The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Lynx (Last Week: -8).

Didn't doubt you girls for a second!  No, I'm lying -- I totally didn't believe you would win another championship.  I gave you all another chance, though, and you proved me wrong, although my teeth were gnashing the entire time.

The ticket I bought was in the upper deck, in the corner, in the very last row.  And since this was Williams Arena, of course this was an obstructed view seat; I was able to see the far court and, luckily, the Lynx when they were scoring on that end in the second half, but the support beams and overhang obscured nearly all of the near court if I didn't move my head, so oftentimes I was forced to look at the TV ... which was right in front of the support beams and overhang that was obscuring my complete view of the court.  Not that I was complaining that my $55 gave me a seat that forced me to watch a TV; the Sparks were driving toward, and scoring, in the front net, and so I wasn't upset that I couldn't see the enemy make buckets.

And in fact I can say, with very little sarcasm, that that $55 may be the best money I have ever spent -- maybe even more so than all the money I spend on sex.  The key to the Lynx beating the Los Angeles Sparks has been rebounding, and that is mostly a matter of aggressiveness.  And Minnesota definitely was aggressive from the get-go.  They got out to a lead while clamping down on passing lanes and cleaning up their missed shots (Sylvia Fowles got most of them; that's how she got a WNBA playoffs- [?] record 20 boards and that's why she was named WNBA Finals MVP).  And that's how the Sparks never led in this game.  It was touch-and-go from time to time; the Sparks were good enough to launch a run to close the gap several times in the game, and back-to-back steals off of traps on inbound passes to Lindsay Whalen cut an eight-point lead to three.  But Maya Moore drained a galloping jumper from about ten feet, and the Sparks missed their last three shots to seal an 85-76 victory.

I am so glad I made the decision to spend money to see this game live.  And I am so happy for the Minnesota Lynx, who have won their fourth WNBA title in seven years and is thus freed for the year from the Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey.  And after you see how many teams I have to cover this week, you'll understand that I'm happy for the Lynx for me.  Congratulations!!!

#0: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -4).  Well, that's more like it.  This club is doing its best to put its two-match losing streak in the mirror by ending its four-game road trip with three wins.  And they're not pushover opponents either.  On Wednesday the sixth-ranked Gophers beat the seventh-ranked Wisconsin Badgers in Madison in five Sets, coming back from 2-1 down to take the fourth at 15 and the fifth at 13.  Then yesterday (Saturday) afternoon they swept 22nd-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor.  I don't know if the Gophers can improve on their AVCA ranking this week; that'll depend somewhat on if any of the teams above them lost.  But beating two ranked teams on the road, in Big Ten play?  That's got to amount to something.  And not for nothing, but it feels as though their place in the NCAA Tournament is assured.

After a couple of busy weeks, the schedule thins out a bit.  Their only game this screening week is a match vs. Purdue at Maturi Wednesday.  I might go to that game.

#-1: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -1).  Don't look now, but since giving up a sure win against Michigan on Sep. 21, the Minnesota XI have won four straight matches.  Sunday they firmly defeated Maryland in College Park, 3-1, and in a rain-soaked Robbie Stadium Friday (in a contest I wanted to see but decided not to because, man, why would I want to stand out in the rain?), the U. beat Indiana, 3-2.  Sydney Squires braced, but I have to highlight Senior Julianna Gernes, who scored the last of the three Goals against the Hoosiers and now has six tallies this year.  She scored six Goals in the 2016 season, second-most behind Squires, yet I don't remember talking about her at all last year.  Well, you do you, Gernes!

To make up for not going Friday night, I think I'm going to go to this (Sunday) afternoon's tilt vs. Purdue, with whom the Golden Gophers are tied in the B1G standings.  There are things I should and could do with my time instead -- I need to mow the lawn, I planned on watching a hell of a lot of football, and the plants need cleaning -- but I really feel like buying a Minnesota scarf before my parents come home.  I know, it doesn't make sense, but I think I'm going.  The squad goes to Northwestern Thursday.

#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!).  Oh yeah, the Gopher men's hockey team started their season too!  Just realized that.  Hey, so even though they are tabbed by the now-seven team Big Ten to win the conference again (if the squad manages to do that, the conference still would not have had a different regular season champion other than the Goofers), they have to wipe away the stench of being a #1 seed and falling flat on their asses in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament.  Losing to Minnesota-Duluth in Overtime in the semifinals of the Ice Breaker Tournament (albeit in Duluth) Friday won't do much to change the perception that this team regularly disappoints.  They came back yesterday (Saturday) afternoon to defeat Union in the consolation, 2-0, so that's good, I guess.

Their next series actually opens up conference play.  They host Penn St. Friday and Sunday at -- ugh ... 3M Arena at Mariucci.

#-3: United FC (Last Week: -5).  OK, I was wrong about them being eliminated from the Major League Soccer playoffs last week.  They are definitely eliminated now; they needed to beat Sporting Kansas City and have FC Dallas lose to the Colorado Rapids last (Saturday) night.  Neither happened; both games ended up draws at 1.  I'm surprised at the Loon who scored to tie SKC: Brent Kallman, off a header on the Corner Kick?  OK.

As with P.J. Fleck and the Gopher football team, I give these guys a mulligan.  Not only is this Adrian Heath's first season, it's the franchise's first season.  So why sweat elimination?  (And again, I don't know why in the hell the commentators were emphasizing the fact that this side still had a chance of reaching the postseason; frankly, that is journalistic malpractice.)  The goal is not to finish the season with the fewest wins in MLS history (which I think MNUFC has already achieved) and, incidentally, not to be the worst team in the league, which I think they can do, since the L.A. Galaxy (!!!) are seven points behind.  And they visit said Galaxy Sunday the 15th.

#-4: Vikings (Last Week: -2).  So this is going to be it, isn't it?  This squad will be faced with a theoretically beatable opponent and not be able to because of ... scheme?  Tactics?  Execution?  Turnovers?  Well, maybe it was Turnovers in Sunday's 14-7; they coughed up the ball to the Lions three times in the match, the last of which was a poke-out of a reception made by Adam Thielen as the ViQueens were driving for the game-tying TD.

But the much more important revelation came earlier in that game.  Dalvin Cook, the rookie Running Back who scored the squad's first (and only) TD vs. Detroit, fell awkwardly without getting hit by a Lion (and dropped the ball in the process; I think it was the Vikes' second Turnover) and crumpled to the ground.  I knew as soon as I saw him fall of his own volition on replay that it was an ACL.  And it was -- Cook is done for the year.  I think that, even more than the TOs, was what contributed to the team's insouciant play and thus loss.

I don't know if there's anything more to say other than, If this team makes the playoffs now, I'd be shocked.  They travel to Chicago for Monday Night Football.  They are 2-14 in the last 16 games they've played there.  And last year, even though they lost to Philadelphia the week prior, the defeat to the Bears at Soldier Field signaled that the 5-0 bloom was off the rose and triggered their collapse.

#-5: Gopher football (Last Week: -6).  Hey, maybe those oars aren't rowing the boat in the right direction, nyack-nyack-nyack!  The Gophers led at Purdue, 14-6, but got outscored by the Boilermakers 18-3 in a Fourth Quarter that was suspended for 88 minutes due to lightning in the West Lafayette area.  Purdue turned the ball over four times and the U. only twice, yet they still lost.  To not totally slag on the Goofs, it was close in the fourth.  The teams traded Field Goals so the U. retained a one-point lead (17-16), but the Boilers scored a Touchdown in a drive that took only 69 seconds, and with about a minute left in the game Gopher Quarterback Connor Rhoda threw a Pick-Six to ice it.  Maybe the PR department cheating on Tic-Tac-Toe cursed the team into losing.

The good news ... well, the really good news is P.J. Fleck gets a mulligan for the entire season because it's his first.  The more imminent good news, maybe, is that the club's next opponent is Michigan St., which came off of a thrilling road upset at seventh-ranked rival Michigan last (Saturday) night.  In college football, I totally believe in letdown games and traps.  And the Spartans have to travel to TCF Bank to play.  Maybe?

