First off, can I get a quick moment of silence for the first Sunday without football. Yeah, I know the Super Bowl is next week, but that's still just one game, and this week reminds us what football-less Sundays are like. Not sure if the week break is genius marketing by the NFL or simply a public service. Maybe they know what a shock to the system it is to have no games and want to let us down easy by giving it a trial run, before coming back with one final game. Frankly the whole playoffs is kind of set up that way, as a gentle easing into an existence without the pigskin. Brilliant league that NFL, even when they're leaving you, the do it the right way.
First person to utter the words "Pro Bowl" however, is getting a size-13 shoe zinged at their skull. They should've taken that lame horse of a game out behind the barn years ago and put it out of it's misery. Instead they continue the charade of an All-Star game that not only fails to resemble the actual sport (which is fairly common), but also fails to involve most of the league's best players (which makes it kind of pointless). I guess if you want to spend an afternoon watching the 4th choice at outside linebacker not blitz, that's your business, I've never gotten the appeal.
But hey, if you are a fan of watching top athletes disinterestedly go through the motions, then Sunday is your jackpot! Following an afternoon of Pro Blow action is the NHL All-Star game, which incites minor interest, but only because of the system they've adopted featuring captains picking teams. I will definitely DVR the pick show tonight, game is a maybe, could be an Antiques Roadshow marathon going up against it or something. If the NHL has any marketing savvy, they will mike up some players expected to be picked toward the end, particularly if they could find a couple who are teammates or friends of the captains. Of course if the NHL did have any marketing savvy, this whole thing wouldn't be happening on Versus, so that's probably too much to hope for.
Amidst this weekend's inconsequential backdrop, there are a couple of interesting items lurking. The first is that Martin Havlat, former league leader in millions/goal ratio and general indifference, will be appearing in this weekend's game. Now sure it took an open format that didn't have to respect conference, and about 3-4 more deserving players getting hurt, to get him there, but the fact remains, he's an All-Star. This development, on the heels of a truly impressive first half, has caused me to reexamine some things and come to an important conclusion: It's time to drop the Halfthat nickname. Henceforth, he will once again be known on these pages as Havlat. It's only fair after all, he earned the name with uninspired, indifferent play last season, and is now shedding it with exactly the opposite.
Sure he only has 14 goals, but he's 22nd in the league in points and those assists have been of legit vintage. Not too many gift second assists that I've seen, Havlat has been the key to the offense most of the season and has been the best player on the ice a lot of nights. So farewell Halfthat, it was a good run. Rest assured we will keep you safely in the cupboard, should your namesake slide back to the place where you are once again a fitting handle.
And why is it relevant that Havlat has rediscovered his game? Well because the Wild are surprisingly relevant 50 games into the season. I'm not saying anything about the team has been a huge revelation, and they're still hanging on the fringe of the playoff chase, but I think we can give them and official Cleveland Indians/Major League "You know these guys ain't so f**kin bad!" The club is sitting nicely within striking distance of the #4 spot, has shown some nice upside in beating good teams, all-in-all there's every reason to be cautiously optimistic. How's that for a ringing endorsement?
Bizarre thing is, after a decade as a great home team that went belly-up on the road, the team has pulled a 180 this season, posting a 14-8-3 record away from the X, while middling along at 11-11-2 in St. Paul. A look back at history puts the oddity of this in perspective, as the Wild have only had two winning seasons on their history, with the high-water mark being 2 games above .500 (19-17-5) during the division-winning '07-08 campaign. Last season the team was 25-12-4 at home, but an abysmal 13-24-4 elsewhere; the year before looked pretty much the same. So what the heck is going on here? Beats me. I haven't broken down the schedules to compare this season to the last couple, but I'm guessing there's not much of a difference in who they're playing. I suppose the good news to take away from all this is that if they do make the playoffs, it will definitely be on the road.
But we can wait to jump off that bridge when we come to it, because even making it to the postseason will be a tall order for this team. There have been some bright spots this season, but the Wild still don't score consistently enough and rely on their goaltenders to save their bacon way too often. Not to mention they fact that good won't be enough, they've been playing good, but need to play better still, and for an extended stretch, if they're going to separate from the pack of contenders. At least it's a story to follow though, in this bleak stretch of the year. Coming out of the break, the Wild play a February schedule featuring 10 of 13 games against Western contenders, that stretch will probably tell us all we need to know.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
The hits just keep on coming
Can I get a do-over on last weekend?
It started off with the Sioux giving up 8 goals while getting smoked on Friday night. They came back to win Saturday, but this creates a disturbing "large chinks in the armor" feeling going into the final 6 weeks of the season. Guess the only thing to do is chalk it up as a blip and move on, unsettling though.
Things appeared to be looking up Saturday, with the Gophers winning a Big Ten basketball game against Michigan that they needed to have. Then comes the news today that starting point guard Al Nolen has a broken foot that will require surgery and force him to miss at least a month, if not the remainder of the season. Talk about winning the battle but losing the war.
Now I'm not going to sit here and act like we just lost the second coming of Isaiah Thomas here, but Nolen was an excellent defender, ball handler and the floor leader of this team. Replacing a point guard is never easy, and it becomes doubly hard when the guy who would have been stepping in to the starting lineup transferred to Oregon two weeks ago. Just another kick in the nuts for a program that has endured more than it's share in the last year and a half. If there is one thing that you can say positively here, it's that they should have a good chance of bouncing back. Lord knows they've had enough practice lately.
And finally, to put the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae, the hated Packers are heading to the Super Bowl. At least there was one NFC North team having a worse day than our local squad, as the Bears not only lost the conference championship game, but potentially had an irreconcilable rift develop between their franchise QB and fanbase. I have to admit, while watching the game, I was of the opinion that Jay Cutler was quitting on his team. After pausing to reflect, I have to admit that's probably not the case, and he was as injured as he claimed to be. But man, the guy just looked like he was phoning it in. Standing there with his typical sour look, he looked every bit the part of a ticked off whiner saying "Eff you" to his teammates. Probably unfair criticism, and I'd turn on a dime if he won the Super Bowl for the Vikings, but I'm pretty happy that's not the guy I'm depending on for the foreseeable future. He's just a guy who makes it easy to hate him. Burning the jerseys was over the line though.
So now we wait, two weeks of Packer media fawning that will hopefully end with them getting throttled by the Steelers. But they'll probably end up winning, and I will once again be forced to ponder whether this new low is actually rock bottom, or if we still have further to sink. It's times like these that it's important to remember, things could always be worse.
It started off with the Sioux giving up 8 goals while getting smoked on Friday night. They came back to win Saturday, but this creates a disturbing "large chinks in the armor" feeling going into the final 6 weeks of the season. Guess the only thing to do is chalk it up as a blip and move on, unsettling though.
Things appeared to be looking up Saturday, with the Gophers winning a Big Ten basketball game against Michigan that they needed to have. Then comes the news today that starting point guard Al Nolen has a broken foot that will require surgery and force him to miss at least a month, if not the remainder of the season. Talk about winning the battle but losing the war.
Now I'm not going to sit here and act like we just lost the second coming of Isaiah Thomas here, but Nolen was an excellent defender, ball handler and the floor leader of this team. Replacing a point guard is never easy, and it becomes doubly hard when the guy who would have been stepping in to the starting lineup transferred to Oregon two weeks ago. Just another kick in the nuts for a program that has endured more than it's share in the last year and a half. If there is one thing that you can say positively here, it's that they should have a good chance of bouncing back. Lord knows they've had enough practice lately.
And finally, to put the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae, the hated Packers are heading to the Super Bowl. At least there was one NFC North team having a worse day than our local squad, as the Bears not only lost the conference championship game, but potentially had an irreconcilable rift develop between their franchise QB and fanbase. I have to admit, while watching the game, I was of the opinion that Jay Cutler was quitting on his team. After pausing to reflect, I have to admit that's probably not the case, and he was as injured as he claimed to be. But man, the guy just looked like he was phoning it in. Standing there with his typical sour look, he looked every bit the part of a ticked off whiner saying "Eff you" to his teammates. Probably unfair criticism, and I'd turn on a dime if he won the Super Bowl for the Vikings, but I'm pretty happy that's not the guy I'm depending on for the foreseeable future. He's just a guy who makes it easy to hate him. Burning the jerseys was over the line though.
So now we wait, two weeks of Packer media fawning that will hopefully end with them getting throttled by the Steelers. But they'll probably end up winning, and I will once again be forced to ponder whether this new low is actually rock bottom, or if we still have further to sink. It's times like these that it's important to remember, things could always be worse.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Grudging respect
The evil of grad school returned this week, delaying my ability to properly react to the events of the weekend in written form. The general takeaway is that I should stick to predictions on college hockey, rather than the NFL.
Although the nights were wrong, the 3-2/4-1 split between the Sioux and the Gophers was pretty much right on. For all my talk last week about wishing the Gophers a return to prominence, I was reminded on Friday night of the price to be paid if that should happen. Most notably whiny people calling for penalties every time someone on their team is hit. Having gotten a dose of that, I'm now throttling back on the desire to have a U of M team near the top of the standings again. But I suppose expecting to not hate your rivals is asking way too much, best you can hope for is that they fall into obscurity. Watching Minnesota play hockey this weekend did nothing to change my opinion that they can be a dangerous squad when interested, and that they will be back in the mix for league titles once they can get some continuity for a few seasons. So I will enjoy the current situation while I can.
Flipping between the football and hockey games last Saturday was interesting, as I came to a bit of a realization. Perhaps this is blasphemy as a Vikings fan, but I was rooting for the Packers. Sure there were the basic reasons, I've never gotten on board with Atlanta this season, always thought they were a flavorless team that benefited from an easy schedule. Not to say they weren't good, just didn't strike me as being on the same level as a typical #1 seed. Green Bay seemed like the better team, and their moving on to Chicago has provided a far more intriguing matchup. All of that is just a moment-in-time excuse to drop the hate for a few hours.
But in a bigger picture sense, those two games juxtaposed forced me to consider a broader question: Am I a fraud for giving fans of a rival team so much crap, considering I'm a fan of a rival team myself? On the surface, there are many parallels between the Packers and Sioux. Both play in a smaller city where they are the only show in town, both have many transplanted fans across the country (particularly MSP), both inspired a cult-like devotion among their fans. So isn't it a huge inconsistency for me to root for one, yet terrorize fans of the other across the south metro, telling them to go back to Wisconsin? Having some cognitive dissonance with this one.
Not to mention, the Packers have earned a tip of the cap this season, both the team on the field and the organization in total. Basically they've made all the right moves with this team, building a squad with talent, depth and youth. From drafting Aaron Rodgers, to hiring Dom Capers, and mining a diamond in the rough like Trammond Williams, everything they touch lately seems to turn to gold. You may dislike them, but you have to give them credit for what they've built. Their team held up to injuries, adversity and all comers, it's a performance that should be respected no matter who you root for.
Listening to some Vikings fans this week has been a bit ridiculous, as they try to protest any sort of coverage involving discussion of the upcoming game. Acting as if it shouldn't be covered locally, since it features two rivals. To that I say, you may be a better Vikings fan than me, but you're not much of a football fan. Sure I'll be rooting loudly against the Pack next season when the Purple have something on the line, but right now, relax and enjoy this historic matchup, hopefully it turns out to be a great one.
Because great games have been few and far between so far this postseason. Only one of the four Divisional matchups produced what I would call a great game last weekend (Pittsburgh-Baltimore), sure there was a great gameplan (Jets D) a great individual performance (Rodgers dissection of the Falcons) and a great deal of free time to clean the bathroom/do laundry (Seahawks football rules!), but not nearly the amount of compelling football we usually see. Every game doesn't have to be a shootout, but a tight game with at least a few offensive plays being made down the stretch makes it feel like you spent your three hours wisely, and that's always nice.
So now we move on to some matchups that few people saw coming. I went 1-3 again last week, this time my gut was right and the Costanza system failed me, it's always something. Way back at the beginning of this thing, I picked the Packers over the Colts in the Super Bowl. And even though it will probably make things that much more depressing on the Twin Cities sports scene, I'm not losing my mind that they're on the verge of making that happen. Sure either of the remaining NFC teams making a trip to the Super Bowl elevates them above the Vikings, but they were already there to begin with, so why worry about it?
When Packer or Bear fans tell me their team is better, I look them in the eye and say "Oh yeah? Well f**k you!" It's not a very graceful retort, but what am I supposed to do, argue the facts? Sadly there's just nowhere to go on that side of things. Sure you can pull out weak arguments like "Your team stunk in the '80s" or "You guys just got lucky this year", but in the end, we'll be second-class citizens until we win a title, and that's the bottom line. So embrace it and just try to enjoy some football. And don't kill the messenger, I'm in this with you, just the guy who's telling you how it is, none of us likes it.
