The suck sinks in

Recently, the suckfest that is the Minnesota sports scene has been rolling off me like water off a duck's back. 

Besides a despairing moment or two in the days after Ricky Rubio's knee snapped, throwing the Timerwolves future back into limbo, the recent run of dismal results hasn't done much to shake me.  It's been frustrating, watching historically bad seasons for the Twins and Vikings, seeing the Wild go from playoff lock to total meltdown, and a promising Wolves club fall out of the playoff chase, but all you could do is shrug and go about your business. 

As I said, other than Rubio, none of the recent events have carried anything approximating the hammer of say, a playoff choke.  None of it has even remotely approached Loserville Hall of Pain status, I mean, how could it?  You don't spend a week dwelling on what went wrong in a regular season game, there's just not that much on the line.  That sort of lament is saved for those rarefied occasions when something is truly huge, and needs to be mourned appropriately.

But today, I must admit, I'm pretty bummed.  A day that should be all about eagerly anticipating the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the greatest tournament in sports, instead feels quite melancholy.  I'm a sports fan first and foremost, if there's a good game on, I'm watching it, regardless of who's playing.  Unfortunately, it can't be denied that having one's favorite team involved ups the stakes exponentially.  Just having a preference, no matter how strong, isn't remotely the same.

So now we start another Wild-less postseason, the fourth in a row, on the heels of an uninspiring start from the Twins.  (No baseball season can be declared a bust 4 games in, but only the most homeriffic Twins backer expected them to be the cure for our postseason drought, and so far they're looking aways south of competent)  The Vikings have done nothing during free agency to inspire any emotion other than disgust at their in action, and who knows what the Wolves even have anymore?

In short, we're likely looking at several more sets of playoffs commencing without any of our teams being involved.  It should never be the case, in a town with four pro teams, that all can find themselves in this pathetic state at the same time.  Never.  But through an astounding mix of bad luck and dumb decisions, that's where we are, and it doesn't look to be changing any time soon.

Sorry for the depression case.  Let me assure you, I'm not on the ledge here, but certainly not about to be talking anyone off, either.  Suppose it's time to do what has become the norm around here, try to enjoy sports being played at the highest level for the next couple months, and try to forget that's a level the local teams haven't approached lately.

Damn I wish I was going to a Wild game tonight.