Twins '11: Getting To The "Next Level"

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Twins enter the 2011 Major League Baseball season as the defending American League Central division champions two years running.  Since they haven't made it past the first round of the postseason since 2002, that's like saying you have the best pie in the entire county, but it wasn't good enough to compete in the State Fair.

Let's start with the pitching.  Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn and Francisco Liriano are the acknowledged aces of the staff.  But Liriano hasn't been the same pitcher since surgery took him out of one season, so some "experts" are encouraging the Twins  to trade him before he enters free agency.

As for the relievers, Joe Nathan's year off due to Tommy John surgery prompted the Twins to get Matt Capps from the Washington Nationals in mid-season and made him their closer.  Now Nathan is back in his old job, but could always be replaced by Capps should he falter.  Then again . . . Capps blew a ninth inning save opportunity in a pre-season game at Atlanta against the Braves, so that doesn't inspire much confidence.

Justin Morneau is slowly recovering from a concussion that kept him out of the second half of the 2010 season, which left some wondering if he'd come back at all.  The doctors have cleared Morneau to play this season, beginning with a return visit to the scene of his injury, Toronto's Rogers Centre.  But the next time he gets his bell rung, maybe he should just retire.

Joe Mauer seems to have the most endorsements this side of Derek Jeter, appearing in commercials for shampoo, video games and Minnesota tourism.  But has he ever played an entire season behind the plate without injury?

Nick Punto, Pat Neshek and J.J. Hardy are among those who are now former Twins.  The team instead spent some of its Target Field money on a Japanese baseball star named Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who will play second base.  Nishioka, like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideo Matsui before him, will have an entourage of media from his home country chronicling his every move.  Japan needs a distraction right now.

This year, manager Ron Gardenhire's crew will try to get to "the next level" (whatever that means), but they have to win the division first.  The Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers have improved their rosters to the point where it's possible the Twins could be watching the playoffs on TV, instead of losing to the New York Yankees again.

Our division picks:

American League East  New York Yankees
                               Central  Chicago White Sox
                               West  Texas Rangers
                               Wild Card  Boston Red Sox

National League East  Philadelphia Phillies
                             Central  Cincinnati Reds
                             West  San Francisco Giants
                             Wild Card  Colorado Rockies

Fran Tarkenton Talks NFL Lockout and CBA

Ten Minus Four Equals New Hockey Conference

For those of you who have always thought the Big Ten conference should expand into men's hockey, your wish may come true.

If the conference gives its blessing to the athletic directors' proposal, six of the Big Ten's twelve schools (strange as it sounds) that offer hockey programs will be in the same league, starting with the 2013-14 season.  They are:  Minnesota, Wisconsin (from the WCHA), Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State (from the CCHA) and Penn State.

The conference exists only because Penn State is adding varsity hockey in a couple of years, and the Big Ten requires at least six schools to make the league competitive.

One beneficiary of a new hockey conference is the Big Ten Network, which will try to slide as many games as possible in between college basketball doubleheaders.

The WCHA (which just added Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State this past season) and the CCHA will be losing their biggest-name schools in their largest markets.  Not to worry.  They'll still get to play their Big Ten rivals in non-conference games.

As for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, who have been a member of the WCHA (and its predecessors) since the 1950s, talk of the future may be a good distraction from the present.

The Gophers have not only failed to appear in the WCHA's Final Five (won this year by North Dakota), but also did not qualify for the NCAA playoffs for the third consecutive year.  The Frozen Four finals are scheduled for St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center this year, just so you know.

Don Lucia, despite numerous calls for him to step down, is expected to remain as Minnesota's coach for the foreseeable future.  His teams have been plagued recently by injuries, mediocre play and defections by underclassmen for the NHL (the latest being Aaron Ness, who signed with the New York Islanders).  There's also been plenty of criticism of how Lucia has handled his players, which usually consists of the pick of Minnesota's hockey crop.

Minnesotans expect a lot out of their only major university's athletic programs.  They do tend to cut a little slack when it comes to football and men's basketball, which haven't won anything in years.  But failing to excel in hockey, no matter what conference they're in, doesn't cut it in a state where the sport is a birthright.

Is Sportsmanship Overrated?

Gone are the days when two teams congratulated each other at the end of a hard-fought contest while the fans stood and cheered, and lived to play another day.

