The Year in 140 Characters (more or less)

Winners cheat.  Cheaters win.  Until they get caught.

Bounties had a place in the Old West, not in the modern-day NFL.

If you whine long enough about your sports franchise losing money and threaten to take your toys and play elsewhere, panicked government officials will give you a new stadium.

Jack Jablonski, what happened to you on the ice was not your fault.  But how can we miss you if the media won't leave you and your family alone?

NBC, we were not impressed with your London Olympics coverage.  But as long as the money and ratings poured in, you didn't care what we thought, so long as we watched.

We had to look up who won medals at the London Olympics.

Never sign two big-name free agents to your struggling hockey team with decade-long contracts when the NHL threatens to shut down its season due to a labor dispute.

Getting whacked on the head during a game is no longer a badge of honor.  It just makes you dizzy.

Replacement officials are no substitute for regular officials, whose livelihoods depend on making bad calls that can be corrected by instant replay.

The time that it took for Penn State to look the other way when one of its football coaches had his way with young boys, that will make it harder for the school to get their reputation back.

LeBron James took his talents to South Florida, and all that got him was an NBA championship.

In terms of Mannings winning Super Bowls, it is currently Eli 2, Peyton 1.

No one thought, with all their issues, the Minnesota Vikings would be relevant again after last season.  Then they started giving a miraculously-healed Adrian Peterson the ball . . .

Cold shooting at the wrong time during the WNBA finals proved fatal to the Minnesota Lynx' chances of winning a second title.

No one thought the Minnesota Twins would have a worse season than they did in 2011.  Until it happened again in 2012.

Rory McElroy may not be the next Tiger Woods, but he's getting there.  Meanwhile, Tiger himself has yet to restore the roar.

Where would women's tennis be without Venus and Serena Williams?

Will anyone outside Los Angeles still care about the Dodgers when Vin Scully finally hangs it up?

Olympic athlete by day.  High-priced call girl by night.  For Suzy Favor Hamilton, truth is stranger than fiction.

With Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, basketball fans no longer hold their noses when the Minnesota Timberwolves play.

Junior Seau, Alex Karras, Don Carter, Gary Carter, Ben Davidson, Art Modell, Joe Paterno and Steve Sabol all died this year.

John Gagliardi was not like other football coaches.  Until his retirement, his laid-back style won him 489 games and four national championships for St. John's of Minnesota over a 60 year period.  Like we said, he wasn't like any other football coach.

On to 2013.

NHL Lockout: Season On Ice

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Three months into what was supposed to be the National Hockey League's 2012-13 season, arenas are sitting empty except for the occasional basketball game or concert.  Players are either playing in Europe, the minor leagues, or just hanging out.  Fans are twiddling their thumbs watching old hockey games on You Tube.

That's how long the owners have been locking out the players over the new collective bargaining agreement.  The owners want a 50/50 split of the profits in a 10 year deal.  The players union want a little more than half, and for the agreement to run at least five years.  See the problem?

It's not as if the players and owners haven't been serious about negotiating.  Heck, they've tried everything, including arbitration through a federal mediator and a dramatic face-to-face meeting between players and owners--without their representatives in the room.  But the two sides haven't come close to anything resembling a deal.   Now they're trying the courts, in the hope that a friendly judge will see things their way.

The NHL has now canceled games through mid-January, which is over 50% of the regular season schedule..  That includes the Winter Classic, which was scheduled for the University of Michigan on New Year's Day, and the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio.

If the season ever does return, there's talk of a 48-game schedule with a one-time expanded Stanley Cup playoffs with more teams than the current top 16.  But that's not going to bring the fans back for a gimmick like that.  Anything less than a full season is unacceptable.

The NHL and the players union now have only a few weeks to save their season with a new labor agreement.  But the longer this goes, the more this is getting to be a waste of time.  Why doesn't the NHL just stop stringing people along and just cancel the season right now?  We can wait until next October.

Kevin's Not In Love With The Wolves

Wizards v/s Timberwolves 03/05/11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's not unusual for people to whine and gripe about their jobs, how management treats them, how underpaid they are, etc.  It's usually done over a few beers or cocktails with either your significant other, or your buddies down at the local watering hole.  Those who aren't currently employed would love to have those kinds of problems right now, instead of wondering where their next meal is coming from.

When someone like Kevin Love, who plays professional basketball for a living, wanted to whine and gripe about his job, he chose to do it with a reporter from Yahoo Sports.

