Boston Red Sox: Almost Perfect

Once upon a time, the Boston Red Sox were a team of almosts playing in a national treasure of a ball park.  For nearly a century, despite legends like Ted Williams and Carl Yazstremski, the Sox almost:  Won a World Series.  Won the American League pennant, had it not been for those pesky New York Yankees.  Stayed out of last place.

That changed in 2004, when the Red Sox finally won a Series after a nearly century-long drought.  They did it again in 2007 and 2013.  This year, they became the first team in this century to win four World Series championships when they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.  The pitching of David Price and Chris Sale, and the hitting of Steve Pearce and Jackie Bradley, Jr. made the difference for Boston.  Alex Cora became one of the few managers to win a Series in his first season.

Game 3 was notable for being the longest in World Series history, lasting 18 innings in nearly 7 1/2 hours. That's longer than the entire 1939 Series between the Yankees and Cincinnati Reds.  It was also the only game the Red Sox lost, as Max Muncy hit a solo home run into the midnight air at Dodger Stadium to win the game for L.A. in the 18th.  It was also 3:30 Saturday morning back East.

The Red Sox won 108 games during the regular season, then blew past the Yankees and Houston Astros (who both won more than 100 games) to win the American League pennant.  The Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies to win their division playoff, then defeated the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers for the National League championship.

Now that the Boston Red Sox are no longer the lovable losers with the iconic ballpark, they can concentrate on being one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball.  With the kind of season they had, there was nothing "almost" about it.  They were perfect.

NBA 2018-19: The Butler Did It

To combat the seeming inevitability of another Golden State Warriors NBA championship (they've won three of the last four)), LeBron James ditched his hometown of Cleveland for the second time for the bright lights of Los Angeles.  Kawhi Leonard was traded by the San Antonio Spurs to the Toronto Raptors, but he'd rather be in sunny California.  Carmelo Anthony plays for the Houston Rockets now.

All of that is overshadowed by what's going on with the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Coming off their first playoff appearance in at least a decade, it seemed as if the team had turned a corner.  That corner has turned into a cliff.  Jimmy Butler, the Wolves' leading scorer last season, has been making noises lately about wanting to play elsewhere.

Butler was brought to Minnesota by coach Tom Thibodeau from the Chicago Bulls, where they had both plied their trade.  He was supposed to provide veteran help for a team with young stars like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, but for some reason never got along with either of them.

The Wolves have had plenty of experience in dealing with unhappy players who wanted to be anywhere than playing for a losing team in a cold city.  Stephon Marbury wanted to be The Star instead of Kevin Garnett.  Then he became one--in China.  Latrell Sprewell turned down an offer because he wanted to feed his family.  Then he went bankrupt.

Butler made his trade demands clear--his wish list extends to the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers, none of whom are title contenders.  He could have waited a year before his contract ran out and tested the free agent market, but the Wolves don't want to be left empty-handed.  So owner Glen Taylor has been busily trying to make trades with anyone who will have Butler, and who are willing to give up decent talent and/or draft choices in return.  So far, no luck.

Butler is still here, and it looks like he'll be on the floor for the Wolves when they open their season Wednesday at San Antonio.  The Wolves are now in a position where they can't live with Butler, but they can't live without him.  They have a winning record when he plays, and a losing one when he doesn't.  The team's playoff hopes depends on how long Butler sticks around.  We're guessing he and Thibodeau are both gone before the season ends, and the Wolves will miss the playoffs.

As for those NBA playoffs, the final will be between Golden State and the Boston Celtics.

NHL 2018-19: A Few Questions and Predictions

Will this be the Washington Capitals' hangover season, and I don't just mean from drinking out of the Stanley Cup one too many times?

What's the next act for the Vegas Golden Knights?  Will there be a residency for the Cup just like Cher or Celine Dion?

Is this finally the year a Canadian-based NHL team wins the Cup?  Could that team be the Toronto Maple Leafs, which hasn't won one since the last year the league had six franchises?

Are the glory days really over for the Chicago Blackhawks?

The Tampa Bay Lightning are another top contender.  How far can they go without general manager Steve Yzerman?

Are the Arizona Coyotes going to get a new arena or not?

Does Seattle really need an NHL franchise?  Methinks bringing back the NBA SuperSonics should be the first order of business.

For the Minnesota Wild, other than a new general manager (Paul Fenton), how do they expect to make the playoffs with basically the same lineup they had last season?  If they don't do well right away, how long will it be before Fenton finds a replacement for coach Bruce Boudreau?  And the Wild will replace "Let's Go Crazy" as its post-goal music.  Wasn't Prince a basketball fan?

