Code Duello: covering the practice of dueling and points of honor, drafted and settled at Clonmel Summer Assizes, 1777

Rule 1. The first offense requires the first apology, though the retort may have been more offensive than the insult. Example: A tells B he is impertinent, etc. B retorts that he lies; yet A must make the first apology because he gave the first offense, and then (after one fire) B may explain away the retort by a subsequent apology.

"American Duels and Hostile Encounters"

Rule 2. But if the parties would rather fight on, then after two shots each (but in no case before), B may explain first, and A apologize afterward.

"American Duels and Hostile Encounters"

Chicago’s Sunday win over Cleveland, combined with the Twins’ steady 6-0 victory over Kansas City, set up a Monday afternoon (1:05 pm Central) White Sox/Tigers game that will determine if Minnesota and Chicago require a Tuesday, one-game sudden-death playoff to settle the Central Division. Should Chicago lose, then the Twins would be your 2008 Central champs, and travel to Tampa to begin the ALDS on Thursday.

But before Tuesday or Thursday, according to my Gregorian calendar, comes Monday, a day and a ballgame in which Chicago needs a win over Detroit -- in a makeup game from mid-September -- to ascend their ½ game deficit and play another day.

Wow. I don’t think my head has spun like this since I drank three-fourths a bottle of Blue Curacao in my sophomore year of college. Friday’s 8-1, hangover loss to the Royals was understandable given the emotional toil of the White Sox series. But yesterday, too? That was more sad than anything else, hitting into four double plays and gathering a mere 8 hits in the 4-2 defeat.

"I might take a sleeping pill tonight. And a glass of vodka. Twenty-seven innings and we only had one good one. We wasted 26 innings in this town."

-Ozzie Guillen, Chi Sox manager, to ESPN.com, late in the evening of Sept. 25th, 2008

“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”

-Hunter S. Thompson

By Jonah Keri

The Minnesota Vikings’ season hung in the balance. Another loss and the team would drop to 0-3, a deficit that few teams have overcome to claim a playoff berth. Rolling into town were the 2-0 Carolina Panthers, with star wide receiver Steve Smith back in the lineup. The Vikes’ starting quarterback, Tarvaris Jackson, was so abysmal in his first two games this year that the team called in a journeyman backup to fill the void.

And so it was that Gus Frerotte became the embodiment of Minnesota’s hopes and dreams.

It’s not often in life that the objects of our desires, the prizes that we covet, are within tangible grasp. But for the 2008 Minnesota Twins -- a young, enigmatic ball club on the cusp of a new home, beneath the leadership of a rookie GM, sans two departed stars, with a pitcher monikered “The Franchise” returning from Tommy John, and just three true studs to their credit -- such is their reality with just six game to play.

Week 1 – HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis – September 21, 2008
Minnesota 20, Carolina 10 Vikings 1-2, (0-1 NFC North)

Let's hope the gray around the temples means he's "experienced."

In the first of perhaps many “must” win games of this young 2008 season, the Minnesota Vikings defense put the hurt into the Carolina Panthers and points on the board in a 20-10 victory yesterday at the metrodome.

Gus Frerotte, starting in place of the benched Tarvaris Jackson, didn’t have a hall-of-fame game. But then, he didn’t have to. He did what he had to. He was patient. He threw to his second, third, or even his fourth option. He was aggressive. He completed a 48 yard pass and a 34 yard pass for a touchdown. In effect, he wasn’t Tarvaris Jackson. This is not to say he’s our quarterback of the future. The guy is 37 years old. He’s not very mobile. And in 1997, he sprained his neck head-butting the goal post celebrating a touchdown scramble against the Giants.

So maybe he’s not that smart.

Thursday's inspiring come from behind, late-inning victory over Tampa helped erase myriad unsettling vibes. Among them: Johan Santana's trademark second-half dominance . . . in a Mets jersey. The Santana trade has forced us to realize some of our worst fears. Here’s what I wrote in this space back in mid-March:

. . . the trade that sent Santana to the Mets was largely unpopular here in town, and I would agree with said sentiment, in short, because I truly think that the Twins are a fairly solid club this year, and, with Santana, would have had the opportunity to compete for a post-season slot.

Sharon Cutler is your normal PR lady. She hypes up her events and makes them sound like the most interesting and popular things going on. If you miss them you miss out on life. But the event she’s hyping this Sunday could actually live up to her grand proclamations. It involves a bicycle race through downtown. And it culminates with a party that includes free beer from New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire, Blue Paddle and this amazing commercial scored by Devendra Banhart.(after the jump)

On Monday, it was revealed that the name of the Twins new ballpark, set for play in 2010, will be “Target Field.” I can already see the tag-lines donning the outfield walls, “Hit it HERE Justin and win . . . a gift certificate to the pharmacy.”

The announcement represents a feverish trend in stadiums and arenas that has really caught fire in the last decade. According to a New York Times report from a few years back, in 1988 there were just three naming-rights deals in pro sports. Today, by my count, come 2010, the Twins’ home will be the 21st MLB park out of 30 to have some form of corporate sponsorship.