#-1 (tie): Wild and Timberwolves (Re-Entry!, Re-Entry!): News about the dramatic breaking away from the mediocrity of the past -- plus the current mediocrity of the only two professional teams playing right now -- put these two franchises at rest on top. But the move each team made this week plant a lot of questions in my mind on whether it was the right thing to do.
First, the Wild. New General Manager Chuck Fletcher's decision to hire San Jose Assistant Coach Todd Richards is a great PR move -- he's a native Minnesotan and was a great Defenseman for the Gophers. They've known each other since Richards was a minor-league coach in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. And Richards will dump once and for all Jacque Lemaire's defensive-minded play and implement Fletch's philosophy of open skating and attacking. But isn't he a little green? He has one year of coaching in the Big Ice; he moved up to the Sharks just last year after a successful stint with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Is it possible that Fletcher's taking a guy who needs a bit more seasoning at the major-league level?
Two of the other three guys considered finalists for the job, Peter Laviolette and Craig MacTavish, not only have been a head coach before (with Carolina and Edmonton, respectively), but they met in the '06 Stanley Cup Finals (where Laviolette and the Bastard Hartford Whalers won). The team needs to undergo an overhaul, but should the coach learn on the job as the squad gets younger as well? Besides, this is the NHL, where coaches are fired willy-nilly and it doesn't matter. Look at Fletcher's old club; Pittsburgh hoisted the cup with Dan Bylsma, who's technically an interim coach after Ray Shero, the Pens' current GM (and Fletch's old boss) shitcanned Michel Therrien on the Ides Of February. Where did Bylsma work when he was hired? At Wilkes-Barre/Scranton; he replaced Todd Richards. Now that I think of it, maybe hiring Richards ain't the worst idea. OK, maybe I'm thinking of an assitant coach with more years as an assistant, like the fourth finalist, current Detroit AC Paul MacLean. Or, maybe I should give this guy a chance. What's going to happen next year with the Wild might not be better, but it'll be a breath of fresh air.
As for the Wolves, the first reaction to the news that Kevin McHale has been fired as Head Coach should be "Good Fucking Riddance!!!" And the second reaction should be "Good Fucking Riddance!!!" But I have some doubts about this move, too. It's sad to have some part of me think that this may not be a good idea. The track record as an executive itself warranted MacHale's dismissal long ago. He just got lucky that Owner Glen Taylor let him seek a new challenge, and he somehow got some success with being a Head Coach.
Which leads me to my trepidation about the firing: While this will do wonders for public relations for a team that is running fourth in this sports town, it's the players who are now kind of pissed off that McFail has been run out. For some reason I can't link to a Twitter page here, so I'll tell you that the news broke overnight early Wednesday by Kevin Love tweeting, and he was, um, crestfallen. There is now a situation where the players have a diametrically opposing view of the Head Coach than the paying public. I could be wrong, but some of the pieces are in place for this team to get appreciably better next season. What happens if the team doesn't like the new guy? You could say that the team has to follow whichever guy David Kahn selects to replace him, and you can say that this team isn't good enough to bitch about the firing, and I can see that. But it's truly fascinating how every move this cursed team makes is fraught with doubt and uncertainty and justified second-guessing.
Read this SI.com article by former Star Tribune Wolves writer Steve Aschburner. It breaks down the behind-the-scene how and why behind the dismissal. My sole disagreement with his opinion is that he somehow gives weight to McHale's record over parts of two seasons as a reason he should be retained. Doesn't matter; like I said, if the players you choose can't play, you don't get a chance to coach them yourself, you get fired. But at the end of it all, maybe I'm starting to see the positivity and the good way he treated the people he worked with at the Timberwolves, and I just feel sorry for the guy. Guess I'll quietly break down the paiper-mache McHale I was going to hang in effigy.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -2). A 4-3 week after Nick Blackburn's complete-game, 5-1 shutout of the Pirates this afternoon (that's not a typo; that's how the Twins website describes it, at least for a while). I'd be higher on the team if they swept them, but I was at that shit game last night (Wednesday) where they got their asses kicked (by the Pirates!!!) 8-2. It's not as if starter Francisco Liriano pitched bad; he went six innings and struck out seven. But his two mistakes were two two-run homers. But then Jason Kubel and Joe Crede left the bases loaded in the seventh. And then Sean Henn and Luis Ayala pissed away any chance the team had of coming back. And then Delmon Young, whom I'm feeling as sorry for as I do McFail because his career is frittering away fast, bounced one down the third-base line right in front of Michael Cuddyer and later hit into a double play. They have been .500 forever, and their best-in-the-majors record in interleague play isn't helping at all. Three vs. Houston, then three at Milwaukee. Six very gettable games -- and they'll need all of them to convince me they have any chance to play to October.
#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -1). The wheels are starting to come off this train. The perfect season is ruined with a loss at home to Seattle, and on Wednesday they get throttled by Phoenix by 24, giving the Lynx a 1-2 record for the week. Even worse, reigning Player Of The Week Seimone Augustus sprained her knee in last night's loss to the LifeLock; no word yet on how she's doing, but after the game Coach Jen Gillom said "it doesn't look good." Uh-oh. At Seattle Friday, home to New York Tuesday.
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