Nevertheless, I am going to honor MNUFC by putting them on the top spot (nothing above negative numbers though -- come on) for the week for their historic first-ever victory in top-flight American league soccer, winning last (Saturday) night, 4-2, over struggling Real Salt Lake. It was really nice and, dare I say, a bit heart-rending to see a club, proud enough to be ashamed over conceding 18 goals and getting manhandled in three awful-looking losses to not only win, but win with some level of ease. I recorded the end of the match; once the Loons cleared and sent the ball to midfield, the referee looked at his watch, put his whistle to his lips, and once he made it official, I truly felt TCF Bank Stadium breathe a sigh of relief. I feel good for the guys (and Head Coach Adrian Heath, who was incredibly expressive after the game) celebrating on the pitch. I feel for us supporters too, even though I see the song that apparently the club is going to play after victories, Oasis' "Wonderwall," in more of an ironic light than a genuine one.
Honestly, I was hoping going into the game that they wouldn't allow more than four goals. Winning was not even in my mind; competence, especially on D, was what I was hoping for. RSL sorely tested them, and ... well, I think they were average, maybe a bit below-average, for the game. But going from crap to that is a hell of an improvement. Brian Kallman, in particular, was doing work.
Nevertheless I didn't realize how out of sorts Salt Lake City, who canned their Head Coach, had an Interim HC on the pitch while the recently-named new HC (Mike Petke) was only looking from the press box, was. After the Loons allowed an RSL goal early (again), RSL was all out of sorts, and it was MNUFC pressing for many parts of the game. And that produced many dividends. Christian Ramirez braced (meaning he scored twice -- I just learned that term!), the second of which was a howler by Salt Lake Goalkeeper (and USMNT backup) Nick Rimando failing to corral a ball out of the box with his feet. But I was very impressed by the overall work of Midfielder Kevin Molino, who assisted twice and was chaining up the attack all match.
Again, this came against a Real Salt Lake team that is going through some things. But hell, a win is a win. Also, defensive reinforcements came in Friday via a pretty sizable trade and transaction with the Colorado Rapids. The details are still murky to me, but in short, the Loons traded away Mohammed Saeid, Josh Gatt and an International Spot to the Rapids for MF (and Captain) Sam Cronin and Defender Marc Burch. This at first seemed like a desperation move, one to put a bandage (if not a tourniquet) on the United defensive backline. But I then heard that Colorado fans were in an uproar over this. Turns out the deal can be seen as more equitable. Minnesota needed the cavalry to come to their D. What's in it for the Rapids is long-term. Apparently they have depth and youth in midfield and defense, and moving those two, both of whom are in their thirties, allows them to start playing their youngsters. If that doesn't work, they can go international for another player from the Loons' International Spot. Finally, United is apparently paying for much, if not all, of Gatt's contract. Colorado is looking towards the playoffs, and this move gives them space and money in which to find a missing piece as soon as they figure out what that piece is.
Nevertheless, for United, a not-terrible performance defensively, coupled with two more good players, hopefully ends their terrible form from before Saturday. We'll see if the side has turned a corner Saturday when they visit Dallas.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). Without fail, Mother Nature is wreaking havoc with the U.'s schedule. They beat Kansas in Lawrence, 5-2, Tuesday, but rain cancelled Wednesday's game. They were then to start a three-game series at Michigan St. Friday, but rain made playing conditions so bad that they decided to play two yesterday (Saturday). Luckily, however, they won both games, so believe it or not, this team is so far undefeated in Big Ten play at 5-0. (They are currently leading comfortably in the top of the ninth as of press time; I don't think this game will be completed by the time I finish publish this survey, so the result of Sunday's game will count towards next screening week's survey.) I don't know if this team will thus be ranked, or even if they're good. But being undefeated in the B1G is a hell of a lot better than being winless.
This week they open up play at Siebert Field. There is a single game against North Dakota St. Tuesday, then they host Rutgers for three starting on Friday afternoon.
#-3: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2). Before heading into this weekend's series versus Illinois in Champaign, they rose to their highest ranking in program history, sixth. This trio would serve as a test, for the Fighting Illini went into the weekend on a nine-game winning streak, countered by Minnesota's seven-game winning streak.
And it appears as though the Gophers got the better of the Illini. Sort of. They won two-of-three, mercy-ruling Illinois in five, 12-0, on Friday and shutting them out today (Sunday), 4-0. But those two doughnuts sandwich a puzzling 4-3 loss where they leading heading into the bottom of the fifth inning 3-0 and lost in game-ending fashion, 4-3. And the losing Pitcher was -- egads! Sara Groenewegen. So they're going to slip out of sixth. What the hell happened?
This week they finally play at home. The first foe is South Dakota and they play a doubleheader Tuesday. This weekend brings Indiana for a three-game set.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). A 2-1 week where they were finally eliminated from playoff consideration. The axe officially swung last (Saturday) night, when, for the 20th time this season, the Woofie Dogs led an opponent (Sacramento in this case) by double digits and lost. Coupled with a win by, uh, Portland, I think, and the Wolves are now out. They did grind out a victory at Indiana and got revenge from another come-from-ahead loss against the Lakers, but, alas, they'll be sitting home for the postseason. And I thought they had a chance to win 50 games this year. They've reached 30, but that's cold comfort.
