#-1: Vikings (Re-Entry!). So far, so good. Yes, it's one Game, and I have to continue to remember that while the Vikings' biggest rival are the Packers, the Packers' biggest rival aren't the Vikings, it's the Bears, so I think we need to check ourselves of that emotional dissonance.
But hey -- 23-7 to start off The Kevin O'Connell Era with a Win! More notably, the Offense was a distinct change from the "fear-based" philosophy of previous Head Coach Mike Zimmer. They opened up and in fact relied on the passing Game, and Justin Jefferson feasted to the tune of a record-high day in Yards and two Touchdowns. Dalvin Cook may have seemed like an afterthought, but he racked up more than 100 Yards from scrimmage. And the Defense pestered Aaron Rodgers all afternoon. As a Vikings fan, I never can say a Game is over until it's really over. But just before the Fourth Quarter, when the Greg Joseph made a Field Goal and the Packers punted, was when I could breathe a sigh of relief. Many other Vikings fans say they thought this Game was in the bag. I think they're lying.
Anyway, you can wave away Minnesota dominating on Sunday more to the Packers' deficiencies. Both of Rodgers' starting Tackles didn't play, and that's a big reason why the Vikes sacked A-Rodg four times. What may be a more ongoing concern for the Pack moving forward are the green Wide Receivers that Rodgers is left with since Davante Adams was traded to The Bastard Oakland-by-way-of-Los Angeles Raiders. That drop by WR Christian Watson early in the Game could have changed the complexion of it from what it eventually became. People think the WRs will eventually learn, but will they?
This still goes down as a victory, and there are high hopes going into the Monday night contest in Philadelphia. And hey, even if they lose, this is the first season for KOC -- who cares?
#-2: Gopher football (Re-Entry!). I noticed something in college football -- and not at the U. UCLA last Week beat Alabama St. That is second-division Alabama St. It is the first time in UCLA program history where the Bruins played an FCS school.
Notre Dame has yet to play a Game vs. a second-division opponent ... but that will change next season, when they host Tennessee St. That leaves one and only one program to never sully and whore themselves by stooping so low as to play an FCS team: My alma mater. That was close to ending, however; several Years back, they scheduled a Game against Cal-Davis. That was scrapped (with a penalty given to the Aggies for breaking the contract) once Mike Bohn became Athletic Director. I thought the thinking was that those three schools would remain untainted. Well, joke's on my school, I guess, because both UCLA and Notre Dame decided to dance with the trollops for a free and easy Win. I hope my school doesn't puss out and schedule one, ever. They're now the only ones, and that's a distinction that's worth holding onto.
Oh yeah, so the Gophers beat the ever-living shit out of FCS Western Illinois Saturday, 62-10. This is a Win that means nothing.
And the next opponent at least plays not that much better. Colorado is not just a top-flight school, but one that's in a BcS conference (albeit the Pac-12), and it has won a Mythical National Championship in my lifetime. But they suck right now, and they got shut out at home by these Gophers last Year. The Buffaloes return the favor, visiting Huntington Bank this/Saturday afternoon in a tilt that the U. should win easily. But hey, at least it's a top-flight program the Gophs are playing.
#-3: United FC (Last Week: -3). "Four Seasons In One Day" is a beautiful song, one of many, by Crowded House, an extremely underrated band in rock 'n' roll. And it's like the Loons are going through the fourth season of the 2022 season, the one where things appear to be falling apart, and where players are off the pitch due to either season-ending injury or card discipline. And yet, as they are falling through the standings, they've still got a chance.
It ain't a great result, their 1-all Draw versus LAFC (Laugh-See) at Allianz on what I want to say is the first MLS Match MNUFC has ever played on a Tuesday. The Loons score was by, you guessed it, Brent Kallman. Yep, the last holdover from the team's lower-division days. Have I talked about this? When he was re-signed in the offseason, I greeted it warmly because it maintained the last tangible cord to this team's beginnings. But then Kallman played, filling in for the backliners because of injury or because it was a mid-week Game, and Kallman, well, didn't play well. Some fans online believe that, since filling in for Bakaye Dibassy, the Defense has gotten so bad it can be the main reason MNUFC lost three in a row. But there Kallman (a Woodbury native) was, giving head off a Corner Kick from Emmanuel Reynoso that, finally, he didn't overshoot to the other side of the pitch. No, this was a kick that barely got level with the LAFC near post, and Kallman headed it in short-side to give Minnesota the 1-0 lead. Kallman also scored against Colorado earlier in the season, and that makes my heart light. And yet I don't know if Kallman should be back with this team next Year.
