Best Choice

I'm afraid of all the Viking fans now jumping on the Jack Del Rio bandwagon. Jack was an average head coach at Jacksonville for EIGHT YEARS. In his entire tenure there, he didn't win a single division title. His offense was known for running up the middle and punting. And at the end of his time in Jacksonville, he had one of the worst defenses in the league.

Eight years of mediocrity. We simply do not need any more of that. That was Tice. That was Childress. That was Frazier.

A better choice perhaps? There are no guarantees of course, but Adam Gase, the Broncos OFFENSIVE coordinator is also available. He's the guy that rewrote the entire Bronco playbook in two weeks to accommodate the unorthodox Tim Tebow. He's also the guy that has put high-powered offenses on the field for the Broncos since he's been there. He KNOWS football. And he isn't afraid to make changes in his game plan when things aren't working. INSTANT changes. The Vikings lost 5 games this year in the last minute of play because Frazier refused to make any adjustments on offense or defense. FIVE GAMES. Recognizing patterns and making adjustments are what separates the good from the truly mediocre.

Gase has a history of problem solving on the fly. Del Rio has a history of mediocrity.

Of course, every team who has fired a head coach this season is looking to Del Rio and Gase for help next season. The Vikings should make a statement with their checkbook.

I'm just afraid that the statement they will make will give us Del Rio.

sigh

I'm going to be preemptive here. I'll be the first. Fire Del Rio.

Step One

Fire Frazier: DONE

Rodgers is BACK

I really enjoyed the Packers game yesterday. Rodgers brought his "C" game in the first quarter, but the "A" game returned in time for a spectacular finish. I'm just afraid for the Packers to go deeper in the playoffs, that they will need to discover a defense somewhere in the next week. That defense yesterday was as bad I saw all season.

I enjoyed the Cowboys losing last night, too. Kyle Orton was a very good replacement for Romo, but Philly was a little better. That's all they needed to be.

I was also watching Manning in the first half of his game yesterday. Most yards, most TDs , and most points in a season. That Manning kid is good.

It was a good day for football yesterday. San Fran pulled off a last second win as well. I'm pumped for the playoffs.

Bring 'em on!

The End Of An Era

The Vikings have a rare opportunity to start completely over next year. Here are my thoughts on what they should do.

The first thing they need to do is fire coach Leslie Frazier. In three years with the team, he couldn't judge his talent accurately. Matt Cassel was the primary quarterback in ALL FIVE Vikings wins this season, twice in relief of an injured Ponder. What was Frazier's battle cry for two straight seasons? "Ponder is our best chance to win."

He couldn't come up with a decent game plan either. He felt our best chance to win was to keep Ponder in  the pocket and to run Peterson 25-30 times a game, ignoring the fact that the only games won under Ponder were when he regularly rolled out and ran bootlegs. He was far more accurate when on the move than in the pocket, and he got sacked less often as well. Ponder actually looked GOOD in games where he wasn't restricted by the pocket. But Frazier, inexplicably kept muzzling him to the team's detriment. As head coach, it was Frazier's job to see patterns that worked and did not work in the Vikings offense. For two seasons, he failed to see those tendencies.

How about something radical for another change? Dump Peterson.  Peterson is a good back who has had spectacular seasons, BUT he's also an aging back who is injury prone. And the more you watch him LOSE yards on basic plays up the middle the more you realize that he's a guy always looking for the BIG run rather than the guy content to get the yards that are there. I've mentioned it in the past, but he often had more significant negative yard plays in a game than positive yard plays in a game. It LOOKS good in highlight reels on Sportscenter when he breaks the long one, but it causes a team to punt far more than they should when you're ALWAYS looking for more yards than taking what the other defense is giving you. He dances at the line of scrimmage so often that he looks like he's auditioning for Dancing With the Stars. He no longer hits the hole that's there, he jukes behind the line hoping for a larger hole.  And he loses big yardage several times a game doing that.

In the Vikings last two wins, without Peterson, the backs did their job without the flair and rarely had a backward step. THAT'S how the game is meant to be played. It would also stop us from relying on an unreliable back for our wins. It also allows a team to have several long sustained drives a game. You know, the ones that cause you to dominate clock time, get the opposing team's defense tired, and keeps opposing quarterbacks on the bench where they can't hurt you.

IF another quarterback is available in the draft when we get our choice, we should draft him as a backup to Cassel, and dump Ponder. Ponder brings this team down in so many ways. I admit much of that is Frazier's USE of Ponder in this system, but Ponder even at his BEST is just average. It's time for a QB who is GREAT, not just adequate.

Yesterday's win was good for three reasons. No Ponder. No Peterson. A great Patterson.

More of that please. And the sooner we dump Peterson, the more we'll get to USE Patterson.

Notes

Adrian Peterson is out for the season. With the new groin injury from last week, and still being bothered with a sore foot from a couple of games ago, the Vikings see no reason to have him play today. It's not like the game is critical to the Vikings playoff hopes.

Win or lose, neither the Lions and the Vikings are going anywhere. It's too bad that he'll miss the last Metrodome game, though.

The second game on Fox WILL be worth watching,  however. Bears/Packers: The loser goes home.

The UFC's greatest champion of all-time, Anderson Silva, suffered one of the worst injuries ever seen in the octagon last night. He had his leg shattered by a kick. That's his second loss in a row to current champ Chris Weidman. An injury like that will most likely end Silva's career. Silva is 38.

The Timberwolves are back to .500 on the season at 15-15 after beating the Bucks last night in Milwaukee. The Bucks are just 6-24. Love had 33 points and 15 rebounds. If Rubio could make lay-ups and Corey Brewer could actually make ANY of this three-point attempts we, would really be good.

Trivia: Does anybody remember Aaron Hicks?

Answer: No.

Gophers Lose Horribly

The first half just bad. No offense by the Gophers at all.

The second half was much better with two touchdowns and a brief lead.

But in typical Minnesota sports tradition, they failed to run out the clock, gave up the go ahead touchdown late , AND dropped a hail Mary pass that would have won the game dramatically.

Same old, same old.

Why do I bother watching?

Wolves Win

At home last night, against a team with a similar record, the T-Wolves did what they normally do under those circumstances. They got off to a big lead by the second quarter and dominated the rest of the way.

Still looking forward to them doing that very same thing against better teams. Either way, it was a fun game. Love was great, as usual.

Liam Hendriks On the Move Again

I'm getting more and more comfortable with the fact  that Liam Hendriks is no longer a Twin.Though the Cubs claimed him on waivers less than two weeks ago, they placed him on waivers yesterday. Now Baltimore has him. For the time being. He must not be impressing many major league executives with his skills.

Aaron Rodgers To Play

Normally I would be happy for the Packers with this information, but Rodgers hasn't done much of anything since the broken collarbone injury 7 weeks ago. It took way longer than expected to heal and even as of yesterday morning, just before the announcement, they weren't sure if he was ready physically.

He did get some cardio in the last couple of weeks but I doubt very many close to the situation would say he in "game shape" He had his first practice since the injury yesterday.

I think we can safely say we will not see Rodgers "A" game Sunday. Packers fans are wondering if his "C" game will be good enough. AND all of them are afraid he'll get hurt again when tackled.

Seven weeks is a long time. And a couple days of practice isn't much.

I guess we'll all learn Sunday if Rodgers is the delicate flower that critics assume.

An Unusual Stat

With the football season winding down and the only sport on TV yesterday being NBA basketball, I've been reading a lot about another sport, baseball, lately. The season's not exactly around the corner, but it tells you a little bit about how much I like baseball when I'd rather discuss IT, than two current sports.

My twin brother gets lost in the off-season rumors of acquisitions and speculation about who the Twins might sign. Many baseball fans do. I personally don't care who we might get until we actually get them. I report the rumors to make him happy. Anything else is just fantasy league play. What I like about off-season baseball is the data sheets. I'm a stat freak. I'm always looking for articles on the Bill James Handbook on sabermetrics and trying to find interesting stats on current Twins in those articles.

I came across a really good one yesterday.

According to the leader boards in the 2014 Bill James Handbook:

No qualifying hitter in either league (minimum of 502 plate appearances) swung at the first pitch less often than Joe Mauer, 6.8 percent. I was surprised that Mauer took a hack at that many first pitches. We KNOW Mauer doesn't swing at the first pitch. What caught my eye is who was NUMBER TWO on the list.

It was another Twin! Of ALL the players in baseball, the Twins have the TWO guys who swing at the first pitch the least. Now looking at that stat more closely, you discover that players who don't swing at the first pitch are usually pretty good hitters. Guys like Mauer, Mike Trout, Dustin Pedroia, and Shane Victorino are all in the top 10 in that category. BUT, and this important, that doesn't mean that guys who swing at the first pitch are bad hitters. Miguel Cabrerra and Chris Davis, perennial MVP candidates are on the top 10 list of players who swing at the first pitch.

The main advantage of players who take pitches, statistically speaking, is that if you have a team that consistently does that, you make opposing pitchers work harder. A 13 or 14 pitch inning will takes it toll on a pitcher a lot faster than 1-2-3 innings on 6 pitches. At least that's the argument. Your team is also more likely to get more walks if the batters take more first pitches. More base runners equals more runs in the long run. AND the ONE stat in baseball that determines winners more than any other is that teams that score more runs in the course of a season will win more games.

Now that you've had time to think about who is number two on the list, I suppose it's time I reveal his name. At 8.6 percent of the time, it's Brian Dozier.

Stolen Bases: Twins BAD

According to stat gurus, Baseball Info Systems, only Arizona was worse than the Twins last season at stealing bases. In a league where catchers can no longer throw out anybody, the Twins managed to find themselves thrown out quite regularly. Alex Presley, our lead off man, the guy expected to be BEST at it, rarely tried. And when he did, he was 1-4.

The Twins remind me of an old quote by a long ago sports writer who was referring to a certain Brooklyn Dodger who had difficulty with the art of the steal. "There was larceny in his heart, but his feet were honest."

