Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The State of Minnesota Sports: Good, Bad, or Very Bad?

The State of Minnesota has struggled to field a successful sports team in the 2000s.  Yes, there are the occasional team that really steps up.  For instance, the 2009 Minnesota Vikings with the resurgent Brett Favre and the 2003-04 Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves.  However, none of these teams have been able to sustain a level of excellency like the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, and Detroit Red Wings.  The Minnesota Twins have consistently been a very strong contender in the AL North, but when it comes to postseason time and the New York Yankees, they are made to look like a senior citizen softball team.  With all of this said, can the Minnesota sports teams of winter turn this baby around and bring back or even start a style of winning that Minnesota may never have experienced?

Lets start with some bad news.  The Minnesota Wild.  The Wild started off the year on a tear and were leading the NHL as late as December 15.  They are most definitely going to become the first team in history to be leading the NHL that late and then miss the playoffs.  They may even receive a top three lottery pick.  The season has taken a drastic turn for the worse and quickly.  Mikko Koivu and Niklas Backstrom are lost for long periods of time, Greg Zanon and Nick Schultz, two key cogs to the blueline, were traded for yet to be determined effective players, and the team looks as if it has given up.  A 7-1 dismantling to the Colorado Avalanche would never have been accepted by Jacques Lemaire or even dare I say, Todd Richards.  Where is the leadership in the locker room?  Where is the leadership from the coaching staff, Mike Yeo?!  Somebody as got to step up and at least regain some respectability for a season that looked so promising.  Please.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team are another very disappointing story.  Tubby Smith has underwhelmed once again when it comes to conference play.  The season started off very well with the strong presence of Trevor Mbakwe inside.  He was injured in the early season tournament game against the Dayton Flyers and the dream which was the Sweet 16 or beyond went up in flames.  Rodney Williams has not achieved high expectations and Ralph Sampson III might be a worthless cause down low.  Trevor Mbakwe is still the leading scorer by 3.1 points per game.  That is ridiculous.  Nobody has stepped up even remotely on this team.  Just as the Minnesota Wild are searching for a leader, so are the Gophers.  They lost six in a row from February 9 to February 28, but won their last game of the year against the terrible Nebraska Cornhuskers to gain a resemblance of momentum going into the Big Ten tournament.  I even sense that there might be a run inside these guys, but someone has got to step up now.

The Minnesota Golden Gopher hockey team is another story completely.  They have had a very successful and might even have exceeded expectations.  They clinched the McNaughton Cup last week as the regular season winner in the WCHA.  Leading scorers Nick Bjugstad and Erik Haula really have led the squad with leadership that has not been shown by Minnesota sports teams said above.  Freshman Kyle Rau from Eden Prairie, Minnesota has really impressed, being the third leading scorer on the team with 34 points.  This team will take on Alaska-Anchorage in the first round playoff series for the WCHA championship with a right to go to the WCHA Final Five on the line.  I really wish the team luck and hope that they can do some damage when it comes to NCAA tournament time.

The Minnesota Timberwolves may be less successful than the Golden Gopher hockey team so far, but they have been far more surprising and definitely attract a far greater fan base in the Twin Cities metro area.  Rick Adelman has turned around this team and he has turned them around quickly.  Kevin Love is playing unbelievable basketball, Derrick Williams is beginning to step up, and Ricky Rubio has passed the ball better than I have seen anyone in a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform before.  This team has become enjoyable to watch and might even make a run into the Western Conference playoffs.  Michael Beasley is playing some pretty good ball right now although I still strongly believe that he is a black hole on offense and could be used as some very valuable trade bait.  Maybe to get Jamal Crawford or Rudy Gay.  The one thing that this Timberwolves team is lacking is a shooting guard and the acquisition of the sure to be traded Crawford would really bolster this team's roster.  I am really looking forward to the remainder of the season for this squad and am hoping for the best.

My overall consensus is that Minnesota sports is still struggling to gain a stable foothold in the sports world, and really needs a run by a team to change this.  Just making the playoffs is a start for any of these high profile teams, but the next step is to do something once you make it there.  The reason you play sports is for the joy of the game and to win championships.  Until that happens in Minnesota I cannot be satisfied and will live with that knowledge.

On a good note: Minnesota Twins spring training started and the season is less than a month away.

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