Hurricane Gustav, at last measure, will bear down on the weakened New Orleans support structures Monday.  Mayor Ray Nagin has done all he seemingly can to chase people out of the city; the residents of southern Louisiana seem to be listening to him and Governor Bobby Jindal.

However, Gustav’s arrival will have a ripple effect well outside its meteorlogical ones.  The Saints have already moved out of town for the week with an eye on possibly playing games away from home to start the season.

The Republican GOP convention (to be held in the Twin Cities) has even considered delaying the start of their party or turning the whole event into a telethon if funds are needed in New Orelans (or it would look garish to smile at the time).

At this moment, the Minnesota Twins are on a 14-game, 15-day road trip in part to avoid the convention.  (It’s being held in the Wolves’ kennel, not the Metrodome, but there’s only so many hotel rooms and roads/bridges to go around.)  They return Friday to play the Tigers in their first home set in over two weeks.  Or do they?

Will the GOP convention still be around, taking phone calls and looking doe-eyed into the camera while clutching the hands of black people from Jefferson Parish flown in special for the event?  Will they still be clogging up the roads and hotel rooms?

If so, will the Twins be forced to play a day-night doubleheader on Saturday (or worse) just when they finally thought they’d get some rest?

The Twins are behind the White Sox by a mere half-game as of Sunday morning.  Their schedule gives them slightly longer odds than the White Sox of pulling off the AL Central coronation, but they’re very much in it.

If their schedule jostles around further to accommodate making Norm Coleman look senatorial and the Twins lose by a mere game, the consequences could be dire: a Chicago/Chicago World Series and Senator Al Franken.  All because of a butterfly in the Gulf waters right now by the name of Gustav.  Go fly away, Gustav; you make our heads hurt.