AM 660 WBHR - Sauk Rapids / St. Cloud, MN

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the best time of the year and even though you are not playing for the holy grail, you can still pretend like you are. It's the 660 WBHR; BLOOD, SWEAT, AND BEARDS, "Playoff Beard Contest."

To man up, you have to start fresh from-the-skin so no George Michael starters or pencil thin "d-bag" beards allowed; Skin baby! "Playoff Beards" will be voted on-line with the winner announced Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The grand prize "Playoff Beard Contest" winner will receive:
* Dinner for four (4) at Zaffiro's Pizzeria & Bar at the Marcus Parkwood Cinema,
* A pair of 2012-2013 season tickets for the Granite City Lumberjacks,
* A traveling "Playoff Beard Contest" trophy from Benton Trophy and Award,
* you will be cleaned-up, with an old school straight edge shave and grooming from the 3rd Street Hair Company.

To enter the "Playoff Beard Contest", stop by the Red House in to be imaged before 5PM-Friday, May 4th.

See 660WBHR dot com for details. . It's BLOOD, SWEAT, AND BEARDS, "Playoff Beard Contest" from the Bear 660 WBHR, Minnesota's Sports Station.

AFTER LOSING 99 GAMES, THE TWINS LOOK TO RETURN TO NORMALCY IN 2012
Article by Izzy Presley, AM660

The Minnesota Twins dismal showing in the 2011 season can be chalked up to many things, but the fingers of blame can be pointed in a couple particular directions: injuries, pitching, and injuries. Did I mention injuries?

Within the span of just a couple months, the Twins lost more impact/star players to the disabled list than most teams do over multiple seasons. The everyday line up constantly consisted of AAA Rochester players filling the roles of injured big leaguers than a regular big league line up.

Well, thankfully the 2011 season is long gone and the fresh start and renewed hope that every team begins the new season with is in full swing as the revamped Minnesota Twins are ready to begin the 2012 season.

Fourteen faces that didn't break camp, nor were on the roster in 2011 are making up this seasons opening day roster.

Two big concerns surrounding the Twins this year are the health of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

Mauer looks to be in shape and ready to go. Let us not forget that he came back too early last season and was not ready which directly caused the “bilateral leg weakness”. Joe played nearly the entire 2011 season on one leg and it showed.

He will be able to get out from behind the plate quite a bit this season with Morneau moving to the designator hitter role to keep him healthy and to protect him from running into any more concussion issues.

Chris Parmelee will be handling the majority of games at 1b, but I would expect Mauer to be put out there from time to time to keep his bat in the lineup and take a little of that “behind the plate” wear and tear off of his legs.

Scott Baker will start the season on the DL (retroactive to March 27) with elbow soreness, which is a concern this early in the season.

This is the Twins expected opening Day Roster:

Catchers: Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit

Infielders: Justin Morneau, Chris Parmelee, Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll, Danny Valencia, Luke Hughes, Sean Burroughs

Outfielders: Josh Willingham, Denard Span, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere

Starters: Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Liam Hendriks, Nick Blackburn, Jared Burton

Relievers: Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing. Matt Maloney, Alex Burnett, Jeff Gray, Anthony Swarzak

The Twins open the season Today in Baltimore at 2:05. TV – FS-N

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