Thursday, November 30, 2017

Yu Darvish

The Twins are one of six teams to have contacted the L.A. starter and free agent.

Wolves Win

On the road against a team above .500.

By 18.

I have to admit, one game losing streaks aren't too bad...

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Wolves Lose

Those last five minutes were just painful.

OUR Timberwolves are back!

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Twins

ByungHo Park has decided to go back home to Korea. He's already signed a deal with a Korean team. And as long as the Twins don't have to pay him for this upcoming season, they are okay with letting him go.

He will go down as failed Asian experiment number two.

And frankly, the Twins don't need him.

The emergence of Escobar at third base, as both an excellent fielder and unexpected home run hitter, means the Twins now have to find roles for both Sano and Vargas on the major league roster. Park would not be in our major league plans if he left or not. He was the third choice on a team that didn't even need two choices.

Good luck to him! And let's see if Vargas and Sano can have good full seasons this year.

It also let's us negotiate freely with the new Japanese prospect Shohei Ohtani, the man I talked about a few days ago. The next Babe Ruth...

The first step is freeing up money and roster space. It looks like the Twins are doing just that.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Sports!

Okay, yesterday wasn't exciting as usual with the Vikings playing on Thursday, but it was fun catching some of the action in other games.

The Eagles crushed the Bears. No surprise.

The Patriots won. No surprise there, either.

I was happy to see the Rams beat the Saints. That gives the Vikings the 2nd best record in the NFC all by their lonesome.

But the biggest surprise? I actually thought the Packers were going to beat Pittsburgh there for a while last night. They didn't, but you could sure tell the Steelers were rattled.

Finally, the Wolves won again last night. I like it when losing streaks end at one instead of 4 or 5.

Skol Vikings! Go Wolves!




Sunday, November 26, 2017

College Football

The unthinkable happened this weekend. On Friday, number TWO Miami got beat. Yesterday, number ONE Alabama got beat pretty badly by Auburn. Teams that get beat this late in the season don't usually make the top four rankings. Are both Alabama and Miami now out of the top four?

I don't think Alabama will be, but this once again shows how awful an idea the top four tournament is. ONLY the top two teams should play for the title. That extra game format minimizes those huge losses by Miami and Alabama.

Before the tournament, both would be gone.

Now, one will still probably get in.

The loss, in effect, means nothing.

Don't tell me this new way is better.

Sudden death throughout the season meant something. It no longer does. When losses don't matter, the games mean less. It's really that simple.

Gopher Basketball

The Gophers are ranked 15th in the country in the early goings of the season. At this point, that's nice but it really doesn't mean anything since basically all the top 60+ teams make the NCAA tournament at the end.

No, the reason I'm writing this is because of the odd occurrence that happened in yesterday's preseason tournament finals game against Alabama. The Gopher's won, just barely, but what was cool at the end was that there were just EIGHT players on the court. 5 for the Gophers and just THREE for the Alabama squad.

What happened? Well, bench players who aren't supposed to be on the court, are kicked out of the game if they come on the floor during some kind of foul or dispute situation. That rule's in place to prevent brawling.

Yesterday, late in the game, during a tense situation, Alabama's bench emptied. And they were ALL kicked out. That left Alabama with just the 5 active players on the court. One fouled out shortly after that. And another sprained his ankle so badly that he couldn't continue.

That left a 5 on 3 game at the end. The NCAA allows that as long as the team short of players wishes to continue. Since it was a close game to the end, Alabama elected to keep playing.

That was a first.

But you could see it happening again IF a team's benched gets riled up.

The Gophers? They are now part of a cool trivia question somewhere down the line.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Friday, November 24, 2017

Vikings Now 9-2! Case Closed!!

The Vikings have won 7 straight.

They have their first 1,000 yard receiver since Sidney Rice.

They've now had over  400 yards of offense in three straight games. They haven't done that since 2010.

And, in case you're wondering. His total QBR is SECOND in the league, just AHEAD of Tom Brady.

The Case for Keenum? It's closed.




Thursday, November 23, 2017

Babe Ruth?

ESPN had an article yesterday on a Japanese star who will becoming to play MLB in the not to distant future. He's young, early 20's, and they are comparing him to a young Babe Ruth. NOT JUST IN HITTING, but in pitching as well.

They were speculating on all the possibilities, both on the teams that could sign him (yes, believe it or not, Minnesota IS one of the top  contenders) and if he would indeed be able to pitch a day in the rotation and then play four other days in the field, awaiting his next start.

I still remember our last Japanese signing (ishy Nishi) and think, "here we go again."  But, I do think it would be great for baseball to have SOMEONE sign this kid and that he would live up to all the hype.

Baseball needs someone like this. And I sure wouldn't mind if he grew up under Paul Molitor's tutelage.

Shohei Ohtani. Watch for the name. He may become a very big deal.


Wolves Win!

The Wolves scored a lot of points last night. They also gave up quite a few. But, when the smoke settled, they ended up beating the Magic.

