The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

I'll be honest with you: I don't feel like going all out on doing a full-fledged WMNSS this Week, either.  I got done with four days of working at Target Center, and I need to start working on two important e-mails that should be sent out, at the latest, by tomorrow/Tuesday.  Plus, I think the grief over the death of my uncle is still lurking deep inside me.  But instead of just listing the teams last Week, I think I have enough time to blurb about them this Week:

#0: United FC (Last Week: 0).  I had a good Production Manager who didn't keep us till the wee hours of the morning.  In fact, each day we were released in the early evening.  That meant that I didn't have to sell my ticket to Saturday's Match against LAFC and that, in fact, I could go to it.  (I was meaning to sell it, but it didn't sell, no matter the price, which I find odd because the opponent is one of the most known in Major League Soccer.)

I am glad I went.  Eric Ramsey finally took the helm of the Loons Saturday night, but he didn't change much -- the 4-3-3 was still in place, the youngsters started, and he used his subs judiciously and well.  Moreover, MNUFC won a regular-season Game over Laugh-See for the first time ever -- 2-0, albeit through broken plays (the first on a broken clearance off a Free Kick, the second a bad glance off a United FC deep ball), but hey, you have to capitalize on the mistakes the other team makes.  Even better, Emanuel Reynoso and Bongokuhle Hlongwane subbed in in the Second Half (and Bongi scored that insurance Goal).  They are shedding their early injury bug, and now they sit atop the Western Conference with ten Points and remain undefeated at 3 Wins-1 Draw-0 Losses.  That deserves another screening Week above negative territory.

It's essentially a bye Week, although they have a Friendly versus some club called St. Patrick's Athletic Wednesday evening.

#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5).  Shit's getting real now.  They took both Games they played this Week (at both The Bastard Buffalo Braves and The Bastard New Orleans Jazz), but they remain stuck in third place in The Western Conference behind The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics and Denver.  They play a second Game in Utah tonight/Monday night, immediately fly home to host the Nuggets late tomorrow/Tuesday night, then host Cleveland and Golden State over the weekend.

#-2: Wild (Last Week: -4).  The hole they dug themselves in earlier in the Year means they have no margin for error.  And while they wound up a perfect three-tilt homestand with Wins over The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and Anaheim, they needed to take two Points at St. Louis Saturday ... and, preferably, prevent the Blues from getting any.  They had to storm back, unfortunately, to send their contest into Overtime tied at 2 and then eventually a Shootout, which the Mild eventually lost.  That helped St. Louis leapfrog in front of Minnesota in the hunt for that last playoff berth.  And they remain five Points behind (Las) Vegas for that spot, and they have only 14 Games in order to get that.

This Week they visit Southern California for Games on back-to-back Days vs. Anaheim and Los Angeles, then they come home to host the Blues.

#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  The weather has been so good that the U. decided to open up Siebert Field early and schedule a midweek one-off Game against St. Olaf, which they won, 5-1.  They then went to Elon and lost two-of-three over the weekend, salvaging only the getaway Game, 9-7, and even that took 10 Innings.  (For what it's worth, they lost the other two Games by only one Run.)

Another Wednesday matchup at home, this one vs. Augsburg, then a weekend series out against San Francisco.

#-4: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1).  This is not good.  In their last non-conference tournament of the season, The Garnet And Black Invitational, they lost four-of-five.  Their only victory was the middle one, 14-4 over N. C. State which was mercy-ruled after five Innings.  Two other foes, Boston University and host South Carolina, are ranked in at least one poll.  And the final two are Big Ten schools against whom they're evidently playing non-con contests, Michigan St. and Northwestern, and they dropped those, too.  If they can't beat those conference opponents, how much of a chance do they have versus the rest of the B1G?

Finally begin conference play at Maryland for three.

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2).  They allowed Michigan to come into Mariucci and eliminate them in the B1G Tournament Semifinal, 2-1.  Guess it doesn't matter; the U is eighth in the PairWise.  Still irksome that the Wolverines continue to have a lot of success against the Gophers, though.

Sunday is the reveal for the bracket.  This time next Week, these guys may be at -Infinity, just like:

#-Infinity: Gopher women's hockey & Gopher men's basketball (Last Week, respectively: -7 and -6).  I don't want to waste much mental bandwidth on these two.  Just want to say that the Quarterfinal Loss by the lady icers at Clarkson, even if it went to Quadruple Overtime, is yet another sign that this program is regressing.  It's been now five Years since they made the title Game and eight years since they won it all.  This fucking team never stood a chance.

And meanwhile, even though there were greenshoots that thankfully sprouted during the season, it wasn't enough to spark a miracle run to the NCAAs, and they were ousted in the Big Ten Men's Tournament Thursday afternoon vs. Michigan St.  But they accepted an invitation to the NIT, so that's ... good, right?  (By the way, the Gopher women's b-ball team also accepted an invitation to the WNIT.  Will we cover either club as they go through their respective tournaments?  Hell, no!  It's the NIT!!)