I have a lot of criteria to consider: How the team looked in winning; how likely it was going to win going into the game; implications for the rest of the season; how it increases its chances of making the postseason; and what message the win sends to its fans.
At the end, I have to give the nod to the University of Minnesota football team. It's the first time they have beaten Michigan (and won back the Little Brown Jug) since 2005, only the third time in 28 years, only the fourth time in 37 years (that 4th time, by the way, was in 1977, which is so far the last time the Gophers have beaten the Wolverines in Minnesota), and only the fifth time since 1967. That history-busting drought weighed heavily in my decision to give the college gridironers the top spot.
Yes, Michigan is a wounded, if not catatonic, giant. The team was shut out by Notre Dame and lost at home to Utah. They can't score, and their Quarterback situation is a mess. Yet Gopher fans still had reason to believe that their team still wouldn't be able to win (the score, BTW, was 30-14). The program has been that stillborn all this time. So a victory in Ann Arbor should still send shockwaves. (Meanwhile, the losses, coupled with the bad decision to keep QB Shane Morris in the game despite showing overt signs of a concussion, have embroiled Head Coach Brady Hoke and Athletic Director Dave Brandon. Ignoring Morris's injury is very bad, but the main reason students are protesting on the Michigan campus is because the team sucks. I'm afraid they are using Morris as a crutch to get Hoke and Brandon fired.)
I'm not trying to take back all the criteria I laid out, but I am also giving the U. football team credit for making hay while the sun is shining. The back end of the squad's schedule is a true Murderer's Row: home to Iowa and Ohio St., then at Nebraska and Wisconsin. But it's good that they jumped on Michigan, because up until November, they have this: home to Northwestern and Purdue this Saturday and next, then at Illinois. This club can -- maybe should -- be 7-1 and ranked before they face the Hawkeyes. The drop-off might be hard, but until then, we can at least look at the standings and believe this is a good squad. And right now, they are.
(By the way, why don't I place these guys at Positive Numbers or at least 0? Eh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't think the next two teams deserve higher than they have. If the U. footballers win this Saturday, I will reconsider.)
#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -5). If any team ever in the history of Gopher athletics needed a week to revive what appeared to be extinct hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament, the women's soccer team did Friday and Sunday. They went above .500 for the season with a pair of one-goal wins -- and more importantly, both on the road. On Friday Sophomore Simone Kolander headed the lone tally in a win over Purdue. Then on Sunday afternoon, Senior Olivia Schultz cleaned up a scramble from a free kick in the 105th minute to end their game in Indiana, 2-1 in double OT. Neither player was lauded by the Big Ten conference, by the way; Sophomore Defender Ashley Pafko was -- Defensive Player Of The Week for scoring the equalizing goal against the Hoosiers on a 30-yard howitzer in the 75th minute.
One thing that is lifting up this squad: The schedule. Remember that this team played six of their previous seven games on the road. That tilts its schedule to Robbie Stadium; six of their final eight games are at home, including the next three. The first two comes this screening week: Penn St. Friday night, Ohio St. Sunday afternoon (on a day the Vikings are not playing). And speaking of the Vikings. ...
#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -4). ... I honestly thought that Atlanta would win -- probably in a high-scoring game because I thought Teddy Bridgewater would spark an offensive fireworks show, but I didn't think they would win going away, 41-28.
Bridgewater looked very good; now I see why so many University of Louisville fans have become Vikings fans. He had poise, tenacity and grit (on that broken play where he ran around the left side into the end zone), and he had the guts and the ability to zip the football into some tight spots. I like his touch, already more so than Matt Cassel, the man he replaced as Quarterback after Cassel was put on season-ending Injured Reserve for a broken foot. What may be most impressive (and you have to trust me on this) is that his very good passing numbers (19-for-30 for 317 yards and a rushing touchdown) happened while Bridgewater, a QB who is supposed to be "mobile," was in the pocket. If he can throw that well in the pocket, how much better could he be out of the pocket? We just now have to hope that that high ankle sprain won't hobble him for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately the Vikes' next game is the Thursday Night game in Lambeau Field against Green Bay. I love football and will watch Thursday (after I do this taste test). But going from Sunday to Thursday has to be hell on the football players -- there's no time to rest and not enough time to implement a full game plan. It fucks up everything, just because The People wants more pigskin. I don't think the Vikings will win; I don't think they'll even keep it close. But just imagine if Bridgewater leads Minnesota to victory in enemy territory. Hell, even I might start chanting, "Teddy, Teddy!"
Well, sure enough, they had to go the full five before beating the Buckeyes. They had trouble giving up runs to The Ohio State University (especially in the first and fourth sets, the two they lost), and a volleyball board I frequent noted that they can't pass worth shit. Adriana Nora is the only player who can swing worth a damn, and the impotence of this collective is a massive worry in what may be the best conference in college volleyball. But at least they can block; the Gophers would have lost that game without their 19 roofs.
Some in this same chatroom speculated that they struggled against Ohio St. because they were looking past them and ahead to Saturday night's showdown against Penn St. The Nittany Lions' easy four-set victory at the Sports Pavilion put to rest that notion. Penn St. continues to reload, while Minnesota looks like they are moving backwards a step. That's astonishing, and alarming.
Because of their split, Minnesota actually dropped a spot in the AVCA Top 25 from 17 to 18 (one spot ahead of USC, which has plummeted into the shitter from 9th last week; they have a 7-5 record now, WTF???), and the club faces a dangerous trip to the state of Illinois this week. Tonight (Wednesday night) they face 16th-ranked Illinois, then they play Northwestern Sunday afternoon. The worst may be yet to come.
#-Infinity: Twins (Last Week: -3). Well, I can't disagree with the firing. But hey, on the bright side they improved on last year's record. Sure, they went from 66-96 to 70-92, but it's four more wins!
But yes, that means a fourth straight year of 90 or more losses, and the axe finally fell on Ron Gardenhire, replaced after 13 years as Manager of The Bastard Washington Senators. He seems to be a nice guy, and from what I saw on Twitter he did not lose control of the locker room; most if not all the players on the club stuck up for him and took responsibility for his dismissal. But during the news conference Monday, General Manager Terry Ryan alluded to the fact that this never-ending cycle of suckiness could not continue without a shake-up, and in sports, the Manager always goes.
Can't say that I fault that logic, and I could even agree with Gardenhire's "firing" for another reason. I may be faced with tomatoes for invoking Joe Morgan, but once on ESPN.com he said there are only two reasons you should fire a coach or manager: Either he has lost control of the locker room or he is unable to get the most out of his players. LaValle E. Neal III of Minneapolis' Star Tribune noted that late in the season the players were committing the same mistakes that they were doing in the beginning of the year. Also, the long trail of former players who have found success elsewhere (Vance Worley, Kyle Lohse, National League batting champion Justin Morneau) may be a sign of a failure to develop or motivate, or the team trainers' inability to rehab the players correctly. That may not all fall on Gardenhire, but some of it does.
Finally, however, you have to respect the public relations side of it. Can you imagine Gardenhire getting another season after four consecutive 90+-loss years? Yeah, he isn't on the mound pitching, and he isn't in center field tracking down fly balls. But you can't just keep him in the dugout because he's not a player.
And yes, maybe Gardenhire didn't have the players to manage a good team. That falls on Ryan, but I still think he should be given a chance. Now he needs to upgrade a pitching rotation behind Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson. Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton can't come up soon enough, arbitration clock be damned. And Joe Mauer has to become the hitting maven he had been most of his career. And then maybe, maybe the Twins get to .500.
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