Their record? Still pretty good. I'm at least checking out most games, now, to see how they're doing.

Go Wolves!


Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Vikes Number FOUR in ESPN Rankings

I keep on thinking that the first time the Vikings played the Lions this season, Sam Bradford was doing his best imitation of an 80-year old man with arthritic knees. He looked just awful, and he hasn't played since. Most likely he'll never play in Viking purple again.

I have no doubt that IF Case Keenum had started that day, my memories of that game would be much fonder. Yes, the Lions have a good football team. The Vikings are better.

That doesn't mean that the Lions will lose tomorrow. But If the Vikings lose, it'll be a much bigger disappointment than last time. That's the bad part of having a team that is good and ranked. You start to expect them to win. And that means the pain of a loss stings even harder.

Anticipating tomorrow.

Go Vikes!!

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Wolves Lose Again

And the Falcons beat Seattle.

Neither game held my attention.

Monday, November 20, 2017

We're Keen On Keenum

There is no quarterback controversy in Minnesota.

Case Keenum has proven his case. That's six straight wins for the Vikings (Don't bother looking it up. I did that for you. We haven't won that many straight since 1999.) By ratings, he's one of the top three QBs in the league. He hasn't been sacked in 5 games because he's mobile and he can almost magically avoid even the hardest defensive pressure. He's turned Theilen into one of the greatest receivers in the league, AND because of his ability to successfully switch between running and passing games, our running game has actually improved dramatically AFTER losing our top rookie running back.

AND, AND people are FINALLY giving the Vikings defense the respect it deserves because they aren't forced to be on the field all the time with horrible field position.

I think many Minnesota fans would revolt if we switched to Bridgewater now.

That was probably the single best game I have seen from the Vikings in several seasons. They crushed a great team. No experts saw it coming.

SKOL Vikings!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Vikings

I'm hoping to see most of today's game.

Most experts say the Rams are a better team, and I kind of agree with them. One or two big plays from either team could determine the outcome. (you know liked a missed extra point-- the Vikings lead the world in that category over the last few seasons)

I figure games with two teams like this are usually decided by which team has the least amount of stupid turnovers.

Still hoping for a Vikings win and that Minnesota fans are especially noisy during the right times today.

Go Vikings!!

I was surprised that Green Bay is the favorite today over the Ravens. I don't think Packer fans feel like they are the favorites.

7 games left in the season. Much can still change.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Wolves Win Again

Okay, first off the Dallas Mavericks are absolutely awful so far this year. But you know what, GOOD teams are supposed to beat teams that aren't any good.

And that's precisely what the new improved Wolves squad did.

Am I a believer?

Nope.

Did I watch a whole quarter non-stop last night without turning the channel?

Yep.

Go Wolves!!!

Friday, November 17, 2017

Football

Hard to believe that a few weeks ago people were saying that Roethlisberger should retire after he threw 5 INTs in a horrible loss.

Now they are 8-2 and he had THREE TD passes last night to Antonio Brown. Shows you what the experts know.

I've hesitated writing much about the Vikings. I know they're 7-2, and I know Case Keenum appears to be dong a good job, BUT this is the Vikings we're talking about.

They always seem to find a good way, by the end of the season, to claw defeat from the jaws of victory.

They play the incredibly surprising Rams this week at home. The Rams score A LOT. Their running game is great, and they've shown their defense is very, very good. IF the Vikings get past them, they have three tough road games in a row against very good teams. And they have a short week coming up this week with Detroit on Thanksgiving.

They might be 7-2 now, but they could easily be 7-6 in a little over three weeks.

I don't take anybody lightly.

But it's fun to see if maybe, just maybe, this will be their year.

It looks like we have TWO solid QBs. That's one more than most teams have right now.

Go Vikings!

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Wolves Beat Spurs

From the current standings, you could make an argument that the Wolves are one of the top 6 or 7 teams in the league right now.

And I would not disagree with you. You could even say number 5, and I wouldn't say much...


Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Manager of the Year!

First team to ever lose more than 100 one year and make the play-offs the next.

Way to go Paul Molitor!!!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Wolves Beat Jazz

Better? They snapped their 2 game skid. Even Better? They have now scored at least 100 points in TWELVE straight games. That's a team record.

I actually watched several times last night, switching between that and the informercial of Survivor series known as RAW.

The Wolves were definitely more interesting. I called it a night at 9:30 though. Neither was interesting enough to keep me up past bedtime.

I would have caught more of Monday night football, but Cam and company were having a blowout.

That's even LESS interesting...

Monday, November 13, 2017

7-2? 7-2!!!!

Only ONE team in the entire NFL has a better record. (The Eagles)

The Packers won against the Bears. (Not a surprise.)

The Lions beat the winless Browns. (Also not a surprise)

The Patriots mopped up the Broncos last night as well.

But the highlight of yesterday was the Vikings offense. The only thing that bugs me is that Minnesota now has a QB quandary. IF Keenum (who secures the ball really, really well--usually) hadn't thrown those two consecutive interceptions, Teddy Bridgewater would probably be given a couple of more weeks to recover from his knee injury.