In a lengthy interview released this week, Love ripped into Minnesota Timberwolves management for giving him a four-year contract (for which he can opt out of in 2015) instead of the five years he wanted, accusing them of saving it for teammate Ricky Rubio.  Love also wanted to know why the Wolves are dragging their feet when it comes to building a playoff-caliber team around him.

Love's just stating the obvious.  He was embarrassed to be the only member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team who has yet to play in the NBA playoffs.  And the Wolves have been surrounding Love with somebody else's castoffs and European imports, with mixed results.

Love's comments have been rubbing Wolves fans the wrong way, especially when they remember how Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury and Latrell Sprewell (among others) whined their way out of Minnesota.  And Kevin Garnett didn't exactly leave under the best circumstances, either.  It's also no secret that Love is angling to someday join a certain team in Los Angeles, and it's not the Clippers.

With all that going on, it might surprise you to learn that, in spite of injuries to nearly everyone on the roster including Love and Rubio, the Wolves have a record above .500 in the first few weeks of the 2012-13 NBA season.  Their record as of this post is 10-9 after defeating the Denver Nuggets at Target Center 108-105 on December 12.  Love, it should be noted, scored eight points that night.

Love's ready to make nice after the firestorm his comments created.  He still stands by what he said, but now believes the Wolves really are headed in the right direction.  And he's even talking about how much he likes playing with Rubio.

What must concern Kevin Love is that he has something in common with Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin of the Vikings, and Joe Mauer of the Twins (We'd count the Wild, but they're not playing right now.):  They're the best players whose talents are being wasted on Minnesota pro sports teams that are going nowhere fast.

The 2012 Owljock Bowl Guide

Publicity photo of musician Lawrence Welk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the third year in a row, we are somewhat pleased to present our list of the 35 college football bowl games scheduled to be played between December 15, 2012 and January 7, 2013.  If the Mayans are wrong about their calendar, we should get through this without too much problem.

What's different about this list is not so much about who's playing in these games, but who's sponsoring them.  How many times have you clicked on ESPN (or some other network) during a bowl game and asked yourself, "Gee, this is a great game between two teams I've never heard of.  But what's a Belk?  Isn't he that guy who used to be on TV Saturday nights when I was a kid, and it was my parents' favorite show, and I hated it?"  Uh, sir, the man's name was Lawrence Welk.  Not Belk. 

So anyway, this is how the bowl guide works:  We list the name of the bowl game, when and where it's played, who's in it, who televises it, and what the title sponsor's business is.  The list comes from ESPN.com.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl:  Nevada vs. Arizona  (Albuquerque, NM  12/15)  ESPN
Clothing supplier.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl:  Toledo vs. Utah State  (Boise, ID  12/15)  ESPN

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl:  Brigham Young vs. San Diego State  (San Diego, CA  12/20)  ESPN

Beef O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl:  Central Florida vs. Ball State  (St. Petersburg, FL  12/21)  ESPN  
Restaurant chain.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl:  East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette  (New Orleans, LA  12/22)  ESPN
Shipping firm.

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl:  Washington vs. Boise State  (Las Vegas, NV  12/22)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl:  Fresno State vs. Southern Methodist  (Honolulu, HW  12/24)  ESPN
Hotel chain.

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl:  Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan  (Detroit, MI  12/26)  ESPN
Pizza delivery chain.

Military Bowl Presented By Northrup Grumman:  San Jose State vs. Bowling Green  (Washington, DC  12/27)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

Belk Bowl:  Cincinnati vs. Duke  (Charlotte, NC  12/27)  ESPN
Regional department store chain.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl:  Baylor vs. UCLA  (San Diego, CA  12/27)  ESPN
Online college.

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl:  Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe  (Shreveport, LA  12/28)  ESPN
Nutrition supplements.

Russell Athletic Bowl:  Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech  (Orlando, FL  12/28)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl:  Minnesota vs. Texas Tech  (Houston, TX  12/28)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl:  Rice vs. Air Force  (Fort Worth, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl:  West Virginia vs. Syracuse  (New York, NY  12/29)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl:  Navy vs. Arizona State  (San Francisco, CA  12/29)  ESPN2
Food giant collaborates with anti-hunger organization.

Valero Alamo Bowl:  Texas vs. Oregon State  (San Antonio, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Energy company.

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl:  Texas Christian vs. Michigan State  (Tempe, AZ  12/29)  ESPN
Sports-themed restaurant chain.

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl:  North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt  (Nashville, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Financial services.

