Rousey TKO'd In 48 Seconds

She no longer has it. She's done.

$3 million richer, but done.

For some reason WWE is interested in her. I don't want her in the WWE.

Wild Win 12 in A Row!

Okay, even I have to start noticing this. They are now 23-8-4 on the season. Columbus has a 14 game win streak right now as well, so not everyone is noticing.

The Black Hawks still lead the division BUT, they've played 3 more games.

This might be the year I start watching a little more hockey.

Go Wild!

Wolves Winning Streak Ends At One

They nearly matched a season high, though!

Gophers Win Holiday Bowl 17-12

They didn't let threats and suspensions stop them. They finished  9-4 on the season.

MOST consider this an upset as the Washington State offense is considered pretty explosive.

No one will remember the win of course. It's all about what happens next.

Granny-Style Free Throws Are Back in NBA

FINALLY! A center in the NBA that acknowledges the BEST way for his team to win games is to make free throws when given the opportunity, even if that means shooting Rick Barry style.

Rookie Chinanu Onuaku made his debut last night for Houston. He had a chance at 2 free throws late and he shot both underhand, making both.

Shaq could have learned something last night if he was watching. A real man does what it takes to win.

Timberwolves Win One Straight

They only need one more win straight to tie their season win streak mark!

In other news:

Dallas clubbed the Lions last night. Green Bay needs a win this weekend to take the division title outright.

Go Packers!

Christmas

I kind of liked having no football yesterday. One game was on the NFL Network, which I don't get. The other was a night time blowout. It made a good background noise while reading.

The NBA has made Christmas THEIR day. It was real easy to skip THOSE games. Did I mention the Wolves lost? yawn

A nice day at home.

Ouch!

Many fans thought the Raiders had a legitimate chance at the Super Bowl this year. 7 of their players were voted to the Pro Bowl, the most of any team. Those same fans thought that New England would have a tough time beating them in the playoffs.

But their star quarterback, Derek Carr, a leading league MVP candidate, broke his fibula against the Colts yesterday.

The Vikings aren't going anywhere this year, but I sure would hate to be a Lion's fan or Oakland fan right about now. Both teams' dreams look like they are about to go down in flames. If I was Oakland, I would do anything I could to get Sam Bradford from the Vikings. We don't need him or his contract anymore. Bridgewater should be fine next season. And Oakland needs a really good quarterback for about a month. Bradford and Oakland deserve better fates than they have right now.

Bradford would give them a fighting chance.

Vikings Defensive Backs Defy Zimmer, Vikings Pay the Price

The Vikings defensive backs came up with a different strategy to cover Jordy Nelson than coach Zimmer had demanded in the first half. That resulted in Nelson having the best first half of his career (145 yards and two touchdowns).

Needless to say, they did it Zimmer's way the second half and Nelson only got 2 catches and nine yards the second. It was too late.

Bradford, under pressure as always, still had a great day. If not for an incredibly stupid snap, and then a strip fumble late, the Vikings might have made more of a game out of this.

The Packers need the Lions to lose at Dallas on Monday night, and then to beat the Lions next weekend to win the division (as I predicted two weeks ago). Both events seem rather doable.

The Vikings? They're Minnesotan.  They performed like Minnesotan sports teams.

Go Packers!

Wolves Win Streak Ends At Two

At least it was twice as long as their last winning streak.

In typical Wolves fashion, they were outscored by eleven in the final quarter, having outscored the Kings in each of the previous three quarters.

Longtime "fans" will notice the pattern.

Vikes Plane Slides Off the Tarmac

A flight that usually takes the Vikings  about an hour, slid off the slippery runway yesterday, and they ended up being stranded in the plane for several extra hours waiting to be "rescued" by local firefighters.

No one was hurt, but something that should have been quick and easy went way, way longer than it needed. They don't get to rest today. The game is at noon. Most teams will get Christmas off this year.

When Is A Lake Not a Lake?

When it's the Boise State football field.

Geese are fooled all the time when that big blue mass beckons them from the air. They land and are quickly disappointed. Most people hate watching games played on that bright blue field. Well, geese don't like it much either. And they end up landing there A LOT.

