So here are the details...if you want to go to tomorrow night's Canaries game (That would be Wednesday night) for free, all you have to do is come and fill up with ethanol blended gas today between 1:00-2:00 p.m. at the Shell Gas Station at the intersection of 41st Street and Western Avenue in Sioux Falls. I'll be there giving away some free tickets today. So if you want to go to the game, and you have an empty gas tank, come on out. If not, be square.

So tomorrow sometime I get to hand out free tickets to Wednesday's Canaries baseball game. I still don't know when and where exactly I'm doing it. But it's something with the South Dakota Corn Growers, and they're giving away free tickets to people at a certain gas station who fill up with ethanol. Apparently I just get to go up to people and give them tickets if they're using ethanol. It should be pretty fun.

So when I know when and where, I'll let you know. I hope that's ok. Maybe I should've asked before I put it in my blog. But what are they going to do to me? Former KSFY employee, and current Canaries promotions guy Nate Welch is setting it up for me. I'm not exactly afraid of him, so I'll let you know where I'll be. It's a free country afterall, free to give free tickets and tell anyone I want right? Check back tomorrow morning and I'll let you know.

I guess you can't really ask a 3 year-old to keep a secret. In preparation for Mother's Day, I took my daughter Ellie to the store to get my wife a gift. We walked around for quite awhile trying to figure out what she wanted to get her. She had plenty of ideas, mostly because everything we walked by she would say, "Mommy would love this!" I steered her away from the Disney Princess alarm clocks and the scented pillows shaped like fruit that she wanted to get her. I didn't think my wife would get much enjoyment out of either. (By the way, who thought of scented pillows? That's a topic for another blog I think).

So we looked around, she picked out the gift for mom that she wanted to get, and we headed home. On the way we talked about keeping the presents a secret. I said, "Alright, so when we get home we can't tell Mom what we bought her right? It's a secret, and we'll give her the present in a couple of days." She said innocently, "Ok Daddy." Then I said, "What are you going to say if Mommy says, 'What did you get me?" Ellie said, "A necklace!" "No, no, no, no..." I said to her. We talked more about how presents are secrets until we give them to someone. She seemed to understand.

We got home, I hid the presents, and Ellie stayed mute about the contents of the bag. Then we were reading stories before nap, and she says out of the blue, "Mommy, we went to the store...and bought you a necklace!!" She was cuddled up in my arm, so I wrapped my hand playfully over her mouth and said, "Noooooo, Ellieeeeee!!! We can't tell Mom what we got!!" But it was too late. "At least I don't know what it looks like," my wife said. But that night she and Ellie were driving by the store where we bought it and Ellie says, "Mommy, that's the store where we bought your necklace...it's shaped like a heart!!"

So now the entire cover's blown. At least my wife doesn't know whether it's silver or gold. But I'm sure if Ellie knew, Mommy would know soon after...good thing Daddy's good at keeping secrets at least.

Does anyone else dread the constant rain in the spring? I know we need it, and it's fine and dandy to get things growing again, but my lawn goes from nonexistent to 8 inches long in the matter of about a day and a half. I'm not one to run out and mow my lawn every other day either. More like every other month sometimes.

So now I'll go home this afternoon, see the amber waves of grain (more like emerald waves of grass, but I thought I'd stick with the original phrase) blowing in the wind in my front yard, and hear my wife say, "Wow, the grass is getting long isn't it..." Translation: "Get your butt out there and mow..." My wife's not that demanding of course, but after awhile she does get annoyed if it gets too long. I don't blame her. I'm just glad she's so nice to me the majority of the time.

But at some point in the next few days I'll pull myself out of the house and try and strike up the lawnmower. It's been sitting all winter, so there's a chance it might not even start. I'm secretly hoping for that though. That way I have an excuse to procrastinate some more. "Honey, it just won't start...darn...guess I can't mow today...did you make brownies again?"

It wasn't a fielded ground ball, a diving catch, or a game winning homerun that's known as the "Greatest Play in Baseball History." It was the action of a Chicago Cubs player who's name is virtually unknown to anyone outside the game. I'm a Cubs guy, and I couldn't have told you who he was. It all happened in a split second on April 12, 1976. My good friend and former KSFY colleague Tom Glanzer sent me the video today, and it really hit me. Click here to watch the video, then read on if you'd like.

If you watched the video, you already know the story. If you didn't, here's a taste. Two people ran onto the field at Dodger Stadium with an American flag soaked in lighter fluid. They tried to strike a match and light it on fire. But in steps Rick Monday, a Cub that played in the big leagues for 19 years. He ran in, and swiped the flag away from the two men before they could light the match. It was a quick thought, maybe more of a reaction, but it's become his defining moment. Rick Monday says he doesn't mind that though.

I'm a big baseball fan, but I've never even heard of the event. But I'm glad now that I know another piece of baseball history that's so very important. It's a testament to the beliefs of one man, and his love for this country. It makes me proud. I don't usually blog about things like this, but I thought it was pretty incredible. I hope you did too.

