what this means, but no one should be in your bloodstream. Oh, unless it's like an Osmosis Jones situation.

Sabrina Carpenter - House Tour (Video is iffy but lean towards NSFW)

The couch is really comfy comfy

Got some Chips Ahoy

If you're hungry hungry

I'd love to know if Chips Ahoy is sponsoring this song. Like did they pay Carpenter $1 million for the product placement? Oh, Chips Ahoy cookies are meh. Now, chewy Chips Ahoy cookies are legit!

Olivia Rodrigo - the cure (video NSFW for one word)

But my head if full of poison

And my heart is full of doubt

I got toxins in my bloodstream

You tried hard to suck them out

Toxins in your bloodstream aren't good, but it seems better than having someone swim in Niall Horan's bloodstream or Niall Horan being in someone else's bloodstream!

Please click here to read more posts where I analyze song lyrics.

Washington Spirit-Denver Summit Recap (& Why Spirit Fans Hate Me)

(If you want to skip the intro, please go to the sentence in bold for the game recap.)

With the kids away at camp, I have some time to do things I've wanted to do for months if not years. I'm taking walks nearly every evening, trying to play more pickleball, and catching up on TV. (The Pitt is really good!). The one thing I've wanted to do most is to cover a live sporting event again. While I covered a men's George Mason basketball game this winter, I wanted to cover a professional sports team, and the team I was most intrigued about was the Washington Spirit since they are arguably the most successful Washington professional sports team over the last 5-6 years. Actually, not at all arguably. The team won the NWSL Championship in 2021 and reached the finals in both 2024 and 2025. With a win on Sunday against the Denver Summit, the team would pass Gotham FC to move into first place. Gotham defeated the Spirit 1-0 almost two weeks ago in a match where the Spirit had more shots on goal (9-4) and a higher number of expected goals. It wouldn't be a surprise to see them face each other deep in the playoffs this fall.

I applied for media credentials to the Spirit-Summit match and was accepted.  Although I'm a big soccer fan, played through my entire childhood, coached my kids' teams, and have been a soccer referee for decades, I don't follow the Spirit as much as I'd like. While I did some research on the team prior to the game, I thought I would ask on BlueSky if anyone had any suggestions on things to look out for. This was the actual post:

I have media credentials to cover the Washington Spirit-Denver Summit match tonight. Besides Trinity Rodman & the fact that the Spirit will move into first place if they win, I know just a little about the match. Does anyone have any information about either team or players that might be useful? 

 

Though poorly worded and being a little self-deprecating (not that anyone would know that by reading it and not knowing me), I figured I might get a few comments from friends. Maybe I would get some responses about a certain player playing well lately or someone else losing playing time. Maybe some thoughts about Sandy MacIver taking over the keeper role this season for Aubrey Kingsbury who is on maternity leave (and just had a baby a few weeks ago. Congrats!). 

It didn't work out that way. My post was picked up by Spirit fans who (rightfully) blasted me. Who was I to get credentials? Did I take a spot from someone who deserved it more? Several WTF replies, and not why the face. And I get it. It was never my intention to take someone's spot (and it doesn’t seem like I did). My goal was and is to write a post for casual soccer fans who may not have attended a Spirit match. There are other fantastic sites and podcasts that cover the Spirit and describe and discuss match previews and recaps as well as the day-to-day activities of the team. (I've highlighted a few at the end of this post.) That's not me, and I don't expect the team's biggest fans to read this blog for that. With that written, I needed to share writing samples as part of the media credentials application, and those that I included were soccer specific. Although I haven't written about the Spirit (well, the Washington Spirit as I have written about the Pittsburgh Spirit), it's not like the recent men's World Cup was my introduction to soccer. So despite several comments of go home or stay home (usually with the "F" word thrown in), off I went…

Only to discover that the game ended and the stadium was not letting people in!

I’m kidding. I know that this is where Noah Kahan performs. 

Outside the stadium, I saw the Washington Spirit mobile. Cool vehicle but why a Virginia license plate?

I found my way to the media entrance, got my credentials, and was directed to go up the stairs. Not the most glamorous welcome to Audi Field. (I should note that this wasn’t my first time to Audi Field, but it was my first time seeing this gloomy staircase. It was dark at the top.)

After settling in, I went back down the stairs to the concourse and walked around and grabbed some food. I would not recommend the pizza which was overpriced for its size and average at best. Try another option. And because many of my posts come back to Pittsburgh, of course I introduced myself to a guy wearing a Pirates hat and this T-shirt.

