Wolves 2013-14: Life Below .500

The current Minnesota Timberwolves logo (2008-present) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Timberwolves ended their NBA season with a double overtime loss to the Utah Jazz Wednesday night at Target Center, 136-130.

At 40-42, this is the Wolves' best record since the 2004-05 season.  But they've also gone a full decade without reaching the playoffs.  A lot of us checked out when it became apparent that the only thing the team was playing for was to get to a .500 record.  And they didn't even do that.

So now the Wolves face another off-season of uncertainty.  The most immediate concern is who is going to coach this team.  Unless we hear differently, Rick Adelman has coached his 1791st and last NBA game with a 1042-749 mark to show for it.  During his career, he's worked wonders in Portland, Houston, Golden State and Sacramento.  Coaching the Wolves, however, has proven that his magic only went so far.

Then there's the Kevin Love question.  Should he stay in Minnesota another year before heading off to a contender in free agency, or should he be traded?  The Wolves, given their history, are flirting with disaster on this one.  If Love waves bye-bye, they risk getting nothing in return.  If he is traded, the Wolves stand a good chance of getting some past-his-prime player and/or draft picks that seldom work out.

Is there life for the Timberwolves beyond reaching the elusive .500 mark, and maybe offering its dwindling base of fans some hope for the future?  Only owner Glen Taylor (soon to be a newspaper publisher) and team president Flip Saunders seem to know the answers.  For a franchise that's generally considered to be the worst in the NBA, they'd better be the right ones.

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This is who we think will be playing for the NBA title come June:  Miami vs. San Antonio.

The Husky Basketball Double

English: University of Connecticut head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma during a game against the University of Texas on March 23, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For only the second time, the University of Connecticut's men's and women's basketball teams have won national titles.

The women's team was a bit more expected, completing an undefeated season with a 79-58 rout of Notre Dame (also previously undefeated) at the NCAA championship game in Nashville.  Breanna Stewart led the Huskies with 21 points and nine rebounds as the player of the game.  This was the ninth national title for coach Geno Auriemma, unprecedented in women's basketball and approaching John Wooden territory.

The night before, the men's team defeated Kentucky 60-54 for the national title in Arlington, Texas.  This was the Huskies' fourth championship, and the third in the state of Texas (San Antonio in 2004, Houston in 2011).  Shabazz Napier was the game's best player with 22 points.

You recall that Warren Buffett offered a million bucks to the one who got all the brackets to the NCAA men's tournament right?  Safest bet he ever made.  Absolutely no one got it right as upsets took down the top-seeded teams to the point where the championship game became a matchup of the lowest-seeded teams ever:  #7 Connecticut vs. #8 Kentucky.  Lower seeds with championship pedigree, that is.

The Huskies and the Wildcats both had something to prove Monday night besides the seeding.  For the Huskies, they were coming off an NCAA-imposed one year ban for lack of academic performance--a fact Napier tried to get across in his post-game comments before CBS cut him off.  For Kentucky, coach John Calipari tried to win another title using freshman players who are in college only because they needed a year before NBA teams can draft them.

Yes, basketball rules in Storrs, Connecticut, home to the University of Connecticut.  If they can keep it up in the classroom as well as on the court, they'll be the envy of everyone.  That includes both genders.

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The University of Minnesota men's basketball team couldn't overcome their mediocrity in the first season for coach Richard Pitino, having been passed over by the NCAA again for an invitation to their tournament.  But the Gophers made up for it by winning the National Invitation Tournament in New York, defeating Southern Methodist for the championship at Madison Square Garden.  How much difference it will make for next season remains to be seen.

The women's team has hired Marlene Stollings, who spent three seasons at Virginia Commonwealth (where, not coincidentally, athletic director Norwood Teague hails from), to be its new basketball coach.  Stollings replaces Pam Borton, who was fired after 12 seasons in a case of "what have you done for me lately".  The Gophers haven't seen the NCAA tournament in several years, and is in danger of Rachel Banham (the Big 10's leading scorer) going through her entire college career without a post-season to show for it.  Maybe Stollings can help do something about that.

