#-1: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -3). Yeah, they tied against Ohio St. Friday night, the first time this season they did not get a result besides a win at Robbie Stadium. But on Sunday afternoon they defeated seventh-ranked Penn St. A few droughts were broken with the Gophers' 1-0 victory: It was the first time they beat the Nittany Lions in six years (and only the fourth time ever); it was the first time they've beaten a Top 10 team since 2010 (when they beat ninth-ranked Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Tournament); and it was the first time Penn St. has lost a conference game in two years. That history, made possible by a 17th-minute cross into the box from Steph Brandt to Haley Helverson, is the reason I'm putting this team above a team poised to win a league championship this week.
Special recognition goes out to Tarah Hobbs, who kept her sheet clean with a pair of seven-save games and notching what is now three straight shutouts. For that she was named conference Defensive Player, and co-Freshman, Of The Week. Most importantly, the Gophers notch yet another upset of a ranked team (to go with their 1-0 win at then-#13 Michigan the weekend before), which must boost their RPI and give them an ever-stronger resume to reach the tourney for the first time in three years. Now to avoid a letdown in their only game of the screening week, at Northwestern Saturday.
Side note: I've been to all but one of this team's home games this year. I usually prefer volleyball games, but somehow I've managed to make it here six times already. There are three games left, and I think I'm free the weekend of the next two games.
#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -1). I was worried that the Atlanta Dream would be motivated by revenge of their sweep at the hands of Minnesota in the WNBA Finals two years ago. If the Lynx can duplicate what they did in Game 1, uh, nope.
They throttled the Dream the way I still want to throttle that usher that humiliated me all those years ago, 84-59 Sunday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Probably the most critical development in the game was the 20 points by sixth man Monica Wright, who has now fully come into her own as the first player off the bench for this team. But the way this team can just score at will is the best thing about them. Vikings, Wild, Gopher football, are you guys taking notes?
Game 2 is tonight (Tuesday); Game 3, assuming the Lynx are poised for a sweep then, is in Atlanta on Thursday. (Game 4, if it comes to that, will also be in Atlanta and will be on Sunday.) I wish I could go, but I already have to be out Thursday night for a GameWatch and my days of waking up for a 7 o'clock workday is starting to catch up with me, so I think I'll pass. But I'll be able to listen to the game on the radio, and they'll probably beat the shit out of Atlanta the next two games anyway. I'll be out and about Thursday evening, so I think I'll be able to go to our bar and witness the Lynx win their second championship in three years, and I think that'll be enough.
#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -4). I honestly don't know what to think of the news that the ViQueens signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Josh Freeman. On the one hand it's good to see that this team will spend the money to sign someone in an effort to improve. On the other hand he comes with a lot of baggage: He has not played well so far this year, as well as last; he was busted for taking Ritalin, which apparently is a banned substance in the NFL; and he had a bad falling out with Tampa Bay Head Coach Greg Schiano -- although, to be fair, Schiano apparently is a paranoid nutbag.
First of all, wither Christian Ponder? He was drafted to man a West Coast offense, yet he doesn't have an arm even for dink and dunk passes. But although he was buoyed by a Running Back having a once-in-a-lifetime year and a tenacious defense, you have to admit that Ponder was the QB when the team won the final four games of the regular season, four games the Vikes had to win in order to make the playoffs. No, I was not impressed at all with his play so far this season, and no, I don't think he's the answer. But people are looking at Matt Cassel as The Second Coming. And those same rubes probably are thinking we got a steal now that we have a player who started as QB for another team to begin the season. I'm not sold on either Freeman or Cassel. And step back to look at the big picture: The Vikings are 1-3, and they were only a goalline stand from possibly being 0-4. Is Cassel the long-term answer? Shit, is Freeman the long-term answer.
That's why I don't know what to think of this signing. This could be an improvement. But I don't see a difference to making a team a Super Bowl contender, especially after this squad began the year with three straight losses.
Head Coach Leslie Frazier said that Freeman will not play this Sunday at home against Carolina. He was noncommittal about Ponder, but Cassel has to have the start for the game after the confidence he showed in throwing the football around the field, and accurately. If they win to get to 2-3 ... could we possibly be seeing the slow rise of a team that still could contend for the playoffs?
By the way, I am very tempted to knock this team down a notch after last night's phone conference with Freeman and General Manager Rick Spielman. City Pages reporter Aaron Rupar noted, in turn confirmed by jacking up the ambient sound during the teleconference that I heard on The Common Man Progrum on KFAN (and soon to be coming to a newscast near you), that Spielman was whispering what Freeman should say to reporters at the other end of the line. It seriously is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Which also scares me because of all the possibilities it raises. Can't Josh Freeman carry a conversation on by himself? Is he hiding something to the point where he needs to check on Rick "QB Whisperer" Spielman to tell him what to say? And would you trust a guy who can't answer a question over the phone to run an offense? Funny, yet embarrassing, I believe.
#-4: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2). A 1-1 week, but it's not just that. First, in a match against what should have been a good but equal-strength opponent, Nebraska, hosting not just in a hostile environment but an arena (the Devaney Center) that has been rejiggered to improve sightlines for volleyball, swept the Goofs. Not totally unexpected, but the Cornhuskers were vulnerable, and a typical loss at the same place usually means this team isn't going to win an NCAA title.
But the next day they had to rally from 2-0 to beat B1G doormat Iowa. I don't have the actual statistics in front of me, but I'm sure that of the 12 members comprising the Big Ten, all but Iowa have made the NCAA Tournament at least once in the past five years. And they gave away the first two sets to these guys? Losing five consecutive sets is not usual for this program, not at all. So even though they fought back to win, I believe there is something seriously, seriously wrong with this team. Has it got anything, anything to do with the fact that Assistant Coach Erich Hinterstocker? He lost his job, Head Coach at North Dakota St., after administrators found out he verbally and physically abused his players. I wonder if fans know about that.
Morale isn't going to get any better this week. They go to the eastern reaches of the B1G, visiting #4 Penn St. Wednesday and Ohio St. Saturday.
#-5: Wild (Re-Entry!). So far, so ... bad. If you know me, you know that I take overtime/shootout wins in the National Hockey League as actual wins and overtime/shootout losses as actual losses. Therefore, the opening-season SO loss to L.A. and the OT defeat to Anaheim -- both at home, mind you -- mean they are so far winless. Sure, they have two points, but wake me when that damned point system is easy to understand.
Most prognosticators believe that the Mild will get better. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will still be the best players on the team. Mikko Koivu, reputation battered after an underwhelming last year, is at least being overlooked for now. The fortunes of this club rest on the continued improvement on the young guns -- Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker. Right now, Coyle might be out for a month, Granlund has continued to underwhelm and Zucker was busted down to AAA Iowa before being called back up because of the injury to Coyle. Only Brodin has stuck and done well, and I only surmise that because I haven't heard any news where he has screwed up.
Two things troubling through the first two games has been the goaltending. It's been surmised, at least on The Common Man, that Goalie Nicklas Backstrom is the type of guy who makes the saves he should make, but can't stand on his head and make the saves he shouldn't make. I can cosign that. Also, he's been the main Wild netminder for a long time, hasn't he? The other cause for concern is nothing new, unfortunately: The Mild's tendency to not come through in the clutch, either offensively (getting a goal to win a game) or defensively (conceding a goal that ties a game). That happened against the Kings, where Minnesota was nursing a 2-1 lead but lost it, and eventually the game, late in the third period. (Granted, that was helped out by Kings Goaltender Jonathan Quick standing on his head.) That late collapse did not happen against the Ducks; no, the Mild gave away two goals very early in the game and had to play catch-up.
Could Head Coach Mike Yeo be in trouble if they continue not winning? The beginning of a very busy part of the schedule happens this week: At Nashville tonight, home to The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers Thursday and The Bastard North Stars Saturday, then on the road to Buffalo Monday.
#-6: Gopher football (Last Week: -5). OK, this has gotten surreal. The 42-13 loss at Michigan is bad enough. But the worse part of this is Head Coach Jerry Kill was not on the sideline. In fact, he didn't even make it to Ann Arbor, Mich.; he felt sick Friday, and even though he planned to take a flight to the Big House Saturday morning, he suffered a seizure. In three seasons at the helm of the Goofs, Kill has had five seizures. Three of them have happened while he was on the sideline, the second this season, following a win at home against Western Illinois.
At some point this has to be too much. All those who supported Kill after suffering his first seizure (caused by epilepsy, in turn caused by treatment for cancer) had to have thought that these episodes would not happen again, or at least could be controlled to the point where they would be infrequent. But having a second seizure in four games (and in less than a month) had to change some peoples' minds. Jerry Kill seems to be a nice guy, and his work off the field with efforts to battle epilepsy are admirable. But don't tell me high schoolers aren't thinking twice, if not shying away, from Minnesota because of this. And don't tell me fellow B1G Head Coaches aren't recruiting against this. College football isn't a place for nice guys. You cannot fire a Head Coach for medical reasons, but could Kill step aside?
At least he has two weeks to think about it before the next game at Northwestern.
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