Down Goes the Season

That collective gasp you may have heard came from the folks down at 600 First Avenue. In one fell swoop, the season has come to a screeching halt. In one play, people may have lost jobs. With one bad turn of the knee, there is no more, "Man, this team is playing some great basketball lately." In one crash to the floor, Al Jefferson's season is done.

The Wolves' superstar power forward (not Center) went down for the year with a Torn ACL. This ends Big Al's best season so far in the NBA and may have just doomed us to another couple months of turning the channel whenever you see the grainy channel 45 broadcast.(I hear they have amazing cameramen though) The Wolves had started to prove people wrong who thought that this team was destined to be the worst team in the NBA yet again but starting January 10-2 and becoming competitive in every game while also playing some exciting basketball. They were doing it the right way. Letting the young players, that they had put so much faith in, actually play large quantities of semi-meaningful minutes. Even though they had lost 6 of 7 prior to the injury, the future seemed a little brighter for many Wolves' fans around Minnesota.
With the injury though, the team will struggle to win any games at all, while getting obliterated most nights. People who disagree might say, how much difference can one player make?? Umm.. a lot! When you have one great player and a bunch of mediocre, at best, players around him, you can't afford for that player to go down. When you run your entire offense through this player, the whole team takes a major hit. So get ready fans of the Black, White, Green, with a lil Bright Green, and some other colors(?), in looking at the schedule, it's tough to find more than 4-5 wins the rest of the year.

There is a silver lining, however, to this basketball catastrophe. The younger Wolves will get ample run to see what we actually have on this team for next year and subsequent years. Kevin Love will assume a starter's role and hopefully start to develop some offensive skills to complement his obvious defensive and rebound prowess. Randy Foye will get his chance to prove to all us doubters(and with good reason) that he is better, or on the same level as Brandon Roy. (On a side note, OH My God I still can't believe they did that!) Rodney Carney will get some more extended minutes to see if these flashes of brilliance can continue. On top of all that though, the best reason to lose all those games and be that crappy for the rest of the season... To get a top three pick, if not (gasp!) #1 overall.





The hottest chick in school that everyone is trying to bang this year is Blake Griffin. Ok, not literally but you get the point. ( Maybe literally. Hell, its Oklahoma, so who knows) The best player in college basketball by far is also the best NBA prospect coming into this year's draft. He's currently averaging 22.3 Points per game and 14 rebounds a game this season, and by first hand account, when you're watching him play it seems like a lot more than that. This guy's got the NBA ready body while also having the hops to get over bigger players that he will encounter in the NBA, even though he won't have too much to overcome as he still stands 6'10". The problem with Griffin though is actually two-fold. Being too short to play Center and too tall and big to play Small Forward, he would be stuck at Power Forward. This isn't a problem for most teams but the Wolves, as already mentioned, have an Elite Power Forward already in Jefferson. I suppose you could play them both but then we are back to the same interior defensive problems that have plagued this team for years. The second problem is that Griffin will almost undoubtedly go #1 overall and it's an unspoken rule that the Timberwolves will never get the #1 pick. David Stern will make sure that Griffin finds his way to Washington, making them really, really good or to Oklahoma City; both because it's the whole Travis Kieffer "Hometown Hero" story and also to apologize for having to move the team from Seattle a month before season.

Good thought, but not worth much time. As Sean Connery said, "Losers always whine about doing their best, while winners go home and fuck the prom queen." I'll let you guess which category do you think the Wolves fall into more often then not...


