NBA Finals: Deja Vu All Over Again

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe NBA Finals that begin Tuesday is a matchup of two teams whose previous appearance came when they played each other in 2006.  That year, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat defeated Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for the league championship.

Fast forward to 2011, and both Wade and Nowitzki remain with their respective teams, still playing in arenas named for American Airlines.  But the Heat are much different now, with Wade being joined by LeBron James and Chris Bosh to create a kind of South Beach All-Stars.  They rammed through the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls in the previous rounds in five games each.

Besides Nowitzki, who has been having a lights-out playoff run, the Mavericks have Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry helping out.  In previous rounds, Dallas defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in six games, then swept a disinterested Los Angeles Lakers squad, and got past the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.

For the Mavericks, this may be their last best chance to win an NBA title.  Most of the stars that owner Mark Cuban spent millions to put together are in their 30s, and the proverbial window is closing.  Speaking of Cuban, we haven't heard much from him lately.  Is he afraid of getting fined again?

The Heat have the brightest future, even if they're not the most beloved by NBA fans outside Miami.  The addition of James and Bosh has created the template for other big-city, big-market franchises to follow, one that will almost certainly figure in the upcoming labor negotiations.  For James, whom no less an authority than Scottie Pippen has ranked as good as Michael Jordan, this is the chance to get the championship that was denied him in Cleveland.

Because of the swagger and the attitude the Heat have been projecting, they will win a title or two (including this one).  But not several in a row, as somebody predicted.  Nobody's done that since the Celtics in the 1960s.  Red Auerbach, wherever he is, wouldn't stand for it.

Twins 2011: Dog Days Are Here

Image via WikipediaFlorence + The Machine had a song on the pop charts recently titled "Dog Days Are Over".  For the Minnesota Twins, defending American League Central champions, the dog days have just arrived.

At the Memorial Day weekend, the Twins are already out of the playoff picture.  They have the worst record in major league baseball at 16-32.  The Cleveland Indians, by contrast, lead the AL Central with the best record in the game at 30-17 and are 14 1/2 games in front of the Twins.  Another former bottom-feeder, the Kansas City Royals, are sitting in third place.

What went wrong?  Well, what have you got?  It's a combination of bad fielding, blown saves, lack of offense and injuries to key players.  If all those currently on the disabled list were suddenly healthy enough to play, it would still be too late to save the season.

The starting pitching is not where it should be.  Carl Pavano, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker are not exactly having career years.  Neither is Francisco Liriano, but he did manage to no-hit the Chicago White Sox once in pitching the first complete game of his career.  So far, only Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing have been distinguishing themselves on the mound.

The bullpen is a disaster.  Joe Nathan lost his closer role because it looks like he hasn't fully recovered from Tommy John surgery.  Matt Capps, with each blown save, must be thinking he'd never left the Washington Nationals.   And the rest of the relievers?  Let's just say there's a reason why they normally play for the Triple A Rochester Red Wings.

Injuries have taken their toll on the starting lineup.  True, this happens with any ball club.  It just seems to affect the Twins more.  Tsuyashi Nishioka, whom the team spent big bucks to bring over from Japan, has been out since the beginning of the season with a torn fibula.  Justin Morneau is playing again even though he's still recovering from a concussion.  They and others have been replaced by guys who, like some members of the pitching staff, aren't ready for the majors.

As for Joe Mauer, the Twins' "franchise player", his presence has been limited to singing off-key in a TV commercial promoting Minnesota tourism.  He's been out several weeks for what the team originally termed "leg weakness", alarming those who thought the local hero would go the way of Lou Gehrig.  But it's really just an occupational hazard of all catchers:  two sore knees complicated by an infection.  The way the Twins have been handling Mauer's condition, you'd have thought they were an NHL team telling the media that a certain player has an upper or lower body injury.

Unless you insist on spending your hard-earned money to watch bad baseball this summer at Target Field, we'd like to suggest other ways to pass the time:

• Catch up on your reading.
• Get some exercise.
• Rent some movies, or start watching the TV shows you recorded but never had time for.
• Visit friends or relatives.
• Spend some extra time at the lake.

In other words, do just about anything to avoid having to watch the Minnesota Twins this season.

Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011)

Image via WikipediaHarmon Killebrew, the Minnesota Twins' first superstar, died Tuesday in an Arizona hospice at the age of 74.  This came only a few days after he announced that he was no longer seeking treatment for his esophogeal cancer, which he was diagnosed with in December.

The pride of Payette, Idaho began his career signed as a 17-year old to the Washington Senators, then moved with the team to Minnesota in 1961.  Killebrew led the Twins to an American League pennant in 1965, followed by division titles in 1969 and '70.  He ended his career after a one-season stint with the Kansas City Royals in 1975.

Killebrew was 11th on the all-time home run list with 573.  Most of them came in the pre-steroid era of the 1960s, when Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays (among others) were also prodigious in the art of hitting one out of the park.  Killebrew was the American League's home run champion six times, and led the league in runs batted in three times.  He was the league's most valuable player in 1969.  Then came the induction into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1984.