Green Bay -3.5 over CHICAGO
Picked them to win it all in the beginning, nothing influencing me to change that now. The Bears D did a nice job the last time the two teams met, and the did win the matchup at home, but Green Bay seems to be peaking. Not to mention we're overdue for a Jay Culter meltdown, and after watching Williams play corner like he was disguised as a Falcons receiver last week, this feels like it. Only shot the Bears have is using their terrible field to turn the game into a rugby scrum, ugly it up sufficiently to pull out a late win. Frankly I think they keep the turf at that place intentionally bad to slow down opponents, but that's beside the point. Might slow down the Packers a bit, but not enough.
New York Jets +3.5 over PITTSBURGH
Because I've been picking against the Steelers all year and figure being consistently wrong is still consistency. (You're welcome Jay) The Jets looked like a team on a mission last week and the Steelers needed a Ravens meltdown to pull things out. Add to that their O-line issues and I think Pittsburgh falls just short, in an ugly game full of punts. Am I confident that Mark Sanchez will be able to make play #1 against the blitz he'll face this week? No, but you've gotta pick somebody.
Although the nights were wrong, the 3-2/4-1 split between the Sioux and the Gophers was pretty much right on. For all my talk last week about wishing the Gophers a return to prominence, I was reminded on Friday night of the price to be paid if that should happen. Most notably whiny people calling for penalties every time someone on their team is hit. Having gotten a dose of that, I'm now throttling back on the desire to have a U of M team near the top of the standings again. But I suppose expecting to not hate your rivals is asking way too much, best you can hope for is that they fall into obscurity. Watching Minnesota play hockey this weekend did nothing to change my opinion that they can be a dangerous squad when interested, and that they will be back in the mix for league titles once they can get some continuity for a few seasons. So I will enjoy the current situation while I can.
Flipping between the football and hockey games last Saturday was interesting, as I came to a bit of a realization. Perhaps this is blasphemy as a Vikings fan, but I was rooting for the Packers. Sure there were the basic reasons, I've never gotten on board with Atlanta this season, always thought they were a flavorless team that benefited from an easy schedule. Not to say they weren't good, just didn't strike me as being on the same level as a typical #1 seed. Green Bay seemed like the better team, and their moving on to Chicago has provided a far more intriguing matchup. All of that is just a moment-in-time excuse to drop the hate for a few hours.
But in a bigger picture sense, those two games juxtaposed forced me to consider a broader question: Am I a fraud for giving fans of a rival team so much crap, considering I'm a fan of a rival team myself? On the surface, there are many parallels between the Packers and Sioux. Both play in a smaller city where they are the only show in town, both have many transplanted fans across the country (particularly MSP), both inspired a cult-like devotion among their fans. So isn't it a huge inconsistency for me to root for one, yet terrorize fans of the other across the south metro, telling them to go back to Wisconsin? Having some cognitive dissonance with this one.
Not to mention, the Packers have earned a tip of the cap this season, both the team on the field and the organization in total. Basically they've made all the right moves with this team, building a squad with talent, depth and youth. From drafting Aaron Rodgers, to hiring Dom Capers, and mining a diamond in the rough like Trammond Williams, everything they touch lately seems to turn to gold. You may dislike them, but you have to give them credit for what they've built. Their team held up to injuries, adversity and all comers, it's a performance that should be respected no matter who you root for.
Listening to some Vikings fans this week has been a bit ridiculous, as they try to protest any sort of coverage involving discussion of the upcoming game. Acting as if it shouldn't be covered locally, since it features two rivals. To that I say, you may be a better Vikings fan than me, but you're not much of a football fan. Sure I'll be rooting loudly against the Pack next season when the Purple have something on the line, but right now, relax and enjoy this historic matchup, hopefully it turns out to be a great one.
Because great games have been few and far between so far this postseason. Only one of the four Divisional matchups produced what I would call a great game last weekend (Pittsburgh-Baltimore), sure there was a great gameplan (Jets D) a great individual performance (Rodgers dissection of the Falcons) and a great deal of free time to clean the bathroom/do laundry (Seahawks football rules!), but not nearly the amount of compelling football we usually see. Every game doesn't have to be a shootout, but a tight game with at least a few offensive plays being made down the stretch makes it feel like you spent your three hours wisely, and that's always nice.
So now we move on to some matchups that few people saw coming. I went 1-3 again last week, this time my gut was right and the Costanza system failed me, it's always something. Way back at the beginning of this thing, I picked the Packers over the Colts in the Super Bowl. And even though it will probably make things that much more depressing on the Twin Cities sports scene, I'm not losing my mind that they're on the verge of making that happen. Sure either of the remaining NFC teams making a trip to the Super Bowl elevates them above the Vikings, but they were already there to begin with, so why worry about it?
When Packer or Bear fans tell me their team is better, I look them in the eye and say "Oh yeah? Well f**k you!" It's not a very graceful retort, but what am I supposed to do, argue the facts? Sadly there's just nowhere to go on that side of things. Sure you can pull out weak arguments like "Your team stunk in the '80s" or "You guys just got lucky this year", but in the end, we'll be second-class citizens until we win a title, and that's the bottom line. So embrace it and just try to enjoy some football. And don't kill the messenger, I'm in this with you, just the guy who's telling you how it is, none of us likes it.
Green Bay -3.5 over CHICAGO
Picked them to win it all in the beginning, nothing influencing me to change that now. The Bears D did a nice job the last time the two teams met, and the did win the matchup at home, but Green Bay seems to be peaking. Not to mention we're overdue for a Jay Culter meltdown, and after watching Williams play corner like he was disguised as a Falcons receiver last week, this feels like it. Only shot the Bears have is using their terrible field to turn the game into a rugby scrum, ugly it up sufficiently to pull out a late win. Frankly I think they keep the turf at that place intentionally bad to slow down opponents, but that's beside the point. Might slow down the Packers a bit, but not enough.
New York Jets +3.5 over PITTSBURGH
Because I've been picking against the Steelers all year and figure being consistently wrong is still consistency. (You're welcome Jay) The Jets looked like a team on a mission last week and the Steelers needed a Ravens meltdown to pull things out. Add to that their O-line issues and I think Pittsburgh falls just short, in an ugly game full of punts. Am I confident that Mark Sanchez will be able to make play #1 against the blitz he'll face this week? No, but you've gotta pick somebody.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Divisional Picks
Kind of blogged out this week, so just a quick version of picks for this weeks Divisional Round, aka The Best Weekend in Football. After going 1-3 last week, I will be employing the Costanza Theory on this weekend's games, meaning going with the opposite of my intuition. Hopefully that improves my fortunes.
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
The description of this matchup allows me to employ one of my favorite football words, slobberknocker. There really is no other way to describe it when these two teams meet. As lopsided as the score was last week against Kansas City, it seemed like the Ravens D still had some issues and the Chiefs just played right into their hands. Pittsburgh is unlikely to do so. Steelers should win a tight game here, but since I'm the one saying that, bet the house on Baltimore. The pick: Baltimore +3 over PITTSBURGH
Green Bay @ Atlanta
I was a big Green Bay backer all week, just wasn't convinced Atlanta's defense was on the same level. Figured this would be the contrarian take given Atlanta is a one seed, playing at home, had already beaten GB this season, etc. Now every analyst on Earth seems to be backing Green Bay, which is a very dangerous thing, usually being on the same side as a huge majority is the best way to guarantee you end up incorrect. So I've been waffling the past few days, but in the end, I still feel like the Packers win which, when given the Costanza treatment, means I'm picking the Falcons. The pick: ATLANTA -1.5 over Green Bay
Seattle @ Chicago
Given how things have unfolded thus far, I expect that Matt Hasselbeck will come down with hysterical blindness when he wakes up at the hotel tomorrow morning, then face an Atlanta team that lost Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White to injury the week before. That's how things have been rolling for the Bears lately, one break after another, so why expect things to go differently here? Chicago D won't completely piss down their leg like the Saints, so there's no reason to expect a Seattle to win or even cover. Sure they won the first meeting, but that was a long time ago, in a football galaxy far, far away. I say Bears, but Costanza sez 'Hawks, and he's smarter than me. The pick: Seattle +10 over CHICAGO.
New York Jets @ New England
Another ominous "everybody likes one side" game, and worse yet, this one is supposed to be a blowout. All the chirping coming from the Jets side seems dumb, do they expect to get the Patriots off their game? This is a team with some new additions, but the crucial parts have been through many playoff wars, some comments about the quarterback being an a-hole is going to rattle them? Seems dumb to me, and just the kind of motivation that the Pats use to eviscerate teams. Did I mention it was 45-3 the last time they played? I'm going with the majority and saying New England by a comfortable margin, which of course means New York by a tight one. The pick: New York Jets +9 over NEW ENGLAND.
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
The description of this matchup allows me to employ one of my favorite football words, slobberknocker. There really is no other way to describe it when these two teams meet. As lopsided as the score was last week against Kansas City, it seemed like the Ravens D still had some issues and the Chiefs just played right into their hands. Pittsburgh is unlikely to do so. Steelers should win a tight game here, but since I'm the one saying that, bet the house on Baltimore. The pick: Baltimore +3 over PITTSBURGH
Green Bay @ Atlanta
I was a big Green Bay backer all week, just wasn't convinced Atlanta's defense was on the same level. Figured this would be the contrarian take given Atlanta is a one seed, playing at home, had already beaten GB this season, etc. Now every analyst on Earth seems to be backing Green Bay, which is a very dangerous thing, usually being on the same side as a huge majority is the best way to guarantee you end up incorrect. So I've been waffling the past few days, but in the end, I still feel like the Packers win which, when given the Costanza treatment, means I'm picking the Falcons. The pick: ATLANTA -1.5 over Green Bay
Seattle @ Chicago
Given how things have unfolded thus far, I expect that Matt Hasselbeck will come down with hysterical blindness when he wakes up at the hotel tomorrow morning, then face an Atlanta team that lost Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White to injury the week before. That's how things have been rolling for the Bears lately, one break after another, so why expect things to go differently here? Chicago D won't completely piss down their leg like the Saints, so there's no reason to expect a Seattle to win or even cover. Sure they won the first meeting, but that was a long time ago, in a football galaxy far, far away. I say Bears, but Costanza sez 'Hawks, and he's smarter than me. The pick: Seattle +10 over CHICAGO.
New York Jets @ New England
Another ominous "everybody likes one side" game, and worse yet, this one is supposed to be a blowout. All the chirping coming from the Jets side seems dumb, do they expect to get the Patriots off their game? This is a team with some new additions, but the crucial parts have been through many playoff wars, some comments about the quarterback being an a-hole is going to rattle them? Seems dumb to me, and just the kind of motivation that the Pats use to eviscerate teams. Did I mention it was 45-3 the last time they played? I'm going with the majority and saying New England by a comfortable margin, which of course means New York by a tight one. The pick: New York Jets +9 over NEW ENGLAND.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Anatomy of a rivalry
Red Sox-Yankees, Celtics-Lakers, Bruins-Canadiens, Packers-Bears, Michigan-Ohio State, Duke-North Carolina, France-England, Coke-Pepsi, Spy-Spy. There's nothing like a great rivalry to spark a passion in fans that re-ignites each time the two sides renew hostilities. Victory over an intense rival can sometimes make or break a season, taking the luster off a great one or putting the silver lining on one that was better forgotten.
The meaning of these wins may ebb and flow from year to year, but there is always some meaning to be found. Most develop due to proximity, some due to consistent matchups in big games and others due to downright dislike. The best have all three of these elements blended together, and that's the kind that we're talking about when we talk about the Sioux and the Gophers.
Sure it isn't a famed matchup like the ones mentioned in the opening (we are talking college hockey after all), but for my money there's none better. What's lacking in numbers is made up for in passion, as there is no team hated more in the state of Minnesota, save the Green Bay Packers, than the University of North Dakota hockey team. There's nothing funnier than getting into an in-depth conversation about college hockey with a Gold Gopher fan, then dropping it on them that I root for the Sioux. The face that follows is typically somewhere between smelling a fart and having one of their testicles twisted with a pliers. Just a minute ago they were so happy to have found a likeminded follower of their favorite niche sport, and now this bit of unpleasantness. Sometimes I wish I had a picture.
Oil and Water
Having lived the last decade in Grand Forks and Minneapolis, the twin ground zeros of this disagreement, has given me a unique perspective. I'd like to think I'm able to look past the biases of both sides and evaluate things objectively. Of course being a Sioux fan, my green glasses are always on, but at least the tint is a lighter shade that many. All that being said, allow me to approximate what these opposing fanbases see when they look at each other:
Sioux fans - Loud, obnoxious, mullet-wearing, drunken, trailer park denizens. Likely clothed in a leather jacket bearing the logo of a snowmobile or farm equipment manufacturer and blue jeans caked with dirt and/or some kind of animal feces. The only thing more offensive than their smell is the verbal diarrhea spewing from their fetal alcohol-addled heads when engaging in a profanity-laced diatribe. Which they do on a pretty much constant basis.