A more likely scenario is getting a top 3 pick and having a shot at the likes of Rickey Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, or James Harden. Rubio, is an 18 year point guard who looks more like the 12 year old kid next door to you that your overly aggressive son beats up after school then a franchise point guard. But don't let the face fool you. Rubio wowed scouts and viewers in the 2008 Olympic games as the starting point guard for the Spanish team that featured Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez. He is drawing comparisons to Pistol Pete Maravich, but that could be solely based on the fact that the look almost identical and happen to play the same position. Either way, this lad looks like he could be the real deal out on the court. He lacks speed, size, and quickness but makes up for that with high basketball IQ, instincts, and hard work. Wow, sounds like every description I've ever heard of any white-skined player, ever. Cool

Thabeet is a 7'3" center from UCONN who could fill an extreme need for the interior-soft Timberwolves. Thabeet is extremely raw on the offensive end but plays like a seasoned vet on the defensive end by intimidating shooters and swatting away more shots then John Daly. Thabeet is averaging 13 points per game and 10 rebounds, while also blocking 4.1 shots a game. He is also the main reason that Connecticut fields the nations top defense, allowing under 40% opponent field goal %. That means that he affects almost every shot taken by his mere presence in the lane. This would be a nice consolation prize for missing out on Griffin. It would be like missing out on the prom queen only to end up convincing both of her almost-as-hot friends to double up on ya at the end of the night. Ok, I promise, no more sexual innuendos.

The last player of interest is James Harden, a 6'5" shooting guard from Arizona State. Again, this would fill a major need for the Wolves, providing an potentially explosive shooting guard to compliment Big Al underneath. Harden is a one man team this year for the Sun Devils, averaging 21.3 points per game. He can shoot the deep ball but can also blow by you the next second. This would be like missing out on the prom queen, getting slapped by her two hot friends for suggesting a double up, and finally settling on the town bicycle that can, literally, score from anywhere. Now I'm really done.

Either way, the Wolves will have some flexibility this year with multiple first round selections. This is probably a moot point, however, as they will do something to mess that up. Just one word of advice, LOSE...!! You have had to opportunity to do so in the past, only to try and impress people by winning a couple of meaningless games that no one cared about anyways. This year is different. You need to swallow your pride and go out there and stink the place up EVERY single night to guarantee yourself a top 3 pick. At least its harder to piss those draft picks down your leg.

Yeah! Wait... What? No!

As you all know by now there is both good and bad news in the land of snow and mediocre sports teams. The good news is that Randy Wittman is out of a job. The bad news is that Kevin McHale is now the leader of this ragged band of malcontents. The good news is McHale is no longer the G.M. or "V.P. of basketball operations" or whatever title they used for the job of the dude in charge of throwing the franchise's future down the drain. The bad news is the trapezoid of idiocy is still intact and in charge of makeing all of the wrong descisions off the court while McHale handles the on-court part.

I think Sam Mitchell or Eddie Jordan would have made for better coaches and an actuall GM would have been nice. I don't know why McHale gets the Isaiah Thomas treatment. Worse yet we didn't even get the satisfaction of public ultimatum like James Dolan gave Thomas. Glen taylor might actually think this is a good idea and not just a way to justify something that the rest of the world thought was already justifiable. McHale should have been out the door with Whittman.

So far McHale has twice replaced a coach with a worse one. For all of our sake I hope he goes 3 for 3 in that particular category. These players need to go 0-62 the rest of the season if they want the ineptitude of this team to end. Al Jefferson needs to study tape of KG's career, but he needs to focus on the stuff that happened off the court and realize the reason(s) why a player so great could only get past the first round once in Minnesota. Losing tonight was a start, Al, but you and your boys have a long way to go if you want to win in the future.

My dream is that Glen Taylor rip out the entire front office (sans secretaries, ect.) and start from scratch. If he wants he can keep Fred Hoiberg as Assistant GM, but only as long as he gets a real GM to come and work for him. We need someone who has a coach in mind (someone who can invent a system in which the players we have play to and beyond their full potential) won't deal with mediocre players under the table, won't constantly draft a better player and imediatly trade them away and someone who actually has a plan for the future that doesn't include sweater shopping and fishing at the top of the list.

Randy Wittman and his career .326 win percentage (which got worse every year he coached) is gone and Kevin McHale has (presumably) lost his decision making power, so the team is moving in the right direction. If they want to get me to think about buying an actual ticket to one of these games they need go all the way and blow up the front office and start from scratch. If they take that last sentance literally I will buy a ticket.

