NFL Draft: A Chill In The Air

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeFor a few hours on Thursday, it was business as usual as the National Football League conducted its annual draft at New York's Radio City Music Hall.  Well, when you consider the fact that the league owners and the players union have been at odds with each other for the past few weeks, any kind of normalcy is a welcome sign for long-suffering football fans.

Did we say normalcy?  When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came out to make his opening remarks before the draft started, he was greeted with boos and chants of  "we want football".  Awkward.

Quarterback Cam Newton of Auburn was chosen by the Carolina Panthers as the number one pick in the draft.  The Minnesota Vikings, needing defensive help, chose quarterback Christian Pander of Florida State instead.  Guess the Brett Favre/Tavares Jackson era really is over.

But here's what was different because of the ongoing labor situation:  There were no trades of veteran players in exchange for draft picks, and the newly-chosen players get no guarantees that they're going to join their new teams any time soon.

The NFL's lockout has been going on since March, putting nearly everything on hold.  Talks aren't scheduled until mid-May.  Players have been turned away from their practice facilities.  No trades or free agent signings have been made.  But the draft went on, and the league optimistically revealed its 2011 schedule, with no assurances that those games would ever be played.

Instead, all the action has been in the courtrooms.  In Minneapolis, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled in favor of the players' association, declaring the lockout invalid.  She later denied a request by the NFL to continue the lockout until appeals can be made.

Until they can get a more favorable ruling from another federal judge, the NFL is back in business.  Players can soon go back to their practice facilities and engage in football-related activities.  Teams can make trades and sign free agents if they so desire.

This is all temporary, of course.  There is still no agreement, and the two sides are reportedly far apart.  So don't be surprised if players are locked out again sometime soon.  If that happens and the season is threatened, the chants of "we want football" will only get louder.

The Puck Stays on NBC and Versus

Image via WikipediaDespite pleas from hockey fans and players to move their games back to ESPN, the NHL has decided to stick with Versus and NBC as its American TV partners,  It is a 10-year deal, running through the 2020-21 season, and is reportedly worth at least $2 billion.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called it the most significant deal in the league's history.  He is correct.  In the checkered history of the NHL on TV in the United States, the 16-year relationship between the league and its current TV partners (and we're counting the years since the lockout) is the longest they've ever had.

Versus--which will get its third name change since they started showing NHL games (They were originally known as the Outdoor Life Network)--and NBC will televise 100 games a year between them.  This includes a Sunday game of the week, the Winter Classic on New Year's Day, the All Star Game, and all of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Also for the first time, NBC will actually be paying for the rights.  It had been a revenue-sharing arrangement before.

Perhaps the reason the NHL chose to stay on a network now seen in 79 million homes, but is still not carried on some cable providers, is this:  The league would rather be on a startup sports channel where they're the number one attraction than on a high-profile behemoth that sandwiches hockey in between college basketball and poker.  Oh, and the fact that Comcast now owns both Versus and NBC doesn't hurt.

This arrangement must be working because ratings have been on the rise since the lockout, though nowhere near the levels you'd get for, let's say, a typical NFL game.  More like pro golf, minus Tiger Woods.

Now that we know where to find the NHL for the next decade, we'd like to address a few things concerning the coverage.

• Versus will now be showing 90 games a season under the new contract.  Will the coverage of half of those continue to be outsourced to Comcast's regional sports channels and the Canadian networks (not that there's anything wrong with "Hockey Night In Canada")?  Or will Comcast actually spend money to send more crews to cover games?  Great as he is, Mike Emrick can't last forever.
• Will NBC's Sunday game of the week start showing games involving teams west of the Mississippi?  We need a break from Sidney Crosby and the Detroit Red Wings every once in awhile.
• One of the benefits of the Comcast-NBC merger is that the concept of putting an analyst between the benches has extended to games on Versus.  It works as long as Pierre McGuire is doing it.

We've thought that whatever happens to the NHL's TV rights would go a long way toward determining which network gets the Olympics beginning with the 2014 Winter Games.  Now that the former has been determined, how much will Comcast pay to make sure NBC keeps the latter?

The Wolves 2010-11: TGIO (Thank Goodness It's Over)

Image via WikipediaWhat can we possibly add to the amount of words that have been written or spoken about the Minnesota Timberwolves this season?  How about this?  At 17-65, they're the worst team in the NBA.

The Wolves' season mercifully ended Wednesday with a 121-102 loss to the Houston Rockets, which was played before a museum-quiet Target Center audience (or at least that's how it sounded on TV).  That's their fifteenth consecutive loss.  But who's counting, right?

Coach Kurt Rambis hasn't been officially fired yet, but it doesn't look good for him after two seasons.  He and his boss David Kahn were brought in by owner Glen Taylor to change the culture of losing, which has been the mark of the Wolves since Kevin Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics and Kevin McHale left the front office for the TV booth.  Well, the culture of losing hasn't changed.  It's gotten worse.

Kevin Love, who's had an All-Star caliber season, has been wearing street clothes for the last few games due to an injury.  He might need that wardrobe to go on job interviews should he decide to go into free agency.

What's the future for the Timberwolves?  Do they have one?  Kahn believes he can sign both Love and Ricky Rubio, who has been playing in his native Spain since being drafted two years ago.  Other than that, getting any decent player with NBA experience is going to be a challenge, given that LeBron James has become the example for those players who want to ditch the small market teams they play for in favor of the bright lights and warmer weather.

Of course, there's always the NBA draft.  But since a labor dispute that develops into a players' lockout could very well happen, most of the college underclassmen who might have declared themselves draft-eligible could instead decide to stay in school.  Besides, the Wolves never seem to have much luck in the draft lottery anyway.

There is hope for Minnesota's long-suffering pro basketball fans.  Maya Moore is coming to town . . . to play for the WNBA Lynx, another franchise that's had as much success as the Wolves have had.

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Did you know that the NBA holds playoffs to determine a champion each spring?  They usually involve teams ABC puts on display Sunday afternoons, such as the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.  Since the Wolves haven't been in the playoffs for a long time, it's understandable that you've probably forgotten.

When the playoffs conclude in June, the final two will be the Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs.  That is, if you still care.

The Wild: No Playoffs. No Coach. Big Problem?

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Wild ended their 2010-11 NHL season with a 5-3 win at home over the Dallas Stars.  The next day, coach Todd Richards was let go after two seasons.

The Wild ended up with 39 wins, 35 losses and eight overtime points, which adds up to 86.  That's good enough for third place in the Northwest division, but not for a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference.

This was not all Richards' fault, because he was doing the best he could with the team that was put in front of him.  But when you have a bad finish--eight consecutive losses in March and a lousy home record--in an otherwise so-so season that results in missing the playoffs for the third straight year, changes need to be made.

Well, it's going to be difficult to make those changes when a team like the Wild is stuck between a rock and a hard place, thanks to the blessings and curses of the Jacques Lemaire (who retired--again--as New Jersey Devils coach)-Doug Risebrough era.  General manager Chuck Fletcher and owner Craig Leipold will have to find a way to build a team with unrestricted free agents, a limited amount of homegrown talent (though their minor league team in Houston is doing well) and not much money to work with.

Whoever becomes the next Wild coach will have a lot of expectations place on him.  Such as:  Getting the most out of his players.  Making the playoffs.  And winning the respect of the multitudes who still sell out Xcel Energy Center.  Is that too much to ask?

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Now a word about the Stanley Cup playoffs, which begin Wednesday.  Has Sidney Crosby's concussion doomed the Pittsburgh Penguins' chances?  When is Alexander Ovechkin coming back from whatever it is he's coming back from?  What will come first in the Boston Bruins/Montreal Canadiens series--a goal or a brawl?  How can the Chicago Blackhawks repeat as Cup champions when they needed the Wild to beat Dallas to get into the playoffs?  Will the Vancouver Canucks be as good in the playoffs as they were in the regular season, when they all but dominated the league?

When the smoke clears in June, the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings will be playing for the Stanley Cup.

The Ghost of Greg Norman Haunts Augusta

Image via WikipediaThe Masters usually brings out the best and worst in golfers, no matter how much the folks at Augusta National try to dress it up for their patrons and for their enablers at CBS and ESPN.  This year was no exception.