Hyundai Sun Bowl:  Southern California vs. Georgia Tech  (El Paso, TX  12/31)  CBS
Automaker.

AutoZone Liberty Bowl:  Iowa State vs. Tulsa  (Memphis, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Auto parts chain.

Chick-fil-A Bowl:  Louisiana State vs. Clemson  (Atlanta, GA  12/31)  ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl:  Mississippi State vs. Northwestern  (Jacksonville, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN2
Tax preparation website.

Heart of Dallas Bowl:  Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  (Dallas, TX  1/1/13)  ESPNU
Non-profit for local charities.

Outback Bowl:  South Carolina vs. Michigan  (Tampa, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Restaurant chain.

Capital One Bowl:  Georgia vs. Nebraska  (Orlando, FL  1/1/13)  ABC
Financial services.

Rose Bowl Game Presented By Vizio:  Wisconsin vs. Stanford  (Pasadena, CA  1/1/13)  ESPN
Consumer electronics.

Discover Orange Bowl:  Northern Illinois vs. Florida State  (Miami, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Credit cards.

Allstate Sugar Bowl:  Louisville vs. Florida  (New Orleans, LA  1/2)  ESPN
Insurance.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:  Oregon vs. Kansas State  (Glendale, AZ  1/3)  ESPN
Snack food.

AT&T Cotton Bowl:  Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma  (Arlington, TX  1/4)  Fox
Communications giant.

BBVA Compass Bowl:  Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi  (Birmingham, AL  1/5)  ESPN
Financial services.

GoDaddy.com Bowl:  Kent State vs. Arkansas State  (Mobile, AL  1/6)  ESPN
Domain name registration.

Discover BCS National Championship Game:  Notre Dame vs. Alabama  (Miami, FL  1/7)  ESPN
Credit cards.   

Ski-U-Blah

English: Logo for the University of Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The University of Minnesota football team finished this season at .500.  That's six wins and six losses.  These days, that's good enough to go to a post-season bowl game, whether the Gophers deserve one or not.

Four of Minnesota's six wins came against non-conference opponents such as Nevada-Las Vegas and Syracuse.  All six losses came against Big Ten conference opponents such as Nebraska and Wisconsin.  For the umpteenth year, the Gophers were shut out of such trophies as Floyd of Rosedale by Iowa, Paul Bunyan's Axe by Wisconsin, and the Little Brown Jug by Michigan.  It's a sign that they simply cannot compete with the big boys of college football.  But then, we knew that.  It's been 50 years since the Gophers last went to a Rose Bowl.

In his second season, coach Jerry Kill deserves credit for doing the most with what he had.  Take the quarterback situation.  Star senior MarQueis Gray went down with an injury.  When backup QB Max Shortell also got injured, Kill took freshman Phillip Nelson off redshirt status and made him starter.  After Gray returned, he was relegated to the backfield where NFL scouts figured he might be more useful.

Off the field, it's been a different story.  At the strong urging of Kill, new athletic director Norwood Teague defined himself as a yes-man by agreeing to cancel a two-game, home-and-home series with North Carolina, because apparently the Tar Heels aren't the pushovers the coach would have liked.  Instead they signed New Mexico State.  The decision cost the University $800,000.  Gee, wouldn't it be weird if, for some reason, North Carolina were to join the Big Ten?

Then there's A.J. Barker, who was the Gophers' wide receiver before leaving the team in a huff.  He took to social media complaining about how Kill and his coaching staff were treating him, alleging that they were abusive and that one of the coaches yelled a gay slur at him.  Until further details emerge, it's just Barker's word against Kill's.

Finally, there's the elephant in the room concerning Kill's health.  He's epileptic and has been known to have had seizures, sometimes during games.  He had one of those episodes recently at halftime of the Michigan State game, and didn't come out for the second half in the game the Gophers ultimately lost to the Spartans. 

Like we said before, Kill deserves credit for bringing Gopher football to something resembling respectability.  The University is standing by him now in the wake of his latest epileptic episode.  But how long can they afford to keep Kill around when his health is a day-to-day issue, which becomes a big distraction when it comes to his players, his recruiting and the program's reputation?  Epilepsy may be a manageable physical condition, but perceptions speak louder than words.

The Minnesota Gophers have one more football game to play this season, and it will likely be in either Dallas or Houston.  Neither of them are Pasadena on New Year's Day.  But it's a start.

The Big 14 Conference

English: Big Ten Conference logo since 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's time once again for the major powers in college sports to do the conference shuffle.  This time, it's the Big Ten Conference. 