Enough with the statistics and titles.  Harmon Killebrew was an icon to an Upper Midwest that was just getting to know major league sports.  Whenever he came to the plate, people attending a game at Metropolitan Stadium or watching on their black-and-white TVs expected him to hit one of those baseballs not just over the fence, but into the next county.  Usually, he delivered.

Life for Killebrew wasn't that great after he left baseball.  He had a series of problems involving his health, his marriage and with his money.  But as an ambassador to the Twins, whether it's spring training in Florida or visits to the Twin Cities, he was in his element.  Current players and longtime fans still remembered who he was, and they brought their kids to make sure they knew him too.

A dark shadow has been cast over Target Field, the Twins' current home.  It also hangs over the Mall of America in Bloomington, where Met Stadium once stood.  That shadow is wearing pinstripes with a Number 3 on its back, stepping up to the plate as "We're Gonna Win, Twins" is heard from a distant organ.  Wait!  Isn't that Bob Casey announcing his name?  Herb Carneal, Ray Scott and Halsey Hall at the mike?  Calvin Griffith watching from his suite?  Maybe Harmon Killebrew wants to hit one into the next county one more time.

Derek Boogaard (1982-2011)

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeDerek Boogaard, who died Friday at the age of 28 in Minneapolis, spent six seasons in the NHL, mostly with the Minnesota Wild.  He was known more for his brawn than for scoring goals (three of them), having racked up 589 penalty minutes and participated in 61 fights during his career.

Yet Boogaard was one of the most popular players to wear a Wild uniform in the short history of the franchise.  He even started a fight school in his native Saskatchewan.  But to those who knew him off the ice, he was more Clark Kent than one of the league's most notorious enforcers.

Boogaard moved on to the New York Rangers this past season, but played only a few games before a concussion sent him to the sidelines.  It was in a fight with an Ottawa Senators player.

It will be weeks before anyone figures out how Boogaard died.  But his parents made the decision to donate his brain to science, in which it will be determined if he had a disease associated with concussions.

We are reminded of what happened to Bill Masterton, who played in the inaugural season of the Minnesota North Stars (now based in Dallas).  On a January night in 1968 at Metropolitan Sports Center, Masterton suffered head injuries during a game that led to his death.  This was when most players in the NHL didn't wear helmets, or much of anything in the way of protective gear.  Now, of course, they're mandatory.  But that hasn't stopped players from maiming each other as long as they think they can get away with it.

Now that the major sports leagues are finally taking seriously the consequences of athletes getting hit on the head once too often, this should also be an opportunity to educate future generations of hockey players on the dangers of picking a fight with your opponent just for the hell of it.  What Derek Boogaard leaves behind should be a legacy of safer hockey on the ice and off.

The Vikings' Palace of Arden Hills?

Image via WikipediaWith not much time left until the Minnesota Legislature closes out its 2011 session, the Minnesota Vikings have decided where they want to play football after their lease at the Metrodome in Minneapolis expires.  They chose Arden Hills, a suburb north of the Twin Cities.

In a deal with Ramsey County, the new Vikings stadium would be built on the site of an old Army munitions plant.  It would be a billion-dollar project with the NFL team paying 44 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from the county and state.  The stadium would have a retractable roof, seat 65,000, and have a practice facility nearby.

A few bugs need to be worked out.  Such as what to do about access to the stadium, who would pay for the environmental cleanup and how the heck Ramsey County would be paying for its share.

Until now, Minneapolis had been the front-runner to keep the Vikings with two different stadium proposals.  In the one that was touted by the city, the Metrodome site would have been used and would have been a cheaper alternative to the Arden Hills site.  The Vikings balked because (A) they would have been paying into it more than they wanted, and (B) they didn't want to play for a couple of seasons at the smaller TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota.  Which also meant they couldn't sell booze.

The other Minneapolis possibility would have been where the Farmers Market is now, on the western side of downtown next to Target Center and Target Field.  But Hennepin County backed out, and folks still have a place to buy fresh vegetables.

Now all the Vikings and Ramsey County have to do is to convince a skeptical Legislature to kick in the other 28 percent.  Considering the fact that they have yet to come up with a budget that would get the state out of its billions of dollars in the hole, and that opinion polls continue to show the public is still opposed to state financing for stadiums, it's a tall order indeed.

Sid Hartman, in his May 8 Star Tribune column, suggested that 2012 might be a better year to pass a stadium bill.  A couple of problems with that:  The Metrodome lease expires after this coming season, whether the NFL lockout gets settled or not, and the Vikings will not sign another one unless they get their new stadium.  And 2012 is an election year.  It could be too late.

Governor Mark Dayton has said he will sign any stadium bill that crosses his desk, and is not pushing for any one site.  If the Vikings want their football palace in Arden Hills, they'd better hope all the king's horses and all the king's men (and women) will come up with the answer they want.