#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Let's give it up for the Woofie Dogs! They went 3-1 over the past week, and the amazing thing is, they won all of their road games! (Although they got demolished at home to Denver on Sunday.) And they completed a back-to-back road sweep at the Clippers and Golden State the last two nights. The competition wasn't all that good, but did you expect the Wolves to win both? Kevin Love continues to impress; last night he notched his 27th double-double of the season. But wouldn't you know it, as soon as the Timberwolves start playing well the season's over! This is the last week: home to Phoenix, at Dallas, and home to Sacramento on Wednesday night.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). Go 3-2 for the week. Seems as if it's only in college baseball where you can clobber someone 16-3 (like they did in winning the season series against Ohio State Sunday at the Dome) and get clobbered by someone 20-5 (like they did at Missouri on Wednesday, splitting two) in the same week. Good news: A.J. Pettersen was named Co-Big Ten Player Of The Week for the Buckeyes series. Bad news: The Gophers fell out of the Baseball America Top 25 poll. Good news: They are now 30th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll. Do you need a poll that goes to 30? They play five this week, all in the Twin Cities area: Northwestern, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and South Dakota State.
#-3: Twins (New!). A wave of nostalgia washes over me and other Twins fans as they play in the Metrodome for the last time. (Mark my words: There will be a snowout for the opener at the new ballpark next year.) They begin the year splitting four with Seattle. Nothing needing pointing out beyond the fact that they were humbled this afternoon by fuckin' Jarrod Washburn, of all people. They're at the White Sox for three, then at home vs. Toronto for four.
#-4: Swarm (Last Week: -4). For a mediocre MLL team, last week's results are what you expect: A loss at San Jose, then a win at home against Edmonton, both teams competing with Minnesota for a playoff spot. The Swarm is tied with San Jose and Colorado for third and fourth place (with Edmonton a game behind). What's even more complicating is their lone game Saturday against second-place Portland, who are only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Swarm. MLL apparently is like the NHL, of which the local team (the Wild) share something besides the X: Playing in a league where you're never really out of a playoff spot, even if you don't necessarily deserve it.
#-5: Lynx (New!). You think that with the Internet, you can find anything online. Turns out that there's no WNBA Draft analysis anywhere. What's that, you say? Yes, the WNBA Draft was this afternoon. I did read that earlier this week, I honestly forgot till now. Anyway, not that I'm an expert, but I'd rather take Courtney Paris at #4 than Renee Montgomery, even if she played for the undefeated UConn Lady Huskies. In the second round they took Rashanda McCants, the sister of Rashad McCants. Do the Lynx people know her brother doesn't play here any more, or is this another of Glen Taylor's "oversights?" And I don't have anything against Megan Fox, but the Lynx picked her because the local women's pro basketball team wanted to do a solid for the local women's college basketball team.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -2). By rule, the Wild's 2-1 weekly record should put them higher on the survey. But let's face it, even with wins over Calgary and, even sweeter, The Team That Was Stolen From Us, they're not going to make the playoffs. Marian Hossa's last-minute goal in the loss to Detroit hurt, but even with that the Wild would maybe be two or even three points from eighth place. Tie-breakers and what-if scenarios are too complex to explain for the NHL, but I'll believe this: If Anaheim and St. Louis both gain one more point, the Wild are done. And their last two games of the regular season are no gimmes. Tomorrow they host Nashville, who actually are one point ahead of Minnesota and still in the playoff chase. Worse yet, they have to fly to Columbus (the BJ's just clinched their first-ever playoff spot) and finish the season Saturday night. A loss should usher in a badly-needed overhaul of this entire franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment