#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2). For managing to get a split in one of the best volleyball programs in the country. On Thursday and Friday the team made good on fulfilling the back end of their home-and-home series with fourth-ranked Texas.
Last year, the Longhorns came up to the Sports Pavilion and swept them. On Thursday, they managed to beat Texas in four sets, blasting them at 13 in the second set and, losing to them at 27 in the third, and, determined not to let the home crowd buoy the Longhorns in a fifth and deciding set, got stretched to extra points but finally closing out the game in the fourth set, 29-27. They ended the Volleyball Nation's longest home winning streak at 33 matches. The Longhorns last lost at home on Sep. 4, 2010, this marks only their third home defeat since 2007.
And even the loss the following night wasn't all that bad; they lost their three sets at 20, 22 and 21 points. That may show that they couldn't finish that game, but at least it showed that they weren't going to get blown out, either.
They come home for a quick home date Monday against North Dakota St. They then travel to Oklahoma for the fourth and final tournament to open the season, the Tulsa Tournament; the U. plays Dayton and Kansas St. Friday and the host Golden Hurricane Saturday afternoon.
#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -1). A 1-1 week. I was able to get to the Labor Afternoon victory over Western Kentucky, even though one member of the Hilltopper crowd (read: families of the players) was shouting that Katie Thyken was offside when she tallied the only goal of the game at Minute 52.
However, I was not able to get to Friday night's matchup against 20th-ranked San Diego St. as part of their Minnesota Gold Classic. That turned out to be a good thing. The Goofs held the shot advantage 18-12, 11 of those coming in the first half. Nevertheless they and the Aztecs went to overtime scoreless.
In the first minute, U. Goalie Cat Parkhill muffed an SDSU cross. The ball bounced towards the goal and a gaggle of players on both teams. According to the Gopher press release a "flick fight ensued," conjuring in my mind images of the times I was in kindergarten or elementary school, when we had Phy. Ed., and when we were playing soccer all us boys wanted to do was kick the ball into the goal but we didn't know how, so we just surrounded the soccer ball and tried to leg-hack our way to personal glory. I guess that's what happened in this instance, and the girl who brought home all the glory was Aztec Megan Jurado.
They close their tournament, and the non-con portion of their schedule, this (Sunday) afternoon (right in the middle of the Vikings game) versus DePaul.
#-3: Gopher football (Last Week: -3). There is no advantage to scheduling these "bodybag" games beyond the money the University of Minnesota made (including, for the first time, beer sales; the Goofs are the first team in the B1G to sell alcohol and only the 11th in top-flight). You lose, as this program has done too many times to the North and South Dakota States, you're perceived as a joke. If you win, you're supposed to win.
Well shit, at least they didn't lose. MarQueis Gray played well in thrashing New Hampshire, 44-7. They did go "undefeated" this week, but really, this win shouldn't really count. The next one will, if only because it is a top-flight program: Mid-American Conference member Western Michigan, at TCF Bank, Friday afternoon.
#-4: Twins (Last Week: -4). A 2-4 screening week. Saturday the squad retired the #10 of Tom Kelly, the Manager who led the team to its only two World Series titles. Usually that means the home team will lose, but Cole DeVries led the Twinks to a 3-0 win over Cleveland, only their fifth shutout of the year.
One thing I want to talk about real quick. I've heard some talk that Justin Morneau should be traded. I understand, and I would not object. I just want to say that when you are a baseball team, under an economic system where you have a lot of latitude in spending what you want in order to win, it will take several years to go from the outhouse to the penthouse. So it makes absolutely no sense to hoard your best players. It's a lose-lose situation; the franchise can't get any younger in the hopes of becoming a contender in the future, and the star dies in the vine, racking up individual stats but carrying the burden of being part of a losing team.
But hoarding is the issue, not completely trading away all your best players. I really do think that fan relations is important in maintaining any relevance, let alone popularity, with the community that keeps you in business. And that means you have to keep someone -- probably only one, maybe two or three -- on the team during its losing years. There will be fans that stop caring, but there will always be baseball fans that continue to come out to the ballpark night after losing night. You need someone they will come out for, someone whom kids can grow up with, adults whom they can grow old with. It may suck for the star player because they'll be mired on a loser for the prime years of his career. But I assume that he is a star once he signed a huge contract with that team.
Obviously I'm referring to Joe Mauer. His contract is so fucking huge the Twinks probably couldn't trade him anyway (well, maybe the Dodgers). But this team is already bombarded with catcalls, accusations of betrayal and, finally, apathy. To prevent a riot, you need what amounts to be a good guy, one that will always be there come Spring Training. And for all the talk that he doesn't take rehab seriously, or chatter that he secretly is an asshole, the Twins cannot trade Mauer ... well, unless that team gives them, like, their top five prospects in their system. Short of that, Mauer has to stay in Minnesota for the life of his long contract.
And what does this mean for Morneau? He would be the next cornerstone that needs to stay in order to maintain fan relations. But as being a player behind Mauer in importance, he isn't essential. It would be great to keep him, but I think a lot of us would look to the jump-start to the revival of this organization as justification to trade him away.
They remain home all week playing division rivals. They play two more with Cleveland, then have Kansas City for three before playing next weekend against Chicago.
No comments:
Post a Comment