At times it seemed like nobody wanted to win this tournament, what with several different golfers bunched together on the leader board and none of them taking control.  Then Charl Schwartzel came out of nowhere to win the Masters by two strokes, on the fiftieth anniversary of his fellow South African Gary Player winning the first of his Green Jackets.

Adam Scott and Jason Day were two Australians trying to become the first from their country to win this tournament.  But just like the man they grew up watching, Greg Norman, they would finish in a tie for second at -12.

Another uncomfortable reminder of Norman at Augusta was Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who led the tournament for the first three rounds before imploding in spectacular fashion in the last one.  Big things are predicted for the young man touted as the Future of Golf, but first he has to avoid becoming the Next Norman.

The youngest person to win a Masters, Tiger Woods, has not been himself on the golf course lately.  He tried to remedy that with some big shots to pull into a tie for the lead on Sunday, but his putter went south on him in a way that has been all too familiar during his long, strange odyssey off the pedestal he was put on.  Woods ended up tied for fourth with two others at -10.

We should mention that Norman has won many tournaments around the world during his career, and could very well have been a Masters champion had it not been for some strange goings-on that resulted in someone else winning the Green Jacket.

As CBS' Jim Nantz likes to say, the Masters are "a tradition like no other".  This was a tournament like no other.

Wolves, Wild Flip The Dial

Image via WikipediaThe landscape of Twin Cities radio sports has changed again.  This time it's Minnesota's two winter pro sports teams exchanging signals.

The NBA Timberwolves, whose games have been broadcast on KFAN (and its predecessor at 1130 AM, WDGY) since the franchise began in 1989--with a brief sojourn at Bob 106 FM, have switched to WCCO-AM beginning next season.

The NHL Wild, whose games have been broadcast on WCCO since the franchise began in 2000, will be moving to KFAN next season.

The Wolves, despite their record and reputation, may have gotten the better of the deal by moving to WCCO because of their 50,000-watt clear channel facility.  Better promotion, too, with no conflicts from other teams.

Speaking of Clear Channel, hockey fans will certainly follow the Wild to KFAN.  But they need an FM signal to make up for the lack of nighttime coverage.  CC could use one of the five FM stations they already own.  Maybe KTLK or KQQL?

Now that the smoke seems to have cleared, here's who broadcasts what:

KFAN (1130)  Wild, Vikings and Gopher football

KSTP (1500)  Twins, Gopher hockey and basketball (men's and women's)

WCCO (830)  Timberwolves

Only the Vikings haven't changed stations in the past decade, and they could be next.  If they're still here, that is.

Obviously, with all the problems radio is facing, somebody still thinks broadcast rights to pro and college sports are a wise investment.

The Final Fours: Not What You Expected

Image via WikipediaThe college basketball season ended with two surprise champions, proving either that parity reigns or that the quality isn't what it used to be.

Men's Championship:  Conneticut 53, Butler 41

This was not a game for the ages.  The Huskies won their third NCAA men's title at Houston by shutting down a Butler team that was done in by its own lousy shooting.  Both teams set scoring records in the wrong direction that date back to the 1940s.

Conneticut coach Jim Calhoun at 68 became the oldest man to win a title.  Which is quite a feat since the basketball program also happens to face sanctions from the NCAA for alleged violations.

For Butler, this was their second consecutive appearance in the finals, both times as the long shot.  If this keeps up, maybe we should start mentioning the Indianapolis school in the same sentence as the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills.  Both of those football teams lost four Super Bowls each.

Women's Championship:  Texas A&M 76, Notre Dame 70

Everybody thought Stanford and Conneticut would play for the national championship in Indianapolis.  Instead, they were beaten in the semifinals by Texas A&M and Notre Dame, in that order.  This resulted in an entertainingly close matchup between the Aggies and Fighting Irish that was better than anyone expected.

Still, this season will be remembered for the dominance of the Conneticut Huskies, who have won two consecutive NCAA titles.  The loss to Notre Dame may have deprived coach Geno Auriemma and his best player Maya Moore of another title, but it also means that there is some semblance of parity in women's college basketball.

Nonetheless, hardware is coming home to the University of Conneticut.  Just not the ones Huskies fans expected.