Wolves Win TWO In A Row!

That's the first time all season that they've managed this elusive feat and the season is already more than one third over. In other words, this is the first time all season that they've had a winning streak of more than ONE game!

Go Minnesota team sports!

What's weird is that they are one of the few teams in the league with three guys averaging over 20 points a game AND they are the only team doing that with a record below .500.

Their winning percentage currently sits at .321.

Gym Humor

Humor In Sports

Quarterback Brock Osweiler left Denver last year to join the Texans this season. To say he's had a disappointing season would be an understatement. Recently benched, there is talk of an outright release soon in Houston.

The memes have not been kind.

How Does One Stay A Minnesota Sports Fan?

There are four major league sports teams in Minnesota. No, the Lynx don't count. And the Wild play ice soccer, so there's no reason to watch that one. Even ESPN ranks the NHL behind soccer and the men's NCAA scores on their main menu.  It's on a sub-menu and you have to look for it. ESPN is acknowledging  that hockey fans are few and far between.

That leaves us with the Timberwolves, the Vikings, and the Twins.

Really, does anyone look forward to any of their games or seasons?

The Vikings collapse would be considered legendary by national sports commentators, but for us who grew up here, we call it Wednesday. We know that any day of the week, all year long, we are going to have all of our franchises disappoint us on a regular basis.

That's who we are.

I would sigh, but I just don't have the energy this morning.

The Wild are having an excellent season so far. They're second in their conference. BUT, they're behind the Blackhawks. They're ALWAYS behind the Blackhawks. Even if you LIKE Hockey, you know this and and accept this.

The Wild are Minnesotan. They will always be second fiddle in a largely uninteresting orchestra that calls itself the NHL. You just can't dress up soccer in skates and make it interesting.

One plus for the Wild? They are more interesting than the Lynx.  The ESPN sub-menu hierarchy tells us that.

Wolves Beat Suns

Wolves record now 8-19.
Suns are 8-20.

Peterson Awful in Rerun, Vikes Worse

Green Bay squeaked  by the Bears. The Lions Lost.

I didn't watch much of the game yesterday. It was too painful. I think I'm done with football for the season.

Wolves Have 12 Point Lead With Two Minutes Left

And lose in O.T.

Of course they did.

In other news, Adrian Peterson will play today. We'll see if a year off has rested him. The Vikings need to win their last 3 games to even have a chance at the playoffs.  Tailgating festivities have been cancelled today due to the weather. As I type this it's -23 degrees. Forecasters had said -30 is possible.

The Gopher football team has ended their boycott. The U has guaranteed the 10 suspended players a "fair" hearing. Ugly situation all around.

U Of M President Tells Whole Story

Thursday, the U of M said they couldn't legally say anything about the details of the suspension. Friday they released nearly all of the details. Again, law enforcement has done nothing as of yet. He said they uncovered more evidence than the police. That makes me wonder if the police are incompetent or if the University is just overzealous.  Maybe the U of M investigators should go into law enforcement?

I guess protecting the rights of these students wasn't as big a deal as they had first led us to believe. As bad as the alleged crime is, I'm not sure why more has not been done, and why it's just a suspension from the team at this point.

The Gopher football squad was told what they wanted to hear information they were not "allowed" to know before. No word yet on if they'll resume practices and play in the Holiday Bowl. The University has until Monday to tell the Bowl organizers what's going to happen. A new team will replace them if necessary.

This isn't over.

Not by along shot.

Gopher Football

The University suspended 10 football players this week amid allegations of all sorts of sordid activities. Unlike the press, I'm not going to tell you their names or show you their pictures.

These same players had been investigated by the police and the local prosecutor for sexual misconduct  earlier. No charges were brought. Supposedly another such incident occurred after that, the local University officials investigated that one themselves and decided to suspend the players without releasing details to "protect the players" involved. Legally they can suspend them, drag their names through the press, release their pictures to the media, BUT they can't tell us any details because that would "violate" the player's rights.

What's interesting is that the University didn't expel the students, and local  law enforcement didn't arrest them either. So what they allegedly did was serious enough to not be on the football team, but was not serious enough to have them arrested or even remove them from the general student body.