To date, none of their players has ever committed a penalty, with anything short of removing a skate to administer a 'Colombian necktie' shrugged off as "good hard-nosed hockey". The dirty hack players are constantly egged on by a fanbase that would be more at home watching Roman gladiators, since most of the time they seem to be of the opinion the game shouldn't end until somebody is dead. It should also be noted that most of these goons in green are 27-year old Canuck neanderthals hailing from places like 'Moosenut' and 'Beaverlip River'. By a convenient coincidence, covering their tracks after escaping the Canadian penitentiary system necessitated the same type of forged documents required to play NCAA hockey. So here they are, ready to commit assault and battery on some unsuspecting kid a the better part of a decade younger.
God forbid a call actually is made against a Sioux player, as it's sure to start their fans howling about a conspiracy in favor of the opposition. The gigantic chip on their shoulder from a life spent in a second-rate state creates a relentless paranoia that is all-consuming. Look no further than their infatuation with the Gopher hockey program, on any given night, they care more about the Gophers losing that their own team winning. But I suppose that's what happens when you live in a god-forsaken wasteland and hockey is the only form of entertainment.
Should you encounter one of these mouthbreathers, the best you can hope for is to point out a tree as you're walking into the arena, and pray they will remain outside marveling at it until long after the game is finished. Or perhaps roll a can of Natural Light into traffic.
Gopher fans - Elitist, sweater-around-the-neck, whining dandies who constantly cry like a 4-year old girl with a skinned knee. Before they invented women's hockey, it was simply called Gopher hockey...and they still haven't adjusted very well to this checking thing. Pride On Ice is the disgustingly self-congratulating slogan they've tagged to this team, but someone should tell these people that pride comes before the fall. And when they face the Sioux, the falling comes early and often.
If the smugness and arrogance of this fanbase were a tangible structure, it would be visible from space like the Great Wall of China. The average Gopher hockey fan thinks that game was invented by John Mariucci in 1934 when God reached down from heaven and handed him the golden stick. The idea that Canada had anything to do with it is really just a myth. Which is why the only "real" hockey players come from inside the border of Minnesota, and all Canadian players are disdained for trying to steal some of the credit from St. John. Opposing fans who aren't willing to grovel in inferiority and thank them for the gift they've bestowed need not apply. Somehow they seem to be laboring under the misconception that there's a column in the standings marked "Wins with a roster entirely from one state". Oddly enough, no one else can seem to locate it. Probably because it's not f**king there.
Despite this claim as hockey's originators, they're also the only school that's succeeded in turning a college hockey venue into a soul-dead corporate atmosphere. They'll try to make lame excuses about more entertainment options and better things to do, but you'd think in a city of millions, it shouldn't be all that hard to scrape together a lousy 10,000 folks to fill up a hockey arena. Instead, by the time they've valet-parked their Priuses outside the arena and made the long walk in halfway through the first period, they're really too tuckered for pesky things like standing up and cheering. That is if they bothered to show up at all, and if the cord on their oxygen tank will allow enough slack to stand in the first place.
The only that really does get these people fired up is when somebody lays a finger on one of their Golden Cupcakes. Can't have the young lads facing any contact, lest one of them might be too distraught to shamelessly showboat and jersey pop after scoring the goal that pulls the team within three or four of the opposition. By then again, I suppose you have to handle players like theirs with kid gloves, because one rough game for one of these prima donnas and the kid will probably be wearing an Islanders sweater next week.
That's the basic amalgamation of many comments I've heard over the years. Very little of it is true in general, a whole lot of it is true in the case of a few specific individuals. Like any teams out there, you will encounter good fans and idiots on either side. I've been fortunate enough to know many quality fans of both teams...who occasionally happen to act like idiots. But this happens very rarely. I can neither confirm nor deny that I've had any idiotic episodes myself :)
But some of that is to be expected, because over the years there have been battles. The stakes have been high with emotions to match. As a Grade A sports hothead, I can say without a trace of irony, I'm not bringing nearly as much hate to the party as many others I've met. Because some of these fans do truly dislike each other, I'm talking deep-seated feelings of animosity. So let's try to take emotion out of it and look at things with an unbiased eye.
Just The Facts
Down Memory Lane
When I began watching college hockey in the late 90s, the Gophers were going through some lean times. As the Sioux contended for titles, my concerns lay with Heatley's Badgers and the St. Cloud Husky teams of Hartigan-Arnason-DiCasmirro. Those were the competition at the top of the standings those days, what did I care about the middle-of-the-pack Gophers? I knew people hated them, but that was it; I usually saved my sports hate for the teams that beat mine, so I didn't spend much time worrying about Minnesota.
The night they came in and wrecked the opening of the Palace on the Prairie with a 7-5 come-from-behind win, that all changed. Looking back, that was really a turning point game for the two programs. The Sioux were coming off two stellar seasons, winning it all in 2000 and falling in the championship game in 2001. The Gophers had just passed the 20-year mark on their last title and were starting the 3rd season of the Don Lucia Era. You know the story from there, as the Gophers went on to win back-to-back titles, while the Sioux took the next couple of seasons to re-load. Clicking this link will make any Gopher fan draw wood.
Many a groan went up in Grand Forks when a hometown kid netted the game winner for the Maroon-N-Gold during OT of that game, even more when they won it again a year later. But following those two titles was what I like to think of as the Golden Age of this rivalry, and of course I mean that in the dynastic civilization sense, not in the sense of your uniform color. Truth be told, that's really more of a yellow anyway.
From 2004-2007, the Sioux and Gophers met in two Final Five Championship games, a Frozen Four semifinal and a West Regional final. The 2004 Final Five Championship, with the Sioux being led by Zach Parise and the Gophers by Thomas Vanek, and a host of other NHLers on the ice, is still the greatest hockey game I've ever seen (even though you sieved out horribly on that last goal Brandt, I'M STILL PISSED!!!). Kind of amazing to say that, considering it was a loss and it usually wrecks my day to watch my team lose in anything. Even the Gopher guys I know who usually gave me the most crap were buying me beers after that one, I think everybody was just happy to see it.
It helped a lot to get a measure of revenge the following year in the national semifinal, the first of several season-ending losses the Sioux have handed their biggest rival in the latter part of this decade. Nowhere near the meaning for me personally, and frankly nowhere near the game, considering it was being played in front of a half-full building in Columbus, instead of a standing-room crowd in St. Paul.
2006 didn't bring any high-stakes postseason matchups, but it did add plenty of fuel to the fire. For during an early December series, Danny Irmen unveiled, at least for the first time in my recollection, what will forever be etched into my as a Golden Gopher calling card: The Jersey Pop. I remember it vividly, because we had seats on the glass at the Ralph both nights. The first evening was a tightly contested 4-3 Gopher victory, and as we moved on to night number two, the fans amped up their intensity, as well as their harassment of Fargo native Irmen. But it the end, it was him who got the last laugh, popping in a goal late in the second period to put his team up three and skating the length of the ice past the student section, continuously waving the 'M' on the front of his jersey. Had I not been filled with rage due to the pending extension of my personal REA losing streak and squandering of great seats, I could have appreciated the comedy of a great 'Eff you' moment between a player and taunting fans. As it was, I just found myself wishing there was a sniper in the rafters who could take out the showboating SOB. I'm not proud of that, but there it is.
There was no showboating happening following the Gophers next game at the Ralph, which can be described in two words, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any NoDak fan: Holy Cross. I've heard a lot of people over the years say that Sioux fans made too much of this upset, and that's probably true. (After all, buying jerseys of some team just because they beat your rivals? Couldn't you just wear a Sioux jersey? I mean it's not like Holy Cross was the only ones who could get the job done here, let the St. Cloud fans go for that crap.) But when you consider the stakes, the setting, and what I just described in the preceding paragraph, taking place 4 months earlier, there was a lot of built up animosity there. I mean if the shoe was on the other foot, I'm pretty sure it would've some up more than once. But in the name of domestic harmony, I observe the statute of limitations on that one, you just can't leave out that part if you're recounting the recent history of the rivalry.
Many less informed individuals labor under the misconception that the Holy Cross game was the beginning of the Gophers current rough patch, but that is not the case. The 2007 squad took home the MacNaughton Cup as regular season WCHA champs, with the Sioux riding a season-ending hot streak to finish in 3rd. A late January meeting between the two teams produced another on of the rivalry's classic moments, at least from the UND perspective, in the form of the Robbie Bina Goal. Funny how these things only take a few syllables to spur instant recognition. Man I miss Jeff Frazee, always loved watching that guy play, too bad I was home on the couch with the flu for that game. Had a ticket and everything, still bugs me.
One interesting side note that many people don't know is that Sioux-Gopher games produced three ESPN Top 10 highlights during one calendar year. To put this in perspective, realize that ESPN averages one college hockey highlight a year, period, and it's always the game-winning goal of the national championship game. The first was the Bina Goal, January 2007, the second was two months later, and is still probably the biggest "you've-gotta-be-kidding-me!" moment I've ever had at a sporting event. Of course I'm talking about the Blake Wheeler Goal. Still bother me watching that.
Of course I was in the building for that one, chances are if something inexplicably bad is happening to one of my teams, I'm on the premises. Funny thing though, I never saw it go in. I was in a packed suite directly behind the Sioux goal, and when the puck came into the zone at a million miles an hour of a Gopher stick and was clearly (or so I thought) out of Wheeler's reach, I turned around and began to walk back to grab a beer.
And then the place exploded. (Facepalm)
But thankfully that was not a season-ending loss, so the next week my team moved onto the West Regional, which as luck would have it, featured the Gophers on the other side of the draw. Both teams attempted to blow their semifinal games, but ultimately prevailed, setting up a rematch of the prior weekend's thriller, albeit once again in far less thrilling conditions. I cannot tell you how sweet redemption was on this day, I must let it speak for itself. Just know that I'm not a spry man, but I must've jumped three feet in the air when this happened. That was season-ending loss #2 in the past three season dealt to the Gophers by the Sioux, and it also marked the high-water mark for Gopher hockey in the second half of this decade.
Over the last three seasons, things just haven't been quite the same in Dinkytown. The Sioux have continued to deliver highlights, including the last of the three Top 10s I brought up earlier, but for whatever reason (and there are no shortage of opinions), Gopher hockey has fallen on hard times.
Now I'm not going to sit here and say it wrecks my day to see the Gophers struggle, because that wouldn't be true. But I will say what started out as fun, watching a rival flounder, has given way a bit to missing the intensity and atmosphere of the best hockey games I've ever seen. Plenty of Sioux fans would be fine if they never saw Minnesota contend for another league title or national championship, but after witnessing some of the things I've recounted here in person, I have to say there's a large part of me that wants the old Gophers back. And no, I'm not talking about the title-winning Gophers, I'm talking about the "lose to the Sioux 4-3 in OT on the big stage" Gophers. It's so much more fun beating your team when they're good :)
But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, and perhaps I'll be eating these words at some point. Looking ahead to this weekend, I can't help but be filled with a twinge of concern; mostly because I'm a rampant pessimist, but also because I've seen so many odd things happen in this series when the roles were reversed. The Sioux should roll, they are playing great and have the type of physical team that has given the Gophers fits. But many times in the past few years, struggling North Dakota teams have come into this matchup looking overmatched, only to walk away with 3 or 4 points. I'd like history to repeat itself in the sense of the Sioux rolling over the Gophers at the Ralph, not in the underdog pulling off a stunning weekend upset. But that's why they play the games, we'll know all we need to by around 9:30 PM on Saturday. For my part, I think the Gophers have done their best worked against the league's best teams, and the Sioux have tended to blitz opponents in game one, then throttle back a bit on Saturdays. So I'll call a split: 5-2 Sioux Friday and 3-2 Gophers Saturday on the strength of a dynamite game from Patterson.
So there that is, 3,200 words of drivel that probably isn't news to most of you, but being that I'm a huge sports fan, and this is one of my all-time favorite things in the world of sports, I just kind of wanted to get it down on paper. To every Gopher fan out there, here's hoping it's you, me and 19,000 other maniacs at the X on the 3rd Saturday in March.
It'd be like old times.
The meaning of these wins may ebb and flow from year to year, but there is always some meaning to be found. Most develop due to proximity, some due to consistent matchups in big games and others due to downright dislike. The best have all three of these elements blended together, and that's the kind that we're talking about when we talk about the Sioux and the Gophers.
