Wild and Wolves: Five and Out

Minnesota's extended winter is finally over.  So are the Wild's NHL season and the Timberwolves' NBA schedule, with both teams' playoff runs as fleeting as springtime snow.

The Wild finished their regular season with 101 points and a sixth consecutive Stanley Cup playoff appearance.  And for the sixth time they were shown the door early, this time to the Winnipeg Jets in five games.  It didn't help that (A) the Wild's two best players Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were out because of injuries, and (B) they also went a long time without scoring.  Goalies Devan Dubnyk and Alex Stalock could only do so much to keep the Jets grounded.

Years of big-name free agent signings such as Parise, Suter, Eric Staal and Matt Cullen with little to show for it has cost general manager Chuck Fletcher his job after nine seasons.  Bruce Boudreau will likely continue as coach for at least another year.

Whoever the Wild hire as GM will find that there's not much he can do to improve their lot in the draft as long as they are playoff regulars, or in the budget they have to sign current players and free agents.  Reportedly, most everyone in the Wild organization seems to agree that the roster needed to be tweaked more than to be torn down.  If they go in that direction, expect more early playoff exits.

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The Timberwolves qualified for the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2004, winning 47 games and the final Western Conference spot over the Denver Nuggets.  Their reward was in facing the top-seeded Houston Rockets, who in five games reminded everyone why the Wolves haven't been playoff contenders for 14 years.  They just folded like a cheap suit in the presence of the Rockets' James Harden.

In spite of all the hype around the Wolves' young stars such as Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the most impressive player on the team was veteran Jimmy Butler, whom coach Tom Thibodeau lured away from the Chicago Bulls.  Butler made quite an impact on the offense, which is why his absence due to knee problems and a few bad losses to bad teams almost drove the Wolves out of the postseason.

Towns and Wiggins (now the subject of trade rumors) were nothing if not inconsistent on the court all season.  How long is that going to last, or can we just chalk it up to their youth--an excuse that's getting old with each passing day.  Also, Thibodeau's reputation for wearing out his players seems to be coming true.

Maybe this season will be a stepping stone to better things for the Timberwolves.  They and their long-suffering supporters deserve it after more than a decade of missing out.  But remember folks, it doesn't take much for them to go back to the bad old days.

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This is where we like to project into June to see which teams will be facing each other for the right to be crowned masters of the hockey and basketball domains.  So here goes.

NHL:  Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vegas Golden Knights

NBA:  Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors

NCAA Basketball 2017-18: Triumph and Scandal

The NCAA Men's Basketball championship in San Antonio, Texas was won by Villanova for the second time in three years, defeating Michigan 79-62 Monday night.  Other than the Wildcats' domination, this tournament will be remembered for (A) Maryland-Baltimore County (a #16 seed) defeating Virginia (a #1 seed), and (B) Loyola of Chicago being this year's Cinderella.  Having not won a national title since 1963 (the year before UCLA began dominating college basketball), the Ramblers made it to the Final Four with a 98-year old nun as its mascot, but lost to the Wolverines in the semifinals.
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The NCAA Women's Tournament in Columbus, Ohio was won by Notre Dame, its first since 2001.  The Irish won on consecutive buzzer-beaters by Anike Ogunbowale, first in the semifinals over Connecticut (who were going for their 12th title under coach Geno Auriemma) for a 91-89 win in overtime, then another one against Mississippi State for a 61-58 victory.

OK, so UConn didn't win another national title like everyone said they would.  But at least another brand-name school did.
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This was also a year of scandal in college basketball, and the end is not in sight.  The FBI is investigating fraud and corruption in recruiting at several big-name universities.  One of those schools, Louisville, fired its coach Rick Pitino.  They also had to give up their 2012 Final Four appearance and their 2013 championship.  But not North Carolina.  The NCAA found no evidence of any wrongdoing in the Tar Heels' program, so they let them go.  Just like in the business world, there are some institutions of learning that are "too big to fail".

Twins 2018: Playoffs or Bust.

After the Minnesota Twins shocked the heartland by going to the American League playoffs as a wild card instead of another 90+ loss season, it's been widely assumed that this could be the start of bigger and better things for manager Paul Molitor's team.

