#0: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -4). You know, I thought this was the end of the University of Minnesota women's soccer team, and thus I could put this program in a tie with the team(s) whose season(s) ended this week; you'll see them on the bottom.
But then a few things happened. First, they ended their regular season with a pair of impressive wins on the road, 5-1 over Purdue and 4-2 over Nebraska. Then I see that, in fact, there is a athletic department-draining conference tournament -- and somehow, the Gophers reached fourth place in the Big Ten. They face Illinois in the eight-team tourney in ... where is this being held? ... on Halloween.
Finally, I dinked around cyberspace and finally saw something I have been looking for, albeit in a half-assed way: a place that has the Ratings Percentage Index for women's soccer, virtually the sole metric by which the NCAA Tournament Committee selects and seeds its 64-team field. And what the hell?! The Gophers are 17th in RPI?!?!?! I thought this team's season was over on Friday, but it looks like not only are they safely in the tournament, but there's a chance they'll get to freakin' host a subregional in ten days! I would call it a turnaround, but this side didn't turn in the first place; I just didn't notice.
(By the way, there is another good website that predicts the tournament for top-flight college women's soccer. Chris Thomas has done his research in explaining and tracking which teams have made previous tournaments, what Adjusted RPIs they've had, and what goes into getting into the tourney. It's a hell of a site, and if you're a fan of the sport, check it out.)
#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). One game, a sweep of Northwestern at home Friday. They now have won three in a row and six-of-seven. And they shouldn't have a real test right now; as I type this, the Gophers have (or should have) tipped off their annual Williams Arena/pink cancer game against last year's NCAA Tournament runner-up, Illinois. Their real test comes Friday: at Penn St. They finish out the week Saturday in Ohio St.
#-2: Gopher football (Last Week: -5). Philip Nelson for Heisman! No, not really. But that's all you're hearing from all the Gopher ass-kissers around here after his 15-for-22-for-246 yard, three-touchdown, no-interception performance as they destroyed Purdue yesterday at Das Bank, 44-28.
There were some tweets in the local media asking us haters if we still think Nelson should have remained redshirted this year. Yeah, I still do. As another tweeter responded, this isn't a matter of thinking Nelson wasn't good, but questioning whether you should play Nelson this year. You could say that this prepares Nelson to be that much better next year. But the fact of the matter remains that by burning one year of Nelson's career now, you're not getting (at most) four years but really 3 1/2. Also, this is a BcS conference team, so they always load up their early non-conference schedule with patsies; that is where Nelson can get up to speed. Finally, the hype over Nelson's emergence means that the team will reach the, oh (thinking of a stupid name out of my ass), the BBVA Compass Bowl or something this year. Who cares? I'd rather finish the year 4-12 and save Nelson and his arm for a full year next year.
Plus, this is Purdue, a team that might be worse than the Goofs. You really think Nelson is going to duplicate his albeit impressive outing yesterday hosting Michigan early Saturday afternoon? Pssh.
#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -3). Forgot that the Vikes had two games this screening week. Maybe I forgot because I had to remember that I was working the Thursday night game.
I wanted to write about how playing on Thursdays are unfair and risks player safety. That was predicated somewhat on the road team losing every Thursday. Unfortunately, that theory is kind of blown because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the second team this season to go on the road for TNF and win.
It was frustrating to see how desultory the ViQueens looked in losing to what I thought was an inferior team. The turnovers were really bad. But what was worse was the lack of pressure on Bucs Quarterback Josh Freeman. Worse than that is that they couldn't contain Doug Martin, and now we once again have to question the team's ability to stop the run.
But the main factor in the loss is the defense's inability to lock down Tampa Bay in the clutch. Do you remember that long drive that ate up most of the first half of the fourth quarter? It started late in the third, took up nine minutes, and they wound up scoring a touchdown. The worst part about that drive? The Fuccaneers (I just made that up!) faced third down five times and converted all five times. On second thought, maybe we just need to question the Vikings defense, period.
Oh yeah, they beat Arizona at the Dome last Sunday. But that win and this loss has one disturbing commonality: Christian Ponder's inability to move the ball. They beat the Cardinals mostly on Adrian Peterson's legs and the D. I thought he was showing good decision-making and was developing an all-important touch on the ball for sideline passes where it has to fit through a keyhole. Now it appears that the talk of him getting rattled when things don't go his way are becoming true, and he's not able to learn from it.
