The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Lynx (Last Week: -1).  Yesterday/Saturday could have been a sports day as depressing as many days in January are: All local sports teams in action, all losing.  (I have to make a daily compilation about that one of these days.)  The three pro teams were playing yesterday, the Lynx, Twins and United, although they were all on the road, and to think all three teams could have lost at home.

Anyway, two of them lost.  Guess which squad didn't?  Yep, they crushed Seattle by 23 at KeyArena, which "followed" a 14-point victory over San Antonio at the X on Sunday.  And they remain the only undefeated team in the WNBA.  As it has been the past several years, it's looking like it's the playoffs or bust.  I think.

Hmmm, there's a lot of space inbetween games in the league.  The Lynx visit Washington Friday.

#-2: United FC (Last Week: -3).  No Kevin Molino, no Johan Venegas, (both players were called up by their countries to play for them), and no Goals as the Loons get emasculated at Kansas City, 3-0.  I really have nothing else to say except that I need to keep things in perspective and that an expansion year may be the only time it's OK not to win a title (see below).  This side and the whole of Major League Soccer have an "international break"; they play at Salt Lake City on the 17th.

#-3: Twins (Last Week: -2).  What happened Sunday and Monday may be The Turning Point of the season, and even if there were no expectations for this club coming into 2017, what was a promising start feels as though it could put them into a tailspin into oblivion.

On Sunday the Twinks had a two-run lead going into the top of the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays and Brandon Kintzler allowed two runs to the Bay Rays before Tampa won it, 8-6, in, like, 13 or 15 innings or something.  What's worse came the next day, when the Twinks had a, what, six-run lead against Houston (and by the way, both games were at Target Field) going into the eighth and the bullpen allowed, what, a dozen runs to the 'Stros as the game went from a rout one way to the other, 16-8?  It was the first time in Houston Astros history that they were down by at least six runs going into the eighth and won.  They were in almost 700 games where that situation occurred, and Monday was the first time they won.  And of course they did it against our team.

So yeah, that set them on a home sweep by Houston, The Best Team In Baseball.  (That also extends a weird statistics regarding the Twinks: Although they have played many more games at home, they have won more games on the road.)  And the bullpen, not that good to begin with, is now completely gassed.  But somehow they went to Anaheim and broke a four-game losing streak that began Sunday with back-to-back wins over The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of ...  Nevertheless I have to note the 7-2 loss last/Saturday night.  The pivotal, if not historic, moment came when supposed ace Ervin Santana, who already allowed two solo shots to make it a 3-1 deficit, was pitching in the fourth to Albert Pujols with the bases loaded.  And, sure enough, because Minnesota is nothing if not givers, Santana's 2-1 pitch was sent by Pujols just over the Left Field Line for a Grand Slam.  That not only broke the game open, but that was Pujols' 600th Home Run of his career.  He becomes only the ninth player in baseball history to do that, and the first of those nine to reach it via grand slammie.  And of course he did it against a Minnesota team.

These guys stay on the road and on the West Coast this screening week.  After playing in Orange County today/Sunday, they play three in Seattle and start a three-game series in San Francisco.

#-4: Wild (Re-Entry!).  These guys are here for two reasons.  (Well, I should add that I kind of meant to put these guys in last week's survey, but I forgot, and since then I found another reason.  OK.)  The first reason is that the Nashville Predators are now the most successful of the four expansion teams from the last wave of expansion.  That should not just be embarrassing but humiliating for the Minnesota Wild, the team from the so-called State Of Hockey.

Not only that, but frankly the Preds have outplayed the Pittsburgh Penguins all three games of the Stanley Cup Finals so far.  And even though the Pens won the first two games, it feels as though the jig is up with them; Nashville (at least according to them) is faster and healthier, and they finally broke through by clubbing Pittsburgh 5-1 in Game 3 yesterday.  This might be the turning point, which means Nashville might, just might, win the Stanley Cup.  Think about that: A team from fucking Nashville, a franchise that was so sparsely followed attendance figures were followed to see if they were allowed to move, a city in a state whose high school sports association does not sponsor hockey ... that organization may get the Stanley Cup before the Minnesota Wild.  We should be ashamed of ourselves if that happens.

(Aside: I have heard some talk about Nashville now being a "hockey town."  Bullshit.  First of all, I pointed out the extreme lack of grassroots participation in hockey in the city and state.  You guys may have a great hockey organization.  You fucking people will never be a hockey town.  And by the way, those Predators snuck in as the last playoff team in the Western Conference.  By all rights they should lose the Stanley Cup, but even if they somehow did win it, I don't think this team is built like a dynasty.  There's a greater possibility that they'll miss next year's playoffs.  Will "Smashville" be a "hockey town" then?  Slow y'all roll.)

The other reason I wanted to write about the Mild was that I came across this piece from the (St. Paul) Pioneer Press's Chad Graff on how the Preds made it to the finals.  Uh, luck?  No, trades, at least according to him.  (I'm not saying Graff or the team is wrong, I'm just bitter.)  But I came across this nugget I never knew about Owner Craig Leipold's philosophy of building up the Wild:

On the one hand, the Wild have failed to pull off the big-name trades that vaulted the Predators to the finals, surely frustrating for a passionate fan base. On the other hand, the Predators have proven that NHL teams can reach the pinnacle of the sport without a lengthy rebuild that nets several high draft picks, something Wild owner Craig Leipold said he’s not interested in.

“It’s not a model I’m willing to take,” Leipold said last month. “That’s not a model that I think our fans want.”

That leaves Fletcher with the unenviable task of getting the Wild over the hump of first- and second-round playoff appearances without the benefit of high draft picks. Minnesota has been to the playoffs for five straight seasons but has won only two second-round games.

You mean, we will never rebuild?  Never??  No #1 draft picks because we don't want that?  No Sidney Crosby?  No Jonathan Toews?  No Connor McDavid?  No Auston Matthews?  We don't want any of those guys because we're The State Of Hockey?  We -- well, no ... you -- must perpetually trot out a good team onto the ice even though we face a chance that we'll just fucking stall in the playoffs, like we are doing right now?  And the philosophy is to stay the goddamn course?!

OK, maybe I shouldn't quote Ricky Bobby, but goddammit, if you're not first, you're last.  And I don't know about the other Mild yokels that follow this team, but like I always say, any season that one of my teams doesn't win a championship is a season of failure.  Your team, Mr. Leipold, has failed for the past two decades, and it has failed ever since you bought the team.  If this is the thinking, and if what we saw this year with this fucking club is the result you prefer ... blow up this team or fuck this team.  Seriously.