Yes, the future looks pretty bright when you have young stars like Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Miguel Sano on the field and at the plate, and with Trevor May. Ervin Santana and Phil Hughes on the mound.  Visions of facing someone other than the New York Yankees in the playoffs are dancing in fans' heads.  Or is that too many beers?

But then again:

• After promising to be more active in the offseason free agent market, the Twins fell way short in the Yu Darvish sweepstakes (the pitcher eventually signed with the Chicago Cubs).  They did manage to pick up a few past-their-prime players for the right price like they usually do (pitchers Fernando Rodney and Lance Lynn, for example), when they weren't raiding the financially-strapped Tampa Bay Rays' cupboard for the likes of Logan Morrison and Jake Odorizzi.
• The Twins couldn't get rid of Kennys Vargas or Brian Dozier, no matter how hard they tried.
• Jorge Polanco is out for the first 80 games of the season, suspended by Major League Baseball for using performance enhancing drugs.  He won't be available for the playoffs, should the Twins be fortunate enough to be included.
• Joe Mauer is in the last year of his contract, for better or worse.
• Ervin Santana won't be pitching for at least a month or two due to an injury.

None of this suggests that the Twins have any chance of overtaking the Cleveland Indians for the American League Central Division crown.  They won't.  They'll finish second again, but will this time be staying home for the postseason.  There's too many teams with much better records (and more money to spend) for the Twins to remain competitive.

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Here's who we think will make it to October.

American League

East  New York Yankees
Central  Cleveland Indians
West  Houston Astros
Wild Card  Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels

National League
East  Washington Nationals
Central  Chicago Cubs
West  Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card  St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers   

Enter Kirk Cousins, Exit Don Lucia

In what has been the most over-hyped, yet inevitable NFL quarterback free agent signings in recent Minnesota Vikings history (or at least since they got Brett Favre), the team finally got Kirk Cousins to sign on the dotted line.  For this to happen, they had to let last year's quarterback roster scatter to the winds:  Case Keenum to the Denver Broncos, Sam Bradford to the Arizona Cardinals, and Teddy Bridgewater to the New York Jets.  This is kind of risky because, if you're a team on the cusp of playing in a Super Bowl, you do not change horses in midstream unless you're forced to.  That's what happened last year when Bradford got injured after the first game of the season, leaving Keenum (who had just arrived from the Philadelphia Eagles) to take the Vikings to the NFC championship game, losing to the team he had just left.

Cousins did not have that opportunity during his years as the starter in Washington, but is expected to perform much better with an improved cast of characters in Minnesota.  The Vikings also signed Trevor Siemian from the Broncos to play backup when they could have kept Keenum, Bradford or Bridgewater to do the same job.  Depending on how the Vikings' 2018 schedule is set up (they're reportedly playing the Eagles in Philadelphia as the Thursday night season opener), Cousins will have plenty of chances to prove he's worth the money they spent on him.

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Don Lucia is stepping down after nearly two decades of being men's hockey coach at the University of Minnesota.  His resume is one of success:  Over 19 seasons with the Golden Gophers, his record was 457-248-73 (Overall, including prior stops at Alaska-Fairbanks and Colorado College, he had a 736-403-102 record in 31 years behind the bench).  His teams have won several conference championships, 13 NCAA tournament appearances, and two national titles in 2002 and 2003.

But Lucia and Minnesota became victims of the changing times in college hockey.  The Gophers switched from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) to the new Big Ten conference, which meant trading in traditional rivals like North Dakota and St. Cloud State for the likes of Ohio State and Michigan--football schools that have hockey programs.  They haven't made the NCAA tournament in two of the last three years, and they're hosting this year's Frozen Four in St. Paul.  And they no longer have a monopoly on Minnesota talent with St. Cloud, UMD and Minnesota State Mankato rising in prominence.

For athletic director Mark Coyle, it's nearly decision time on what to do about his coaches besides naming a replacement for Lucia.  The jury is still out on football coach P.J. Fleck, whose team finished 5-7 in his first season.  Men's basketball coach Richard Pitino, after his team made the NCAA tournament last year, finished out of the running with a squad decimated by injuries and suspensions.  Marlene Stallings would have been a good candidate to be let go had her women's basketball team not gone as far as the second round of the NCAA women's tournament.