Sure it isn't a famed matchup like the ones mentioned in the opening (we are talking college hockey after all), but for my money there's none better. What's lacking in numbers is made up for in passion, as there is no team hated more in the state of Minnesota, save the Green Bay Packers, than the University of North Dakota hockey team. There's nothing funnier than getting into an in-depth conversation about college hockey with a Gold Gopher fan, then dropping it on them that I root for the Sioux. The face that follows is typically somewhere between smelling a fart and having one of their testicles twisted with a pliers. Just a minute ago they were so happy to have found a likeminded follower of their favorite niche sport, and now this bit of unpleasantness. Sometimes I wish I had a picture.
Oil and Water
Having lived the last decade in Grand Forks and Minneapolis, the twin ground zeros of this disagreement, has given me a unique perspective. I'd like to think I'm able to look past the biases of both sides and evaluate things objectively. Of course being a Sioux fan, my green glasses are always on, but at least the tint is a lighter shade that many. All that being said, allow me to approximate what these opposing fanbases see when they look at each other:
Sioux fans - Loud, obnoxious, mullet-wearing, drunken, trailer park denizens. Likely clothed in a leather jacket bearing the logo of a snowmobile or farm equipment manufacturer and blue jeans caked with dirt and/or some kind of animal feces. The only thing more offensive than their smell is the verbal diarrhea spewing from their fetal alcohol-addled heads when engaging in a profanity-laced diatribe. Which they do on a pretty much constant basis.
To date, none of their players has ever committed a penalty, with anything short of removing a skate to administer a 'Colombian necktie' shrugged off as "good hard-nosed hockey". The dirty hack players are constantly egged on by a fanbase that would be more at home watching Roman gladiators, since most of the time they seem to be of the opinion the game shouldn't end until somebody is dead. It should also be noted that most of these goons in green are 27-year old Canuck neanderthals hailing from places like 'Moosenut' and 'Beaverlip River'. By a convenient coincidence, covering their tracks after escaping the Canadian penitentiary system necessitated the same type of forged documents required to play NCAA hockey. So here they are, ready to commit assault and battery on some unsuspecting kid a the better part of a decade younger.
God forbid a call actually is made against a Sioux player, as it's sure to start their fans howling about a conspiracy in favor of the opposition. The gigantic chip on their shoulder from a life spent in a second-rate state creates a relentless paranoia that is all-consuming. Look no further than their infatuation with the Gopher hockey program, on any given night, they care more about the Gophers losing that their own team winning. But I suppose that's what happens when you live in a god-forsaken wasteland and hockey is the only form of entertainment.
Should you encounter one of these mouthbreathers, the best you can hope for is to point out a tree as you're walking into the arena, and pray they will remain outside marveling at it until long after the game is finished. Or perhaps roll a can of Natural Light into traffic.
Gopher fans - Elitist, sweater-around-the-neck, whining dandies who constantly cry like a 4-year old girl with a skinned knee. Before they invented women's hockey, it was simply called Gopher hockey...and they still haven't adjusted very well to this checking thing. Pride On Ice is the disgustingly self-congratulating slogan they've tagged to this team, but someone should tell these people that pride comes before the fall. And when they face the Sioux, the falling comes early and often.
If the smugness and arrogance of this fanbase were a tangible structure, it would be visible from space like the Great Wall of China. The average Gopher hockey fan thinks that game was invented by John Mariucci in 1934 when God reached down from heaven and handed him the golden stick. The idea that Canada had anything to do with it is really just a myth. Which is why the only "real" hockey players come from inside the border of Minnesota, and all Canadian players are disdained for trying to steal some of the credit from St. John. Opposing fans who aren't willing to grovel in inferiority and thank them for the gift they've bestowed need not apply. Somehow they seem to be laboring under the misconception that there's a column in the standings marked "Wins with a roster entirely from one state". Oddly enough, no one else can seem to locate it. Probably because it's not f**king there.
Despite this claim as hockey's originators, they're also the only school that's succeeded in turning a college hockey venue into a soul-dead corporate atmosphere. They'll try to make lame excuses about more entertainment options and better things to do, but you'd think in a city of millions, it shouldn't be all that hard to scrape together a lousy 10,000 folks to fill up a hockey arena. Instead, by the time they've valet-parked their Priuses outside the arena and made the long walk in halfway through the first period, they're really too tuckered for pesky things like standing up and cheering. That is if they bothered to show up at all, and if the cord on their oxygen tank will allow enough slack to stand in the first place.
The only that really does get these people fired up is when somebody lays a finger on one of their Golden Cupcakes. Can't have the young lads facing any contact, lest one of them might be too distraught to shamelessly showboat and jersey pop after scoring the goal that pulls the team within three or four of the opposition. By then again, I suppose you have to handle players like theirs with kid gloves, because one rough game for one of these prima donnas and the kid will probably be wearing an Islanders sweater next week.
That's the basic amalgamation of many comments I've heard over the years. Very little of it is true in general, a whole lot of it is true in the case of a few specific individuals. Like any teams out there, you will encounter good fans and idiots on either side. I've been fortunate enough to know many quality fans of both teams...who occasionally happen to act like idiots. But this happens very rarely. I can neither confirm nor deny that I've had any idiotic episodes myself :)
But some of that is to be expected, because over the years there have been battles. The stakes have been high with emotions to match. As a Grade A sports hothead, I can say without a trace of irony, I'm not bringing nearly as much hate to the party as many others I've met. Because some of these fans do truly dislike each other, I'm talking deep-seated feelings of animosity. So let's try to take emotion out of it and look at things with an unbiased eye.
Just The Facts
- UND trails the all-time series 127-132-14 (.490) but is 69-54-8 (.561) all-time against the Gophers on home ice
- During the last 10 years (we'll call this the PV Era, since it's pretty much my period of involvement), the teams have met 37 times and the Sioux hold a 19-15-3 edge.
- In 24 meetings from the start of the '01-02 season through the end of the '06-07 campaign, the teams split 12-12, so the advantage to the Sioux is a recent development. More on that later.
- Since a 6-1 loss on January 13th, 2006 (also know as the night I was the closest I've ever been to punching a Gopher fan) North Dakota is 11-4-3 against Minnesota.
Down Memory Lane
When I began watching college hockey in the late 90s, the Gophers were going through some lean times. As the Sioux contended for titles, my concerns lay with Heatley's Badgers and the St. Cloud Husky teams of Hartigan-Arnason-DiCasmirro. Those were the competition at the top of the standings those days, what did I care about the middle-of-the-pack Gophers? I knew people hated them, but that was it; I usually saved my sports hate for the teams that beat mine, so I didn't spend much time worrying about Minnesota.
The night they came in and wrecked the opening of the Palace on the Prairie with a 7-5 come-from-behind win, that all changed. Looking back, that was really a turning point game for the two programs. The Sioux were coming off two stellar seasons, winning it all in 2000 and falling in the championship game in 2001. The Gophers had just passed the 20-year mark on their last title and were starting the 3rd season of the Don Lucia Era. You know the story from there, as the Gophers went on to win back-to-back titles, while the Sioux took the next couple of seasons to re-load. Clicking this link will make any Gopher fan draw wood.
Many a groan went up in Grand Forks when a hometown kid netted the game winner for the Maroon-N-Gold during OT of that game, even more when they won it again a year later. But following those two titles was what I like to think of as the Golden Age of this rivalry, and of course I mean that in the dynastic civilization sense, not in the sense of your uniform color. Truth be told, that's really more of a yellow anyway.
From 2004-2007, the Sioux and Gophers met in two Final Five Championship games, a Frozen Four semifinal and a West Regional final. The 2004 Final Five Championship, with the Sioux being led by Zach Parise and the Gophers by Thomas Vanek, and a host of other NHLers on the ice, is still the greatest hockey game I've ever seen (even though you sieved out horribly on that last goal Brandt, I'M STILL PISSED!!!). Kind of amazing to say that, considering it was a loss and it usually wrecks my day to watch my team lose in anything. Even the Gopher guys I know who usually gave me the most crap were buying me beers after that one, I think everybody was just happy to see it.
It helped a lot to get a measure of revenge the following year in the national semifinal, the first of several season-ending losses the Sioux have handed their biggest rival in the latter part of this decade. Nowhere near the meaning for me personally, and frankly nowhere near the game, considering it was being played in front of a half-full building in Columbus, instead of a standing-room crowd in St. Paul.
2006 didn't bring any high-stakes postseason matchups, but it did add plenty of fuel to the fire. For during an early December series, Danny Irmen unveiled, at least for the first time in my recollection, what will forever be etched into my as a Golden Gopher calling card: The Jersey Pop. I remember it vividly, because we had seats on the glass at the Ralph both nights. The first evening was a tightly contested 4-3 Gopher victory, and as we moved on to night number two, the fans amped up their intensity, as well as their harassment of Fargo native Irmen. But it the end, it was him who got the last laugh, popping in a goal late in the second period to put his team up three and skating the length of the ice past the student section, continuously waving the 'M' on the front of his jersey. Had I not been filled with rage due to the pending extension of my personal REA losing streak and squandering of great seats, I could have appreciated the comedy of a great 'Eff you' moment between a player and taunting fans. As it was, I just found myself wishing there was a sniper in the rafters who could take out the showboating SOB. I'm not proud of that, but there it is.
There was no showboating happening following the Gophers next game at the Ralph, which can be described in two words, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any NoDak fan: Holy Cross. I've heard a lot of people over the years say that Sioux fans made too much of this upset, and that's probably true. (After all, buying jerseys of some team just because they beat your rivals? Couldn't you just wear a Sioux jersey? I mean it's not like Holy Cross was the only ones who could get the job done here, let the St. Cloud fans go for that crap.) But when you consider the stakes, the setting, and what I just described in the preceding paragraph, taking place 4 months earlier, there was a lot of built up animosity there. I mean if the shoe was on the other foot, I'm pretty sure it would've some up more than once. But in the name of domestic harmony, I observe the statute of limitations on that one, you just can't leave out that part if you're recounting the recent history of the rivalry.
Many less informed individuals labor under the misconception that the Holy Cross game was the beginning of the Gophers current rough patch, but that is not the case. The 2007 squad took home the MacNaughton Cup as regular season WCHA champs, with the Sioux riding a season-ending hot streak to finish in 3rd. A late January meeting between the two teams produced another on of the rivalry's classic moments, at least from the UND perspective, in the form of the Robbie Bina Goal. Funny how these things only take a few syllables to spur instant recognition. Man I miss Jeff Frazee, always loved watching that guy play, too bad I was home on the couch with the flu for that game. Had a ticket and everything, still bugs me.
One interesting side note that many people don't know is that Sioux-Gopher games produced three ESPN Top 10 highlights during one calendar year. To put this in perspective, realize that ESPN averages one college hockey highlight a year, period, and it's always the game-winning goal of the national championship game. The first was the Bina Goal, January 2007, the second was two months later, and is still probably the biggest "you've-gotta-be-kidding-me!" moment I've ever had at a sporting event. Of course I'm talking about the Blake Wheeler Goal. Still bother me watching that.
Of course I was in the building for that one, chances are if something inexplicably bad is happening to one of my teams, I'm on the premises. Funny thing though, I never saw it go in. I was in a packed suite directly behind the Sioux goal, and when the puck came into the zone at a million miles an hour of a Gopher stick and was clearly (or so I thought) out of Wheeler's reach, I turned around and began to walk back to grab a beer.
And then the place exploded. (Facepalm)
But thankfully that was not a season-ending loss, so the next week my team moved onto the West Regional, which as luck would have it, featured the Gophers on the other side of the draw. Both teams attempted to blow their semifinal games, but ultimately prevailed, setting up a rematch of the prior weekend's thriller, albeit once again in far less thrilling conditions. I cannot tell you how sweet redemption was on this day, I must let it speak for itself. Just know that I'm not a spry man, but I must've jumped three feet in the air when this happened. That was season-ending loss #2 in the past three season dealt to the Gophers by the Sioux, and it also marked the high-water mark for Gopher hockey in the second half of this decade.
Over the last three seasons, things just haven't been quite the same in Dinkytown. The Sioux have continued to deliver highlights, including the last of the three Top 10s I brought up earlier, but for whatever reason (and there are no shortage of opinions), Gopher hockey has fallen on hard times.