Twins 2014: Wait 'til Next Year

English: Minneapolis, Minn. (July 17, 2006) - Minnesota Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire the Minnesota Twins vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays game. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Twins will not be worth watching this season.  Maybe in 2015 or '16, who knows.  But not this season.

The baseball experts say this team is a shoo-in for another 90+ loss season.  The Twins have plenty of young talent, but most of those players are simply not ready to make the big move up from the minors.  Until then, the Pohlads have opened up the checkbook to bolster the pitching staff, and they came up with veterans Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes.  They have also kept manager Ron Gardenhire and most of his coaching staff.

Joe Mauer, the Face of the Franchise, is moving to first base in a career-extending move.  Being an MVP catcher has its advantages, but he got knocked in the head once too often, which meant that he was often out on the disabled list with concussion symptoms.  Thus the move to first, where the Twins could use his bat for nearly every game.  Replacing him behind the plate is Kurt Suzuki

The rest of the offense does not inspire confidence, with Brian Dozier, Josh Willingham, Aaron Hicks and others struggling to put runs on the board.  But fear not.  Jason Kubel has returned to the Twins after stints in Arizona and Cleveland, and if he's anywhere near the ballplayer he was in the 2000s, then it's money well spent.  Don't you think?

The upgrade in the pitching staff might mean less need for the bullpen, now led by Glen Perkins as its closer.  But you have to wonder how effective starters Nolasco, Hughes and Mike Pelfrey are going to be against guys who can hit, as opposed to keeping the Twins in the game when their teammates' bats fail them.

Target Field is hosting the MLB All-Star Game this July, and that will be a great chance for folks to see so much talent in one game in one place.   As for the rest of this season, the only talent you're likely to see is the opposition while everyone else in Twins Territory twiddles their thumbs and waits patiently for the Team of the Future.

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Elsewhere in Major League Baseball:

Alex Rodriguez will not be in a New York Yankees uniform this season.  Or maybe ever.

The season has already started with two games in Sydney, Australia between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, both won by baseball's newest highest-paid team.

Wrigley Field turns 100 this year.  The Chicago Cubs have been waiting longer than that to win a
World Series.

This is the last season for Vin Scully as the voice of the Dodgers.  The last season for Derek Jeter as a Yankee.  And the last season for Bud Selig as baseball's defacto commissioner.

There are new TV deals with ESPN, Fox and TBS.  There will be more games on cable (with the addition of Fox Sports 1) and fewer on broadcast.  But the All-Star Game and World Series will continue to be on Fox.

Our division projections:

American League

East:  Tampa Bay Rays

Central:  Detroit Tigers

West:  Oakland Athletics

Wild Card:  Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians

National League

East:  Atlanta Braves

Central:  St. Louis Cardinals

West:  Los Angeles Dodgers

Wild Card:  Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks

There's No "Me" In Sportsmanship, Is There?

On March 13, Hopkins defeated Shakopee 49-46 in four overtimes in the semifinal of the Minnesota Class 4A Boys Basketball Tournament in Minneapolis.  A Hopkins player hit the game-winning shot from half court at the buzzer in the fourth overtime, a play that has been run countless times on sports highlight shows.

What America didn't see was what led up to the big shot.  Toward the end of regulation and for the first three overtimes, a Hopkins player stood in the offensive zone with a basketball tucked under his arm, not moving until there were only a few seconds left so his team could take the last shot.  No attempt was made by Shakopee's players to come out of their zone defense, and at least try to foul the Hopkins player.  The Target Center crowd booed unmercifully.

This may have been bad sportsmanship on the coaches' part for using such a stalling tactic, but it's perfectly legal.  Minnesota is one of several states that do not use a shot clock for high school basketball.

But that wasn't all for Hopkins, whose reputation as a glorified all-star team of transfers took a big hit during this tournament.  Following a last-second loss to Lakeville North 84-82 for the 4A championship, some of the players who had just been awarded second-place medals immediately removed them in disgust.

We preach sportsmanship and fair play to so-called student athletes because of this fantasy we all have, sitting in the stands and on the couches, that playing sports will make us better people if we congratulated our opponents for a job well done and by accepting defeat graciously.