#-6: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -7).  Holy fuck, what happened to the Gopher women's hockey team?  This may be the first time in years they got swept at home!  I know, I know, the Saturday game vs. Ohio St. goes down as a tie, but they lost in a Shootout, so it's a loss.  Maybe this team needs a little more retooling as it gears up its season.  But Minnesota is still Minnesota, the preeminent program in women's hockey.  They don't have rebuilding years.  Shit, they barely reload.  They're just supposed to be good, every time, and right now they have a losing record.  And they have to go on the road the next two weeks, starting with a two-game jaunt up the Mississippi to Bemidji St. this weekend.

#-7: Wild (Re-Entry!).  So the team with the big plan which has also underwhelmed in the postseason starts off their 2017-8 campaign with two losses.  I know, I know, the game against The Bastard Hartford Whalers wound up in a Shootout, but they lost that, so they really lost.  Nice to see them play the dunce for the Detroit Red Wings as they opened up their new Little Caesars Arena (are pizzas there $5?), though.

I understand stability, and not throwing away good pieces you've developed.  But there is a core of the old guard (Zach Parise, whose back is preventing him from playing to start the season, and Ryan Suter) and the up-and-comers who may or may not have had breakouts last year (Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter) that, with time, is going to be an excellent team.  I'm still waiting.  In the meantime, General Manager Chuck Fletcher had to stir the pot, so a key piece in Defenseman Marco Scandella was shipped off to free up some cap space.  Regardless of the moves, we're still waiting for something, whether it be a surprising goal-scorer or a stellar back-up play.

The Mild have the front half of the next two weeks off.  They visit Chicago Thursday and finally open up their season at Xcel Energy Center against Columbus Saturday.

#-Infinity: Twins (Last Week: -3).  I chose not to watch the American League Play-In Game between the Twinks and the New York Yankees.  Saw Battle Of The Sexes instead -- like I said, decent movie --  and since they lost (and profoundly so; they got doubled-up, 8-4), I knew I was right in missing it.  (The next day was the Lynx Finals game, and I guessed right then, too -- I'm on a roll!)  You know, maybe you shouldn't send a man to do a woman's job.

I didn't see the game at all, but that won't stop me from conjecturing.  The Twinks shook the Yanks' Starting Pitcher, Luis Severino, for three runs in the top of the First Inning.  It got so bad that Yanks Manager, Joe Girardi, pulled Severino after getting only one out in the inning.  The Twinks returned the favor by allowing three runs from New York in the bottom of the inning.  Our SP, Ervin Santana, was finally pulled by Paul Molitor after 11 batters and two full innings.  I get that it's all hands on deck in the playoffs, especially in a "playoff series" of one game.  But isn't it a little hasty to pull an SP after allowing just three runs?  No, it's not good.  But Pitchers give up three runs in an inning during the regular season and they don't get pulled.  I'm not quite certain that this being the postseason should change that.  Maybe your starter just needs to calm down.  Maybe all he needs is some faith that he can give you some solid innings.  And even though you can't really look towards the future, maybe you need to save your bullpen for a future series.

No matter.  The issue now is where the Twinks go.  This is bitterly disappointing; I'm not going to say that the Twinks "reached the playoffs" this year.  But this is a squad that, after its front office traded away a Starting Pitcher after acquiring him a week ago and after just one start (Jaime Garcia) and also traded its putative Closer (Brandon Kintzler) before the Trade Deadline, they surged into ALWC2 and didn't let it go.  And remember that these guys lost 103 games last year; even though the phrase "playoff team" is technical when it comes to Minnesota, they are the first team in Major League Baseball history to go from 100 or more losses to the playoffs.

The key now is to build on it.  The lineup clicked starting in August, yet they could use another lefthanded bat.  Oh, and they could use a healthy Miguel Sano.  But their biggest weakness remains the rotation.  I know it was just one start, but it was an important start, and Santana simply sucked in the Play-In Game.  Bartolo Colon was on fumes at the end of the season, Kyle Gibson remains at best a bulldog of a Pitcher (who nonethless ended with a flourish), and Jose Berrios and Adelberto Mejia remain wet molds of clay.  They could use an ace, such as Justin Verlander.  And seeing how good their core is now, this is the time for the front office to step up and build off of this foundation by getting really good arms.  If this organization loosens the purse strings, maybe -- just maybe -- there is hope for the future for the Minnesota Twins.