Now I'm not going to sit here and say it wrecks my day to see the Gophers struggle, because that wouldn't be true. But I will say what started out as fun, watching a rival flounder, has given way a bit to missing the intensity and atmosphere of the best hockey games I've ever seen. Plenty of Sioux fans would be fine if they never saw Minnesota contend for another league title or national championship, but after witnessing some of the things I've recounted here in person, I have to say there's a large part of me that wants the old Gophers back. And no, I'm not talking about the title-winning Gophers, I'm talking about the "lose to the Sioux 4-3 in OT on the big stage" Gophers. It's so much more fun beating your team when they're good :)
But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, and perhaps I'll be eating these words at some point. Looking ahead to this weekend, I can't help but be filled with a twinge of concern; mostly because I'm a rampant pessimist, but also because I've seen so many odd things happen in this series when the roles were reversed. The Sioux should roll, they are playing great and have the type of physical team that has given the Gophers fits. But many times in the past few years, struggling North Dakota teams have come into this matchup looking overmatched, only to walk away with 3 or 4 points. I'd like history to repeat itself in the sense of the Sioux rolling over the Gophers at the Ralph, not in the underdog pulling off a stunning weekend upset. But that's why they play the games, we'll know all we need to by around 9:30 PM on Saturday. For my part, I think the Gophers have done their best worked against the league's best teams, and the Sioux have tended to blitz opponents in game one, then throttle back a bit on Saturdays. So I'll call a split: 5-2 Sioux Friday and 3-2 Gophers Saturday on the strength of a dynamite game from Patterson.
So there that is, 3,200 words of drivel that probably isn't news to most of you, but being that I'm a huge sports fan, and this is one of my all-time favorite things in the world of sports, I just kind of wanted to get it down on paper. To every Gopher fan out there, here's hoping it's you, me and 19,000 other maniacs at the X on the 3rd Saturday in March.
It'd be like old times.
Monday, January 10, 2011
So that went well
Couple of things:
The NFL continues to bedevil me, with a 1-3 start to the playoff season.
Not only was I 100% certain that the Saints would pummel the Seahawks, I was also pretty darn sure the Chiefs would get the job done against the Ravens. Obviously I was woefully incorrect on both counts. But hey, that's playoff football, as unpredictable as it gets. I still have absolutely no idea how the New Orleans defense folded so totally and completely, guess I should've put greater stock in Mr. Hasselbeck. On the other side of things, it's tough to defend a team that got drubbed 30-7 at home, but if anyone can do it, it's this guy.
Kansas City was absolutely GOUGING the Baltimore defense in the running game. Jamaal Charles was doing exactly what he'd done all season, ripping off yardage at 9 yards a clip, then he put the ball on the ground and that was it. Don't understand why the Chiefs went away from the run game so fast, particularly after watching Matt Cassel do everything short of taking a dump on their logo at midfield, but there it is. I mean if you're planning on throwing indefensible picks anyway, why not just chuck a couple of jump balls to the guy who led the league in TDs? His new nickname should be The Amazing Dwayne Bowe, no magician has ever pulled off a better disappearing act.
Michael Vick looked strikingly similar to the guy who couldn't throw in Atlanta.
That's really all that I have, just know that I'm rooting for $30 million in guaranteed money and a Kevin Kolb trade to either the Vikings or the AFC, pronto. Let's get this done Philly, nevermind that you might be removing the strongest incentive factor for a guy who doesn't exactly have the greatest track record of staying motivated or on the field, SHOW HIM THE MONEY!!! Not a rip on Vick personally, more so running QBs in general, they're going to get dinged, pay them large sums of guaranteed money at your peril.
In hindsight, I was a bit harsh on the Wild last week.
Okay, fine, so they don't suck as much as Maroon 5. That's a terrible thing to say about anyone and it really isn't true. The truth is the team has fought it's way back into contention during the past month, to now sit only a tiebreaker out of the playoffs and 3 points out of the #4 seed. But there's some pesky stuff going on that makes it tough to shake my skepticism. Like the .500 home record. And the -11 goal differential that's the worst among the West's top 10 teams. And the fact they average 2.5 goals per game. And the likelihood that the team leader in goals will once again fail to crack 30.
Yes, it's all about results, so don't worry so much about the aesthetic, but the reality is it's hard to sustain things this way. We've seen it play out many times before with this team, the only difference is that the hot streak usually comes early and then it's a slow slide down the standings. With a tightly packed Western Conference that's full of good teams, the runs of good hockey can't be as sporadic as they've been so far. But hey, it is their third best first half ever and the first two resulted in playoffs. Not to mention that, more than any other sport, hockey provides a good chance to make a run from a high seed. So I apologize for all those derogatory remarks. Somewhat.
The BCS Championship Game is tonight
If limited to a two-syllable response on this, they'd be: Ho and Hum. Fortunately ink is cheap here on the internet, so I can expound. Frankly I doubt I'd be able to limit myself to two syllables about anything, two paragraphs is barely enough to curse out a Twins pitcher appropriately.
Once upon a time I would've been excited for tonight's matchup of the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. After all, a showdown between the consensus two best squads in college football is always to goal when the season starts. But lately, I just can't get excited about the sport's postseason. I'll always love the action on fall Saturdays, the great stadiums, fans and rivalries; but the proliferation of bowl games and stringing out of the conclusion are starting to wear on me.
It's now January 10th, both Auburn and Oregon played their first game over 4 months ago and their last one over a month ago. Last night the legendary Nevada Wolfpack outlasted a 7-5 Boston College team in the culmination of a rivalry as epic as there is in sports. I'd tell you more, but surely there's no need, as you were likely glued to your TV just as I was. I mean no true sports fan ever misses the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, been watching it since I was a kid myself.
But beyond the calls for a playoff that have become common, I'm even struggling to find a rooting interest here. Auburn should've been right in my wheelhouse, a historically strong program with a transcendent star player, they are fun to watch and easy to root for. But then this whole Cam Newton debacle sprung up, and it's making it hard for me to throw my support the Tigers way.
It's naive to think that money and favors aren't being handed out under the table in big-time college athletics, and really the idea of players getting perks doesn't bother me all that much. In fact, I'd be in favor of a system that paid the players some amount of money, if the logistics could be worked out so more than just the top few could afford it. But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's hypocrisy, and the NCAA has truly set a new standard in that department this season.
The rules may be dumb, and I may disagree with more than a few of them, but if they're going to be on the books, they should be enforced consistently. What has happened in the case of Mr. Newton, with the governing body admitting it knew rules were broken, but exempting the player from fault, was questionable. What happened with Ohio St, with everyone knowing and admitting what happened, to the point of suspensions being handed out, then the players being allowed to play in a bowl? Well that was ridiculous. Reserve "disgrace" and "tragedy" for the important stuff, but the NCAA's enforcement has become a total farce and it's laughable.
I'd have no problem with any of it, if it were up front an honest. This is a billion-dollar enterprise, a business of the highest order, please stop telling me that anything is about education and the rules of fair play. The unfairness of it all is demonstrated constantly these days, with big time players being the safest from punishment, lest their exclusion from a game tick the ratings down 1% and upset a sponsor.
To repeat, nothing about the corruption of the amateur athlete is my problem here, there is no longing for bygone days and love-of-the-game nonsense from me. Amateur athletics, at least in the case of football and basketball, are a fraud that has been co-opted to provide power and money to a group of people who, as far as I can tell, deserve neither. Sure there are plenty of kids out there who get opportunity and degrees they otherwise wouldn't from college sports, no doubt about it. But as far as the folks at the top, please stop and smell what you're shoveling before you come down too hard on the easy targets who know one will miss, or hold back on the big guys on New Years, because nobody will miss them against Coppin St. next fall.
So Oregon, even though you have title to the 4 ugliest jerseys in sports, even though you play that atrocious delay-option offense, which is the type of fad that creates a dearth of good pro QBs, I am rooting for you.
Go Ducks.
The NFL continues to bedevil me, with a 1-3 start to the playoff season.
Not only was I 100% certain that the Saints would pummel the Seahawks, I was also pretty darn sure the Chiefs would get the job done against the Ravens. Obviously I was woefully incorrect on both counts. But hey, that's playoff football, as unpredictable as it gets. I still have absolutely no idea how the New Orleans defense folded so totally and completely, guess I should've put greater stock in Mr. Hasselbeck. On the other side of things, it's tough to defend a team that got drubbed 30-7 at home, but if anyone can do it, it's this guy.
Kansas City was absolutely GOUGING the Baltimore defense in the running game. Jamaal Charles was doing exactly what he'd done all season, ripping off yardage at 9 yards a clip, then he put the ball on the ground and that was it. Don't understand why the Chiefs went away from the run game so fast, particularly after watching Matt Cassel do everything short of taking a dump on their logo at midfield, but there it is. I mean if you're planning on throwing indefensible picks anyway, why not just chuck a couple of jump balls to the guy who led the league in TDs? His new nickname should be The Amazing Dwayne Bowe, no magician has ever pulled off a better disappearing act.
Michael Vick looked strikingly similar to the guy who couldn't throw in Atlanta.
That's really all that I have, just know that I'm rooting for $30 million in guaranteed money and a Kevin Kolb trade to either the Vikings or the AFC, pronto. Let's get this done Philly, nevermind that you might be removing the strongest incentive factor for a guy who doesn't exactly have the greatest track record of staying motivated or on the field, SHOW HIM THE MONEY!!! Not a rip on Vick personally, more so running QBs in general, they're going to get dinged, pay them large sums of guaranteed money at your peril.
In hindsight, I was a bit harsh on the Wild last week.
Okay, fine, so they don't suck as much as Maroon 5. That's a terrible thing to say about anyone and it really isn't true. The truth is the team has fought it's way back into contention during the past month, to now sit only a tiebreaker out of the playoffs and 3 points out of the #4 seed. But there's some pesky stuff going on that makes it tough to shake my skepticism. Like the .500 home record. And the -11 goal differential that's the worst among the West's top 10 teams. And the fact they average 2.5 goals per game. And the likelihood that the team leader in goals will once again fail to crack 30.
Yes, it's all about results, so don't worry so much about the aesthetic, but the reality is it's hard to sustain things this way. We've seen it play out many times before with this team, the only difference is that the hot streak usually comes early and then it's a slow slide down the standings. With a tightly packed Western Conference that's full of good teams, the runs of good hockey can't be as sporadic as they've been so far. But hey, it is their third best first half ever and the first two resulted in playoffs. Not to mention that, more than any other sport, hockey provides a good chance to make a run from a high seed. So I apologize for all those derogatory remarks. Somewhat.
The BCS Championship Game is tonight
If limited to a two-syllable response on this, they'd be: Ho and Hum. Fortunately ink is cheap here on the internet, so I can expound. Frankly I doubt I'd be able to limit myself to two syllables about anything, two paragraphs is barely enough to curse out a Twins pitcher appropriately.
Once upon a time I would've been excited for tonight's matchup of the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. After all, a showdown between the consensus two best squads in college football is always to goal when the season starts. But lately, I just can't get excited about the sport's postseason. I'll always love the action on fall Saturdays, the great stadiums, fans and rivalries; but the proliferation of bowl games and stringing out of the conclusion are starting to wear on me.
It's now January 10th, both Auburn and Oregon played their first game over 4 months ago and their last one over a month ago. Last night the legendary Nevada Wolfpack outlasted a 7-5 Boston College team in the culmination of a rivalry as epic as there is in sports. I'd tell you more, but surely there's no need, as you were likely glued to your TV just as I was. I mean no true sports fan ever misses the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, been watching it since I was a kid myself.
But beyond the calls for a playoff that have become common, I'm even struggling to find a rooting interest here. Auburn should've been right in my wheelhouse, a historically strong program with a transcendent star player, they are fun to watch and easy to root for. But then this whole Cam Newton debacle sprung up, and it's making it hard for me to throw my support the Tigers way.
It's naive to think that money and favors aren't being handed out under the table in big-time college athletics, and really the idea of players getting perks doesn't bother me all that much. In fact, I'd be in favor of a system that paid the players some amount of money, if the logistics could be worked out so more than just the top few could afford it. But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's hypocrisy, and the NCAA has truly set a new standard in that department this season.
The rules may be dumb, and I may disagree with more than a few of them, but if they're going to be on the books, they should be enforced consistently. What has happened in the case of Mr. Newton, with the governing body admitting it knew rules were broken, but exempting the player from fault, was questionable. What happened with Ohio St, with everyone knowing and admitting what happened, to the point of suspensions being handed out, then the players being allowed to play in a bowl? Well that was ridiculous. Reserve "disgrace" and "tragedy" for the important stuff, but the NCAA's enforcement has become a total farce and it's laughable.
I'd have no problem with any of it, if it were up front an honest. This is a billion-dollar enterprise, a business of the highest order, please stop telling me that anything is about education and the rules of fair play. The unfairness of it all is demonstrated constantly these days, with big time players being the safest from punishment, lest their exclusion from a game tick the ratings down 1% and upset a sponsor.