That's not how it is for the young athletes, for whom sportsmanship and fair play have long ago taken a back seat.  From the moment they are able to dribble or throw a ball, they have had their entire childhoods (with the exception of schoolwork) devoted to strenuous practice and pressure from coaches and parents to perform at the highest level.  How they develop is often the difference between a scholarship to a major Division I program that might lead to a megabucks pro contract, and a job flipping burgers at McDonalds.

If you are a young athlete whose home situation is so desperate that you need the scholarship and pro contract to help out your family and to get ahead in the world, second place is not gonna cut it.  Failure is not an option.  Nice guys finish last.

It is often said that kids imitate the behavior of the adults around them.  All they have to do is to turn on the TV or their smartphone.  Players who use performance-enhancing substances.  Racial and sexual slurs in the locker room and on the field.  Showing off in the end zone.  Trash talking on social media.  Coaches who freeze the kicker after the ball sails through the uprights.  Need we go on?

Perhaps the Hopkins players might have been "inspired" (if that's the word) by the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team, who lost the gold medal game in overtime to Canada at the Winter Games in Sochi, then pouted as they received their silver medals.  Or how about the 1972 American Olympic men's basketball team?  To this day, not one of those players has accepted their silver medals after a controversial loss to the then-Soviet Union, who won the gold medal at the Summer Games in Munich.

Selfish behavior?  Yes.  Understandable in the heat of the moment?  Yes.  Is this what we want our youth to emulate?  Certainly not.  But they're going to do it anyway.

So don't blame the young man if he throws his second-place "thanks for competing" medal in the garbage after a close defeat.  Blame the adults in his life who brought him to this point.

Arthur Chu Is Out of "Jeopardy"

Jeopardy Sign - CES09 (Photo credit: justin_levy)

In "Jeopardy"'s 50 years on TV, few contestants have been as controversial as Arthur Chu, who just completed a 12-day run on the quiz show with a grand total of $297,200. 

Chu is the actor and freelance voiceover artist from Ohio who just might have created the template for future players to win at "Jeopardy", even if it cheeses off longtime viewers.  His method was to seek the bottom of the "Jeopardy" board (where the most money is) to find the hidden "Daily Double", instead of the usual route of going category by category.  Oh, and it also helps to be quick on the signaling device and knowing the correct question to the answer.  By the time "Final Jeopardy" arrived, Chu was usually so far ahead of his opponents that it really didn't matter whether he answered correctly or not.

Chu came across to some viewers as this smug, condescending punk who ruined the game of "Jeopardy" as they knew it.  Not only is this a racist sentiment (Chu is of Asian descent), but it also teaches us that winners are not always nice people.  We've known that at least since the days of Vince Lombardi.

Chu's reign on the show lasted 12 days, which might have seemed longer because of breaks for special tournaments, until he finally met his Waterloo on the episode that aired March 12.  Trailing for much of the game, he missed on "Final Jeopardy"  in response to the answer of who was the last British monarch who wasn't Prince of Wales.  The correct response was:  Who was George VI?  A woman named Diana Peloquin of Ann Arbor, Michigan got that right.  Her reign as "Jeopardy" champ was brief, lasting only into the next episode.

Chu has nothing on Ken Jennings.  His run on "Jeopardy" back in 2004 netted $2.5 million over 74 consecutive appearances before losing on his 75th.  Jennings has since returned to the show a few times to compete in tournaments, including one in which he matched wits with an IBM computer named Watson.

"Jeopardy", which premiered on NBC in 1964, was created by talk show host Merv Griffin, who was also responsible for "Wheel of Fortune".  The current Alex Trebek-hosted syndicated version is now in its 30th season.

So, going forward, will other contestants follow Arthur Chu's lead and hop around the "Jeopardy" board to get as much money as they possibly can?  Or will the producers tinker with the format and make things tougher for those who try?  As long as the show doesn't resort to Chu competing against  Jennings or a computer, the answers to those can only be in the form of a question.

Wild 2013-14: After Sochi, What?