Speaking of stats. Where I always loved Nick Punto for his abilities (while most Twins fans hated him) I find it fascinating that teams like St. Louis, Boston, Los Angeles, and now Oakland, probably the MOST saber metrically-inclined teams in baseball, have always been more than willing to give him a home.

At 36, Punto is in his declining years as a player, but Oakland, the most willing saber-metric team of them all, is looking forward to his contributions this year. People who KNOW baseball will always see his worth.

Tanaka Free To Sign With MLB

It's official. The Rafuten Eagles have granted pitcher Mashiro Tanaka the right to play in the major leagues next season. They will be compensated millions of dollars by the new MLB posting system. The system has changed over the last year so that rich teams like the Yankees can't always win the bid.

Basically, an approximate contract is agreed upon ahead of time. All interested parties will have to pay a fee ahead of time to negotiate with him. That fee will be bases on his contract size and the compensation fee paid to his old Japanese team. That way no team will get any real advantage in negotiations.

Any team that wants him will post a non-refundable fee to the fund. It's been set at $20 million dollars. That way no team can pay him more than that, but at the same time each team will be helping to pay his contract. If 15 teams are interested, he and his old team will split the $300 million that will be designated for the fund. Most will go to his salary while a sizable chunk will be paid to his old team. It's a bit more complicated than all of that, but I don't understand it completely myself yet. It will make more sense once he signs with a MLB team. At least 8 teams are currently interested, but that number is expected to rise now that it's official.

At 25 years of age, he is the hottest pitching prospect in the world, with a proven track record in Japanese baseball, a league that is much better than our own AAA leagues, but not quite as good as MLB.

He'll probably sign with the Yankees.

sigh

Performance Enhancement and Baseball's Hall Of Greats

More and more sports writers are coming around to the idea that the greats of baseball deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. They don't like it that "cheaters" will be there, but they also realize that many cheaters are ALREADY there.

The question which sums up what I've been preaching all along. "Why is a 2004 HGH user more of a cheater than a 1968 greenie user?" Some of fans greatest heroes played in an era of heavy PED use and they are still in the hall, most likely as users themselves. Greenie use was far more common in 1968 than steroid use was in 2004. It was as accepted as weight training is today. They shared the pills while in the dugout during games!

They've also come around to the idea that the 2004 era of baseball had LOTS of cheaters and that only a select few of them were great. In other words the drugs didn't MAKE them great, because if that were true, EVERYBODY would have been great in that era. They helped performance. They didn't make the performance.

Even sports writers are starting to admit that life isn't that easy to judge. Some of them have won major awards while using greenies themselves to stay awake until 4 in the morning to beat publication deadlines. They wrote great, award winning articles, while using pills to help them stay alert. They needed the "help."

MOST baseball writers have used those types of pills at one time or another.

Did Clemens and Bonds use PEDs knowingly? Even that point isn't clear. It's clear that they trusted their trainers, but that's all "the evidence" there is.

And baseball is still paying current acknowledged cheats like Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Jhonny Peralta, and Nelson Cruz a lot of money. There's a serious double standard at play.

We'll never know how much greenies helped contribute to the performance of Mays, Aaron, Maris. Mantle, Killebrew, Palmer, Yaz or... fill in a name. We'll just know that some of them cheated and they are in the hall anyway. Maybe MOST of them cheated and they are still in hall.

The current era is no different, accept that we caught a few of them.

Niners

I said I was getting sick of watching football yesterday.

It only took one great game to cure me of  my malaise. Last night's Niners' game, especially the ending, made me interested again.

Denver, New England, Carolina, Seattle, KC, and San Fran should continue to keep me interested through the playoffs.

And I'm still hoping for a Packers win this weekend to add to that interest.

With Romo out for the Cowboys, my hopes are with Philly as well. That wide open offense of the Eagles is a joy to behold. Unless you are the Bears of course.

Football

The Vikings division is pitiful. Though the Vikings were soundly thrashed yesterday by the Bengals, we actually looked good compared to the drubbing the Bears took last night.

And both Detroit and Green Bay proved that they have the uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I liked watching Peyton Manning set the single season touchdown record, though. 51, breaking the record set by Brady just a few years ago.

I'm kind of getting sick of football either way. I guess I can root for Green Bay in its game with Chicago next week. I'm just not sure it will be worth watching, though.

Kevin Love is Incredible

45 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists

1 Loss

in OT

sigh

again

Vikings Down Another Tight End

John Carlson is officially done for the season. He's been placed on injured reserve because of his third career concussion. We lost Kyle Rudolph to a broken foot earlier this season.

I'm at least still interested in the Vikings today. Matt Cassel has been good enough to be worth watching the last two weeks. Adrian Peterson is expected to play. I'm still not sure if I'm excited about that or not. Yes, he gains a lot of yards on a few of his carries, but he stalls out far too many drives with his big losses. And if we rely on him more than Cassel, we'll just have another "run it up the middle three times and punt" type of day, You know, the kind of games we've been having for most of the last decade.

At least there will be other games to watch if that one is a dud. There are still plenty of good teams battling for the remaining playoff spots

Grant Balfour

This was the first time I have ever heard of this happening. The Orioles agreed to make ex-Twin, 36 year-old, Grant Balfour their closer for the next two years for a total of $15 million, pending a physical. AFTER the physical, they decided NOT to go through with the deal.

What's odd, all sources say he passed it with flying colors. The Orioles must have simply changed their minds on the deal and used this as an "out." I think the players association will have this looked into in their next collective bargaining agreement.

Weird.

In Twins news:

We got a new back-up catcher to replace Doumit yesterday. No surprises. Veteran defensive specialist Curt Suzuki fits the bill. For now. He may even be our starter. Remember he has to "pass a physical" before the deal is complete. That, it seems, is no longer a "done deal."

Most depressing about this? Suzuki only threw out 12% of base-stealers last year. His defensive "skills" ain't what they used to be.

Lakers Without Kobe Beat Wolves

They are now ahead of us in the standings. It wasn't much of a game.

USA/Canada Womens Hockey

Several "brawls" broke out last night. They were exactly like you thought they'd be. When their hair is covered up, pulling it is not an option. They literally don't know what to do, next.

Seek out the video if you are interested. It made a lot of sport highlight reels this morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJmJcHOrwGs


Sadly, now that the precedent has been set, we'll see more of these.

snicker

Fantasy Baseball

What if there were a pitcher somewhere in the world that just completed a season with a perfect 24-0 record and a 1.27 ERA? What if he were 6' 2'' 205 and 25 years of age with a fiery, charismatic personality and wanted to play Major League Baseball?

The thing is, he's real, and he's the biggest deal Japanese baseball has ever seen.

His name is Masahiro Tanaka. He's got the control of Maddux, the fastball of Clemens, AND the the best split finger pitch anyone has ever seen.

And, since he's Japanese, he gives you the stamina of their unbelievable pitch-everyday system. He's always ready to pitch, and he never gets tired.

He recently pitched the sixth game of the Japanese World Series (throwing 160 pitches) and then came back the NEXT DAY to pick up the save in game seven, to give his team the Pacific Title.

And did I mention Japanese baseball recently suped up their baseballs to give teams more offense? Even under those conditions, Tanaka gave up only up only 6 home runs last season after facing 800 plus batters.

MLB will be bidding for his services this season.

I can't wait to see him pitch.

Mauer to QB Vikes?

Joe Mauer, oft injured and over-paid catcher/first baseman, for the Minnesota Twins was once a highly recruited quarterback.

Could he be the answer to the Vikings quarterback needs?

No.


(Slow news day.)

Twins Trade Doumit

The Twins went with a talented prospect for their left-handed starting needs yesterday, acquiring 23 year-old Sean Gilmartin from the pitching-rich Atlanta Braves. They gave up Ryan Doumit and his remaining $3.5 million contract to do it.

Gilmartin was injured much of last year and had lousy stats. We won't know if this was a good trade for awhile.

Wolves Beat One Of the Big Boys!

Pekovic had 30, Love 29, Martin 22 and the Wolves at one time had a 30-plus point lead, outscoring Portland 42-12 during a run into the second quarter.

Minnesota went on to top conference leading Portland 120-109. Tonight it was Portland that was tired from so many recent games and it was the Wolves that were rested. It made a difference. Kevin Love who rested much of the second half, nearly had a triple double by halftime. He ended the night one assist short.

One game does not a season make, but the upsets have been there more than once this year. I'm still watching and still enjoying.

It's hard not to.

Person of Interest

I seem to mention this show a lot more often than I used to. There's a reason for that: It just keeps getting better and better. Last night they added even MORE characters to a plot that is already rich in depth and characters. And they did it so effortlessly that it makes me wonder why other shows are so shallow.

This is television MEAT in a sea of Big Brother and Survivor pablum. In a world where viewers are playing with their cell phones during lame TV shows, this show demands attention. Viewers willing to give it their full attention will come away richly rewarded.

Mike Trout

Who is the next BIG superstar in baseball? That would be the Angel's 22 year-old Mike Trout.

Over the last two seasons he's been on base more than anyone:

Mike Trout: 564
Miguel Cabrera: 562
Shin-Soo Choo: 556
Prince Fielder: 542
Andrew McCutchen: 541
Joey Votto: 541

and these are his other stats

Runs: First (238)
Extra-base hits: Sixth (140)
Stolen bases: Second (82)

IF he continues those types of numbers for a couple of more years, he could sign baseball's first $400 million contract about the time he hits 25.

And most GMs think that would be a good deal. Long-term, really big money deals, are going to become rarer in baseball than they have been, but some players may still be worth it.

And this is the guy everybody's pointing to.

Love Good, Wolves Bad

The Celtics are just an average team this season. It looks like the Wolves are, too.

Ravens Give Lions the Boot

All the Ravens could manage last night were field goals.

But they had enough of them, SIX, including one late and long (61 yards) to beat the Lions 18-16.