This is the NFL. As I said last week, one week your team can look brilliant and the next they can look absolutely stupid. It is increasingly foolish to generalize how a team is doing. So Ponder could be clicking and the defense could be closing the coffin in Seattle Sunday, November 4. Or, maybe not. And maybe the upset win over San Francisco could be the worst thing to happen to this team because it inflated not only the fans' expectations but the expectations on a team that's still trying to rebuild.
ETA: One more thing: I admire Chris Kluwe for speaking out against Minnesota's gay marriage ban amendment. He is a very articulate guy who speaks with passion and erudition. But goddammit, he has to punt better. Because if he is sending the ball out less than 40 yards every time, sorry, but he'll be out of a job with the Vikes before next season. Then again, I'm seeing him in every single print magazine and periodical these days, virtually at the same time, from Out to Lavendar to City Pages to Vita.MN. So maybe he already has one eye on his post-punting career.
#-Infinity: Lynx (Re-Entry!). I have thought long and hard as to when to put back a team that has won a league championship back in the Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey. At first I thought I'd give that team five years' grace period, then three, then two, then one, and then I would just play it by ear. Now, after the Lynx's defeat in the WNBA Finals to the Indiana Fever, I realized the perfect time: As soon as the team fails to win another championship!
This one hurts. And it is a lot more embarrassing than many fans make it out to be. The Jynx (man, I haven't used that put-down in a long time!) were the overwhelming favorite to win it all before the season began, and when they finished the season with the best record in the WNBA, those predictions were reinforced. So losing to Indiana, and in four games, counts as a huge and demoralizing upset.
What happened? You can blame the Olympics finally taking their toll on the three players who won gold in London, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore. But that really is a cop-out; if they truly were gassed, we would see not see signs in the finals, which is the worst possible moment, but before. Basically the offense couldn't throw a spear in the ocean; the shooting went south in the fourth quarter of their Game 1 loss (which in retrospect was the turning point of the series), and in Game 4, Head Coach Cheryl Reeve relied on her superstar, Augustus, and she responded by going 3-for-21 or something. Even an average performance would have given Minnesota Game 4 and the chance to go for a repeat at Target; instead, we have an eight-point loss and a shocking end to what should have been back-to-back titles.
And now, the future -- and you don't have to squint to see that this franchise could go sink to the bottom, a place the Jynx know all to well, in a hurry. This team is old; this should be Moore's team, not Augustus', and although Whalen showed a lot of heart during the team's postseason run, she's getting long in the tooth. Besides Candice Wiggins and Monica Wright (two players ripe to be picked off in an expansion draft, so thank goodness the WNBA is so unpopular there are no new franchises to be born in the horizon), the bench was exposed as lacking, particularly in the frontcourt. An upset loss like this should mean roster turnover, but who do you replace?
The one big replacement I can see is the retirement of Center and mother figure Taj MacWilliams-Franklin. She's 42 (my God, she's still banging around the blocks?! -- well, maybe not so much in their losses to Indiana) and has won two WNBA trophies, so she has definitely earned the right to hang it up. But that removes a hell of a lot of defense and leadership. There's no choice for this team but to go young, but that means that the championship aspirations of the Lynx will have be placed in the backburner.
However, this is the WNBA, a league that, if the accounting records were ever made public, I would say is still awash in red ink. There are hardcore fans, just not enough to sustain a WNBA franchise with the way costs are now, I think. The only way to even eke out a profit is to be successful. The Lynx had won a title, but another one would make it the current elite squad of the league. That would have brought in tidier profits. Now, they're just another good team that's passed around the trophy. Watch the crowds that finally filled up Target Center this year to disappear next year, sadly.
(And by the way, another anti-shout-out to the Minnesota Stars of the NASL, another defending national champion who lost in the final. And like the Lynx, the Stars also choked; they started their two-leg final here in Blaine with a 2-0 "win," but then choked it away last night in St. Petersburg as the Tampa Bay Rowdies managed to tie the final with a 3-1 result. In the dying embers of extra time one of their men was sent off with a red card, and the Stars couldn't capitalize in their, oh, minute or so with the man advantage. So it went to penalty kicks, and the Rowdies Goalkeeper stoned all the Stars' attempts. Guess there will be no victory party at a downtown Minneapolis bar this year, huh?)
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