YET, the media continues to talk about their previous investigations which were dropped
for lack of evidence, while showing all their names and pictures.

This did not sit well with the remaining football players. They, as a team, walked out of the program yesterday by saying they would ALL boycott any and all football activities for the University, including all remaining practices and the Holiday Bowl on December 27th IF all the suspended players didn't have their suspensions dropped.

Well, THAT was an interesting twist. The University says they can't tell the other players what happened because, again, it would violate the player's rights to privacy.

IF the players decide that they are going to follow through on their threat, there's all sorts of legal  and financial ramifications for the University failing to appear in the Holiday Bowl. The future of the entire program may ultimately be at risk. If events go far enough, the University might even get kicked out of the Big Ten, for failure to meet their basic obligations to the league. The monetary ramifications to the University if that occurred could actually cause the University to shut it's doors.

I don't think anyone expects it to go that far. But the players feel they have right to know why they lost so many teammates, and they think somebody owes them a real, full explanation. Right now, none is coming.

The players, IF they follow through on this, could lose their scholarships and future eligibility as well. It's a tense standoff.

And it's also the most interesting story to come from the University is several years. I'm anxious to see who blinks first and how this is resolved.

Lots and lots of money is at risk. Never forget, that's what will ultimately decide this conflict.

Blink. Blink.

Resting NBA Stars

Cleveland drew the ire of sports commentators yesterday by announcing that their big three of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and LeBron James would not even make the trip to Memphis last night to take on the Grizzlies. The accepted fact nowadays among NBA superstars is that it's a long season, and that coaches will be giving their best a few days off now and then.

The commentators hate this. They feel the fans, especially the young fans deserve to see the league's greatest players visit their town when games are scheduled.

My thoughts? IF I'm a Grizzly fan, wouldn't I relish the idea of playing Cleveland without their biggest stars. WE would then get an easy win against one of the top teams in the league, therefore HELPING our playoff positioning at the end of the season.

And that's just what the Grizzlies did last night. It's time for NBA fans to realize that it's a team game. Baseball players (except Cal Ripken) take days off throughout the season as well. And baseball players don't have to run several miles up and down the court every night. If Cleveland chooses to forfeit a few possible games a season while giving their less experienced players more playing time and their stars some needed down time, for the good of the team in the long run, then I say do it.

I just wish more teams would do this when playing the Wolves.

Wolves Win

It's nice to get one in the win column every week or so.

New England

The Patriots did it again last night. It's hard to believe that the Ravens have such a highly rated defense, because Brady threw the ball like he always does, and the Patriots didn't have much trouble running the ball against the top rated run defense in the league either.

The Pats defense struggled some in the second half, but it was Brady throwing deep for the win.

Packers/ Pats Super Bowl?

I'm leaning that way. I don't see anyone better at this point in the season.

Lions, Vikings, Packers Win

The Lions barely beat the lowly Bears, and Matthew Stafford tore some ligaments in his throwing hand doing it. The Vikings won as expected, but looked awful inside the one yard line all day long.

And the Packers looked like the best team in football yesterday.

With three games to go, it LOOKS like the Lions will win the division, but looks can be deceiving. I'll explain at the end. The Vikings face the Packers AT Green Bay in two weeks. Both teams MUST win to even have a remote chance at making the playoffs with the Giants beating the Cowboys last night in primetime AND Tampa Bay continuing their hot streak as well.

Best guess? The Vikings will get killed in two weeks. Green Bay will win their last three and perhaps take the division as well.

The Super Bowl is up for grabs this year, and the best team going in may be the team that looks best the next couple of weeks. Green Bay could be that team as Dallas and Seattle now look very vulnerable.

What's cool is that Detroit's schedule is absolute killer the next three weeks The Giants, the Cowboys, and the Packers. There is a good chance that Detroit may not win another game. As a Vikings fan, there is not much hope. A Green Bay fan will have a totally different outlook. You see, they have the Bears, Vikings, and Lions to finish the season.

Go Football!!