That keeps the Pack clearly in the hunt.

Good game.

Wolves Win

Another average opponent, another T-Wolves win.

Love is fourth in the league in scoring behind Durant, Carmello, and LeBron. It's nice to have a real star. And some good wins. Now if the rest of the team can just start shooting better.

Flynn

It took awhile for returning super-sub, Matt Flynn, to get started yesterday, but when he got going in the second half, he was unstoppable with five straight touchdown drives. As a result, the Packers had one of the best comebacks in their illustrious history. The inverse of that was I got to watch a Cowboy collapse of historic, epic proportions. Smiles all around.

I find no conflict this year rooting for both the Packers and the Vikings. The Vikings are out of it. The Packers are very much still alive AND they beat the Cowboys.

Poor, poor, Romo.

Epic.

Cassel

The Vikings stunned division leading Philadelphia yesterday. They did it without star running back Adrian Peterson AND his very good back-up. They also scored 48 points. They haven't done that since 1998!

So, what was different? Well. I've always said that they rely on Adrian Peterson for too much of their offense. Without him, Matt Cassel did yesterday what every other successful quarterback does in the league. He threw the ball. He threw it long. He threw it short. He threw it in the middle. He threw sideline patterns. And he threw it to every body that was available. Accurately.

AND he still handed the ball off for short (very short) runs up the middle to keep the defense honest. Peterson's replacement didn't get good yardage in his 30 carries yesterday, BUT he did get POSITIVE yardage on all but three or four of his carries. As much as I like Peterson, so many of his carries are for negative yardage, so we find ourselves in so many second and 13, or second and 14 situations. ALL of Asiata's runs might have been for 1 or 2 or 3 yards, but at least he found the hole and ran FORWARD. Second and 7 is much easier to deal with. The end result for the Vikings is that they kept the Eagles high-powered offense OFF the field by having LOTS of long sustained drives. We dominated in possession time yesterday: 36 minutes to 23 minutes. THAT was the difference.

Cassel is very good. Even with our defense giving up close to 500 yards of offense, we coasted to a win against a very good Eagles team.

More Cassel please. No more Ponder.

Ever.

Pelfrey is Back

 A short poem by the Casual Observer:


The Twins clearly wanted him back for a couple of more seasons.
I can't, off hand, think of those reasons.

Is it his 5-13 record that led them astray?
Or his sparkling, league leading, 5.19 ERA?

Was it his Tommy John surgery from two years ago?
Or the failure to reach 5 innings when called on to go?
Whatever the reason, it's obvious now, he meant more to the Twins than Bronson Arroyo.

Heisman

With most of his legal trouble now behind him, Jameis Winston won the Heisman last night. If the award goes to the BEST college football paler, he clearly deserved it. He's the youngest player to ever win it. He's only the second freshman to do it. The first was Johnny Football, LAST year. Manziel was good this year (finishing fifth in the voting) but he wasn't great.

Wolves Lose to Great Team

Love's 42 points weren't enough last night. There's a reason that the Spurs are 18-4 this season.

I'm waiting for a streak where we can go against some average or poor teams awhile. At the same time, the Wolves looked great last night against a very good team. They aren't there yet. But they are starting to look like they could be.

Patience.

Twins

The Twins are starting to make minor moves now.

They decided to sign Jason Kubel to a minor league deal yesterday when no one else would offer him a major league contract. A year ago I would have been excited about this signing, but Kubel's stock has dropped so far in a year that nobody wants him.  I suppose if he's healthy he could fight for one of the outfield jobs or DH. He left the Twins two season's ago when he complained that Target Field was "too big" to hit homeruns in. I'm afraid the Twins having Kubel will stop them from using Arcia as they should. The kid's upside is much greater than Kubel's.

The Twins also got rid of Liam Hendriks yesterday, Hendricks will now be a Cub. We have lots of pitchers that we will no longer be using. Hendricks is only the first to move. I always thought he was the best pitcher who never won games. He's still young, maybe a good pitching coach will help become a winner.

San Diego Beats Denver AT Denver

Didn't look for that.

Matt Garza and Mike Pelfrey

The rumors continue to persist. The latest are that the Twins have UPPED their offer to Mike Pelfrey, and that despite the differences the Twins have always had with Matt Garza, they want to sign him, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

That's why I hate rumors. But those that gain steam instead of going away usually have some substance to them. And they are still talking to Bronson Arroyo as well. That's SIX starters they are seeking sign. I think it's going be a matter of whoever signs FIRST, that will get the contracts.

And we still have our own Alex Meyer and Trevor May waiting in the wings.

And Gibson and Diamond...

Something's gotta give...

Or it's all just rumors.

I hate rumors.

Home Plate Collisions a Thing of the Past

Baseball has finally wised up. As early as this coming season, catcher's will no longer be allowed to block the plate. Likewise, runners will no longer be allowed to run catchers over. It's always been a stupid, dangerous play, and baseball is finally acknowledging that.

I remember as a kid watching Pete Rose "kill" Ray Fosse on a collission at home plate to win an All-Star game, and even then I couldn't believe baseball allowed that type of play. Fosse, one of the game's greatest, never recovered enough to play well again.

I mean, you can't block first base like that can you? Or second or third either for that matter. WHY was that kind of play allowed at home plate, anyway?

DOZENS of catchers have lost significant parts of their playing careers due to that play. Base runners have broke bones and gotten concussions from that play as well. It's dangerous, it's violent, and BASEBALL has finally said enough is enough.

Baseball is a finesse game. That play never made sense to me.

And now it's gone.

Good for baseball.

Well, MAYBE, they might not ban it until 2015. I hope nobody else gets hurt while they are deciding.

Wolves Win

They are back to .500. It's nice to see them BEAT teams they should beat. Again, Kevin Love was the MAN.

What was really nice about this game is that they were down early, at one time by 17 points, but they came back, and didn't take the lead until midway through the fourth quarter. It's basically just the opposite of previous year's teams!

They have what they need to make comebacks now. That's why they are worth watching.

Go Wolves!

Bronson Arroyo

I don't usually report on rumors when it comes to the Twins, but at least this one is founded in fact. The Twins are going to meet with Bronson Arroyo to see if they can come to some sort of agreement. IF they agree, and Arroyo is still as good as he used to be, it would be like getting a healthy Carl Pavano back.

I'd  take the risk if I were the Twins. Solid vets are a lot better than young, untrained arms,,,

...speaking of which, Mark Mulder is "un-retiring" He last pitched in 2009 because of arm trouble, but he's recently discovered a new delivery motion that would allow him pitch effectively again. I'd give him a shot as well. He's still only 36 years old with very little wear on the arm lately. He was one of the league's elite. He's worth a shot as well.

Wolves Coast

Last night, for the first time in about a week and a half, the T-Wolves faced an average opponent. And they became the team that I enjoyed earlier this season.

Kevin Love was back and he looked rested and alert coming through with 26 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists. The rest of the Wolves had pretty balanced scoring and they went on to net 121.

Even after their tough schedule lately the Wolves are still just one game under .500.

At this point I'll take it. I can't help but notice that in the Eastern division that we would easily be alone in FOURTH place.

In the Western division, we're tied with Lakers for 11th.

sigh

Jay Cutler? Who Needs Jay Cutler?

The Bears are starting to get used to their substitute quarterback. Either that or Dallas is just really bad.

I can't help but think that the Bears I watched last night could not possibly be the team the Vikings beat in OT LAST week. For whatever reason,  Josh McCown was responsible for FIVE touchdowns last night in their rout of the Cowboys.

I keep thinking that the Vikings have been blown out just ONCE this year. Five games have been lost on the other team's last drive and that we also lost a game in OT. Maybe we aren't that bad. Maybe our coach is.

Okay, to be honest, I've been thinking that all season. But if the Bears ARE good, we might be even better than I thought.

And our coach is even worse.

I'll end this as I end all my other rants:

Fire Frazier.

NFL

WOW!

Yesterday was a day of amazing games and incredible comebacks.

Denver scored 51 points including a 64-yard field goal just before half. Yes, that's a record.

The Packers scored the last 12 points in their game to win 22-21. They are only 1/2 game back in the division with Detroit's loss.

New England, with Tom Brady at the helm, scored TWO TD's in the final minute of the game to win 27-26 in New England.

And of course there was THE game. The game that will live in history as the most amazing, comeback game of ALL-TIME. Five different comebacks, with five offensive touchdowns, in the final 2 minutes and 5 seconds of the game.

And I was watching it. It was MY team. And, of course, we lost.

I don't blame the Vikings. The officials were once again on center stage giving the Ravens every advantage they could with two major PHANTOM pass interference calls against the Vikings.

Other fans who watched, later on the blogs, were comparing these ref calls to various forms of both equine and bovine excrement. They are absolutely right of course. On both plays, the Viking defenders were between the receiver and the quarterback, facing the quarterback and defending their position. ANY contact was incidental or initiated by the receiver. On the first play the receiver made too quick a cut on the icy field and tripped all by himself falling INTO the Viking defender. And, AND we had an interception on that play nullified. The game SHOULD have been over right there.

Nonetheless, as a fan watching, trying to disassociate myself from the team that the game involved, all I could say was, "WOW."

It was amazing action. Video-game like action. FIVE touchdowns, scored so quickly, that you were absolutely stunned. And it happened 5 times in two minutes. The faces of the fans in Baltimore when the Vikings scored their two touchdowns was priceless. The gut wrenching emotion felt by all Vikings fans after all three Ravens TDs was equally palpable.

If the game MEANT more, it would go down in history as the most shell-shocking game of all-time.

As it is, it's just another Vikings loss and another nail in the coffin of Leslie Frazier's coaching career. The pooch kick that was ran back for a touchdown WAS his fault and all I could think of while the kick was in the air, was that nobody could be stupid enough to call for a pooch kick with those field conditions. They will have time to set up the perfect wedge and we won't be able to maneuver to stop their return man. I was right.

