Positive Numbers: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: Positive Numbers). Holy mother of God, this squad just keeps on rolling. Home victories over Iowa and Nebraska (completing a season sweep of the Cornhuskers) means the U. is on an 11-match winning streak and remains undefeated in the Big Ten, the best conference in women's college volleyball. I caught a glimpse of the opening of Saturday's match vs. Nebraska at a bar, and I saw that they dropped the first Set. I sort of thought oh no, but then I thought it was a good thing because, hey, I really think a loss will educate this squad on resilience. But the TV was switched so I didn't know till later that the Gophers freakin' came back and beat Nebraska Sets 2-4 with losing scores of 23 (whoa!), 23 (whoa!!), and 18 (they fuckin' broke 'em!!!).
As far as I know, BYU and Stanford continue to win, so it's likely that the Golden Gophers remain #3 in the AVCA Top 25. But considering the conference schedule the team is continuing to master, Minnesota might get into the field as the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament ... and it's because that team might be the best in the tournament.
Potential landmines ahead this weekend: They have a three-game roadtrip, starting with the Michigan schools this weekend.
#0: Whitecaps (Re-Entry!). Well, this is an intriguing revelation: The 'Caps went out east and beat the Metropolitan Riveters over the weekend by scores of 5-3 and 6-2. They completed a 4-0 season sweep of the defending Isobel Cup Champion Rivs -- very impressive! It seems as though many players on the Golden Gophers flocked back to Minnesota, giving the Whitecaps a superpowered team in its first year in the NWHL. Could they win the title in its first year? Maybe ... and I will not even touch any comparisons to the Vegas Golden Knights. No sirree.
This weekend they are home to face the Buffalo Beauts for two. I don't know if I have time to take in a game. But if I do, will there even be tickets available?
#-1: Vikings (Last Week: 0). I don't know if these guys have righted the ship. And any dreams that they will win the Super Bowl remain a pipe dream that will depress me if I think about it too much. But after a First Half that was won, essentially, by the MetLife Stadium wind, they pulled away from the New York Jets in the Second Half in Sunday's 37-17 rout. That's three in a row for the Vikes, and they, for now, are first in the National Football Conference North Division.
A little regurgitation of facts you have already read about Adam Thielen. He notched his seventh straight game of 100 receiving yards to start a season, which is an NFL record (and ties the professional football record), and he holds the NFL record of most Receptions through the first seven weeks of the year. At this point, why wouldn't opposing teams fucking triple-team Thielen for the rest of the season? I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. And to think this guy went to Minnesota State-Mankato and went undrafted. What a country!
Next game: The Return Of The Minneapolis Miracle, vs. New Orleans, for Sunday Night Football.
#-2: Wild (Last Week: -2). They got doubled up in Nashville Monday, but has ripped off three in a row since. The win vs. Tampa Bay Saturday at the X happened in Overtime, but that was the back end of a back-to-back sweep, the first of which was a 3-1 road win at The Team That Was Stolen From Us. I don't know if this marks a turning point, but hey, Alex Stalock became the first Wild Goalie to be credited with an assist during the 5-4 win over the Lightning!
They have a few days off this screening week before hosting Los Angeles Thursday and Colorado Saturday.
#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1). Said in last week's survey that I might watch Friday's contest at Ridder vs. Ohio St. Shouldn't've said that; this game slipped my mind because I had a few important things to do and I had no decent reason to go. Missed a 3-0 wipeout. But hmmm ... the fourth-ranked Buckeyes upset the third-ranked Gophs 3-2 Saturday.
That's all I got. This team has a tough two-game series at second-ranked Wisconsin for the weekend.
#-4: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -3). Well, if you have a chip and a chair, you have a chance, they say. That's all this side has right now, because even though their 3-1 win over Iowa at Cowles Thursday (a contest I attended) pretty much got them into the B1G tourney, Sunday's 2-0 loss at regular season conference champion Penn St. kind of shows how mediocre this team is. They are the 7-seed, and they will visit Rutgers this weekend, a team that they lost to, 2-1, in (not for nothing) double OT at home Sep. 30. Even if they pull the upset over the Scarlet Knights, they still need to win the whole shebang in order to land a spot in the NCAAs. So, good luck.
#-5: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). The calamitous shitshow called the Woofie Dogs tipped off this week with three games. Sandwiched between road losses to San Antonio and Dallas was a win in their home opener Friday over Cleveland. (Why did the NBA make this squad travel down to Texas, come back up here, then go back down to Texas?) I have no idea how, but Jimmy Butler is actually playing on this team, and for some goddamn reason he, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Tom Thibodeau haven't ripped each other's heads apart on the court. How in the fuck does this organization trip into this shit? And can this cavalcade of disaster be any good?
This week they continue to alternate home and road dates. A trip to Toronto Wednesday is sandwiched by home games against Indiana (Monday/tonight) and Milwaukee (Friday).
#-6: United FC (Last Week: -5). First of all, TCF Bank Stadium, empty upper bowl aside, was a fine pitch for soccer. My seat meant that the sun would hit the peripheral vision of my left eye many summer evenings, but the sightlines were good enough, and more importantly, the passion of the fans who attended United games filled that stadium with support and, well, love.
It was largely packed for Sunday's last-ever game at Das Bank v.1.0. The franchise made a push to break the record for attendance for a pro soccer game in Minnesota -- #50KtoMidway, they say. And they did: Over 52,000 came over for the match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
And, predictably, they saw a demoralizing, noncompetitive 3-1 loss. Zlatan Ibrahamiovich was there. He probably didn't want to because the artificial turf is hard on his old knees (a theory that is still largely considered BS). But the Galaxy needed him because they are still fighting for a playoff spot. I made a point to just look at him all match. I've done that once before at a game -- Blake Griffin, during his burgeoning years for the Clippers as they came to play (and beat) the Timberwolves. I just wanted to see what Zlatan can do. And besides an Assist on the third Goal and being in the right place at the right time to head in the first Goal (with the help of Michael Boxall inexplicably stepping toward the ball and away from marking Ibrahimovich), all he did was loiter around the Center Line and be all big and sexy. He did a lot, but other than that, he wasn't asked to do much. Because he's cocky and old.
As for our Goons ... fuck, clean house. Regular season ends Sunday in Columbus. At least I am happy that it seems as though the Crew will stay in Columbus.
#-7: Gopher football (Last Week: -4). OK, this is seriously not working. Visiting a Nebraska team that was winless and on (if you extend it to last year) a ten-game losing streak is a certain formula to come away with a victory. But not only did P. J. Fleck's charges lose to the heretofore-toothless Cornhuskers, they got their asses kicked, 53-28. That's just not acceptable. And with Fleck being at the head of the U. for a second year, we need signs of a turnaround. It should have started in Lincoln, but the football team is coming away with its tail between its legs. This defeat raises serious questions of how Fleck can be the one to revitalize this program.
I thought this club would be able to get hot in this part of the schedule. They host Indiana in an extremely rare Friday matchup. But after getting blown out by Nebraska, does anyone really think the U. will win this game ... or any for the rest of the season?
Look at the rest of the schedule. A team needs six wins to get to a bowl. (Usually, the 5-7 teams with the best APR can get into a bowl too if there is a need for teams, and the Gophers have gotten into the postseason that way, but yeah.) They are losing to Wisconsin, and after they demolished Ohio St., these Goofers are losing to Purdue. That means there is no room for error; they have to win the three games they can win, starting with the Hoosiers. If they lose Friday -- shit, that's it.
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