Minnesota Wild (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Winter Olympics are over, and so is the Minnesota Wild's three-week break.  They returned to NHL action Thursday night with a 3-0 shutout win over the lowly Oilers at Edmonton.

The Wild are presently 32-21-7 totaling 71 points, which puts them fourth in the reconstituted NHL Central division, and seventh in the Western Conference.  They are at least five points ahead of a number of teams battling for one of the last playoff spots.  Once they get there, then they'll have the distinct pleasure of facing the Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues or Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.

Before the Olympic break, the Wild have been meandering through another so-so season where people expected so much more from them.  They have a very good home record, but that's negated by having one of the worst road records in the league.  Coach Mike Yeo's job status came into question when the Wild teetered on the brink of disaster during the holiday season.  But after winning a few key games in January, nobody's talking about firing Yeo right now.

Part of the reason why the Wild have been underachieving has been injuries and illness in the goaltending corps.  Josh Harding has issues with MS.  Niklas Backstrom (not to be confused with the Washington Capitals player who was kicked out of the Winter Olympics for failing a drug test prior to his Swedish team's gold medal game against Canada) is recovering from an abdominal injury.  Which leaves them with rookie Darcy Kuemper, who has played well since being called up from the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League.  Unless Backstrom gets healthy or the Wild can swing a deal to get a veteran goalie before the trade deadline March 5, Kuemper can look forward to spending a lot more time in St. Paul than in Des Moines.

It will be a few more weeks before we know if the Wild are a playoff team or not.  They need to play better on the road and against division opponents, since that's where the bulk of the remaining schedule will be.  They need to stay healthy, which is not an easy task.  And they need to stay focused on winning games in regulation time, instead of going through the charade of a five-minute overtime period just to risk an extra point in the shootout.

The Minnesota Wild took that first step forward in Edmonton Thursday.  How many more will follow?

Hot. Cold. Sochi.: Conclusion

English: Skyline of Sochi, Russia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Olympic Winter Games of 2014 are now over.  No incidents warranting breaking news coverage.  The 'ring of steel' around Sochi, Russia has held.  And everyone will be going back to business as usual soon enough.

The Russians topped the medal chart with 13 golds, 11 silver and nine bronze for a grand total of 33.  That should more than make up for the men's hockey team's failure to medal, and to keep President Vladimir Putin happy.  The United States finished second with 28 (nine gold, seven silver, 12 bronze), Norway third with 26 and Canada with 25.

The Americans had a pretty good Olympics, considering that some of their high profile athletes were big flops when it counted.  No medals in speed skating or individual figure skating, where they had done well in the past.  A silver in women's hockey.  The men's team picked the wrong moment for its offense to disappear, getting shut out by Canada and Finland in their last two games to return home without a medal.

But there was at least one new American star in the closing days of the Games:  Mikaela Shiffrin, at 18, became the youngest American to win gold in the women's slalom event.

Canada shut out Sweden 3-0 to win its ninth men's ice hockey gold medal, and the third since professionals were allowed to compete.  Hope you enjoyed the tournament, because the National Hockey League is seriously considering pulling its players from future Olympics.  NHL owners are weary of shutting down during the regular season so that a few players can travel halfway around the world, risking injuries that might prove costly for their teams' playoff chances.   Can you imagine amateurs from the United States and Canada going up against Russian professionals?  Oh wait, that's why the NHL'ers were brought in in the first place.

Another figure skating controversy erupted when Adelina Satrikova won gold for Russia in the women's final, with defending Olympic champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea coming up silver.  If you listened to enough figure skating experts, you can believe that either Satrikova won fair and square or was the beneficiary of a home-country decision among the anonymous judges.  Figure skating is a subjective sport, no?  Well, it depends on who is doing the subjecting.

Now a word for one of the Olympic sponsors:  McDonalds spent billions to promote its brand during the Games.  So how could they imply in their ads that a gold medal tastes just like a Chicken McNugget?  Yuck.

As Sochi fades into the rear view mirror, the focus shifts to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea and the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.  No controversies there, right?  Right?