But a playoff spot wasn't at stake for us, so instead I'm going to enjoy those last two TDs that we got instead. Cassel was great yesterday. Gerhard had a good day with that go ahead TD run. The "fumble" he had earlier that led to the Raven's first TD was just another bad ref call.

All in all, that ending was as fantastic a finish as I'll ever see. It compares favorably to last week's Alabama/Auburn game. IF this was playoff game, and I was a Raven's fan, I would say this was a BETTER ending. But it wasn't and I'm not.

Still.

36 points in 2 minutes.

WOW!

Ohio State OUT

Auburn fans were hoping Michigan State would win last night. After last week's huge win over then number one Alabama, they would need some help from the Spartans to make it all the way to the national championship game.

It started out great for those hoping for the upset. Michigan State got out to a 17-0 lead. But then Ohio State roared back with 24 unanswered point of their own. Things looked pretty dismal for both Michigan State and Auburn at that point.

But then Michigan State did the unthinkable. THEY scored 17 unanswered points of their own and went on to win 34-24. It was a great regular season game that now moves Auburn up to number two in the BCS rankings and sends them to the national championship game.

The undisputed two best teams in the country will now square off for number one in January, all without a "play-off series".

More often than not, this BCS system has worked smoothly. The regular season games mattered more than any other sport. And the right two teams will play for the title at the end. AGAIN.

It all get flushed down the toilet next year.

This year, however was spectacular. And last's night's game was both the icing on the cake and the exclamation point to just why the CURRENT system is so much better than anything else college football will come up with.

Auburn, by the way, had a huge win in their conference championship game yesterday against Missouri. They PLAYED their way into the title game. Florida State easily handled Duke, as expected. It sets up an amazing game between two high-powered offenses in the BCS title game.

One last note. Last week, the Gophers lost 15-3 to this very same Michigan State team that beat Ohio State last night. The Gophers, it turns out, have a very good football team of their own.

The Game

Ohio State AT Michigan State is the game tonight. It's the last chance for the BCS national championship game to change. As always, I'm rooting for the underdog, Michigan State, to kick butt.

Go Spartans!

Oh, and I would be remiss not to mention, IF the BCS playoff system were in place THIS year, tonight's game wouldn't mean anything.

As it is, it's the most important game of the season so far. And Auburn fans will all be watching intently.

Number ONE, Florida State, is also playing tonight in their conference championship game. IF they lose to number 20 Duke, that will cause even bigger repercussions.

NOBODY expects that to happen, but it does make the game worth seeking out, just in case. I will be switching between the two games tonight, as will most college football fans.

Go Duke!

I'm going to miss college football next season. With a championship play-off in place, all the regular season games will become exhibitions. One loss will mean nothing. And there will be even more controversy from the teams with one loss that won't make the four team play-off.

You heard it hear first, and you heard it hear for the last several years. I don't understand how people who love sports can be so stupid. But there you are...

Cano To Mainers for $240 Million

It's a ten-year deal. He's 31.

I can't think of any player worth that's much, at that age, Even A-Rod's body broke down long before the contract expired. Pujol's long-term big-money looks like a waste for the Angels as well.

When will teams learn?

The Mariners are especially stupid. If the YANKEES don't see where Cano is worth that much, everybody sees the problem. Except the Mariners of course.

I hope they enjoy his contributions the next few years, because all the fans will hate him before the deal is done.

Morneau's Worth?

Justin Morneau has found a new home. He'll be teaming up with last year's national league batting champ, Michael Cuddyer this season in Colorado. The Rockies signed him to a two-year deal worth $13 million.

That's way more than most thought he would get.

It's possible that, if healthy, he'll be more than worth that price to the Rockies. It all depends on if he will recover the form he had before that devastating concussion. We're all rooting for him.

Speaking of former Twins, A.J. Pierzynski signed a 1-year deal with Boston worth over $8 million. For people who THOUGHT he'd come back to Minnesota this year, they found out why he won't. There's 8 million reasons.

Nick Punto signed a 1-year deal with Oakland for $ 3 million. I look for  the A's to win a world championship this year, now.

Delmon Young is back in Tampa Bay this year. Do you realize that, even now, he is just 28 years old? He's just starting to enter his prime.

Scott Baker still hasn't found a team. At 32, his prospects are waning. Both he and his agent are asking more than he's worth at this point. He says he wants to join the Cubs, but the Cubs aren't willing to meet his price.

Joe Nathan is close to 2-year $20 deal with the Tigers. At 39 years of age, that's an impressive salary offer for a closer.

Speaking of old relievers, LaTroy Hawkins at 41, was also signed by the Rockies this week. $2.5 million for the season.

Looking at the Twins

IF the season started tomorrow, the Twins starting rotation would be Nolasco, Hughes, Correia, and Deduno.

The fifth starter? There are lots of candidates and most of them are out of options. Diamond and Gibson saw their stock DROP last season. So far, in fact, that they might never be starters for the Twins again. With the acquisition of Nolasco and Hughes the Twins don't need them to be successful anymore. Worley is in the same boat. We paid him a lot last season, and he still has a huge chunk of change due him in his current contract. I think the Twins will try him as a long-term reliever this year. Mop-up duty if necessary, and give him a chance to EARN his way back into the rotation.

Albers and Hendriks are still in the running as well. Our LAST talented prospect, Alex Meyer's name has been mentioned as well.

One thing is certain, the Twins do not need ALL of them. Many of them will be gone before spring training is over.

The big problem is our lack of left-handed starters, so the Twins might still be looking for a crafty lefty with experience and past major league success. I wouldn't rule out the Twins going outside the organization one more time for a low-cost, high-risk, big-reward candidate...

...someone like the Met's oft-injured lefty, Johann Santana. He would be cheap, he's had some success in the past, and being the fifth starter, the Twins could baby him as needed to help him recover.

It's just a thought, but we NEED a quality left-hander. Johann may be good enough to fit the bill.

And the move would put butts in the seats, The Twins need more butts. They got a lot of free-agents to pay for this year.

Wolves Get Smoked

So did their opponents, the Spurs.

The game lsst night was supposed to be in the Mexico City Arena, but there was fire and the whole building filled with smoke.

So much for a goodwill tour of Mexico.

Aaron Rodgers

I've been hearing the last couple weeks how Green Bay is going to be overly cautious with their star QB. It's starting to look that if he isn't cleared to play THIS week, that he will be shut down for the season.

I think that IF Green Bay wins this weekend (without Rodgers) AND both Chicago and Detroit LOSE, they'll change their minds. They are still in it. Four straight wins at the end of the season for Green Bay is still possible.

We'll see. A lot depends on THIS Sunday.

Seahawks Roll

I thought last night's Seattle/New Orleans game might be good, although the Saints always look mediocre at best away for their dome. It wasn't. In a battle for home field advantage in the NFC, the Seahawks showed why they have the inside track.

I'm adding the Seahawks to my list of teams that I want to watch. They were absolutely dominant last night. They are now the clear Super Bowl favorite in the NFC.

Twins Sign Hughes

Phil Hughes is now a Twin. And he will be for three years. I can't say I dislike the move, but Hughes developed shoulder trouble in 2011, and though still relatively young, his last two years of pitching made him look a lot like our CURRENT Twins pitchers.

Yankee stadium was rough on him. He gave up LOTS of home runs there. It's possible that the more pitcher-friendly Target Field will end up being just what the doctor ordered for both him and the Twins. And that his shoulder is healed.

The Twins have committed a lot of money to two potentially good pitching arms for this upcoming season.  Let's hope both prove an improvement over guys like Worley, Correia, and Pelfrey from last year.

Still optimistic. And am happy to see that Twins management is putting their money where their mouth is.

Peterson Has Fifth 200 Yard Day

It took five quarters again, but this time the Vikings WON in overtime. I decided to watch the whole game no matter what.

I came to the conclusion that Matt Cassel can move the team on offense a lot better than Ponder. I also am starting to like that Adrian Peterson kid. Mark my words, he's going to be one of the best running backs of all-time.

You heard it here first.

Seriously, knowing Peterson is performing like this WITH injuries is amazing. He went over 1,200 yards on the season yesterday and 10,000 in his career. Since he's had 101 career games, right now, he's averaging 99.5 yards a game for his whole career.

Wolves Have Good Three Quarters

And a real lousy fourth. The Thunder are one of those teams I was talking about yesterday.

The Two Kevins End Wolves Skid

Love and Martin had a good night for the Wolves last night, and that resulted in a good win against a good Mavericks team.

The T-Wolves are a competitive team this season, but they are not among the elite. They proved that this week. They'll usually lose against the league's finest. But they'll win their share against everybody else. I'm looking forward to the possibility of a 45-win season this year and play-off dreams.

That's enough for this season. And it makes them worth watching.

Finally.

Number One Bites the Dust (Roll Tears)

Yesterday was the best day of the college football season with the most amazing ending of a major game in years.

People ask me why I watch college football. Yesterday's games were the reason. Ohio State, undefeated at number THREE yesterday came within a hair's breath of being knocked out of title contention by unranked Michigan. Michigan made the gutsiest call of the day after they had just scored a touchdown with 30 seconds left.  Instead of going for the tie with an extra point to send the game into overtime, they elected to go with the two-point conversion for the WIN instead.

The ball was intercepted in the end zone. Ohio State won. I have rarely seen that call at any level. It was amazing.

The better game came later. Undefeated number one Alabama went for a 56-yard game-winning field goal with ONE second left on the clock. The field goal was just short and to the left, BUT an alert Auburn player fielded it NINE yards deep in the end zone and returned it for the winning touchdown.

It was the most amazing football play I have ever seen. The Vikings gave up a touchdown like that a few years ago to San Diego. But it was the timing of the play that may it so surreal. It knocked Alabama (which had won the last two national championships) OUT of the title hunt, and turned the the BCS standings upside down. The only thing that would have been cooler is if Ohio State had lost the Michigan game as well.