As it stands now, a controversy will be brewing shortly.

sigh

Sunday, November 12, 2017

College Football

Yesterday college football was fun again.

It's getting later in the season, so losses are finally starting to matter.

Number ONE Georgia? Thumped by number 10 Auburn.

Number THREE Notre Dame? Crushed by number seven Miami.

Number TWO Alabama? They escaped by the skin of their teeth against number 16 Mississippi.

Upsets galore and struggles. That's what makes college football fun to watch.

The Gophers? They crushed Nebraska 54-21. I remember when Nebraska used have a good program. You know, before they joined the Big Ten.

I'm looking forward to finally seeing the Vikings again today. It's been a long 20 days. Sure hope they still look as good as I remember.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

The Wild

People have asked me why I don't talk about the Wild more.

For one thing, it's hockey.

And another...

...well, check the standings.




Friday, November 10, 2017

Seattle Wins But Loses Sherman

That's going to be hard to overcome. Did anybody else catch those awful uniforms last night?

I know the NFL THINKS they're doing something really cool with those day-glo uniforms for Thursday night games.

But I ask them, for the sake of sanity, to stop.

Just...stop...


Thursday, November 9, 2017

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Roy Halladay

Growing up, I was too young to remember pitchers like Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, and Juan Marichal. Though I was alive while they were still pitching, I have no memory of ever having seen them. I read of their greatness, though.

I do remember greats like Jim Palmer who came shortly thereafter.  Greg Maddux had the best control I had ever seen as a starter.

And then there was Roy Halladay. His command was unreal. He was THE pitcher in baseball for a number of years. In 2010 he threw a perfect game AND then later that season, he threw a no-hitter in the play-offs.

Arm trouble forced him to retire in 2013. He died yesterday in a plane crash. He was only 40.

How quickly real life hits you.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Half Way

Packer fans are reeling. Detroit fans have hope. 8 games to go.


Monday, November 6, 2017

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Gophers, and Wild, And Wolves...Oh My!

A veritable smorgasbord of primetime sports entertainment for the Minnesota fan last night.

And only one of the choices was truly entertaining: The Wolves. They beat Dallas last night at the Target Center. And they did it rather handily.

The Gopher football team in primetime on ABC? Let's just say that new head coach  has done nothing so far to earn my respect so far. That was the worst Gopher squad I've seen in many years.

Many, many years.

The Wild? Typical NHL game. Lots of skating and "action." Very little scoring. And it was against the Blackhawks, so of course we lost.

I did like what I saw with the Wolves, though. I didn't recognize any of them, but I liked it.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Tiger Woods

The man is now 41 years old and says he feels better than he has in a long time.

But what's interesting is the comments he recently made about golf and golf balls. He says they have to change golf balls because golfers, including himself, are hitting them TOO FAR.

Now, I'm no genius, but if the golf ball hasn't really changed much in the last 75 years, and if golfers are in better shape than they used to be (and they are) wouldn't it make MORE sense to limit the type of golf CLUB you can use instead of changing the ball?

I mean, that's what Nascar does with the cars that they drive. You limit the performance of the vehicle so that all drivers are (more or less) on equal footing.

Compare clubs from 75 years ago to today's clubs and you'll see what I mean.

Baseball has all sorts of limits on the club (bat) they use to hit baseballs. So why does golf allow these carbon fiber, titanium-laced weapons to hit the poor balls with? The clubs are out of control. It's not the balls.

Where football is ultra picky about even how much air is in a football, golf lets weapons of mass destruction blow away defenseless golf balls on a daily basis.

I can't be the only one that sees this, can I?




Friday, November 3, 2017

The Big Letdown

There was a football game last night that the Jets (still below .500) won.

ho hum

Richie Incognito (if that is his real name), the outspoken guard on the losing Bills team said that Thursday night football games are unfair to the teams that have to play in them. He said it's all about the league and their money-grubbing. Football is a demanding sport and it's just not to play again so soon after Sunday.

I have a feeling most players feel that way. And I think most fans, if they thought about it much, would feel that way, too. I know I do. The worst part? These games are viewed much less than average once they are on the NFL subscription network.

AND, by late in the season, the match-ups aren't that good anyway.

At the same time, with the World Series over, there really wasn't much sports to watch anyway last night.

So I think they should have to play on Friday nights, too.

No, I wouldn't watch, but it's fun to here players complain.


Thursday, November 2, 2017

NBA

Just pointing out some interesting placements:

Houston Wins!

They got an early lead and kept it.

That brought down the grade for this World Series. Two of the greatest games in history were spaced out among average games.

Still great. And the right team won.

Already excited about next year.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Dodgers Finally Get to Verlander, One More Game!

Not quite the heroics of previous games, the Dodgers finally got on the scoreboard late and forced a game 7.

I hope that last game is a doozy. (Some people spell it doozie.)