Having just added Nebraska in 2011 and splitting itself into "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions (because "East" and "West" are so 20th century), the conference decided it needed to become more relevant in a world where the best talent is staying in the south and west, and because they have a financially lucrative TV channel to program.

So the Big Ten is looking east, adding Maryland from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Rutgers from the Big East starting in 2014.  This means the conference will soon grow from 12 to 14 schools (the name "Big Ten" long ago lost its meaning when Penn State became the 11th member in the mid-1990s).

If the rumors are true, there may be more members on the way.  Kansas, Georgia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina are being mentioned as possible additions.

Maryland and Rutgers aren't exactly on a par with Michigan and Ohio State as far as athletic prowess goes.  (More like Purdue and Northwestern)  Instead, those schools were chosen for their proximity to major TV markets such as New York, Washington and Baltimore.  Oh, and both Maryland and Rutgers' athletic programs were having financial problems before the Big Ten gravy train came around.

To be brutally honest, the Big Ten is compensating in numbers for what they could not have in prestige.  By that, we mean that they failed to get Notre Dame.  They recently signed on as a member of the ACC in  every sport except football and hockey.  It's the football part Notre Dame wants to keep independent, so they can keep playing what they consider to be "quality" institutions of learning such as the service academies and Southern California, as well as having NBC pay millions to televise the Irish's home games.  It must be working, because Notre Dame is apparently going to play for the BCS national championship in January.

The Big Ten ought to think more about the competitiveness in its own back yard when it comes to football.  It's not as balanced as, let's say, the Southeastern Conference.  Its best team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, just completed an undefeated season.  But they can't go to a bowl because some former players got caught exchanging uniforms for tattoos.

Neither can Penn State, which surprised everyone this season by playing as well as they did under the shadow of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.  They won't be bowl-eligible for five years.

Instead, in the conference championship game at Indianapolis Saturday, we have Legends division winner Nebraska battling for a spot in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, who finished behind Ohio State and Penn State in the Leaders division.

Most of all, the more schools the Big Ten keeps adding, the more ridiculous its name sounds.  They should just call themselves The BIG Conference, and be done with it.

License To Get Gouged

Minnesota Vikings logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Months after Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature worked out a deal for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium in Minneapolis, and months before construction is scheduled to begin, storm clouds are gathering over the nearly billion dollar stadium.

The Governor is upset because the Vikings are considering charging thousands of dollars more for certain seats to help pay for the new stadium, undermining his vision of a "people's stadium".  He's threatening to undo the deal itself if nothing's done about it.

The plan is called Personal Seat Licenses (PSL), also known as a Stadium Builders' License.  It's a one-time fee that gives the holder the right to buy season passes for, let's say, seats around the 50-yard line before he even purchases the season passes.

PSLs are just standard operating procedure in the National Football League, with 17 of its franchises using it to help pay for their new or refurbished football palaces.  Some teams, such as the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys are charging up to five or six figures.

What's strange about this is that Dayton and the Vikings had already agreed to PSLs in the stadium bill, so he doesn't really have a leg to stand on..  The team hasn't even decided if they want to do this or not, because they're in the middle of a survey asking season ticket holders what they think of it.

Should the Vikings decide to issue PSLs, they would first have to get permission from the newly-created stadium bill (which is made up of political appointees chosen by Governor Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak).  If they get the go-ahead, the team likely won't charge as much as the Jets, 49ers and Cowboys.

Another issue the Governor has a bone to pick with the Vikings about is the team's apparent willingness to take its home games on the road, which takes money out of the state's pocket.  The Vikings are scheduled to play a regular season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London next year, part of the NFL's ongoing marketing of American football in Europe.  (The Buffalo Bills already play two games a year in nearby Toronto.)  The league would like to expand the number of games in London to two a year, so the Vikings may be asked back in 2014.

Zygi Wilf, who owns the Vikings, has every right to conduct his business as he sees fit.  But charging for an artificial concept and taking your act across the Atlantic Ocean doesn't endear you to the folks who already pay hefty fees for tickets, parking and refreshments while being forced to sit behind a drunken dolt in purple makeup who stands and yells the entire game.  Not to mention sitting on your hands during endless time outs for TV commercials and replay reviews.

That's why most of us who won't be able to afford to go to a game in the "people's stadium" are perfectly content to park ourselves in front of giant high-definition screens, even though we'll be paying for the stadium ourselves through taxes.  When you get right down to it, isn't this really what the NFL is all about?