I'm not a good golfer. I'm not even a decent golfer. Let's just say I like to play. But I have gotten better over the past couple of summers. I have a rag-tag bag of clubs that I've collected from random places and people. I can hold my own for the most part though. But I've yet to step foot on a tee box this year, and I'm a bit nervous for my first time. I'm feeling a bit rusty already and I haven't picked up a driver.

I was supposed to go out last weekend in Brookings, but the whole 10 inches of snow thing sort of got in the way. But I hope to get out soon. I actually used to shun the golf course. "Baseball players don't play golf," I would say. But I've grown to love the game. It's never been easy for me to play a sport where the outcome is based solely on my performance. If I lose, it's my fault and my fault only. I used to play a lot of tennis in my younger days, and let's just say my racquet wasn't a perfect oval, often bent from some frustration hits to the court.

But I can't wait to get out on the course sometime soon. This warm weather is driving me crazy, adding more and more fuel to my desire. I should warn my clubs though since it'll be my first time in awhile. They could end up feeling the wrath the way many tennis racquets of the past unfortunately did.

So we've got some more free Blizzard coupons to give away from Dairy Queen. Last time we had a huge response, which was great, and now we've got more to give away. So once again as a little treat for reading my blog you can shoot me an e-mail if you want to get your name in the hat. Anything sent after 3:00 a.m. tomorrow won't make it though. Then watch tomorrow (Friday) morning to see if your name is called!

It really is amazing how much people love ice cream...myself included. But with the price of gas the way it is, it's nice to get something for free right?

Trying to enjoy the somewhat nice weather we had yesterday (the wind needs to go away), I broke out my grill and threw on some pork chops. I'm a big fan of pork chops. I guess I like anything on the grill. But that's not the point of this story. I just tend to get off track with food stories.

Moving on...After devouring the chops, my 3 year-old daughter Ellie and I spent some time  playing in the backyard. We were running around when we came upon something a bit alarming lying in the grass. It was a dead squirrel, right in my backyard. It was gross. Ellie saw it first, and said, "Ehh...Daddy...Ehh..." And I said, "What's wrong...Eeeewww...um...let's go play over here."

I didn't try to ignore it, mostly because she asked me a million questions. "Is that a squirrel? Did it die? Will it run after us?" I just told her that the squirrel died in our yard, and that he can't run anymore because he's dead. It's not very easy to explain death to a 3 year-old. We've had fish die over the past few months, and we've told her that they died. But we know she doesn't completely understand the concept.

Then when I kissed her goodnight in her bed she says, "Daddy, I'm going to put my sticky gloves on (don't know why they'd need to be sticky) and get that squirrel. And then I'm going to make it alive again and put it in a tree to be with its mother." After a little laugh, I told her that the squirrel can't come alive again. But she insisted that it would because it needed to be with its mother.

It showed me how sweet her heart is, that she would want every animal to be with its mother, and I just said, "Ok sweetie, you do that." And kissed her goodnight. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but it's tough to tell a little girl that something's dead forever. Someday she'll learn I suppose, but it's tough to know what to say now.

Anyway, I just realized that I started out a dead squirrel story with talk of grilling. Just know that the one didn't make it on the other. Now that's gross.

I never thought I would say this, but I really like zucchini. I've never really eaten much of it. My mom never bought it. My wife wouldn't touch the stuff (she's a bit of a picky eater). But this morning Chef Don Smith from Casa del Ray came in and made some fried zucchini and fried yellow squash. It was outstanding to say the least. I'm usually a fan of anything fried, and this was no exception.

If you want the recipe, just click here. It's pretty easy too. And he made a salsa ranch that was great...I'm a sucker for spicy ranch dip...yummy. I could literally drink the stuff with a straw. I love it that much. I'm salivating just thinking about it. Seriously, I am.

Anyway, I don't know if you'd call the recipe "healthy," (especially with the ranch dip I guess). But they are vegetables afterall, even if they are drenched in oil. But man are they ever good...even if they're not exactly good for you.

If I look a little tired today reading the news, I have a good excuse. I was watching the Jackrabbit baseball team beat the Minnesota Gophers last night 5-4 in 10 innings. The game didn't get over until about 10:00 p.m., which is way past my bedtime. But I wouldn't trade the excitement of that game for another minute of sleep.

The Jacks have never beaten the Gophers, it's the first win in 12 games against the Big Ten school. To read a recap of the game just click here. It was a huge win to say the least for the SDSU squad. I've talked to Coach Reggie Christiansen about how recruiting is going here in the upper midwest, and he said they're just starting to get interest from the guys who are recruited by the Gophers, but might come to SDSU instead. A win over the U of M can only help those efforts. He can say to these kids, "You could go to Minnesota, but we played them, and beat them." That's a pretty big statement. It's a game that Minnesota is not supposed to lose, and means a lot  to State and the future of the program.

So hold your heads high Jackrabbit faithful, we can play with the big boys, and win.