Britt Robson of MinnPost has been obsessively scrutinizing this squad from the start of the year. But the most thorough (and frightening) diagnosis of this team comes from Rob Mahoney of SI.com. He points out that Head Coach and de facto General Manager Tom Thibodeau has done what has to do and played as much of his young talent together as much as possible this year. The burn and PT are obviously great; the number of wins, not so much. But Mahoney has gone through the advanced metrics and notes that things simply have not turned around, especially on the defensive end. The players have showed brilliance, but at other points the Timberpuppies have been very wanting, especially Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins on the defensive end. What's even more troubling is that, even with the season-ending injury to Zach LaVine, a season's worth of data is good enough to make some solid conclusions. And if that is the case, all this amassing of talent still isn't good enough to compete in the NBA, let alone win a championship. If they have sucked this long and still reap results this lackluster, what the fuck do you do now?
They're going to get yet another lottery pick this year, but at some point, just like with the Lynx up until 2011, there has to be enough talent to produce. At some point you have no choice but to assume that the talent is there and think if the personalities are the problem. Is it Wiggins, who has been much more deficient on defense than Towns? Could it be Thibs himself, who has ridden these guys so hard for so long that they've already tuned him out? Guys, the talent is there to be a good, playoff team. If not now, when?
The Wolves finish a three-game homestand against Portland on Monday, head off to the Bay Area to face Golden State the next night (huh?), then continue a four-game road trip with a back-to-back against those same Trail Blazers and Utah.
And it appears as though the Gophers got the better of the Illini. Sort of. They won two-of-three, mercy-ruling Illinois in five, 12-0, on Friday and shutting them out today (Sunday), 4-0. But those two doughnuts sandwich a puzzling 4-3 loss where they leading heading into the bottom of the fifth inning 3-0 and lost in game-ending fashion, 4-3. And the losing Pitcher was -- egads! Sara Groenewegen. So they're going to slip out of sixth. What the hell happened?
This week they finally play at home. The first foe is South Dakota and they play a doubleheader Tuesday. This weekend brings Indiana for a three-game set.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). A 2-1 week where they were finally eliminated from playoff consideration. The axe officially swung last (Saturday) night, when, for the 20th time this season, the Woofie Dogs led an opponent (Sacramento in this case) by double digits and lost. Coupled with a win by, uh, Portland, I think, and the Wolves are now out. They did grind out a victory at Indiana and got revenge from another come-from-ahead loss against the Lakers, but, alas, they'll be sitting home for the postseason. And I thought they had a chance to win 50 games this year. They've reached 30, but that's cold comfort.
Britt Robson of MinnPost has been obsessively scrutinizing this squad from the start of the year. But the most thorough (and frightening) diagnosis of this team comes from Rob Mahoney of SI.com. He points out that Head Coach and de facto General Manager Tom Thibodeau has done what has to do and played as much of his young talent together as much as possible this year. The burn and PT are obviously great; the number of wins, not so much. But Mahoney has gone through the advanced metrics and notes that things simply have not turned around, especially on the defensive end. The players have showed brilliance, but at other points the Timberpuppies have been very wanting, especially Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins on the defensive end. What's even more troubling is that, even with the season-ending injury to Zach LaVine, a season's worth of data is good enough to make some solid conclusions. And if that is the case, all this amassing of talent still isn't good enough to compete in the NBA, let alone win a championship. If they have sucked this long and still reap results this lackluster, what the fuck do you do now?
They're going to get yet another lottery pick this year, but at some point, just like with the Lynx up until 2011, there has to be enough talent to produce. At some point you have no choice but to assume that the talent is there and think if the personalities are the problem. Is it Wiggins, who has been much more deficient on defense than Towns? Could it be Thibs himself, who has ridden these guys so hard for so long that they've already tuned him out? Guys, the talent is there to be a good, playoff team. If not now, when?
The Wolves finish a three-game homestand against Portland on Monday, head off to the Bay Area to face Golden State the next night (huh?), then continue a four-game road trip with a back-to-back against those same Trail Blazers and Utah.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: -4). Alright, so the Mild locked up (more like backed into) a playoff spot the week before. But my goddamn, this team still isn't right. They finished the screening week 1-3, the most foreboding was yesterday (Saturday) afternoon's 3-0 embarrassment at Nashville, the Mild's putative first-round opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Aside: The Timberwolves and Wild have played on the same days six times in the past two weeks. They both lost twice on the same day and won only once on the same day. Seriously, when both teams lose on the same day/night, it reinforces the feeling that #MinnesotaIsLoservilleUSA.) I see so many people wearing Wild gear these days. I was just at Maplewood Mall today, and there were more than one person wearing Wild stuff. And I'm like, "Why? They're playing horribly right now and they're going to be one-and-done in the playoffs." I don't know how this team has captured the imaginations of so many people here. They suck right now, and it's not getting better.
This is the final week of the regular season, and for the fourth straight week they play a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule: Home to Colorado and Carolina (the latter in which they will warm up in North Stars jerseys -- YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), then they finish up the regular season at the same Bastard Quebec Nordiques and The Bastard Winnipeg Jets.
This is the final week of the regular season, and for the fourth straight week they play a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule: Home to Colorado and Carolina (the latter in which they will warm up in North Stars jerseys -- YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), then they finish up the regular season at the same Bastard Quebec Nordiques and The Bastard Winnipeg Jets.
#-6: Twins (Re-Entry!). They don't start the 2017 year until tomorrow (Monday), but already the knives are out. Sports Illustrated got scouts' takes on each team in Major League Baseball; they granted anonymity in exchange for complete candor. And uniformly, the scouts say that the Twinks suck and will stink it up this season. The most ominous comment is the last one: "This team has a chance to be the worst in the league." You mean for the second year in a row?
But hey, outdoor baseball!
But hey, outdoor baseball!
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