Don Lucia deserves the credit for keeping Gophers hockey near the top for all these years.  Now it's time for another coach to keep Minnesota competitive in the ever-changing world of college hockey, and to deal with fans and alumni who want nothing less than another national championship.  It won't be easy.

UPDATE (3/28/18):  The next Gopher men's hockey coach is going to be one of Lucia's former assistants from the national championship years.  He's Bob Motzko, who until recently had been the head coach at St. Cloud State.  The Huskies have had pretty good teams under Motzko, but moving down I-94 is going to be a step up in terms of talent and expectations.  Maybe he can handle it.

Pyeongchang 2018, Week Two: Triumphs and a Tragedy

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea is over.  The two Koreas have been getting along so well that they're planning on talks to maybe improve relations, and have invited the United States to join in.  President Donald Trump, who has sent the noted diplomats Vice President Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump to put in appearances during the Games, has sent a qualified reply.  So maybe the next time we hear the word Pyeongchang, it won't be in reference to a battlefield.  But we digress.

Here are the top five nations in the final medal count:

Norway  14 gold, 14 silver, 11 bronze=39 total
Germany  14 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze=31
Canada   11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze=29
U.S.          9 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze=23
Netherlands  8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze=20

The United States moved up to fourth place from the first week, thanks to the efforts of the following:

• Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall were the first American women to take home gold in cross-country skiing.
• The women's hockey team won its first gold since 1998, defeating Canada in a shootout.  Isn't that like winning the Wimbledon singles championship on tiebreaks?
• Lindsey Vonn closed out her Olympic career with a bronze medal in the women's downhill.  Or did she?  Mikaela Shiffrin, who won two Alpine golds herself, isn't sure Vonn's skiing off into the sunset just yet.  You'll see Vonn in China in '22 all right--as an NBC commentator.  Hey, she can't be any worse than Bode Miller, right?
• Now that the U.S. men's curling team won the gold medal in curling, will that sport end up being as popular as hockey was after the 1980 "Miracle on Ice"?

The Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) ended up in seventh place with 17 medals.  One of their two gold medals came in men's hockey, when they defeated an upstart German team in overtime.  It was a game that was better than it had any right to be, given that NHL players sat these Olympics out while Russian KHL players dominated.  Their last gold was in 1992 when, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were known as the Unified Team.

This doesn't mean that the OAR, the remnants of a Russian state-sponsored team that was disqualified from these Olympics for alleged doping violations, had cleaned up its act completely.  Two athletes were kicked out of the Games for testing positive for banned substances.  But they'll be given a hero's welcome in Moscow by President Vladimir Putin anyway.
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We hate to end this on a low note, but this bears watching in future Olympics.

Recently Dr. Larry Nasser, a Michigan-based sports physician, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life (and then some) in prison.  He was convicted in that state for sexually abusing hundreds of female athletes, including members of the U.S. gymnastics team. 

The next time you watch a sports event involving teens and/or young women, think about what it took for them to get to where they are.  There are people who train these athletes and care for their well being in a responsible manner.  But there are also some individuals who see a captive audience for their personal pleasure, and the damage they inflict can last a lifetime.

If you are a parent of these young athletes, your support and responsibility to them rests on your shoulders.  For the rest of us watching, we need to be more aware of the price of victory.

Pyeongchang 2018, Week One: Welcome to the Real World

The first week of competition for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea began with an Opening Ceremony that included (A) North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un's sister and Vice President Mike Pence sitting in close proximity, with neither acknowledging the other, (B) an appearance by a shirtless, oiled-up Tongan dude in the Parade of Nations, and (C) the presence of NBC's Asian expert Joshau Cooper Ramo on their telecast, whose declaration that Japan had a lot to do with the transformation of South Korea as a nation (while neglecting to mention that they were under Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, and that many of their women were used as sex slaves) got him fired.  And with that, let the Games begin.

As of February 19, the top three medaling countries are:

• Norway with 28 (11 golds, nine silvers, eight bronzes)
• Germany with 20 (10 golds, six silvers, four bronzes)
• Canada with 17 (six golds, five silvers, six bronzes)

The United States has 10 medals (five golds, three silvers, two bronzes), which puts them in a tie for sixth place with Australia, France and Japan.