I may write again. I may not. Just couldn't fully wrap my head around this conundrum and needed to put it down somewhere.

It Was a Nice Ride While It Lasted

Rumors of the Patriots demise weren't greatly exaggerated. Or so it seems to this guy anyways. I know that people shouldn't take too much out of one week in the long NFL season. This is not just one week. This will be the entire season.

Some thought that this juggernaut would just run on unleaded rather than the premium it did under Mr. Jissele. People thought Matt Cassel would be able to handle the reigns because he had been the backup for 3 years and, by god, he better have the offense pretty well down pat. Those people failed to see that there was an outstanding, young, hungry Miami Dolphin team coming to town to take down the Belicheck's. Nothing says "on the cusp of greatness" like 0-2 this year fresh off a 1-15 season a year ago. Okay, that "young, outstanding, and hungry" part was a gross exaggeration. The Dolphins are a brutally bad football team, but you could never tell it from the lambasting that they gave the Patriots this past Sunday, making it look easy in a 38-13 road domination. What? How did that happen? Even bad/mediocre teams drill the Dolphins from week to week. Hell, perennial doormat Arizona over matched them just last week, cruising to a 31-7 victory. The Patriots will kill the Miami Dolphins and won't even break a sweat doing it. They hadn't lost a regular season game since 2006, against the Dolphins.(total coincidence) And NOBODY wins in Foxboro!

These things didn't mean shit this weekend and the Patriots were officially exposed. Exposed as old, slow, and unable to adjust. They were even out-coached, which seems like blasphemy to people who have seen "Hey, who's the Dirtball in the Sweatshirt?" coach before. Now, I know that these players haven't seen the option since college, but almost everyone should have seen that form of offense by now. The Dolphins did this throughout the game, and the Patriots simply failed to adjust whatsoever at any point in the game, getting embarrassed in the process. You just let a guy score 5 touchdowns on you, mostly lining up at Quarterback where he proceeded to throw a touchdown pass left handed. You just got pummeled by a team who's best player is playing with a freshly reconstructed knee and you got flat outsmarted by one of the Soprano's, errr.. Sparano's. That ship sunk the minute Tom Brady crumbled to the ground in agony. This collection of extremely aging veterans needed to do it this year, if not last year. Now I know that any team with a healthy Tom Brady is a contender but no longer with they be the class of the NFL like we have come to know the Patriots as. Mark my words, until they get younger, we have seen the end of a dynasty. No more straight Class, homey



So, who will take they reigns from the Patriots. It could just be America's Team. Dallas is scary good. This week, the Cowboys toyed with the Green Bay Packers en route to starting 3-0 on the young season. I say "toyed" because Terrell Owens had a whopping 17 yards receiving and their second best receiver, Patrick Crayton was shut out completely and they still found a way to win by 11 points in Lambeau. Something called Miles Austin picked up the slack by hauling in 2 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.

In the past, many people have had their issues with how the owner of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones, runs his teams, engaging in almost everything and being a constant presence on the sidelines, but you have to take your hate off to the man. He has assembled an amazing squad. If you look up and down the roster, the 'Boys have possible all-pros at every position, both offensively and defensively. Everybody knows about Me-O, Romo, Witten, and Roy Williams, but what people might not realize is just how incredibly well Dallas has drafted over the past 4-5 years. Its staggering. Getting Demarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, and Marion Barber in the same year in 2005. Getting Felix Jones and, who some say was the best DB in the draft this past year, Michael Jenkins from South Florida. They are just stock piling players at every position. Its not only been via the draft either, as Free Agency has played a great role in the revival of this team. Even though they drafted Michael Jenkins, they still felt the need to go out and get strip club aficionado, Pacman Jones to shore up an already strong secondary consisting of Anthony Henry and Terrance Newman. The rich get richer, I guess. This is an embarrassment of riches. Its a shame that none of this talent means squat until they get to the playoffs and actually win a game. They could go 16-0 and people would still not care if they get knocked out early like they have done every playoffs since 1996.