To repeat, nothing about the corruption of the amateur athlete is my problem here, there is no longing for bygone days and love-of-the-game nonsense from me. Amateur athletics, at least in the case of football and basketball, are a fraud that has been co-opted to provide power and money to a group of people who, as far as I can tell, deserve neither. Sure there are plenty of kids out there who get opportunity and degrees they otherwise wouldn't from college sports, no doubt about it. But as far as the folks at the top, please stop and smell what you're shoveling before you come down too hard on the easy targets who know one will miss, or hold back on the big guys on New Years, because nobody will miss them against Coppin St. next fall.
So Oregon, even though you have title to the 4 ugliest jerseys in sports, even though you play that atrocious delay-option offense, which is the type of fad that creates a dearth of good pro QBs, I am rooting for you.
Go Ducks.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Playoffs? PLAYOFFS???
Alright, first off, because it has to be done, an all-time classic.
Seems like only yesterday I was kicking off the NFL season with a few dozen terrible predictions, now here we are on the eve of the wild card round. My performance was pretty mediocre, only 6 out of 12 playoff teams identified, with a few correct hits (KC, NE, BAL) and a lot of huge whiffs (PIT, SF, DAL, MIN, TB winning one game, seriously?). Week 15 was a perfect illustration of the knife edge that is the NFL season, had the Giants simply held onto a 21-point second half lead over Philly, they'd likely be here, another team would be at home, and I'd likely have one more correct answer.
But as I've said many times, that's what's great about this league, and I've never been more grateful for that than I am now, as a fan of a 6-10 pending rebuilding project. You never know from one year to the next which squads will rise and fall, KC went from 4 wins to a division title, no reason there can't be some hope entering next season...unless you're a Carolina fan of course.
The one thing we all saw coming? The NFC West was BAD! Maybe it surprised us a bit by going even lower than we thought it could go, but I think most people were prepared for an epic stinkbomb. At least Sam Bradford looked competent in leading the Rams out of the wilderness, perhaps some of those 3 PM West Coast games will be worth watching in the coming years. I penned the following before Week One of the season, and it makes me chuckle to look back at it now:
NFC West
Worst. Division. Ever. What was wrong with 3 divisions anyway? 3 champs, 3 wild cards, none of this “terrible division champs sneaking into the playoffs with an 8-8 record” garbage. Is it going to take a 7-9 division champion getting a home playoff game against an 11-5 wild card before this gets fixed? Anyway, somebody’s gotta win this thing.
So what's happening tomorrow? The 11-5 Saints are going on the road to face the 7-9 Seahawks, you really can't overemphasize how silly all of this is, count me in the camp that says a minimum of 8 wins should be required to make the playoffs. If you want to look back an laugh at my other prognostications that were quite so great, you can do so here.
Sort of fell of the pick train the last couple of weeks or so, it was the holidays, I was traveling, you know how it goes. Ben and I made Week 16 picks in a bar in Phoenix, both of us going 9-7. How did the records end up?
Brent: 63-54-1 (.534 winning %)
Ben: 71-60-2 (.530 winning %)
Pat: 107-99-2 (.514 winning %)
I'd make the argument that I had the tougher run at things because I started picking early in the season, when there was less info to go on, but I think when these guys started, I was 12 games over .500. The more you know (or think you know), the worse you do. That sums up football gambling in a nutshell.
So now we move on to handicapping the Wild Card round, but first I'd like to clear up one point of confusion: These are the 2010 NFL Playoffs
Trying to discuss a playoff game with someone too often sounds like a Muslim and Christian debating when the Bronze Age came to a close. You'd think it would be simpler for us football fans, being that we can at least agree on what year it is currently, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Frankly if I had my way, there'd be a law passed, officially defining the fact that an NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl are tagged with the year in which the season began, regardless of when they actually take place. I know it's going to be a little weird once the NFL moves to a 20-game schedule and we're referring to a game that takes place in early March as if it happened 3 months earlier, but trust me, it will save us all a lot of headaches. Write you're Congressman and tell them we need to package this as part of the 2011 Sports Omnibus Bill, along with a provision outlawing bowl games taking place after New Year's Day that don't feature at least one ranked team and the DH. That's right, I went there, I like pitchers hitting.
Back to the matter at hand, Wild Card weekend, the second best NFL weekend of the year. Typically Divisional weekend is the culmination of everything we've been following for the previous 20-some Sundays. The cream rises to the top and we get to witness 4 games played by good teams playing their best football. Some years, like last year for instance, things get flipped, with the Wild Card providing the superior drama and Divisional games ending up anti-climactic. Championship Sunday is always the same, one classic and one clunker; but that usually stems from some epic upset the weekend before, so we let that slide.
As it's name would imply, Wild Card weekend can be a tough one to peg. Sure the broad strokes are there for anyone to see, and sometimes a flat-out lousy team shows up as an easy mark (looking at you Seattle), but most of the time, confusion reigns. Closest thing to a pattern emerging is one shootout, one grind-it-out defensive struggle, one upset and one knew-it-all-along game.
Sometimes you get a bunch of blowouts, which is always a buzzkill, but usually even that type of weekend provides enough moments to leave you satisfied with what you saw. I'd liken it to a mediocre move with a redeeming scene or two, like Halle Berry being topless in Swordfish, or Terri Hatcher being topless in Heaven's Prisoners, or Halle Berry (again) getting aggressively and unexpectedly throwndown by Bill Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. Sense the pattern developing here? Some things are just game-changers and can validate two hours that would've otherwise been considered wasted. I mean I don't want to see Black Swan, but I will, and you know exactly why. And it will be worth it. And that's what I'm talking about.
(Matter of fact, it would be a great idea to repackage all of the scenes like this into it's own two-hour film, call it "The one part you wanted to see when you walked into this piece of crap" or something along those lines with more brevity. I mean how great would it be to say to somebody, "No, I didn't see Black Swan, but I did see the Mila Kunis-Natalie Portman lesbian part". Then again, I suppose that's what the Internet is for. Speaking of which, I'll be back in a jiffy.)
So moving from, which of this weekend's games is which?
The knew-it-all-along
New Orleans -11 over SEATTLE
Play this game with me, how high does this line have to go before you're comfortable taking Seattle? At least 14, right? Likely to 14 1/2. This would appear to be easy money for anyone interested in making some. Sure the Seahawks are playing at home, sure Matt Hasselbeck is returning (bad move in my estimation, I think God helped them get past St. Louis because Charlie Whitehurst reminded him of his son), but do you really think Seattle is going to do anything but show up and get crushed here? Similar to last season, when we all tried to talk ourselves into Philly bouncing back after getting annihilated Week 17 at Dallas, the writing is on the wall here. Sometimes you just need to take what is given.
Two stats I heard this week piqued my interest about this game:
The upset
KANSAS CITY +3 over Baltimore
I've liked the Chiefs to cover all week, but today I decided that I'm all in on an outright win. The combo platter of home dog, strong running game, concerns about Baltimore's pass offense and simply wanting it to be so have finally pushed me over the edge. Sure KC is flawed, they just got worked by the Raiders in a game where it appeared they might've been trying to get their QB killed. But I think to be getting points at home, a team should either really stink or be really overmatched, both are the case with Seattle, but I don't think either applies here.
There is a strength-on-strength problem for the Chiefs to be sure, the Ravens run D is always stout and could likely turn them into a one-dimensional team. But this season hasn't been like most, teams have been able to get to them at times and KC runs the ball better than most. So I'm picking the upset, even though it probably spells doom for the poor Chiefs, but hey, things have worked out so far.
The grinder
INDIANAPOLIS -3 over New York Jets
Seems odd to be mentioning "Indianapolis" and "defensive struggle" in the same breath, but that's just what I'm feeling. To clarify, I don't think there will be no points scored, in fact I'm expecting something in the 24-20 range. But I do think everything these teams do get will be hard to come by, and will take a toll on whoever wins that they won't recover from going into the next round.
The biggest reason I'm rolling with Indy is Peyton Manning, obviously. But the second biggest is that their run defense, which was a trainwreck most of the season, has been surprisingly competent these past few weeks. Chris Johnson and MoJo were both held down by the Colts D recently, and if they can do the same job on the Jets running game, then it's on Mark Sanchez to find a way. And if you know anything about me, it's that I do not put my faith in Mark Sanchez.
Not to mention the Jets D has left me cold in recent weeks, with a whole lotta points surrendered to the Pats and Bears. They beat a banged-up Steelers team and smacked Buffalo, but all in all, I think Indy will take care of business at home in a tight one.
The shootout
Green Bay +3 over PHILADELPHIA
Went back and forth a few times here before settling on the team I felt had the superior defense. Michael Vick is the ultimate wild card (no pun intended), and Philly's other playmakers aren't that far behind, but I feel like he's banged up and will be just one step slow.
The call here is Green Bay goes up big, can't hold the lead, Philly rallies furiously, but comes up just short. Should be a great game, and I'd like nothing better than to see the outcome go the other way. But I've had the Packers winning this thing since day one, and despite a season of ups and downs, don't see any reason to change that prediction now. Man I hope I'm wrong though.
Anyway, enjoy what should be a great weekend of football.
Seems like only yesterday I was kicking off the NFL season with a few dozen terrible predictions, now here we are on the eve of the wild card round. My performance was pretty mediocre, only 6 out of 12 playoff teams identified, with a few correct hits (KC, NE, BAL) and a lot of huge whiffs (PIT, SF, DAL, MIN, TB winning one game, seriously?). Week 15 was a perfect illustration of the knife edge that is the NFL season, had the Giants simply held onto a 21-point second half lead over Philly, they'd likely be here, another team would be at home, and I'd likely have one more correct answer.
But as I've said many times, that's what's great about this league, and I've never been more grateful for that than I am now, as a fan of a 6-10 pending rebuilding project. You never know from one year to the next which squads will rise and fall, KC went from 4 wins to a division title, no reason there can't be some hope entering next season...unless you're a Carolina fan of course.
The one thing we all saw coming? The NFC West was BAD! Maybe it surprised us a bit by going even lower than we thought it could go, but I think most people were prepared for an epic stinkbomb. At least Sam Bradford looked competent in leading the Rams out of the wilderness, perhaps some of those 3 PM West Coast games will be worth watching in the coming years. I penned the following before Week One of the season, and it makes me chuckle to look back at it now:
NFC West
Worst. Division. Ever. What was wrong with 3 divisions anyway? 3 champs, 3 wild cards, none of this “terrible division champs sneaking into the playoffs with an 8-8 record” garbage. Is it going to take a 7-9 division champion getting a home playoff game against an 11-5 wild card before this gets fixed? Anyway, somebody’s gotta win this thing.
So what's happening tomorrow? The 11-5 Saints are going on the road to face the 7-9 Seahawks, you really can't overemphasize how silly all of this is, count me in the camp that says a minimum of 8 wins should be required to make the playoffs. If you want to look back an laugh at my other prognostications that were quite so great, you can do so here.
Sort of fell of the pick train the last couple of weeks or so, it was the holidays, I was traveling, you know how it goes. Ben and I made Week 16 picks in a bar in Phoenix, both of us going 9-7. How did the records end up?
Brent: 63-54-1 (.534 winning %)
Ben: 71-60-2 (.530 winning %)
Pat: 107-99-2 (.514 winning %)
I'd make the argument that I had the tougher run at things because I started picking early in the season, when there was less info to go on, but I think when these guys started, I was 12 games over .500. The more you know (or think you know), the worse you do. That sums up football gambling in a nutshell.
So now we move on to handicapping the Wild Card round, but first I'd like to clear up one point of confusion: These are the 2010 NFL Playoffs
Trying to discuss a playoff game with someone too often sounds like a Muslim and Christian debating when the Bronze Age came to a close. You'd think it would be simpler for us football fans, being that we can at least agree on what year it is currently, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Frankly if I had my way, there'd be a law passed, officially defining the fact that an NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl are tagged with the year in which the season began, regardless of when they actually take place. I know it's going to be a little weird once the NFL moves to a 20-game schedule and we're referring to a game that takes place in early March as if it happened 3 months earlier, but trust me, it will save us all a lot of headaches. Write you're Congressman and tell them we need to package this as part of the 2011 Sports Omnibus Bill, along with a provision outlawing bowl games taking place after New Year's Day that don't feature at least one ranked team and the DH. That's right, I went there, I like pitchers hitting.
Back to the matter at hand, Wild Card weekend, the second best NFL weekend of the year. Typically Divisional weekend is the culmination of everything we've been following for the previous 20-some Sundays. The cream rises to the top and we get to witness 4 games played by good teams playing their best football. Some years, like last year for instance, things get flipped, with the Wild Card providing the superior drama and Divisional games ending up anti-climactic. Championship Sunday is always the same, one classic and one clunker; but that usually stems from some epic upset the weekend before, so we let that slide.