Okay, let's get to the match itself:

* Leicy Santos, who has become a star for the Spirit this season, didn't start though she entered in the 57th minute to a loud cheer. She brought a huge spark to the team., and it was not at all a coincidence that the Spirit scored minutes after she came on.

* Lindsey Heaps, the US national team captain, played in her second match of the season for Denver after her return from playing in France the last few seasons. She was everywhere in the midfield and attacking end coming close to scoring on a header in the second half. If you're familiar with the Roy Kent chant from Ted Lasso, you can substitute her name here. I won’t write it since I don’t typically swear on this blog, but the BlueSky commenters definitely know the word in the chant! (Video NSFW)

* Trinity Rodman is so much fun to watch. Not exactly breaking news here. There’s so much energy from the crowd whenever Rodman gets the ball. In the second half alone, she drew three yellow cards and had a great pass on the goal by Sofia Cantore who cut the ball back and shot it just outside the 18 off the crossbar. 

* The attendance was 15,169. I feel like I got insider information when this was announced in the media room during the second half.

* As a referee, I always watch how the professional refs call games and their positioning. I appreciate that even at the highest level, the assistant referees check the goals before the match. This is something I always do as a ref or ask my assistant referees to do when I’m a center.

Overall, I think the crew did a good job. The first foul wasn’t called until the 17th minute but nothing was really warranted. All three yellow cards on the Summit were deserved. I thought that a penalty called against the Spirit was correct in real time as it seemed as though Rebeca Bernal fell into Heaps. VAR was quite useful in this case. From my last post, the Enya fan who also likes VAR was probably happy!

* Right before the final whistle, Santos got hit by an elbow by a Denver player in the box. While I understand the referee wanting to end the game, this was absolutely a foul and should have been a card.

* Denver made things very exciting during the second half stoppage time. Several outstanding chances from close range including a shot off the crossbar. Many neutral fans probably believe that the Summit deserved a point from this match. I guess Denver didn't quite reach the peak or a word similar to that.

* Although she didn't play, Washington striker Gift Monday may have the best name in sports. Denver’s Ayo Oke, if pronounced slightly differently, would be outstanding too.

I highly recommend attending a Spirit match at Audi Field. Fun and welcoming environment (at least in person) and a really quality team. Just skip the pizza. The Spirit are now at the top of the NWSL standings and lead the league in goal differential. Oh, for the folks that are big fans of Hal Hershfelt, here is a picture of the media surrounding her after the match. 

Here are the complete highlights of the match including Cantore's goal, the VAR decision, and the elbow to end the match. 

For more about the match and to follow the Spirit, check out some of the sites below. I know that I'm missing some.

- Hey Spirits! on BlueSky and via podcasts

- The District Press

- The Peach Review

- Green Line Soccer

- Spirit Squadron on BlueSky

- Riss Willett on BlueSky

- I'm Curious With Roey

All photos by me except for the starting 11 by the Washington Spirit and of Baby Kingsbury by Aubrey Kingsbury.

License Plate Fun

While I wouldn't call it a hobby, if I see a fun license plate in the wild, I like to take a picture and share it. Enjoy! 

If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says 15 miles to the

What to do if you're a big fan of soccer's video assist referee and a certain female Irish singer? You get this license plate!

I really hope this person got this license plate well before the Wizards drafted AJ Dybantsa.

This is certainly a choice.

I assume this means I hate waiting too. Seems like a lot of thought went into this.

Big fan of The Pacifier. 

A question from one car.

And the answer.

Not sure why I got hungry all of a sudden.

Big fan of Roundball Rock!

Is this the Best DJ in the world or just the best DJ in Utah?

No offense to the Limu Emu, but I really hope that Doug is the driver.

This is definitely Johnny Lawrence's car.

We'll end with this one which feels like cheating.

2026 Pittsburgh Pirates Draft Recap

Welcome to my annual-ish Pirates draft recap! As always, this is completely for entertainment and should not be used for actual analysis of these players. Please note that this post does not include all of the Pirates draft picks and is in no particular order.

Jason DeCaro - 3rd round, University of North Carolina, Pitcher

If you've listened to pop music over the last 15-20 years, you've heard songs by Jason Derulo, who sings his name in many of his songs.