NOW there are only TWO undefeated teams left: Florida State and Ohio State. It looks like the BCS standings are going to take care of themselves AGAIN. People who complain about needing a four game playoff (the one that they get starting next year) just don't understand how incredible what they have now IS. Yesterday's unbelievable games mattered because there is NO playoff.

Ohio State elected to go with an easy schedule this year, and it appears their gamble paid off. They'll move up to number two in the rankings and be the in the championship game. Auburn, with one loss, will move up to number three after knocking off Alabama. Alabama will drop to number four. That's the way it should be. They couldn't have planned it better.

I feel sorry that Auburn, after that great win, can't be in the title game, but I've said it all along. In college football the ENTIRE season matters.

And that was proven again yesterday. Next season, with the playoff, all of this greatness will go away.

That is so sad.

Notes

I had a nice visit with Tom the Retired Twins Fan  during Walmart's Black Friday shopping event.

I couldn't help but notice his cart was empty.

I found out we're both now rooting for the Detroit Lions to go all the way this year. Also we don't have tons of confidence in the latest Twins pitching acquisition. BUT, like almost all Twins fans in the off-season, we're optimistic.

It will take quite a bit more off-season activity to get us hopeful,  though.

The Gopher football team gets a chance to play with the big boys today. Number 20 Wisconsin was more than we could handle last week. Today it's number 11 Michigan State. I'm making a point of seeing the early part of that one.

On Saturdays, there's always lots of stuff to get done. I won't see the whole game.

Alabama/Auburn is the BIG game of the day. I hope to catch the end of that one. As always I'll be rooting for the underdog. Go Auburn!

Football

The Casually Observing Wife and myself found ourselves at my Aunt's for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. My Aunt Maybelle has never understood football though she rarely misses a Twins game. She doesn't mind football on in the background while we visit so we watched the whole first half of the Packers/Lions game yesterday with her before leaving at halftime for a much needed nap.

 I've come to this conclusion:  The Packers are WORTHLESS without Aaron Rodgers. That, and Detroit is a much better team than I've given them credit for. They have the most high-powered offense this side of Peyton Manning. I mean yesterday they put up college numbers with over 550 yards of offense. That's so rare in pro ball. Last week they had 300 yards passing at halftime.

I lost interest in the last two games yesterday and ended up watching Kung Fu Panda I and II on FX instead. Where the first movie is clearly the best, the second one is growing on me.

Better yet, the first four seasons of the TV show are available on iTunes for only $10 each in 1080p HD as a holiday special. Looks like I have 22 more hours of Kung Fu Panda to watch this weekend.

When we aren't shopping.

New Ulm here we come.

Twins Sign Nolasco to $50 Million Deal

It's a four-year deal with an option for a fifth. Last season he had an ERA of 3.70 with 200 innings pitched for the Marlins and Dodgers. He's 31.

I always hesitate when we get National League pitchers. The ERA LOOKS GOOD, but without a DH in the NL, the pitchers are automatically worse when they face American League batters. For his career, his ERA is 4.37.

I fully expect him to be worse when pitching for Minnesota. He's was probably the best of our limited options, however. Look for the Twins to sign one more starter for similar terms in the next week or two. Three of our starters for this year will be leftovers from last season. Deduno, Diamond, and Gibson will all be given opportunities.

Oh, and the Twins have extended a multi-year offer to Mike Pelfrey. He was 5-13 last year for the Twins with an ERA of 5.19. He has NOT signed yet, though. Until he does, the Twins will keep looking at other possibilities.

And let's not forget the Vanimal. Vance Worley was awful for the Twins last season, but he is signed to a multi-year deal as well. They aren't going to waste his contract leaving him in the minors forever.

Happy T-Day!

I'm looking forward to some football games today.

The Wolves lost their third in a row last night. It was kind of expected. There are some really good teams in the NBA and we faced three of them in a row. They are now below .500.

I'm still watching, but not as much of each game.  It's still better than watching the Vikings play poorly every week.

Minnesota sports: Fighting everyday to be mediocre instead of awful.

And not always fighting that hard.

Wolves Trade Williams

Derrick Williams was the highest draft pick the Wolves ever had. He was drafted number two overall in the 2011 draft. He's only 22 now.

And the Wolves couldn't find a place for him. It didn't help that he played the same position as Kevin Love.

Yesterday we gave up on him and traded him to Sacramento for some defensive help. The Wolves have had very little luck in the draft. In 25 years, we've had Love, Garnett, and Rubio. All others have been mediocre at best.

Another one bites the dust.

Monday Notes

Derrick Rose decided to have his meniscus fixed rather than have the basic "slice  off the little tear" route. Most surgeons don't even attempt to fix cartilage tears because there is so little blood flow to cartilage. As a result, instead of missing a few weeks at most, Derrick will be out for the season AGAIN. There is no guarantee that fixing it will work either. You need blood flow for things to heal, and cartilage has none.

Blake Griffen, like me when I had a meniscus tear, elected the "slice" method and was back in a matter of a couple of weeks when he had his tear.. I'm not sure which doctors are recommending the "fix" treatment. It will be interesting to see if its successful.

Colin Kaepernick looked like his old self again last night. He threw the ball well and ran out of trouble when he needed to. RGIII, on the other hand, was battered and pressured all night. The result was a rather easy Niner's win.

As expected, the Wolves lost to the Pacers last night. The Pacers are now 13-1. The Wolves fall to 8-8.

The Gopher basketball team lost to number 8 Syracuse last night 75-67. The game was in Hawaii as part of the Maui Invitational.

New England BEATS Manning

The best game of the weekend.

Wow.

Vikings Don't Lose

If you watched the game yesterday, as a Vikings fan, you knew the Vikings would have won that game if...

...they had just used Gerhart more in the fourth quarter or in  overtime. The Packers LITERALLY could not stop him. All but one of his carries was for 8-26 yards.  When it was crunch time, we did what we always do. We handed up the middle to Adrian Peterson, and he lost yardage, and we were forced to punt. I'm not saying Gerhart is better than Peterson, but yesterday you could see the relief in the Green Bay defense when Gerhart sat on the bench with the game on the line. They KNEW how to stop Peterson. Gerhart was the problem yeaterday. AND as usual, Frazier was absolutely clueless when it comes to reading patterns. We lost when we stopped using Gerhart.

If your a Packers fan, you saw how you could have easily won yesterday.  Flynn SHOULD have been their starter from the beginning.  With Flynn on the field, the Vikings offense wouldn't have had such a tremendous game. They wouldn't have been on the field so much. They wouldn't have scored so often.

The reason there was a tie yesterday?  Both head coaches didn't know how to use their backup players properly. If either saw tendencies properly, one team would have won.

They both deserved the tie. And Frazier still deserves to be fired.

Gerhart: 8 carries for 91 yards.  That says it all.

One last point: Ponder was spot on yesterday. Most of his incompletions  were dropped balls. He was as good as I have ever seen him. HE deserved better.

A new coach would be a good place to start.

Packers/Vikings Today

Remember when that game meant something to both teams?

Saturday Sports

I watched a little over half of the Gopher's game yesterday. They never were really out of it, it's just that two costly fumbles and some pass interference calls in the end zone did them in. They are better than they've been in  quite a while, but those kind of horrible plays are going to cost you against a good team. Wisconsin kills everybody they go against. Losing 20-7 with all of those costly plays is nothing to be ashamed of.

The Wolves looked less than adequate last night as well. I was waiting for them to make a move, and at the end of the third quarter when they whittled Houston's lead down to eight, I was getting hopeful. Alas, the first couple minutes of the fourth quarter sealed their fate. They lost by 11. The Pacers are next. A .500 record is just around the corner...

I was looking forward to watching number 4 Baylor play last night. They've averaged over 60 points and close to 700 hundred yards a game going into last night 's game at number 10 Oklahoma State. Instead I saw one of the biggest upsets of the season. FINALLY. They got beat so bad I almost felt sorry for them. It looks like Ohio State will be moving up to number three again. With number two Florida State looking at losing Famous Jameis with his ongoing legal problems, the Buckeyes may still squeak into second place in the BCS standings before the season is out.

Speaking of Florida State, they scored 80 points yesterday. I don't ever remember a team doing that before. Idaho is a really  bad team, but still, 80 points...

The Chicago Bull's Derrick Rose has a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. That is NOT as bad as another ligament tear.  He'll be out indefinitely, but it really shouldn't be the whole season. I'm guessing around a month after surgery. We'll see. He could be back even sooner. It depends on how fast he heals and if he's ready to "trust" his knee again. I had a friend playing golf TWO days after a medial meniscus tear, and feeling good about it. I hear basketball is tougher than golf, though.

Wolves Crush Garnett, Brooklyn

I watched nearly all of the second half. I couldn't believe that this was the Wolves. They built on an already sizable lead and then rested the starters for an entire quarter.

It was a balanced attack with lots of three pointers. And the defense suffocated Brooklyn.  Minnesota has three, really tough games coming up this week, including the amazing Pacers. But I'll be watching. Even if they lose, I'll be watching.

Wow, what a treat. So this is what having a good NBA team to follow is like.

The Bulls lost Derrick Rose to ANOTHER right knee injury last night, so I know how fast all of this can come crashing down. For the time being, I'm going to enjoy this Minnesota team.

Right now, it's the best one we got.

(With apologies to the Wild. It's too bad they play ice soccer. They might be fun to watch as well.)

Notes

A-Rod over the last few days has got sick of baseball's treatment of him. Though most think he's clearly done something wrong, many think baseball is acting at least as irresponsibly. IF Selig would have been content with a 50 game suspension, this whole mess would probably already be over. But baseball BUYING the stolen documents, and the other records of the drug clinic in question, has left local drug enforcement officials livid. Selig, in his fervor to nail A-Rod, has impeded investigations to get the real criminals (the owners and partners of the organization.)

In effect Bud went after the junkie at the cost of letting the major supplier get away.

