#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). The only team this week to win more than one game. Specifically they won two games and dropped two games. I bore witness to one of those losses: The first-ever game at Target Field. The stadium looks awesome. It's certainly much better than the Metrodome. Now, if we should have spent $450 million to build it, that's another matter. At least the Gophers can now play at the Dome and away from Siebert Field, although that old ballpark has its own charm.
Anyway, they didn't do themselves or our new stadium any justice; they got drubbed there 9-1, scoring that lone run in the bottom of the ninth on give-'em-sumpin' effort by the first-ever winners at Target Field, Louisiana Tech. Great for them, and it was interesting to see a baseball team you don't get to see every day. But only that team showed up. They did beat the Bulldogs on Friday and defeat Concordia-Moorhead at the Dome on Wednesday. The begin Big Ten play this week with three at Purdue.
#-2: Swarm (Re-Entry!). A 1-1 weekend. It was important that they clipped off that win at Calgary, even if they lost all their piss the next night in a loss to Edmonton. The good news is that the playoff race may be over already; the 4th-place Swarm are three games up on Colorado for the final spot in the Western Conference playoff chase. They host Edmonton Saturday.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). They won only one game this week, but I was at the one game they won, which ended their losing streak at 16 and averted setting a franchise-worst record; that's why I put them above the Wild. It was far from a perfect game and I can see that there'd be a talent and chemistry if the Woofie Dogs faced any contender. But I have to say that I was impressed by Darko Milicic in this game. He and Al Jefferson (and you can throw in Kevin Love too) play just about the same position, but if Donnie Darko really commits to rebounding more and scoring less, can he slide into the center spot and free Big Al to play the 4, his natural position? OK, a guy can dream.
They lost to Orlando and Phoenix this week as well, so no, they're nowhere near where they should be. This week: a weekend backer-to-backer (home to Miami then at the Bastard Seattle SuperSonics Easter Evening? On consecutive nights?? Specifically less than 24 hours between games???), then Wednesday hosting Golden State and another great rookie, Stephen Curry. I have tickets to this game and am looking forward to see my friend's debacle of a squad.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -1). This isn't the end, but you can see it from here. They are nine points from the Bastard Quebec Nordiques and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, so if anybody sneezes tonight, the Wild are out. That's what you get when you reel off yet another 1-2 week like they did in beating Los Angeles but getting the shit kicked out of them by two playoff teams, Detroit and Chicago (the latter being at home Wednesday night by a score of 4-0). They still can't score, they just can't.
For the Wild to even have a chance they have to win every single game on their schedule from here on out. Tonight they host conference-leading San Jose ... OK, not gonna happen. They also take one final road trip to the Western Provinces this week -- at Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. They'll be taking the same trip this week their co-tenants, the Swarm, did last week. Funny.
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