Sports

We watched a couple movies yesterday with college football basically done until New Year's.  Star Trek Beyond and Kung Fu Panda 3 both get thumbs up.

Golden State got clubbed last night by the Grizzlies. An upset, but not a shocker. Every team has off nights, and Memphis is becoming a very good team, while the Warriors schedule this week was killer.

I know the Vikes are favored today over Jacksonville, but with center Joe Berger still under concussion protocol, the offensive line is still nothing but patchwork. Harrison Smith is out with an ankle injury and Marcus Sherels is still iffy (out?) with his bad ribs. We lost last week to Dallas primarily because Adam Thielen, his replacement, lost a punt deep in our territory.

Injuries cause losses. And the Vikes are the most injured team in football. I no longer expect the Vikes to be in the playoffs, but I want them to surprise me.

Not hopeful at all.

Twins News

With Terry Ryan gone as Twins GM, I thought it interesting this week that the Twins made their first trade. They got pitcher Justin Hayley from the Red Sox in a three-way, rule five pick deal.

What's interesting is how Thad Levine (who shares the GM responsibilities now with Derek Flavey) describes Justin Hayley. He cited "spin-rates" and "swing miss percentages".  Those are phrases that Terry Ryan never uttered in his life. Those are metrics terms used by the new breed of baseball GMs.

Those are the terms and facts used by baseball executives looking to the future. I'm not saying any of these words will mean anything going forward. I'm saying they are terms no longer mired in the past. It's the right direction for the Twins, who really couldn't have went any farther backwards last season.

It's the right direction. I'm looking forward to more of this kind of flavored speech in the coming months and years..

John Glenn

The first American in space died this week, but John Glenn had a unique sports connection. Glenn was a fighter pilot in the Korean War, and he was in the same fighter squadron as Ted Williams, who was also a fighter pilot. About half of their missions were flown together. Both said the other was the best they had ever flown with.

For those of you too young to remember, Williams was the last player to bat .400 in a season.

Wolves Trivia

Their are currently just TWO teams in the league with worse records, the Sixers and the Mavs.

Nothing ever changes, does it?

Chiefs Beat Raiders

While everyone was busy saying how the Raiders may have become the best team in the AFC, the Chiefs wanted everyone to know that they're not so bad themselves.

The Patriots, Raiders, and Chiefs are all looking like Super Bowl threats.

Seattle and Dallas are tops in the NFC.  I'd like to see the Lions finish strong as well just to see how good they are against top teams. Their last three are against the Cowboys, Giants, and Packers. That's quite a season ending gauntlet.

Vikes need at least 3 of their last four to make the playoffs. I think most believe they are finished. Green Bay's in the same boat.

Vikings Rumors

Harrison Smith has an injury, but the Vikes aren't saying how bad it is yet. Rumors are that he could miss the rest of the season. Or not. Adrain Peterson says he's not going to comeback this season unless the Vikes make the playoffs. That's his way of saying, he's not coming back this year unless it's worthwhile. I don't blame him. There's no sense coming back just to lose. Maybe he'll be better with a better, healthy offensive line.

Basketball

Let's see. The Wolves lost.

Just waiting for Sunday, and more football.

Klay Thompson

Everybody is always talking about the Warriors "Big Two" Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, but they keep forgetting about the other guy, Klay Thompson, who was part of the "Big Two" combo for Golden State last season.

Last night, Klay had 60 points for the Warriors, as they routed the Pacers 141-106. And he didn't even play in the fourth quarter.

I'm kinda likin' this "Big THREE" combo. Golden State is 18-3 on the season.

Football

Detroit won. Green Bay won. New England won. And Cam Newton lost.

A pretty good day of football, though I would have preferred a Detroit loss. They are currently playing like one of the best teams in the league, so I can't root against them as hard as I used to. I don't believe Green Bay or the Vikings are going to catch them with 4 games to play. And I don't think either has a great chance at the playoffs now. Tampa Bay has to start playing worse for that to happen.

Go New England! The way the Seahawks are playing, I think they're headed back to the Super Bowl as well. Dallas is not as good as I thought. Seattle's defense will handle Dallas just like the Vikings' defense did. And the Seahawks offense is really, really good right now.