We don't live in that world any more.  With the Supreme Court saying yes to religious groups picketing outside funerals and civil discourse in the political arena getting nastier, it's only natural that all this trash talking has been extended to the playing field.

In the March 5, 2011 issue of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, there was a front-page article describing incidents in which people were being less than good sports.

• At a high school basketball game on February 18, some Eden Prairie students were chanting "Food stamps!  Food stamps!" at the Hopkins supporters.  Eden Prairie is a rich, predominantly white suburb while Hopkins is not.  The newspaper didn't report what the Hopkins students responded with ("Cake eaters!", perhaps?)
• University of Minnesota men's basketball coach Tubby Smith felt it necessary to send an e-mail to student season ticket holders, requesting them in so many words to knock off the profane chants after a game at Williams Arena in which Ohio State players were singled out for ridicule.  (Smith should be more concerned about his own job security after another mediocre Gophers season.)

There were other incidents that the article described, such as the use of racial slurs and sexual taunts directed at cheerleaders.  That's just in Minnesota, folks.  It might be worse where you are.

There have been attempts by school officials to crack down on this type of behavior, to the point where they either make announcements before the games warning of removal from the premises, or they employ student minders to infiltrate certain groups and encourage so-called 'positive' cheering.

That's all well and good, except these same school officials should be aware that they risk tramping on the constitutional rights of students.  This isn't China, you know.

Referees and opposing teams usually bear the brunt of fans' criticism, but they shouldn't be put under a bubble when they deserve it.  Just because the referee blew the call or the opposing team's star player has a criminal record, those who bought a ticket to the game should be expected to clam up?

Constitutional rights don't seem to have much bearing on pro and amateur sports leagues, where players and coaches are routinely fined and/or suspended for even the slightest whiff of complaint about the competence of the officiating.

Someday, there's going to be a player or coach who decides that enough is enough, hires an attorney and sues the leagues for millions.  Then maybe this dictatorial nonsense might cease.

Yes, we need to tone down the rhetoric in sports as well as in politics.  No, we don't expect it to actually happen.  Attempts by schools and leagues to encourage good sportsmanship may be well-intentioned, but in fact are phony and condescending to players and fans alike.  Who wants to be told to shake hands with the opponent you just beat the crap out of?  Respect should be earned, not mandated.

NFL, Players Flirting With Disaster

Image via WikipediaBy the time you read this, NFL owners and the players association will have (A) avoided a costly lockout, (B) failed to settle their differences, or (C) agreed to keep talking.  The fate of the 2011 season hangs on what they decide to do.

What it comes down to is $9 billion in annual revenues, and how to divide it between the two parties.  The owners want to get more of their share in order to pay for ever-skyrocketing expenses, which includes expanding the regular season to 18 games.  The players have threatened to decertify their union, then go to court to challenge the league's anti-trust status.  They also want to keep the current 16-game schedule out of concern for injuries.

One thing the players have going for them is a ruling by a judge in Minneapolis, who told the owners that they can't use the $4 billion in TV money as a buffer against a lockout.

Granted, the timing of a possible lockout isn't as dire as you might think.  We are a few weeks removed from Green Bay defeating Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 45, which was seen by 111 million viewers, the biggest audience in TV history.  The NFL Draft will be held whether there's a work stoppage or not.  About all that really goes on prior to July are those "voluntary" practices and mini-camps that the NFL considers important, even if some players don't think so.

But once summer hits and there's no new collective bargaining agreement, the pressure will be on to get a deal done before training camp opens.  If that doesn't happen, what then?  The next deadline is September, when the regular season is supposed to start.  That's when we know if both parties are serious about playing the season, or if it's going to be 1987 all over again.  That was the year replacement players were used.

It's almost ludicrous to choose sides when it comes to billionaire owners who give millions to professional football players, then fight over more money than anyone else who hasn't won the lottery will see in their lifetimes.  But no one complains when Hollywood royalty such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio or Julia Roberts make tons of money every time they make a movie.

In the recent history of work stoppages in sports, the NFL has been through two of them.  Major League Baseball lost a World Series.  The NHL canceled an entire season.  If a new CBA isn't settled on soon, the most successful of all pro sports leagues might be asking its fans to find something else to do on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.