As it's name would imply, Wild Card weekend can be a tough one to peg. Sure the broad strokes are there for anyone to see, and sometimes a flat-out lousy team shows up as an easy mark (looking at you Seattle), but most of the time, confusion reigns. Closest thing to a pattern emerging is one shootout, one grind-it-out defensive struggle, one upset and one knew-it-all-along game.
Sometimes you get a bunch of blowouts, which is always a buzzkill, but usually even that type of weekend provides enough moments to leave you satisfied with what you saw. I'd liken it to a mediocre move with a redeeming scene or two, like Halle Berry being topless in Swordfish, or Terri Hatcher being topless in Heaven's Prisoners, or Halle Berry (again) getting aggressively and unexpectedly throwndown by Bill Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. Sense the pattern developing here? Some things are just game-changers and can validate two hours that would've otherwise been considered wasted. I mean I don't want to see Black Swan, but I will, and you know exactly why. And it will be worth it. And that's what I'm talking about.
(Matter of fact, it would be a great idea to repackage all of the scenes like this into it's own two-hour film, call it "The one part you wanted to see when you walked into this piece of crap" or something along those lines with more brevity. I mean how great would it be to say to somebody, "No, I didn't see Black Swan, but I did see the Mila Kunis-Natalie Portman lesbian part". Then again, I suppose that's what the Internet is for. Speaking of which, I'll be back in a jiffy.)
So moving from, which of this weekend's games is which?
The knew-it-all-along
New Orleans -11 over SEATTLE
Play this game with me, how high does this line have to go before you're comfortable taking Seattle? At least 14, right? Likely to 14 1/2. This would appear to be easy money for anyone interested in making some. Sure the Seahawks are playing at home, sure Matt Hasselbeck is returning (bad move in my estimation, I think God helped them get past St. Louis because Charlie Whitehurst reminded him of his son), but do you really think Seattle is going to do anything but show up and get crushed here? Similar to last season, when we all tried to talk ourselves into Philly bouncing back after getting annihilated Week 17 at Dallas, the writing is on the wall here. Sometimes you just need to take what is given.
Two stats I heard this week piqued my interest about this game:
- Nobody in football uses big blitzes (basically bringing the house) more than the Saints. No QB in football has a higher passer rating against the big blitz than Matt Hasselbeck
- All of the Seahawks nine losses have come by 15 points or more
The upset
KANSAS CITY +3 over Baltimore
I've liked the Chiefs to cover all week, but today I decided that I'm all in on an outright win. The combo platter of home dog, strong running game, concerns about Baltimore's pass offense and simply wanting it to be so have finally pushed me over the edge. Sure KC is flawed, they just got worked by the Raiders in a game where it appeared they might've been trying to get their QB killed. But I think to be getting points at home, a team should either really stink or be really overmatched, both are the case with Seattle, but I don't think either applies here.
There is a strength-on-strength problem for the Chiefs to be sure, the Ravens run D is always stout and could likely turn them into a one-dimensional team. But this season hasn't been like most, teams have been able to get to them at times and KC runs the ball better than most. So I'm picking the upset, even though it probably spells doom for the poor Chiefs, but hey, things have worked out so far.
The grinder
INDIANAPOLIS -3 over New York Jets
Seems odd to be mentioning "Indianapolis" and "defensive struggle" in the same breath, but that's just what I'm feeling. To clarify, I don't think there will be no points scored, in fact I'm expecting something in the 24-20 range. But I do think everything these teams do get will be hard to come by, and will take a toll on whoever wins that they won't recover from going into the next round.
The biggest reason I'm rolling with Indy is Peyton Manning, obviously. But the second biggest is that their run defense, which was a trainwreck most of the season, has been surprisingly competent these past few weeks. Chris Johnson and MoJo were both held down by the Colts D recently, and if they can do the same job on the Jets running game, then it's on Mark Sanchez to find a way. And if you know anything about me, it's that I do not put my faith in Mark Sanchez.
Not to mention the Jets D has left me cold in recent weeks, with a whole lotta points surrendered to the Pats and Bears. They beat a banged-up Steelers team and smacked Buffalo, but all in all, I think Indy will take care of business at home in a tight one.
The shootout
Green Bay +3 over PHILADELPHIA
Went back and forth a few times here before settling on the team I felt had the superior defense. Michael Vick is the ultimate wild card (no pun intended), and Philly's other playmakers aren't that far behind, but I feel like he's banged up and will be just one step slow.
The call here is Green Bay goes up big, can't hold the lead, Philly rallies furiously, but comes up just short. Should be a great game, and I'd like nothing better than to see the outcome go the other way. But I've had the Packers winning this thing since day one, and despite a season of ups and downs, don't see any reason to change that prediction now. Man I hope I'm wrong though.
Anyway, enjoy what should be a great weekend of football.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
2010 State of the 'Ville
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
- William Shakespeare, Richard III
Most people aren’t aware that when Shakespeare penned that “winter of our discontent” line, he was talking about the Minnesota Wild.
Well that's not entirely true, but it does seem to sum up the current circumstances pretty well, doesn't it? Although this passage is typically thought of as describing a bad situation, it’s actually quite the opposite. The title character isn’t lamenting the current tough times, but describing the resurgence that brought him out of it, a pleasant thought to those of us still mired in the muck. The idea of deep-sixing our troubles to the bottom of the ocean is a pleasant one, those who count ourselves fans of Minnesota sports are faced with the grim reality that we’re still stuck deep in an extremely unpleasant winter. Both literally and figuratively.
For all the debate and discussion that goes into following sports, one fact can’t be debated: If you’re a Minnesota sports fan, 2010 was a rough one. If this year had been a wrestling match, it would have been quite lopsided. We started off by getting hit by a haymaker early (NFC Championship), and took a kick in the ribs while lying on the mat (Joe Nathan injury). Just when we got up to one knee and mounted a rally with a few rabbit punches to the opponent’s gut (Gopher hoops Big Ten tourney run), the heel manager threw a handful of salt in our eyes and applied an illegal choke hold while the ref was distracted in the neutral corner (every Wild or Wolves game playing out the string during the last month of the season).
Yet despite these underhanded tactics we soldiered on, drawing even and even gaining the upper hand (Twins 2nd-half surge) as the match wore on. But then came the steel chair shot (Yankees), the splash off the top rope (Vikings season) and that was all she wrote. The book on the past year was closed perfectly this past weekend with lackluster efforts by the Gophers and Wild, capped by a Vikings loss to the perennial doormat Lions, leaving them to end the season in last place for the first time in 20 years. By definition, things are at rock bottom.
So here we are, sitting in a tub of ice, licking our wounds and hoping there’s another title shot somewhere on the horizon. There will be no main event anytime soon, but we’ve either gotta believe we can work our way back, or it’s time to hang it up entirely. In the perpetual theme of this burg, it’s time to look at where we are and where we’re going. Much like Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about the past…if for no other reason than I find it greatly depressing. Instead, here’s one guy’s critique on what the future may (hopefully) hold:
The University of Minnesota
Football is a mess and just got a new coach. Hockey is a mess and potentially in line for a new coach very soon. The Gopher hoops team looked to be the one saving grace of the state sports scene, but after a lackluster start to the Big Ten season, and today's word that guard Devoe Joseph will likely be leaving the team. And to think 2011 started off so well, with a 10-hour drinking binge, who knew it would go south so fast?
Although some Gopher apologists will claim otherwise, I just can't shake the feeling that this is a university which doesn't care all that much about sports. I know that the stats show they are in the middle of the pack for cash outlays on their various programs, and that they just worked hard to get some facilities built, but it just doesn't feel like they're committed. Sure, the mission of a university is supposed to be about education, but too often it almost seems like the administration treats their teams as a necessary evil.
Now I'm not saying you need to go all Ohio State here and throw all integrity to the wind, and I also don't have any concrete examples that demonstrate sports not being a priority. But the track record unfortunately doesn't lie, so you can either chalk up all this futility to pure bad luck or assume there is some systemic flaw in how the university does things. Frankly, random chance should've dictated more success by this point, so I lean toward the latter.
Minnesota Vikings
Joe Webb was looking like the perfect 18-hole drive that almost makes you forget a day spent digging through tall grass in search of shanks. Oh the whole, those days stink, but that one last sliver of hope seems to show up and remind you why you showed up in the first place. Unfortunately, as I'm all too familiar with, sometimes you follow up that perfect drive by duck-hooking it into the woods anyway. The you're right back in the same miserable place you started.
The longer-term hope that came from the Week 16 upset in Philly was pretty much all extinguished during an ugly Week 17 showing. The "Joe Webb, OB of the future" campaign was downgraded to "Joe Webb, keep him on the roster, but find somebody else too" in a matter of minutes. Since bad games from young QBs are going to be inevitable, perhaps it was good that things ended the way they did, with a reminder that this team is entering the offseason sorely in need of a competent quarterback. Seems as though that's been the case forever.
Names are flying around, and that's a debate there will be much time to delve into down the line, but I'm just not sure using a first-round QB is the answer. Andrew Luck won't be available, even if he does enter the draft (Anybody else not a fan of the phrase "comes out"? Every time I hear a talking head say "if so-and-so comes out this year" it makes me think that if he does, guys are going to be giving him some funny looks in the locker room. Let's just stick with "declares" or "enters" the draft, "goes pro" if you feel it's necessary, okay?), Cam Newton is Vince Young 2.0, Jake Locker fell off the face of the Earth and Ryan Mallet seems like a classic too-good-to-slide/too-flawed-to-draft QB in the Cade McNown mold. And I felt that way about him before he played 4 quarters last night looking like his feet were encased in cement.
There are plenty of Vikings fans who’s opinions I respect that have been clamoring to draft a QB for years now. Many times I agreed with them, tired of the stopgaps the team was forced to employ time after time. It would’ve been nice to have another option waiting in the wings these past few years to blunt the Gus Frerottes and Brooks Bollingers of the world, but unfortunately, Childress wouldn’t bring in anyone that could be considered a challenger to T-Jack. This was either because he thought he had his guy, or his ego wouldn’t allow him to admit a mistake. Probably a bit of both. But at any rate, it’s immaterial now, because now were up s**t creek, without even the thought of an aging Mississippi gunslinger riding in on his John Deere tractor to save us.
But does that mean we should jump on the first young signal caller we see? Given the state of the team from top to bottom, that would be like putting a Mercedes hood ornament on a rusted-out Datsun. Say what you will about the recent spate of rookie successes, they didn’t exactly do it on their own, a good bit of the groundwork was laid prior to their arrival. Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez, all of these guys stepped into situations that will be superior to what any rookie with face with the Vikings next season. Perhaps Sam Bradford is an exception, but anything occurring in the NFC West gets an asterisk. It would be one thing if the Purple were just thin on defense, losing games isn’t the problem. The problem is this offense line getting a rookie QB through 16 games without getting his confidence and/or clavicle shattered. Disagree if you want, but I think the foundation of the team needs some work before we worry about the trimmings.
But that’s a conversation for another day, the only point that needs to be remembered is that this team is pretty much as low as it’s been in the past couple of decades. I like the coach/GM combo, like some of the young guys on the roster, but doubt we’re looking at a quick fix here. Good news is, nowhere to go but up!
Minnesota Wild/Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wild suck.
They suck more than a snowstorm during rush hour, the annual influx of idiots at the gym following New Years and 7-9 NFL playoff teams.
They suck more than the music of Maroon 5 and the fact that the music of Tesla is unavailable on iTunes.
They suck more than Rex Ryan with a faceful of women’s toes.
It’s hard to believe, but they suck more than the Timberwolves.
Although both teams currently reside, and will likely remain, mired at the bottom of the standings this season, the comparison ends there. Instead we’re offered a perfect contrast between two lousy teams traveling in opposite directions.
The Wild are capped-out, buried in bad contracts and play an uninspiring style. Their players are mundane and not one of them seems like a budding star who the franchise can build around. Top off all that with sky-high ticket prices that go up every year as the team gets worse, and you’ve got one dysfunctional picture to sort out.
The Wolves on the other hand, although no better in the Won/Lost sense, seem to be finally creating some momentum after 5 years spent climbing out of the rubble. Sure they blow one 4th quarter lead after another, but only a season ago, they wouldn’t have had a sniff in many of these games. Michael Beasley and Kevin Love look like potential franchise building block, the Super Spaniard is on the horizon, along with another lottery pick. In the immortal words of Lou Brown, there’s 3 or 4 potential All-Stars there…okay, well maybe not, but they’re getting better!
So there you have it, one team stinks in a good way, the other in a bad, funny how things work out. Just goes to show you the importance of expectations and setting things up for the long haul. A look at the Wolves offers a whiff of potential, the Wild only the stench of stagnation. Sometimes you need to blow it up completely to get yourself on decent footing going forward. The Wolves embraced this and tanked out, the Wild signed Halfthat, and here we are.