Maybe the Pirates front office regularly listens to Derulo's music and thought it would be fun to draft a guy with a similar name. I really hope that DeCaro sings his name after recording a strikeout!

Alex Overbay - 8th round, Arizona State University, Pitcher

Overbay is the son of former Pirate great(?), Lyle Overbay. You might remember Overbay from his 103 games with the Bucs in 2011 where he hit .227 with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs. Fun fact: Alex Overbay is not a crocodile. (Unless, it's like a Teen Wolf thing where Overbay turns into a crocodile when there's a full moon or something.)

Andruw Giles - 4th round, Basic HS (Nevada), OF

Please be the son of Pirates great (no question mark needed) Brian Giles. Please be the son of Brian Giles. Please be the son of Brian Giles. Nope. Seems like his dad is Mark. Although Brian Giles has a brother, Marcus, who played in the majors, doesn't seem to be the same person. I guess we can settle on the fact that this Giles goes to a basic high school.

Griffin Stieg - 13th round, Virginia Tech, pitcher

Stieg spent the summer of 2023 playing for the Bethesda Big Train, part of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League in the Washington DC area. While not as well-known or prestigious as the Cape Cod League, there are some really talented players in this league, and it's a lot of fun attending Big Train games at Shirley Povich Field. Close seats and a terrific environment. If you're in the DC area, I highly recommend checking out a Big Train game.

Tyler Fay - 6th round, University of Alabama, Pitcher

Bryson Moore - 7th round, Florida State University, Pitcher

One of my favorite TV shows from the last 15-20 years (basically since the arrival of Jason Derulo on the music scene) was the show Happy Endings. Such a fun and funny show. The back-to-back picks of Tyler Fay and Bryson Moore reminded me of this.

Nathan Helman - 17th round, Kennesaw State University, Pitcher

Although Nathan probably likes all types of condiments, we all know that he's a big mayo fan, and Duke's Mayo isn't his favorite brand.

Rohan Lettow - 12th round, San Diego State University, Pitcher

First, S-D-S-U, SDSU, Aztecs fight. Next, you don't mess with the Rohan!

This post is just filled with references from the late 2000s and early 2010s!

Spencer Evans - 11th round, TNXL Academy, Pitcher

Spencer (is) for hire. Just wanted to make a reference from the 20th century!

Tre Phelps - 9th round, University of Georgia, 3B

Phelps' aunt is Angel Robinson who played college basketball at Georgia and three seasons in the WNBA with the Seattle Storm in 2014 and Phoenix Mercury in 2017-2018. Based on his first name and family history, Phelps might be good at shooting from a long distance. Maybe from behind a certain line.

Chris Rembert - supplemental 2nd round, Auburn University, 2B

Rembert could be a work of art for the Pirates!

Okay, trying to connect Rembert with Dutch artist Rembrandt is definitely a stretch, but this post is about more than sports. Did you know that Rembrandt's name is actually Rembrandt van Rijn? And pictured above is arguably his most famous work, The Night Watch, painted in 1642. Feel free to tell all your friends that The Night Watch is your favorite work from the Dutch Golden Age!

Dakota Stone - 20th round, University of North Florida, Pitcher

This is clearly a fake name. I mean, Dakota Stone just sounds cool. Can't be real. Oh, maybe he' s related to former Steelers wide receiver Dwight Stone. Need to continue to balance out my references from 10-15 years ago with those from the 1980s!

Damarcus Rideout-Carter - 14th round, Heart Lake Secondary School (Ontario), Pitcher

While Rideout-Carter is also a cool name, let's focus on Canada. There were 10 Canadian-born players drafted this year. 4 of the 10 played college baseball in the United States. 3 of the 10 are position players. This means that in the entire MLB draft, there were only 3 high school pitchers drafted out of Canada. Of those 3 pitchers, Rideout-Carter is the only one from Ontario. While kind of neat, to paraphrase Dark Helmet, this means absolutely nothing.

Bonus pick: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever name they're using now)

In the 4th round, the Angels drafted Rylan Lujo, a pitcher from the University of Georgia. I know what you're thinking. Sean - Why are you including an Angels draft pick here? You don't even know their team name! Well, Lujo's grandfather is Rennie Stennett who was part of the Pirates 1971 and 1979 teams that won the World Series (though Stennett didn't play in the '71 series).

I hope you enjoyed this draft recap. Please feel free to check out draft recaps like this from previous years.