Johnny Football was being displaced in the minds of Heisman Trophy voters because of his off-season autograph signings. They started gravitating toward a better choice, Florida State's freshman sensation.  "Famous Jameis" was their new top pick.

Well now that allegations are being made against him a sexual assault case, everyone is distancing themselves from him as well. All the sudden Johnny Football is looking pretty good again. All I'm saying at this point is that the DNA evidence against Jameis Winston SHOULD NOT have been made public. Once again confidential results were leaked to the press illegally. I'm sick of these people getting away with this type of activity.

"Whistle Blowers" in our society are being looked at as heroes. Winston will have his day in court, but he's already been tried in the media, and will continue to have to live with the media's judgements.  The leak has now made it practically impossible to have a fair trial. "Due Process" in America is fast becoming a thing of the past. We are a society that demands quick answers with questionable media people leading the charge.  The problem is that "quick answers" often lead to wrong conclusions. And violent/heated opinions.

And justice gets lost in the process.  It's only going to get worse.

Fielder Now a Ranger

Texas and Detroit traded superstars yesterday with Detroit trading one of the biggest, first baseman Prince Fielder, to the Rangers. In exchange, Texas sent over the not quite as big a name, second baseman Ian Kinsler. Detroit gave Texas $30 in cash as well, to help pay what is left of Fielder's enormous salary.

Detroit frees up some salary cap issues while it allows the Tigers to move their biggest superstar, Miguel Cabrera back to first to make room for top prospect Nick Castellanos at third.

Texas needed left handed power.

A good trade for both clubs.

We're still waiting for blockbuster news from the Twins...

Wolves Lose Another Close One

Kevin Love was 2-17 shooting and we lost by 4. It doesn't get much worse than that.

Person of Interest

Every once in a while, I mention this show as the best television has to offer. It's got complicated plots, nasty villains, and lots of great characters that you really look forward to seeing.

Last night was a show that ripped your heart out.

Start with season one and catch up. You must see this show from the beginning. Don't start where they left us last night. You need to start from the beginning.

But watch it.

The $300 Million Dollar Man?

I found it laughable a few weeks back when a fairly well known Twins fan/writer said we should get Robinson Cano as a free agent this year to PROVE to Twins fans that we interested in competing this year. His asking price was revealed yesterday. $310 million over 10 years.

They said he'd be a big improvement over current second baseman Brian Dozier. Dozier was solid in both the field and at the plate the second half of last season. I would venture to say that he was the team MVP of the second half. His clutch hitting and sure glove gave us hope for this season.

The last things the Twins need is two players worth over half a billion between them.

What we NEED is starting pitching and to hold on to our bullpen.

Its just another example of how writers who are incapable of rational thought. Long-term deals are finally being recognized by owners as anchors on clubs' futures.  It 's not time to move backwards as a club. It's time to move forward.

Even the Yankees are laughing openly at Cano and his agent, Jay Z. Cano IS NOT the best player in baseball. And 10 years from now, most will not even remember him.

Sign good players to medium-term, reasonable-deal contracts. And pay for good pitching. That's a formula that works.

If you sign the biggest dog in the yard, most likely that dog will come back to bite you, because most dogs turn out to be just that, dogs.

Wolves Lose

You know you're into the Wolves when they lose to a bad team and it bothers you.

BCS

There are four unbeaten teams left in major college football.

Ohio State is one of them, and coach Urban Meyer is upset that at number three, he and Baylor are both fighting it out for the third place position. A place that simply does not matter in the current BCS framework.

He says the system is "flawed".  Usually, at this point in the season, enough upsets have occurred that only two obvious teams are left in the championship hunt. With only a couple of games left in regular season, those upsets haven't occurred yet.

From my perspective, I've always said there should be a "plus one" bowl. IF two teams are left at the end of the season that are undefeated, there should be ONE more game. But even if four teams are left undefeated this year when the dust settles, teams like Ohio State and Baylor could have done something BEFORE now to do something about it.

Take the Buckeyes for example. They EXPECTED to go undefeated this year because their strength of schedule was not very difficult.

And THAT is the problem. They took the easy way out by not scheduling top teams into their schedule early in the season. In fact ALL of the top teams are doing that now. The regular season determines if you are good enough to be in the championship game at the end of the season. If you wimp out with an easy schedule during the regular season, don't come crying to me when you aren't given any respect at the end. Urban Meyer knows how it works. He elected to go the easy route and he's now paying the price for that.

That's WHY there haven't been any big upsets yet this season. NEXT year that would have been a great strategy. THIS year you got caught taking the easy way out.

That's why your an outsider looking in this year. The BCS isn't flawed. YOU are.

What bothers me more is that it shows me how BORING the new playoff for a championship will be next year and from now on. Top teams will have easy schedules to make sure they make the final four. NONE of the regular season games will matter after this year. Good teams will avoid each other, and college football will become unwatchable.

More free time for me.

Cam Newton

The Patriots are not as good as they once were, but that shouldn't stop folks from noticing that Cam Newton and the Panthers are definitely getting better. The Panthers won their sixth straight game last night, and it came at the expense of the once mighty Patriots on a last minute drive.

The Patriots are human. It makes for a much better game.

Separated at Birth

I meant to post this weeks ago, but I kept forgetting. How is it that two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL could be mistaken for each other? It's a mystery.

I'm not going to tell which is which. One of these is Aaron Rodgers and the other is last night's losing quarterback, KC's Alex Smith.

NFL

In summary:

The Vikings looked horrible with their starter Christian Ponder. Green Bay looked awful without Aaron Rodgers. The Lions got beat despite Matthew Stafford throwing for over 300 yards in the first half. And the Bears were tornadoed out for a couple hours but still came back to win on one of the sloppiest fields in recent football history.

Everybody is still in it except the Vikings.

The FUN game last night was watching ailing Peyton Manning do his thing against the Chiefs who WERE the best team in football. Mr. Precision makes it look so easy.

Harvin

Of course, Percy Harvin will be ready to play for Seattle today now that they are going against the Vikings.

I'll watch the start of the game, but how long I watch it depends on if the Vikings can stay competitive.  I don't have much hope there. I'm more interested in the KC/Denver prime time matchup. I plan on watching most of that one.

Wild Roll

I was switching between several channels last night watching college football and the T-Wolves,

I kept going back to the Wolves. Love, Martin, and Pekovic all had 20 or more for Minnesota. The bench had 36. It was a very balanced onslaught that was fun to watch.

I've never been able to say that about the Wolves before. Even when Garnett was leading the charge many moons ago, it was nail-biting wins that ruled the day. Now, we're actually coasting to wins.

College football had a lot of threatened upsets yesterday, but the only one that came through was number 4 Stanford getting knocked off by unranked USC.  I've been disappointed with the lack of big upsets so far this season. Alabama, FSU, and OSU had strong victories yesterday. The "BIG 3" just keep rolling.

Maybe next week...

Wild Win

Okay, I've been neglecting Minnesota's other winter sports team. There's a good reason for that. It's just hockey, right?

Well, I watched part of last night's game, and even though the Wild are off to a great start this year (12-4-4), it's still just hockey.  The final was 3-2. The Wild had one more lucky bounce than the Panthers, and the Wild skated away with a 3-2 win.

It's a lot like soccer except they move faster. I've explained this before but it bears repeating.  When all of the games are this close and low scoring, winning is not determined by the "better" team but by simple odds. Knowing there are so many ties, shows the same thing.

I can't stand any sport that is determined more by mathematical probability than skill. The players and teams are too evenly matched to root for. It's not much different than flipping a coin. Sometimes it land on heads 5 times in a row.  That's a winning streak.

I'm not saying the players aren't skilled, they quite clearly are. But most team's players have very similar skill levels. As a result, their skill doesn't determine outcomes.

Probability does.

Baseball has great pitching. Football has great quartbacks.

Hockey just has lucky screened bounces that go in the net.

So does soccer.

Your free to watch if you wish, but coin tossing just doesn't interest me.

Wolves Fal Flat

I watched quite a bit of this game, and the one thing that was obvious was that neither team set up much of a defense.  The Wolves were behind most of the first half, and had a miserable third quarter, and ended up losing by 4.  They really never stopped the Nuggets all night.

Another game tonight.  I hope they remember how to play defense...

Twins News

With very little to talk about in the world of sports this morning, I thought I'd mention some Twins notes.

A couple of names from the past have recently resurfaced. Jason Bartlett has been signed to a minor league deal by the Twins. He was declining before his knee surgery a little over a year ago, so there's no reason to think that at 34 years old he will help the Twins in the future. BUT he will be given a chance to fight for the shortstop job with Pedro Floriman.

More interesting? The Twins have requested to see the medical records of Johann Santana from the New York Mets. Though Santana pitched a no-hitter in 2012, he spent all of last season recovering from a second round of shoulder surgery. His prospects are dim at best, but that may make him available for very little money as well.

As much as the Twins have stated that they are willing to spend more money in free agency this year, they have shown no indications of that so far. And let's face it, if there were really good starting pitchers available in free agency, they wouldn't come here.

Expect more bargain basement acquisitions and reclamation projects this season as well.

Wolves Win Big

Kevin Martin was sick last night.  It didn't matter. Ricky Rubio had a career high 16 assists. Kevin Love had 33 points, and Corey Brewer popped in 27. And all the starters rested in the fourth quarter.

And they still won by 29 points.

The Wolves are HOWLINGLYgood right now.

Looking forward to Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday games already.

That Didn't Take Long

Number "one," Kentucky got beat by number "two" Michigan State in college basketball last night. It was the first real game of the season for both.

I say this every year, but it bears repeating:  DON'T rate any teams until they've played a month or so.  EARLY season ratings don't mean squat. Once teams have played 8-10 games, do what ever you want, but ranking them this early simply doesn't matter. Top teams will play 35 games this year, and will make the NCAA's gigantic tournament no matter what.  See what they have to offer, THEN rank 'em.

This isn't college football, where wins and losses MATTER.

It's just basketball.