But Carlos Vela did Carlos Vela things, dropping an arcing moonshot from just beyond the box, and in the end, they each grabbed a Point. Yes, the Loons are winless in four, so they're not hosting a playoff Match if the season ended today. But they are in fifth, fourth-place Nashville is only a Point ahead, and FC Dallas is only in third by four. Better than that, their last three opponents of the regular season are three of the four worst teams in the Western Conference, starting with tonight's/Saturday night's road Match versus Sporting Kansas City. Unfortunately, they're going to have to play without Reynoso, who has to sit out this Match for Yellow Card accumulation after picking up one for absurdly holding onto an LAFC player who was about to go on a breakaway from the Loons' defensive zone. Wasn't Bebelo out for Saturday's 1-0 Loss in Portland for the same reason? I should be paying more attention. Anyway, Franco Fragapane is back after serving a card suspension, so the opportunity is there to take three Points from a bad squad even despite having missing and hurting men. Fingers crossed?
#-4: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2). How good can you be if you're finding your stride against a, let's just say, less than stellar slate of non-conference foes? Good question, and one the U. XI might have answered this screening Week.
They finished their non-con by thrashing Marquette at Robbie Stadium to the tune of 3-0. That gave the Gophers a four-Match winning streak. But look at who they beat: Drake, North Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha, and the Golden Eagles. Only one of those Matches was on the road, and that was vs. The Fighting Hawks, and that was just across the border in Grand Forks, N. D. Their last Loss was a 1-0 decision at Mississippi St., a BcS school.
And then the Golden Gophers started league play last/Friday night with a 1-0 Loss in Nebraska. Minnesota kept it close against what one observer thought was the bruising, borderline cheating play of the Cornhuskers. But apparently it worked, because in the 88th Minute a through ball found the Defender-splitting Sarah Weber, and she deposited it past U. Goalie Megan Plaschko for the Game-winning, and only, score.
I think we can say this club is not very good, and that some scrutiny needs to be aimed at Head Coach Erin Chastain. A 4-1-4 record (four Wins, one Draw, four Losses -- I think from now on I will use a W-D-L format to put the value of each outcome in descending order) doesn't beget a tournament team.
Off until Thursday, when the squad hosts Indiana.
#-5: Twins (Last Week: -4). I don't know if I can see the Twinks are done, given that they did sweep the Royals mid-Week and that this is the American League "Comedy" Central. But this ballclub's second-half collapse still has them, as of press time, five Games behind Cleveland for the Division lead and a Game behind the White Sox for second. Fuck the Wild Card; at 72-71, winning the Division is the only hope this team has of making the postseason.
That's what you get when everything that propelled you to the top -- an overachieving Rotation and a solid Lineup -- goes to hell on you and you don't have enough talent or depth to get through the rough patches. That's what you get when the stack of relievers you got for the stretch run at the Trade Deadline crap out on you. And that's what you get when you allow Cleveland -- an organization that seemed to be more rebuilding than contending at the start of the season, and a franchise who still can't quite stop whispers they'll be moved from The Land -- to come into Target Field and emasculate you by sweeping three Games of an all-important series. It's happening now, too; they started the return series last/Friday night, and the Twinks allowed the Game-winning Run via a Wild Pitch by the once-reliable Jhoan Duran.
Still, I get the feeling that Twinks fans are going to let the club off the hook. The narrative that they simply can't compete with the richer ballclubs on the coasts and down South is pretty much gospel now, regardless of the fact ownership really can change that, plus I think the Vikings winning their first Game of the Year, and over the hated Packers, has memory-holed the spiral this team is currently in. Which is a shame, because, at least right now, I feel as though there's got to be some goddamn accountability for this failure.
Because of rainouts, there will be four more Games with Cleveland before they have a return series at Kansas City beginning Tuesday. After that, they start a weekend trio vs. The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of ... Friday.
#-6: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). You know why I've gotten "disenchanted" with this team and this program? Fucking bullshit like this past Week, where, at home, versus good teams that are still ranked below them and thus should defeat them, lost to not one but two schools in separate tournaments at Maturi. And both by four Sets: To Stanford in the B1G/Pac-12 Challenge Saturday, then to Pepperdine Thursday in the Diet Coke Classic. I don't fucking remember the last time the host Goofers lost in their own Diet Coke Classic, but fuckin' Minnesota did! They slipped from third to sixth after the Loss to The Farm, and after getting humbled by the Waves, they'll drop further.
A quick scan of a volleyball chatboard after the upset loss to Pepperdine points to two big things: Bad Setter play and shit-ass Defense. At least one person doesn't think this team has the heart to hate losing enough. And many U. fans on this board I went to is starting to chafe under the perception Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon simply won't entrust starting jobs at Setter and Libero to new people to see if that unlocks the hitting talent that is prevalent (and has always been prevalent) on this club since Cutch became the guy here. It's still non-conference season, and another person on the board thinks the Big Ten is going to suffer a down year. But this Week is evidence the U. is going to be down with it.
One final non-con Match, tonight/Saturday night against Washington St., to finish off the Diet Coke Classic. (I went last/Friday night to the Sports Pavilion to see Pepperdine come back from 2-1 down to defeat the Cougars in the middle Match of the tourney. Even though work and trying to find my watch precluded me from getting there until halfway through the Match, I'm glad I got there, and I'm glad that Match went the full five.) They then begin B1G play Friday at Purdue.
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