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What Really Bugs Us About Mac
This week we’d like to extend a thumbs-up to the tiny winged bugs making themselves at home on the interior window ledges and screens of select Dupre residences. There was a time when our insect cousins were forced to reproduce and feed in harsh and unpredictable outdoor climes, clinging to blades of grass or leaves or perhaps nothing more than the rough bark of hardwood trees to protect themselves against the elements. Humanity, for a time, basked in the convenience of this arrangement—only when forced to venture outside (and, heaven forbid, break a sweat) did the calculus of avoiding and, if necessary, killing the myriad species of creepy-crawlies with which we share this planet enter into its consciousness. But, alas, evolution seems to have overtaken man’s best-laid plans. Blame it on this year’s glorious Indian summer, blame it on natural selection—hell, blame it on the fact that you chose to go to college in this godforsaken patch of land we call Minnesota. One thing is clear: we’ve got ourselves a bug infestation.

Whatever Happened to the Miracle Twins?
A big thumbs-down to our own Minnesota Twins. There’s nothing like spending $30—even if it would be a deal in just about any other big-league team’s domain—to sit in the upper deck of the Metrodome and watch a professional baseball team whose rollercoaster of a 2006 regular season might one day be the stuff of legend royally suck it up on back-to-back game days. A month ago the Twins were considered by those in the know to be dead in the water: their season was over, derailed by a lackluster and inexperienced offense, and its memory would forever be tainted by the dreaded “rebuilding” label. Last Sunday those same underdog Twins became the champions of the AL Central—and the Twin Cities went nuts over the improbable feat of their unpredictable home team.
But now we’re back to square one. We attended the first two games of the American League Division Series, and in our expert opinion the Twins are currently playing worse than they did at the nadir of their season: they look tired, nervous, overwhelmed, and yes, inexperienced. The Athletics walked all over them in both games, and with the next two games (tonight and Saturday) scheduled to be played on Oakland’s home turf, it’s not looking good for our boys. If you haven’t yet had the privilege of bleeding out your broken ears in the excessively noisy Metrodome this series, never fear: just make sure you’re in front of a TV by 3 p.m. today and ready to root, root, root for your home team. Because unless the Twins can pull off a miracle in California it’ll be your last chance to do so until opening day in April.