I think this is the year. They are just too good and I can only see them getting better when the newcomers get more accustomed to the system. I'm officially on the bandwagon, as I'm always a sucker for great offenses.




Speaking of great offenses... Anyone not notice the transformation that Denver has made this year? They have seemingly come out of nowhere to become one of the 1 or 2 most explosive offenses in the NFL this year. It's that offense thats has them at 3-0 so far this season, albeit with the help of a painstakingly bad gaff by Ed Holculi in the San Diego game. They have all the right pieces in place, excluding only maybe a stud running back. But when you have that great of a passing game, you can run the ball just from the respect they other team has to afford to the aerial attack. They have averaged the most points in the entire league through 3 games and although they are probably near the bottom in points allowed, they do just enough to scrape by for the win.

This is just another glaring example of how the NFL draft is so flawed and basically a crap shoot. Jay Cutler is quickly becoming the best quarterback from the 2006 draft class which included much more highly touted Vince Young and Matt Leinart. How the Vikings didn't trade up with St. Louis (with Scott Linehan!) to get this guy which would have filled to most glaring need on the ball club, I will never know. Instead they, like the 31 other teams, watched as Denver made the trade to get Cutler and proceeded to rebuild an entire offense in just the first three picks of the 2006 Draft. After Cutler, the Broncos next two picks that year were their current tight end Tony Scheffler and a guy who has become probably the second best receiver in the league, Brandon Marshall... in the 4th Round. (Talk about good drafts!) While the unpredictability of the NFL draft can drive fans crazy, it also gives us examples of what one good, calculated draft can do for a franchise. And while Denver won't do much in the playoffs(and they WILL get there) because of their awful defense, the early returns are....Impressive. Hats off to the Orange Crush.

Remember This Guy?

Anybody? Anybody?

Anybody remember this Vince Young? The confident, if not sometimes cocky, Vince Young? The Vince Young who won a national championship with his whole team(shit, the entire state of Texas) on his back? The Vince Young who almost singlehandedly beat probably one of the two or three best teams ever in college football for the 2006 National Championship?

Okay, I'll stop. You probably get the point by now.

It seems like that Vince Young has gone missing(bad pun). Literally, actually. A shell of his former self, Young took a turn for the worst this past week. In the midst of yet another sub-par performance in his team's first regular season game of the 2008 season, Young was hit viscously at the knees. He lay, grimacing in pain with what would be known later as a sprained MCL. Knowing from experience, not a fun injury to deal with. Young will be out the next 2-4 weeks to recover, which is disheartening, because as bad as Vince has been, the Titans now have to rely of Kerry Collins for a month. This wouldn't be such a bad thing, but you have to realize that Kerry Collins does not have the luxury of playing the Vikings every week of the season. What we didnt know at the time, and since has surfaced, is that before getting injured on that play, Young almost refused to go into the game after being booed by the home fans after another ill-advised interception. What? This guy is gonna pull a Scottie "No Tippin" Pippen on us? This is same guy who was one of the most competitive college players I have ever seen. How quickly things can change. I didn't see this one coming.

This story still keeps gaining momentum it seems, because in the past few days, another juicy morsel has been reported. It appears people became worried for Vince's safety the other night after he apparently had a meeting with a team appointed psychologist. After the talk, Young got into his Mercedes and sped off and was gone for a couple hours. Now, this doesn't seem that weird to most people. Hell, I agree that sometimes you just need to get the fuck out of dodge to clear your head. His family, however, seemed overly concerned and called the police, who in turn put out an APB for Young. When he was finally reached, he claimed to just be kickin it at a buddy's house, eating some chicken wings. This whole thing just reeks of some one who is just not into it, with the "It" in question being playing football in the NFL.