Gopher Football Golden

For the first time in THREE years, the Golden Gopher football team is ranked. They came in at number 25 in the AP and USA Today polls. At 8-2, the Gophers are now competing for a major bowl game.

No more Preparation H Bowls for them.  No sir. Dollar General Bowl here we come.

Timberwolves Ban Hazing

Shabazz Muhammad, rookie for the T-Wolves this year, will no longer be "required" to wear a Jonas Brothers backpack. Team president and General Manager, Milt Newton told him to stop wearing it.

Hazing is officially done in the Minneosta locker room.

Finally.

If nothing else, the Incognito incident, has brought a new awareness to the never-ending childish pranks that go on in sports locker rooms.  I was laughing last week when former pro stars were running down Incognito for "crossing the line" when it comes to inappropriate locker room behavior.

They said what Incognito did was wrong, and then went on to say that you can't compare it to "harmless hazing" like taping rookies naked to the goal posts.

Pot meet black kettle.

Its now up to executives in sports, like Milt Newton, to end ALL hazing before it gets out of hand. All practical jokes breed inappropriate behavior. The "boys will be boys" mentality has to be put aside. The players on these teams are being paid millions of dollars to do their JOB. It's time they all go about it in a professional manner.

Just make sure that the rookies buy donuts for all team meetings. (But put it in their contracts.)

Mauer

The Twins have decided FOR Joe Mauer that he's is no longer going to be their often times beat-up catcher.  Josmil Pinto, for the time being, will be the Twins new catcher.

With Morneau gone this was the BEST option for the Twins.  Mauer can now play, hopefully injury free, for several more seasons rather than spending 30-50 games a year on the disabled list.  It's not what Mauer wanted, but when you make THAT MUCH money, it's up to the TEAM how you should be used.

It's the right call, and I'm looking forward to Pinto at the catching position. Last year, he showed flashes of brilliance. Maybe he'll be just what we needed.

Two positions filled. Seven to go.

And a full starting pitcher rotation.

I can smell World Series from here.

Wolves Miss Three Shots In Last Five Seconds, Lose

So close.

The Wolves played another great game Monday night, except this time they came up a little short. Love missed the final tip-in chance at the end that would have sent the game to overtime.

So very close.

Woves Score 47 In First Quarter, Clobber Lakers IN LA

Going into last night's game, the Wolves had lost 22 straight to the Lakers.  That hideous streak ended with a bang.

Rubio ended with a triple-double. Kevin Martin had 27. And Kevin Love finished with 25. It wasn't even close. They started with an unbelievable first quarter and just kind of coasted the rest of the way.

They have the much better Clippers tonight. Let's see if they can do it again.

The Wolves are 5-2 on the season. By comparison, the Miami Heat are 4-3. I'll take it.

Football

Watching the Packers with their third string quarterback is like watching the Vikings. It's just sad.

Denver with Manning is so  much fun. Even with an average defense, the Broncos are going to win easily most of the time.

The LIONS are on top of NFC North. Talk about Wacky World.

New Orleans at home is sure a different team. At home they are practically invincible. On the road they look like the Packers with a third string quarterback.

Gophers Beat Penn State

That's FOUR straight Big Ten wins.

They haven't done that in FORTY years. The Gophers are a good squad this year. I actually look forward to watching them every week. I haven't been able to say that in... forty years.

DUI Of the Day

Minnesota Viking receiver , Jerome Simpson, already on probation for illegal drug use, was caught driving drunk early Saturday morning.

The NFL over the last 6 months has been getting serious about this type of behavior. It's time that Minnesota starts parting ways with criminals. 

He's the Vikings leading receiver this year.

Love Gives Wolves Win

Kevin Love: 35 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists.  Kevin Martin: 31 points.

That says it all. When those guys are shooting, it's hard for any team to keep up, even the Dallas Mavericks. The Wolves pulled it out down the stretch, having only a three point lead with a couple minutes to play, Love hit a three-pointer to seal it.

Great game. Let's see if they can play that well against the Lakers on Sunday. And the Clippers on Monday.

Vikings Win

Ponder's first pass last night was a horrible interception.  From that time until he injured his shoulder going for a touchdown late in the third quarter he LOOKED like an NFL quarterback. A good one.

Cassel did his job as backup. The defense got better in the second half.  And they finally had a successful last-second goal line stand.

I was going to watch the Stanford/ Oregon game last night during commercial breaks figuring it was going to be the better game. It wasn't. The Vikings/Redskins game had ALL the drama.

And the Vikings won. Minnesota might be a 2-7 team, but last night they gave me a reason to watch.  That's all I've ever asked for. I actually hope Ponder is healthy enough to play in 10 days.

That's how good he was last night.

Go Vikings!

Vikings Play Tonight

Not expecting much from this one. I'll probably watch it during commercial breaks from my other shows.

Wolves Lose At Home

They got out to an early lead in the first. And then thy looked like the T-Wolves we've known and loved over the last 25 years.

sigh

Kyle Rudolph

The ONLY receiver Christian Ponder can seem to find, Kyle Rudolph, is out with a broken foot. It came on his touchdown Sunday afternoon.  Ponder will start Thursday against Washington.

The news (and injuries) just keep getting worse.

Rodgers Out With Broken Collarbone

A hairline fracture in his collarbone will keep Aaron Rogers out about 4 weeks. It could have been a lot worse. They've got teams with less than stellar records the next three weeks, including the Vikings. There's a chance they could come out of this injury just fine.

Go Rodgers!

T-Wolves Lose

Love took the last shot. He missed it. We lost by one. The comeback fell short.

Packers Lose Far More Than Game

Let's face it, the Packers ARE  Aaron Rodgers. They only had him for one brief series last night, and without him they are not the same team. No word yet on how bad the injury is. At least it's his non-throwing shoulder.

Last night's game was battle of back-up QBs, and it looked like it. It was like preseason game, except that it counted.

As a Viking fan, I offer you one of our starting quarterbacks free of charge. You can have you pick of the three. The only catch is that you take Leslie Frazier, too. You wouldn't want to break up a good set.

Wolves Get the Knack of Knocking Off Knicks

The T-Wolves are red hot.  They scored 40 in the first quarter and basically coasted to a win. It got a little scary with about 4 minutes left, but good shooting ruled the day.

Love had 36 points and 15 rebounds.  Kevin Martin, who was acquired for his shooting ability, came through as well with 30 points including five for five from three point range.  Rubio's 10 assists all looked great.

Another great game, the T-Wolves have caught my attention. They haven't beat the Knicks in New York for five years.

More please. Much more.

Vikings

I watched most of the second half yesterday. They played well enough to win. My major problem was with 4:22 left in Dallas territory with a first down, they THREW the ball. Of all the times NOT to throw the ball on first down, that was it, Running it unsucessfully up the middle three times in row would have brought the game to the two minute warning. Punting it on fourth down would have put Dallas deep with less than 2 minutes to play.

And that was a worse case scenario. ONE first down would have basically clinched the win.

By giving Dallas an extra minute of clock time, they ended up losing with 37 seconds left.

A bad coaching decision at the 4:22 mark cost them the game. Most people won't see the obvious link. It was a horrible call and they lost because of it. You run a horse like Peterson the WHOLE game, and then, when its OBVIOUS that you should run him three more times to clinch the win, you make a call that would make a first year junior high coach blush in embarrassment.

I take it back, it's STILL Frazier's fault. If you play well enough to win several times this season and lose it in the last minute, you are a lousy coach. Fire Frazier NOW. An example needs to be made of him as an apology to the whole team.

AND their fans.

Gopher Get Third Straight Big Ten Win

They got a big lead alternating quarterbacks, made some incredibly stupid coaching decisions on fourth down late in the game, and just when they were going to lose, the OTHER team made an incredibly bone-headed play of their own, literally handing us the surprise win.

In one sentence, that described roller coaster game. And I don't remember the last time the Gophers won three straight in Big Ten play.

Ponder To Start

I'm okay with Christian Ponder starting this week against Dallas. We have no other better options.

The Vikings secondary is hurting and after watching Aaron Rodgers pierce that secondary like a world-class sniper last week, I don't think it matters who we put in at quarterback.

Romo has been solid in most of his starts this year, but he's no Aaron Rodgers. A couple of big plays, and the Vikes could actually win this one. In the NFL that's all it takes.

I'll probably miss most of the game either way. I'll be watching for BETTER match-ups this weekend. Good football is better than Vikings football.

Wolves STUN Thunder

It wasn't so much that the Wolves beat OKC last night, they clobbered them.  It wasn't even close. The Wolves dominated them out of the gate, and then went on to outscore them in every quarter.

Kevint Durant, "the second best player" in the NBA, was held to just thirteen points on 4-11 shooting from the floor while the Wolves offense, led by Love, Rubio, and Pekovic, all sported  double doubles on the evening.

No matter when you tuned in to watch, you saw a great Wolves team.

I could get used to this.  The Wolves are 2-0 on the young season. Only 80 games to go.

This is what  I expected LAST season until everyone got hurt.  Maybe this is the Wolves year.

Oh, the Miami Heat lost again last night. They are 1-2 on the season. Another pleasant trend.

Unique Finish

The Bengals lost in OT last night, when their QB Andy Dalton got sacked in the end zone for safety.

Miami ended a four-game losing streak with that timely sack. I was surprised to discover that ending has happened twice previously in NFL history.

T-Wolves Win in OT

I watched a lot of the second half last night and was frustrated that the Wolves couldn't  seem to pull away.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't consider the Magic a very good team. But in the end, winning is better than losing, and the T-wolves, with Love back healthy and leading the way, did pullout the OT win.

A good start to the season, though it looks like they have much to work on.

Sox Win!

I'm glad so much of the scoring happened early last night. I got to enjoy the last game of the World Series before going to bed early. The Red Sox, who were the WORST team in their division LAST season, became the best team in baseball THIIS year.

Way to go Boston! Turnarounds can happen.