WESTERN CONFERENCE TOP EIGHT:  Vegas Golden Knights, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars.

EASTERN CONFERENCE TOP EIGHT:  Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers.

Twins 2018: That Was Not How You Baseball

The Minnesota Twins, who surprised everyone last year by doing well enough to get trounced by the New York Yankees in a one-game playoff, lived down to their expectations once again this decade.  They finished at 78-84, good enough for second place in the American League Central, but not good enough to prevent the Cleveland Indians from winning another division title.

Once again, injuries and ineffectiveness ruined the season for the Twins.  Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano--the alleged future of the franchise-- are this close to wasting their potential, spending time in the minors because either they got hurt or got fat (or both).  The free agents the team spent a ton of money for last winter didn't work out.  And the trades of popular players such as Brian Dozier (Los Angeles Dodgers), Fernando Rodney (Oakland Athletics) and Eduardo Escobar (Arizona Diamondbacks) in midseason were signs that the Twins were looking to the future.

Bright spots?  Jose Berrios had a great year on the mound, while Max Kepler hit 20 home runs.  And that's about it.

Then there's Joe Mauer.  With his massive and controversial contract expiring and talk of retirement in the air (he's played 15 seasons), he sure acted like he wanted to call it quits after the final game of the regular season at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox.  He got a standing ovation, had his daughters with him on the field, and donned catcher's gear one last time in the ninth inning to catch one ball.  After all this, why would Mauer want to stick around for another season or two?

Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, the brain trusts of the Twins organization, now must decide what to do with this team for the 2019 season to make them more competitive.   The first thing they did was to fire manager Paul Molitor, one season after he was named the American League's Manager of the Year for taking the Twins to the playoffs.  Molitor, who had two years left on his contract, did the best he could with the talent that he was given.  But if Falvey and Levine wanted to go in a different direction, then so be it.

As it stands, 2019 will provide another chance for the Twins to prove they can baseball.  And for the marketing department to come up with a better tag line than that.

UPDATE (10/25/18):  The new manager is Rocco Baldelli, who previously worked as the Tampa Bay Rays' major league field coordinator (don't ask).  He'll be charged with the task of bringing this team together, while paying attention to the numbers side of the players' equation to see which of them is more effective on the field.  It's called analytics, and not everyone understands how it works.  Not to mention that the Twins are one of the last teams to employ analytics, which they hope will translate to success on the field.  With this team, however, the numbers just don't add up.  That's what Falvey, Levine and Baldelli are facing.
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Our projected World Series matchup:  Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers.

The NFL 2018: It's Lonely At The Top

When you're the most dominant force in American professional sports and in pop culture, as the National Football League is, everyone wants to take shots at you.  As the 2018 season gets underway, the reputation of the league has been fielding body blows.  To wit:

• Colin Kaepernick, the man whose taking a knee during the "Star Spangled Banner" to protest social injustice cost him a football career, continues to haunt the NFL with lawsuits and with becoming the new face of Nike's "Just Do It" ad campaign.  The controversy refuses to go away as long as Kaepernick sits, President Donald Trump yells about how un-American he and other (black) athletes are, conservative fans confuse protesting with disrespect for Our Flag and Our Troops while burning Nike apparel, and TV ratings go down. 
• Meanwhile, as long as Kaepernick sits, the NFL continues to employ alleged domestic abusers.
• New rules involving penalties on violent hits and the phasing out of kickoffs for the sake of lessening on-field concussions has its heart in the right place, but is confusing the heck out of everybody from players and coaches to referees, fans and broadcasters.  A little clarity, please?
• The NFL has replaced Papa John's with Pizza Hut as the Official Pizza of the league.  No amount of sausage and pepperoni could save former CEO and TV spokesperson John Schnatter from the wrath he faced over his use of the N word.  But Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still has his back.
• Terrell Owens is now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  For reasons known only to Owens, he chose to have his induction ceremony in Tennessee instead of Canton, Ohio.  But then, T.O. has always marched to the beat of a different drummer.
• Johnny Manziel is back playing football, this time in the Canadian Football League.  After being benched by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Manziel was traded to the Montreal Alouettes, where he promptly threw too many interceptions and got injured.  But he's still turning his life around, right?
• Fox is the new home for the NFL's "Thursday Night Football" package.  CBS gets the Super Bowl in Atlanta this season.  Mike Tirico replaces Dan Patrick as host of NBC's "Football Night in America".  And ESPN's "Monday Night Football" trades in Sean McDonough (went back to college football) and Jon Gruden (went back to coaching the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders)  for Joe Tessitore and Jason Witten.

