Loons 2017: A Bumpy Maiden Flight

Minnesota United FC ended its inaugural Major League Soccer season with a 3-2 loss at San Jose Sunday.  While no one expected a playoff run for the Loons right away, they did manage to make sure the Earthquakes qualified for a spot with a stoppage time goal.

For a squad that had been hastily put together, the Loons did quite well considering.  They ended up ninth in the Western Conference of MLS with 10 wins, 18 losses and six ties, totaling 36 points.  Their defense got better after a lousy start, but they still set a league record for the most goals allowed in a season with 70.

Along with some of the holdovers from United's North American Soccer League days, the team signed a few MLS-quality players for coach Adrian Heath to work with.  The results were hit and miss, from leading scorer Christian Ramirez and Francisco Calvo to expensive washout Vadim Demidov, who lasted all of three matches as United's captain.

The Loons made the transition from the National Sports Center in Blaine to the University of Minnesota's football stadium, which were filled with lower bowl sellouts and enthusiastic support.  The challenge will be how to maintain that before United moves into its new digs in St. Paul for the 2019 season.

Before the next season starts, Minnesota United FC will focus on getting better players on its roster that can score goals and not give up so many.  It would also help if they won a few more matches, and not be satisfied with ties.  But Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are successful soccer franchises.  So the banner-waving patrons should be patient.

Pot Shots '17, Volume 3

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This week in President Donald Trump's efforts to make athletes (and by extension the rest of us) stand to his favorite tune:

• The President wants to take away the NFL's tax-exempt status unless they order their players to stand and salute the flag during the national anthem.  Owners will soon decide whether or not to cave to Trump's demands.
• Vice President Mike Pence attended the San Francisco 49ers-Indianapolis Colts game, then departed after seeing some players kneeling during the "Star Spangled Banner".  Most wrote it off as a tacky political stunt that was dreamed up by Trump.  (By the way, wasn't Peyton Manning being honored that day?)  Remember folks, sooner or later Pence could be your next President.
• According to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, no player of his will ever disrespect the flag if they want to remain on the team.  This violation of a player's First Amendment rights comes weeks after Jones linked arms with his team before a game at Arizona in the name of 'unity', thus co-opting the real message of protesting police attacks on African Americans.  They don't call it "America's Team" for nothing.  More like 'Murica's Team.
• ESPN suspends "Sportscenter" anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks because she urged her viewers to boycott the Cowboys' sponsors in the wake of Jones' comments.  Stick to sports?  Right.
• Meanwhile Colin Kaepernick, who started this whole thing in the first place and now says he'll stand for the anthem because he's made his point, is still unemployed nearly halfway into the NFL season.

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In the era of the Super Team, we're not going to bother with previewing the Minnesota Timberwolves or the 2017-18 NBA season,  Instead, let's just say that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will meet again next June in the NBA Finals and leave it at that.
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The U.S. Men's national soccer team's (or USMNT if you want to sound like an old Lucky Strike cigarette commercial) failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup has sent shock waves through the sport, from pundits to shoe companies to Fox, which had just spent billions for the TV rights.  This could also hurt the U.S.'s chances of co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.  Bruce Arena, to whom many point to as one of the reasons why they didn't qualify besides lackadaisical play, has quit as coach.  All of this shouldn't have been a surprise, even in the years when they were in World Cup.  They'll have a hard time measuring up to the success of the women's team.
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After watching baseball games that took more than three or four hours to finish, here's one suggestion  to make them shorter and save pitcher's arms in the process:  Limit the number of foul balls hit after the count of three balls and two strikes.  After two or three consecutive foul balls, the umpire should call the batter out.  Isn't there a rule like this used in youth leagues?
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Austin Rogers, a bartender from New York, won $411,000 over a 12-show appearance on TV's "Jeopardy!".  Yes, his quirkiness could be as annoying to some viewers as host Alex Trebek's pomposity, or his dislike of The Eagles (a millennial thing, we suppose).  But he wasn't afraid to roll the dice and bet big on "Daily Doubles", and he's a worthy champion in spite of all that.

Lynx Are Chanpions (X4), Twins Make Playoffs

The Lynx' Dynastic Decade

The Minnesota Lynx are WNBA champions for the fourth time in seven years, having edged the Los Angeles Sparks in five games.  The Sparks were the same team that denied the Lynx a title one year ago, and would have done that again had a furious rally late in the fourth quarter not fizzled out.  In stead, the Lynx won 85-76.

Playing in their second temporary home of the season (Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota) while Target Center was being renovated, the Lynx and their coach Cheryl Reeve summoned whatever strength they had left from their core veterans--Maya Moore, Seimoine Augustus, Lindsay Whelan, Sylvia Fowles (the Finals MVP) and others--to overcome the 2-1 deficit against the league's other super team.  They had to be firing on all cylinders, and that's what they did.

Since the Lynx won their titles in odd-numbered years (2011, '13, '15, '17), it's reasonable to expect another one from them in 2019.  But as long as the current cast sticks around, they're favorites next year too.

Twins:  Worst to Wild Card

The Minnesota Twins won 85 games this past season, which is a lot better than losing 103 last season.  For that, they finished second in the American League Central division to the Cleveland Indians, which is good enough in today's baseball to win a wild card spot.  Then they lost in a playoff to the New York Yankees because it's what they do in the post-season.

The pitching and hitting did just enough to rise above their mediocre competition this season, so the challenge for 2018 is for the Twins front office to find better talent that doesn't need to go to the minor league affiliate in Rochester, New York for seasoning.  And a pitching staff that includes Bartolo Colon, who's been in baseball longer than some of these players have been alive, needs to improve.  Or does that go without saying?

It looks like manager Paul Molitor will get to keep his job, despite reports that the front office wanted their own guy.  That would not have been smart, given Molitor's accomplishment of turning a wretched team into playoff contenders.

All of which gives the patrons at Target Field something to look forward to besides sampling gourmet nachos.
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Here's our semi-bold World Series match-up:  Cleveland Indians vs. Los Angeles Dodgers.