But hey, the arena’s still cool, so they got that going for them. Which is nice
Minnesota Twins
Ahh yes, the one squad that is worthy of our faith and consistently rewards it by making the right calls to deliver success...at least until October starts.
Much has been made of the Twins postseason failures, and it's valid criticism. But in terms of proving me wrong, they are far and away the class of this town. Every offseason I piss and moan, spreading doom and gloom about the state of the team, then they come out and beat expectations. It's gotten to be one of the few dependable things in my sports universe.
So I will refrain from complaining too aggressively about the lackluster offseason we've witness thusfar, but I will say one thing: I don't want Carl Pavano.
Now at this point you're problem saying, "What exactly is your theory about sports? As long as you do nothing, you can't make a mistake?" And I could see your point, but have no fear that I will be going on record with plenty of recommendations before it's all said and done.
My attitude on this stuff always stems from one question: What is the ceiling?
Is the ceiling on the Twins season significantly lowered by swapping out a Nick Blackburn for a Pavano? I don't necessarily think so, unless you disagree with my thinking that a) Another division title followed by a first round playoff loss is no great shakes or b) Carl Pavano doesn't have the stuff to beat good lineups in the playoffs. If you agree on those two points, you can't possibly support the idea of forking over $10 million per year for the next 2-3 to keep him.
Even in this new era of $100 million payrolls, limits will eventually be reached. I said going into last year that 12-12 with 200 innings would be a great year out of Pavano, and he significantly outperformed that. But even if he duplicates that season twice over, this team will still be no closer to it's ultimate goal of winning a title. Perhaps $10 million doesn't get us the difference-maker that's needed, but add it to $12 million from Nathan and $12 more from Cuddyer coming off the books, and pretty soon we're talking real money, #1 starter money, ace money.
Those players have all been solid contributors to a good decade of Twins baseball, but at this point the team would have higher upside if we'd swapped them for Zach Greinke, a corner outfield and some solid relief arms. Upwards of $30 million could certainly accomplish that, which is why I urge restraint in putting anything long-term on the books.
So there it is, the admittedly bleak look at our local teams entering 2011. Will this year be better than next year? I'm not sure. Although I am willing to bet the gap between expectations and performance will be a lot narrower. Guess which one is going to move more? :)
It's all about the silver lining here in Loserville.
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
- William Shakespeare, Richard III
Most people aren’t aware that when Shakespeare penned that “winter of our discontent” line, he was talking about the Minnesota Wild.
Well that's not entirely true, but it does seem to sum up the current circumstances pretty well, doesn't it? Although this passage is typically thought of as describing a bad situation, it’s actually quite the opposite. The title character isn’t lamenting the current tough times, but describing the resurgence that brought him out of it, a pleasant thought to those of us still mired in the muck. The idea of deep-sixing our troubles to the bottom of the ocean is a pleasant one, those who count ourselves fans of Minnesota sports are faced with the grim reality that we’re still stuck deep in an extremely unpleasant winter. Both literally and figuratively.
For all the debate and discussion that goes into following sports, one fact can’t be debated: If you’re a Minnesota sports fan, 2010 was a rough one. If this year had been a wrestling match, it would have been quite lopsided. We started off by getting hit by a haymaker early (NFC Championship), and took a kick in the ribs while lying on the mat (Joe Nathan injury). Just when we got up to one knee and mounted a rally with a few rabbit punches to the opponent’s gut (Gopher hoops Big Ten tourney run), the heel manager threw a handful of salt in our eyes and applied an illegal choke hold while the ref was distracted in the neutral corner (every Wild or Wolves game playing out the string during the last month of the season).
Yet despite these underhanded tactics we soldiered on, drawing even and even gaining the upper hand (Twins 2nd-half surge) as the match wore on. But then came the steel chair shot (Yankees), the splash off the top rope (Vikings season) and that was all she wrote. The book on the past year was closed perfectly this past weekend with lackluster efforts by the Gophers and Wild, capped by a Vikings loss to the perennial doormat Lions, leaving them to end the season in last place for the first time in 20 years. By definition, things are at rock bottom.
So here we are, sitting in a tub of ice, licking our wounds and hoping there’s another title shot somewhere on the horizon. There will be no main event anytime soon, but we’ve either gotta believe we can work our way back, or it’s time to hang it up entirely. In the perpetual theme of this burg, it’s time to look at where we are and where we’re going. Much like Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about the past…if for no other reason than I find it greatly depressing. Instead, here’s one guy’s critique on what the future may (hopefully) hold:
The University of Minnesota
Football is a mess and just got a new coach. Hockey is a mess and potentially in line for a new coach very soon. The Gopher hoops team looked to be the one saving grace of the state sports scene, but after a lackluster start to the Big Ten season, and today's word that guard Devoe Joseph will likely be leaving the team. And to think 2011 started off so well, with a 10-hour drinking binge, who knew it would go south so fast?
Although some Gopher apologists will claim otherwise, I just can't shake the feeling that this is a university which doesn't care all that much about sports. I know that the stats show they are in the middle of the pack for cash outlays on their various programs, and that they just worked hard to get some facilities built, but it just doesn't feel like they're committed. Sure, the mission of a university is supposed to be about education, but too often it almost seems like the administration treats their teams as a necessary evil.
Now I'm not saying you need to go all Ohio State here and throw all integrity to the wind, and I also don't have any concrete examples that demonstrate sports not being a priority. But the track record unfortunately doesn't lie, so you can either chalk up all this futility to pure bad luck or assume there is some systemic flaw in how the university does things. Frankly, random chance should've dictated more success by this point, so I lean toward the latter.
Minnesota Vikings
Joe Webb was looking like the perfect 18-hole drive that almost makes you forget a day spent digging through tall grass in search of shanks. Oh the whole, those days stink, but that one last sliver of hope seems to show up and remind you why you showed up in the first place. Unfortunately, as I'm all too familiar with, sometimes you follow up that perfect drive by duck-hooking it into the woods anyway. The you're right back in the same miserable place you started.
The longer-term hope that came from the Week 16 upset in Philly was pretty much all extinguished during an ugly Week 17 showing. The "Joe Webb, OB of the future" campaign was downgraded to "Joe Webb, keep him on the roster, but find somebody else too" in a matter of minutes. Since bad games from young QBs are going to be inevitable, perhaps it was good that things ended the way they did, with a reminder that this team is entering the offseason sorely in need of a competent quarterback. Seems as though that's been the case forever.
Names are flying around, and that's a debate there will be much time to delve into down the line, but I'm just not sure using a first-round QB is the answer. Andrew Luck won't be available, even if he does enter the draft (Anybody else not a fan of the phrase "comes out"? Every time I hear a talking head say "if so-and-so comes out this year" it makes me think that if he does, guys are going to be giving him some funny looks in the locker room. Let's just stick with "declares" or "enters" the draft, "goes pro" if you feel it's necessary, okay?), Cam Newton is Vince Young 2.0, Jake Locker fell off the face of the Earth and Ryan Mallet seems like a classic too-good-to-slide/too-flawed-to-draft QB in the Cade McNown mold. And I felt that way about him before he played 4 quarters last night looking like his feet were encased in cement.
There are plenty of Vikings fans who’s opinions I respect that have been clamoring to draft a QB for years now. Many times I agreed with them, tired of the stopgaps the team was forced to employ time after time. It would’ve been nice to have another option waiting in the wings these past few years to blunt the Gus Frerottes and Brooks Bollingers of the world, but unfortunately, Childress wouldn’t bring in anyone that could be considered a challenger to T-Jack. This was either because he thought he had his guy, or his ego wouldn’t allow him to admit a mistake. Probably a bit of both. But at any rate, it’s immaterial now, because now were up s**t creek, without even the thought of an aging Mississippi gunslinger riding in on his John Deere tractor to save us.
But does that mean we should jump on the first young signal caller we see? Given the state of the team from top to bottom, that would be like putting a Mercedes hood ornament on a rusted-out Datsun. Say what you will about the recent spate of rookie successes, they didn’t exactly do it on their own, a good bit of the groundwork was laid prior to their arrival. Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez, all of these guys stepped into situations that will be superior to what any rookie with face with the Vikings next season. Perhaps Sam Bradford is an exception, but anything occurring in the NFC West gets an asterisk. It would be one thing if the Purple were just thin on defense, losing games isn’t the problem. The problem is this offense line getting a rookie QB through 16 games without getting his confidence and/or clavicle shattered. Disagree if you want, but I think the foundation of the team needs some work before we worry about the trimmings.
But that’s a conversation for another day, the only point that needs to be remembered is that this team is pretty much as low as it’s been in the past couple of decades. I like the coach/GM combo, like some of the young guys on the roster, but doubt we’re looking at a quick fix here. Good news is, nowhere to go but up!
Minnesota Wild/Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wild suck.
They suck more than a snowstorm during rush hour, the annual influx of idiots at the gym following New Years and 7-9 NFL playoff teams.
They suck more than the music of Maroon 5 and the fact that the music of Tesla is unavailable on iTunes.
They suck more than Rex Ryan with a faceful of women’s toes.
It’s hard to believe, but they suck more than the Timberwolves.
Although both teams currently reside, and will likely remain, mired at the bottom of the standings this season, the comparison ends there. Instead we’re offered a perfect contrast between two lousy teams traveling in opposite directions.
The Wild are capped-out, buried in bad contracts and play an uninspiring style. Their players are mundane and not one of them seems like a budding star who the franchise can build around. Top off all that with sky-high ticket prices that go up every year as the team gets worse, and you’ve got one dysfunctional picture to sort out.
The Wolves on the other hand, although no better in the Won/Lost sense, seem to be finally creating some momentum after 5 years spent climbing out of the rubble. Sure they blow one 4th quarter lead after another, but only a season ago, they wouldn’t have had a sniff in many of these games. Michael Beasley and Kevin Love look like potential franchise building block, the Super Spaniard is on the horizon, along with another lottery pick. In the immortal words of Lou Brown, there’s 3 or 4 potential All-Stars there…okay, well maybe not, but they’re getting better!
So there you have it, one team stinks in a good way, the other in a bad, funny how things work out. Just goes to show you the importance of expectations and setting things up for the long haul. A look at the Wolves offers a whiff of potential, the Wild only the stench of stagnation. Sometimes you need to blow it up completely to get yourself on decent footing going forward. The Wolves embraced this and tanked out, the Wild signed Halfthat, and here we are.
But hey, the arena’s still cool, so they got that going for them. Which is nice
Minnesota Twins
Ahh yes, the one squad that is worthy of our faith and consistently rewards it by making the right calls to deliver success...at least until October starts.
Much has been made of the Twins postseason failures, and it's valid criticism. But in terms of proving me wrong, they are far and away the class of this town. Every offseason I piss and moan, spreading doom and gloom about the state of the team, then they come out and beat expectations. It's gotten to be one of the few dependable things in my sports universe.
So I will refrain from complaining too aggressively about the lackluster offseason we've witness thusfar, but I will say one thing: I don't want Carl Pavano.
Now at this point you're problem saying, "What exactly is your theory about sports? As long as you do nothing, you can't make a mistake?" And I could see your point, but have no fear that I will be going on record with plenty of recommendations before it's all said and done.
My attitude on this stuff always stems from one question: What is the ceiling?
Is the ceiling on the Twins season significantly lowered by swapping out a Nick Blackburn for a Pavano? I don't necessarily think so, unless you disagree with my thinking that a) Another division title followed by a first round playoff loss is no great shakes or b) Carl Pavano doesn't have the stuff to beat good lineups in the playoffs. If you agree on those two points, you can't possibly support the idea of forking over $10 million per year for the next 2-3 to keep him.
Even in this new era of $100 million payrolls, limits will eventually be reached. I said going into last year that 12-12 with 200 innings would be a great year out of Pavano, and he significantly outperformed that. But even if he duplicates that season twice over, this team will still be no closer to it's ultimate goal of winning a title. Perhaps $10 million doesn't get us the difference-maker that's needed, but add it to $12 million from Nathan and $12 more from Cuddyer coming off the books, and pretty soon we're talking real money, #1 starter money, ace money.
Those players have all been solid contributors to a good decade of Twins baseball, but at this point the team would have higher upside if we'd swapped them for Zach Greinke, a corner outfield and some solid relief arms. Upwards of $30 million could certainly accomplish that, which is why I urge restraint in putting anything long-term on the books.
So there it is, the admittedly bleak look at our local teams entering 2011. Will this year be better than next year? I'm not sure. Although I am willing to bet the gap between expectations and performance will be a lot narrower. Guess which one is going to move more? :)
It's all about the silver lining here in Loserville.
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