Wolves Win!

They beat an above .500 team, and outscored them in the fourth quarter for a comeback win.

That's different.

Go Wolves!

College Football

Number 3 Clemson barely squeaked by number 23 Virginia Tech last night in their conference championship game. Number 7 Penn State had  a nice comeback last night against number 6 Wisconsin. My guess is Clemson will stay in the top 4 while Penn State will just miss the top 4 when the official ratings are out today. IF Clemson would have lost, big, and Penn State would have won, big, there would have been another Big Ten team in the final four. As it is Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin will now all miss.

A good night of football. Alabama? They clubbed their opponent yesterday like a baby seal. They are firmly rooted at number one.

Sports and Stuff

It took about 5 hours, but I finally got everything to work again after switching to Mediacom's mandated high speed modem. That's a lot more than the "few minutes" they said it would take. I haven't seen an appreciable speed change yet, but I always thought the old one was pretty fast. As long as it's working I'm not going switch to anything else for awhile.

Washington State clubbed Colorado last night, pretty much securing a top four birth in the National Championship playoffs. The Big Ten Championship game between Wisconsin and Penn State has just been rendered useless to either. And Michigan just lost what little hope they had left as well.

I enjoyed watching the Wolves for awhile last night, but it's really hard to get into them when everyone knows they are going to lose at the end. And they did. Again. That's been the Wolves their entire existence (except for one season.) It really does get old.

The Twins tendered contracts to all five of their arbitration-eligible players yesterday. That includes Escobar, Gibson, Kinzler, and Pressly. That means all will be Twins next season.

Vikings and Stuff

I thought the Vikes played great last night. They easily could have beaten Dallas. A couple of bad plays did them in, but I will not call them on it. Offense, defense, and special teams were consistently great. Those two plays? Oh, well, that's football. Yes, the officials could have called another penalty at the end, but there is no guarantee that we would have scored.

My internet is all screwy because of installing a mandatory new high-speed modem from my media provider, Mediacom. I sill can't get my router (time capsule) to work and I've spent several hours of run-around time trying.

With no wifi and no end to this disaster in sight, I'm getting a little perturbed, and am seriously switching from Mediacom to something, anything else.

The Power to Simplify is their motto.

Yeah, right.

Baseball News

The league and players have signed a new 5-year collective bargaining agreement. That means no lock-out or strike for at least the next 5 years.

Details?

Rich teams can now spend more money on players before a luxury tax kicks in. AND teams that sign those players will no longer have to give up first round draft picks to the team that lost that free-agent. Players will be signing larger contract deals than ever now.

Players will benefit. Small market teams will feel the pinch. I personally think this will weaken the league, as it will be even harder for smaller teams to compete for the best players, but players are in it for the money, and the team's best interest are not their concern.

Highlights? The World Series will now be hosted by the team with the BEST record during the regular season. The All-Star game now has no purpose whatsoever. Which makes it a fun exhibition again. NO pressure on the teams, players, or coaches.

Finally, smokeless tobacco will be banned for all major league players. I can't believe it took this long, but good job baseball!

Vikings

Remember when there used to be excitement when it was Vikings game day?

Knowing that they are going to play on two consecutive Thursdays, and this time against the Cowboys, who are  currently on their best winning streak of all-time, while we still have a horribly depleted offensive line, and it's more like a recipe for disaster than anything else. You just cringe thinking of the possibilities.

sigh

Minnesota sports.

sigh

Wolves Lose

The headline this morning was that Karl-Anthony Towns became the youngest Wolve ever to put up 40 points, but if it's in a losing effort, how big a deal is it?

It's nice, but the Wolves have lots of young players that can score.  Wiggins had a game with 45 last week. And Wiggens isn't exactly an old guy.

Towns ended the night with 47 points and 18 rebounds. That was one of the greatest young man performances in league history. But the Wolves ended up losing, at home, to the Knicks 106-104.

It's kind of like Brian Dozier having more than 40 HR for the Twins this past season, but the Twins still having more than 100 losses on the season.

sigh.

Go Towns! Turn it around Wolves!