Other than that, things are great in NFL-land.  Here's who we see as eligible for the playoffs come January.

NFC
East  Philadelphia Eagles
West  Los Angeles Rams
North  Green Bay Packers
South  Atlanta Falcons
Wild Card  Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints

AFC
East  New England Patriots
West  Kansas City Chiefs
North  Baltimore Ravens
South  Jacksonville Jaguars
Wild Card  Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills

At KSTP-AM, Reusse and Soucheray's Ride is Over

When KSTP-AM (1500) began running an ESPN-branded sports format in 2010, they built on the success of shows hosted by newspaper columnists Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Joe Soucheray of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which was left over from the conservative talk format they had.  They were also the radio home of the Minnesota Twins, and the University of Minnesota's men's hockey and basketball programs.

Now it's 2018.  The Twins and Gophers broadcasts have gone elsewhere, but 1500 ESPN (as they're currently known) is still the proud home of Minnesota United FC soccer matches.  The station lags way behind KFAN (KFXN-FM 100.3) in terms of audience and prestige.  You could say that KSTP was doomed from the moment KFAN switched its signal from AM to FM a few years ago, because AM radio does not have the cachet it once did.  That's why nearly every AM station will spend whatever it takes to put their signal on any leftover FM frequency they could find, just so they could say they're on FM.

So the Hubbard Broadcasting-owned station is making a few changes.  They swept out nine hours' worth of local programming effective after September 7, including Soucheray's "Garage Logic", Reusse's drive-timer "The Ride", and their jointly hosted "Sports Talk".  These shows were also heard across Minnesota in syndication.

Reusse and Soucheray had been hosting shows on KSTP separately and together for about 35 years.  They have been heard on Monday nights and later Saturday mornings with the wackiest cast of callers ever heard on Twin Cities radio, rivaling anything Charlie Boone, Roger Erickson and Steve Cannon ever did.

"Garage Logic", which has been on the air since 1993 as the only non-sports program on the station, is expected to continue as a podcast.  Maybe Soucheray could ask Tony Kornheiser, who also left radio for podcasting, for some pointers?

Also out the door at the Big AM 1500:  Phil Mackey and Judd Zulgad's late morning show, and newscaster John Hite.

What will KSTP do with all the free time it just created?  Put on more ESPN or syndicated shows?  Go back to right-wing talk (the elections are only a few weeks away)?  Start over with new, younger hosts?  From what we're hearing, even station management doesn't seem to know.

But we do know this.  Joe Soucheray and Patrick Reusse will be ending their radio careers at KSTP shortly after a farewell run at the Minnesota State Fair, having said that they never expected to be on the air this long, and that they've enjoyed the run they had.  So did we.

Trump Fouls LeBron on Twitter

President Donald Trump has picked up where Don Rickles left off as the new master of the insult.  The difference between the two is that Rickles was a stand-up comedian who used to denigrate celebrities, minorities and others on TV and in his nightclub act, and everyone thought it was hilarious.  Trump does much of the same thing in his Twitter posts and during his campaign-style love-ins.  But in his position as Leader of the Free World, nobody seems to know whether he's kidding or not.

The latest of Trump's controversial missives concerns NBA star LeBron James, who did a TV interview with CNN's Don Lemon to promote the startup of a school for at-risk kids in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.  James told Lemon that, among other things, the President was using sports to divide the country along racial lines.

After the interview aired, Trump tweeted that Lemon was "the dumbest man on television" who made James look smarter by comparison.  The President concluded by saying he liked Mike, which presumably meant he preferred Michael Jordan to James in the debate over who was the greatest basketball player in the last 25 years.  Or is it because Jordan plays golf?

Up until now, Trump hasn't insulted James for his past criticisms the way he has with other African-American athletes--most of whom refuse to be seen with him even if they've won a championship.  The President's remarks about James' "low IQ" must have been due to his bypassing college for the NBA, but that really has nothing to do with his intelligence.

The other reason is more political:  James recently left the Cleveland Cavaliers (for the second time) to go play for the Los Angeles Lakers.  Ohio is one of the states Trump needs to win re-election for a second term in 2020.  With LeBron out of the way and is now considered fair game, Trump believes he has a better shot at doing that.

Dozens of NBA and other athletes, including Jordan, have come to James' defense with tweets of their own which criticize the President.  But LeBron is too busy to care about that right now, what with his charitable efforts, the TV projects he's lined up, and just getting ready for next season with his new team.

Rickles, who died in 2017, is now considered a comic legend for getting laughs with his insults.  President Donald Trump, who used his tweets and public appearances to hurt and belittle people with his insults, is on his way to becoming a legend in his own mind.