Most of those American golds have come from snowboarding (Jamie Anderson, Chloe Kim and Red Gerrard), which is the Olympics' attempt to get millenials interested in the Games.  In a more traditional sport, Mikaela Shiffrin won the women's Giant Slalom.

Shaun White also won gold in the snowboarding category for the third time in as many Olympics.  Unfortunately for him, the MeToo movement managed to overshadow his accomplishment as he got hit with questions about a sexual harassment settlement with a former female rock band member of his, claiming it was all "gossip".  White used the following day's appearance on the post-Matt Lauer "Today" show to apologize for using the word "gossip".  Crash and burn.

Skiier Lindsay Vonn (she once dated Tiger Woods, in case you didn't know) botched a gate during her run for gold in the women's Super G.  Then she heard from the thousands of not-so-well-wishers who'd rather see her break a leg than bring home a medal.  All this is because Vonn joined the list of athletes who have vowed not to be in the same room with President Donald Trump when it comes time to visit the White House.

And, oh yes, the International Olympic Committee's ban on doping Russian athletes, which has resulted in the country's official removal from these Games, and has forced its remaining (clean) athletes to compete under a different name and flag--well, how's that working out?  A curler just had his bronze medal in mixed doubles taken away for alleged doping violations.

One more week of all this.  What's going to happen next?

The Eagles Have Landed

The Philadelphia Eagles are the new Super Bowl champions, which is their first pro football title of any kind since they won the league crown in 1960.  They outscored and outsmarted the defending champion New England Patriots 41-33 in Minneapolis Sunday night.

It was an offensive show, with both teams combining for 1151 rushing yards, the most in Super Bowl history.  Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw for 505 yards, which is also a record.

Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, who until recently was an understudy to starter Carson Wentz before his season ended due to injuries, threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns.  For that, he was named the Super Bowl MVP.  Oh yes, and he's also going to Disney World.

The Eagles are pretty much no-names next to the Patriots, but they did their job--keeping Brady out of the end zone with the game on the line in the final seconds, which is something he's done so many times before.  It's also not easy to outcoach the Patriots' Bill Belichick, but that's just what Eagles coach Doug Pederson did.

In the grand scheme of things, the Eagles are a one-season wonder, coming back down to Earth next season.  The Patriots, having won five Super Bowls in the first two decades of this century, will likely be remembered for as long as football is still played.

But for now, let the Eagles soar.

Among other things . . .

• There were a couple of plays in which receivers made spectacular catches in the end zone, but the excitement dissipated as they were subject to seemingly endless and nitpicky video reviews of whether or not it really was a catch.  This kind of thing has been going on all season, wasting everyone's time.  Even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he's in favor of modifying the "catch/not a catch" rules.  Over 103 million of you watched this year's NBC telecast of the Super Bowl, which is the lowest audience since 2009.  Paralysis by video analysis may be one reason why some folks are tuning out.
• You've heard this before, but it bears repeating with the country in the middle of a flu epidemic:  Can we please end the ritual of the Vince Lombardi Trophy going through the gauntlet of players from the winning team fondling and kissing the trophy before it gets to the podium?  Gross!  
• Justin Timberlake's halftime show didn't bring much of anything back, much less sexy.  It was just meh.  He tried to perform with a giant video image of Prince on what looked like the world's largest bedsheet, which only made him look and sound small.  And there was no Janet Jackson, the woman whose career he helped ruin the last time he played a Super Bowl by uncovering her nipple on live TV.  But Timberlake did mention several times that he was in Minneapolis, so there's that.
• The commercials that companies spent tons of money on to be broadcast during the Super Bowl weren't that great, though the ones from Amazon (celebrities subbing for an ailing Alexa) and the NFL (Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants spoofing "Dirty Dancing") came close.  But the people who run the estate for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. must have been hard up for money when they sold one of his speeches to Ram Trucks for use in a commercial.  Isn't money also the reason why we haven't heard the full version of King's "I Have a Dream" speech?
• The Twin Cities declared itself a success in hosting this carnival intended for the rich and famous.  But it will mainly be remembered as the coldest Super Bowl ever, and visitors just couldn't wait to get out fast enough.  Over to you, Atlanta.