NBA

The NBA season started last night. In the premiere match-up, the Heat beat Chicago and the returning Derrick Rose.  I guess somethings never change. I am looking forward to what the T-Wolves have in store for us.

At least for a week or two...

Bad Night For St. Louis

The Cardinals were beaten in a well-pitched game by Jon Lester.

The Rams, even with their starting QB on the shelf, kept it close in their game with Seattle. The goal line stand at the end by Seattle being the difference in the game.

St. Louis was the Mecca of the sports world last night and everyone of their fans went to bed exremely disappointed.

World Series Tied 2-2

I couldn't stand watching the Vikings straight game through last night so I watched the fourth World Series game as well.

Jonny Gomes, a player not originally slated to start, turned out to be the game's big hero. I was watching when he hit that big game winning three-run homer in the sixth.

That's WHY I like baseball.

Vikings Defense Worthless, Ponder Average

The MAIN reason the Vikings lost last night was that their depleted defense was worthless. The offense at least moved the ball some.

In either case, what Minnesota displayed in prime time for the second game in a row was a NOT ready for prime time team.

Firing Frazier would not help at this point. It's the team that's bad.

But, I'd like to see Frazier fired anyway. It certainly wouldn't hurt the team.

At the same time I want to give major props to Green Bay and their offense. Rodgers' passing was as pristine as anything I have ever seen.  It's easy to criticize the Vikings defense, but much of what happened last night has got to go back to Rodgers' amazing performance and Green Bay confidently willing to for it on third down situations.

I can see WHY I root for them when they aren't facing the Vikings. They are a thoroughly enjoyable team to watch.

Valid T-Shirt

Gophers Beat Nebraska!

The Gophers have proven to  be a much better team with coach Kill gone from the sideline. They won their second straight Big Ten matchup yesterday beating Nebraska for the first time in FIFTY YEARS.

And they looked good doing it. Maybe Minnesota does have one football team that isn't horrible. I'm going to start watching regularly.

Great Game, Huge Ending

Well, I'd never seen THAT before. A great game ended in an obstruction call. Legit but incredibly unsatisfying. Boston fans are going to remember that play for along time.  Exciting.

Amazing baseball.

College Coaches Live In Their Own World

Alabama decided to punish students fans for leaving Alabama blow-out wins early. It was decided that they have to stay for the whole game or they will lose their special seating arrangement.

This move came about when Alabama coach Nick Saban criticized the students. He said, "My sense of it is, I always say the fans are a part of the team, Everybody else should have the same sort of commitment. You don't have to do the work all week, you don't have to practice, you don't have to come in at 7 in the morning and leave at 11 at night, you don't have to do any of that stuff. All you have to do is come to the game, drink beer, do whatever you want, party in the parking lot. I've never been at a tailgate in my life. All I'm asking is that you just come and have fun and stay for the whole game."

Wow. You can be a fan of MY team, but you have to do it MY way.

There's something desperately wrong with that way of thinking.

The NCAA should suspend Nick Saban for a couple of games. You know, so he has a chance to reorganize his unbalanced thinking. While they're at it, they should suspend Alabama officials who punished the students.

What's funny, is that most are taking Saban's side in this.

Wow, are we screwed up as a country.

Breaking News

Minnesota Vikings football practice was delayed nearly two hours this morning after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach, Leslie Fraser immediately suspended practice while police and federal agents were called to investigate.
After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance, unknown to the players, was the goal line.

Practice was resumed today after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again.

Ponder By Default

Freeman most likely won't start this Sunday for the Vikings. It appears he has a concussion. By default, that leaves Ponder, who is healthy again, as starter.

I don't think, at this point, that it matters, but Ponder KNOWS he is fighting for his professional life. Perhaps that fact alone will light a fire under him. I understand that even Super Steve has lost his unwavering faith. It's about time that he joined the rest of us.

Person of Interest Was Great Last Night

There was literally no sports worth watching last night. The Wild won 2-0, but their season so far fails to excite.  My other choice was to watch regular television shows. Person of Interest came through with flying colors.

That's one show that consistently over-delivers week after week after week. It's the best show on television. Last night's ending was fantastic.  Just the opposite of Minnesota sports.

Vikings Lose Horribly to Horrible Team

I don't even have words.

Boston Slams Their Way To Series

Shane Victorino did what heroes are expected to do in postseason play. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh and coming up with the bases loaded, Shane delivered the blast that will enter Red Sox legend.

Baseball is always so much cooler this time of year. Boston, after a terrible year last season, is back in the Series.

Disappointing

Clayton Kershaw was THE MAN this season for the Dodgers. With an ERA of less than 2.00, having given up ONE earned run in his last FIVE starts, he was L.A's perfect choice for game six.

Except last night he was awful. Seven earned runs and 10 hits in just 4 innings last night kind of sealed the deal last night for L.A.  The Cardinals are heading to the World Series and Dodger's fans are left shell-shocked.

That's baseball.

Mistakes

Miguel Cabrera has been the best player in baseball for a couple of seasons now.  If not for the extraordinary play of Baltimore's Chris Davis this year, Cabrera would have had two consecutive triple crown titles, all while battling injuries the last month or so of the season.

But in what amounts to a three-game series to reach the World Series, Cabrera, as good as is, committed a couple mistakes last night. He got thrown out easily at home in the first when he ran past the third base coach's stop sign, and he committed the only fielding error of the game in the second, leading to a huge Red Sox scoring inning early.

They scratched and clawed their way back in the game late, but lost by a run when it was all over. The best in the game let his team down last night. And with a whole nation watching, THIS will be the game that everyone remembers if the Tigers don't reach the Series.

And they'll remember that the best, in the game of baseball, sometimes isn't good enough.

Baseball

I find myself rooting for the teams that are trailing in the playoffs. Yesterday, it was the Dodgers and Tigers. I want both series to go seven games. I want the World Series to go seven as well. It's not so much the teams, but the games themselves I root for. If they are good and compelling everything else takes care of itself.

Freeman To Start

Leslie Frazier has nothing to lose at this point. A 1-4 team has a 5% of making the playoffs. A 2-3 team has a 22% chance. Last week's loss was the tipping point. It signaled the unofficial end of the Vikings season. From now on he's fighting for his very existence as a coach.

Freeman was great last season for Tampa Bay. He has skills. But he also has an attitude, and that, coupled with a horrible start this season, has sent him packing. It's really the perfect time to start him. It helps that we will be going against the hapless New York Giants on Monday Night Football.  I hate using  standard cliches, but it really is do or die time for BOTH Freeman and the Vikes.

I'm planning on watching Monday Night Raw, myself, as Daniel Bryan is having a much better season for the WWE brand. But I will be switching over for commercials. I might even stay awhile if what I see is worth watching.

Lousiest Vacation Week Ever

This past week we took an unexpected trip to the Twin Cities. Because of the needed urgency, we took separate vehicles. Since I arrived earlier than my wife, I had the privilege of picking out the resort we stayed at.

Let me tell you, it was not what I was hoping for. There was only one bed, and it was brutally uncomfortable. I could not sleep in it. Cheryl was forced to sleep on a fold-out cot nestled underneath the STANDARD definition television that only received 12-15 channels. They were not high quality.

Our room didn't even have a lock on front door! People were coming and going at all hours of the day and night making it impossible to sleep. To get away from them, I actually spent some time in the bathroom, just to get some much needed "me" time.

Cheryl gave up on the food the first night and opted for McDonald's. I gutted it out on the three meal a day option. It was good, but I honestly would have rather had the McDonald's menu.

The staff was courteous and was always offering to get me a cold drink. It was like an exotic resort because of all the strange languages! I even picked new language myself while I was there. No one could understand it.

I fear this may be the most expensive vacation we have ever had when they finally figure out  the final bill on this one. It'll be enough to give a guy a stroke.

So if you're looking for a great vacation spot in The Cities, I caution you, don't pick the Abbott Northwestern Resort. It's not worth the price. I hear they offer exquisite medical care, though, if you're in the market for such a thing.


I'll be recovering from my vacation the next few days so don't look for many updates just yet. Baseball has been spectacular the past few days and the Pats/Saints game yesterday was what sports is all about.


Take Care!

Better Games But A-Rod Steals the Day

I got to enjoy parts of two games yesterday. I saw the final innings of the Dodgers and the Braves while enjoying most of  the Detroit/Oakland match-up last night. The pitching was great in both contests.

But A-Rod made the bigger headlines. He filed two lawsuits yesterday, one against major league baseball and Bud Selig, and the other against his doctor which mishandled his hip injury last season.

The Selig lawsuit is the most appealing. It deals with the mafia-like scare and intimidation tactics that baseball used to gather evidence, including paying witnesses.

Football

In one of the most entertaining games of the NFL season last night, Cleveland beat the Bills in the Thursday Night Football game. As usual, it will be one of the LEAST-watched games of the season as well, because hardly anyone gets the NFL Network that the game was played on.

Knowing that the Browns are now 3-2 makes me feel a little better about the Vikings. Teams who have now beat the Vikings this season have an overall record of 9-4.

The bad news for Cleveland is that they lost QB Brian Hoyer for the season. He was hit while going into a QB slide after a nice run and his knee took some horrible turns.

I like football a lot, but I absolutely hate these kinds of injuries. Football is just brutal on players bodies. And the nature of the game means that teams will usually lose any chance of a good season when that QB goes down.

There is no more valuable position in sports. There is no position that means as much to their teams and their fans.

Baseball

I ended up missing both games yesterday. and based on the results, I'm okay with that. The scores were blowouts.

Maybe I'll get a chance to see some of them today. There's lots of games left.

Cleveland Loses

You know, I guess I don't care who wins the Series this year. I'd prefer that the high payroll teams like Boston and Los Angeles don't, but that's the fan in me who always roots for the underdog.

There is some good baseball ahead of us over the next few weeks. I think I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.

TB, the A's, and the Pirates are my favorites. But if they all get taken out early, I'll still be enjoying the drama.

And the highlight moments.