Earlier this year, Young said in an interview that he had contemplated retirement after this season, causing alot of red flags to raise. When a rich, young man who is the starting quarterback for an NFL franchise and a legend in College Football history talks about retiring after only two seasons in the league, it doesn't all add up. What is not to like about this career? I can see not liking the fame or the pressure. That's about it though. You make a shit ton(yes, I said shit ton) of money playing football, and while your performance is nit-picked by just about everyone, when it breaks down to it, no ones life is really affected if you dont perform up to par. It's not THAT hard of a job, comparatively speaking. But something else could be going on here. Something more scary then just not wanting to play football in the NFL. There could be some major depression starting to rear it's ugly head here, and that is something that everyone is hoping is not the case. As a fan, who is starting to get concerned for this guy, I hope it was just a big misunderstanding.

From the football standpoint, if this situation doesn't get resolved, Young could go down in history as being one of the worst draft picks in history. So far in his NFL career, he hasn't proven enough to completely disagree with that. He can hardly throw. He makes bad decisions. And so far, his amazing athletic ability has yet to overcome those two big disadvantages for a quarterback. And you say that the Vikings have had some bad drafts? Have they ever drafted a player with all the "tools" you could want, who turns out not to be very good at playing football?... Wait, Troy Williamson. Bad example. Okay, have they ever drafted someone who didn't come close to living up to his "potential"? Wait.. Derek Alexander. Damn, strike two. Alright, well... have they ever drafted anyone who turned out to be missing a few light bulbs upstairs?? Ha!... oh wait, Demitrius Underwood. I give up.




I miss that Vince Young from the Rose Bowl. I miss tuning in every week to see what spectacular thing he will do next. I miss seeing that will to win so strong it's appealing even watching it on TV. I hope we get to see that Vince sometime soon. Playing football. Where he belongs.

There is still hope

Bassy will be back

Neubie's First Half Nuggets

As the second half is set to begin tonight, there are some interesting storylines to keep an eye on in the upcoming months leading up to the playoffs. Some have been beat to death already: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays coming out party and their pursuit of their first playoff spot in franchise history, Josh Hamilton becoming the player that everyone thought he could be,(Only a few years later than expected) and the Cubs having the best shot to finally win the World Series and end the stupidity that is the Curse of the Billy Goat. Along with the storylines for the second half, there were somethings that happened in the first half that I feel need elaboration. With all the things that you hear about on ESPN, things that don't involve the Yankees, Red Sox, or Brett Farve usually get little or no air time. But there are some more than intriguing things that have flown under the radar. Here are a just a few:

The Best Trade of the Last Ten Years...
In the off-season, the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers agreed to swap a raw, super talented kid pitcher for another super talented outfielder with a more than checkered past. Not many people made anything out of it at the time, but looking back, it may have been one of the best trades in recent memory; one that worked out amazingly for both teams. I'm talking about the Edison Volquez for Josh Hamilton swap. When I first saw this trade, I kind of shook my head. I decided that the Rangers have officially given up on having an semblance of a functioning starting rotation. They always field one of the best offenses in the game, and they are very exciting to watch because they score a ton of runs, but they never have to pitching to come close to contending. Having the story of Josh Hamilton beaten into me over the past All-Star weekend, I have kind of soured on the whole thing. Nonetheless the story is amazing. What this guy has done is awe-striking. Have only had a handful of at-bats, ever, in a minor league uniform and to be doing these kinds of things in the pros. For once, the scouts who touted him saying that he would be one of the best in the game someday, based on the skills of a high school kid, weren't wrong. In half a season, Hamilton is leading the league in RBI with 95 and is on pace for over 170 for the year. The show that he put on at the Home Run Derby was something that even brought me to my feet sitting at home in front of the TV. I can't imagine what the fans inside Yankee Stadium felt like. As for that raw, young talented pitcher that was sent the way of the Reds? He has only been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the first half of this year. Compiling a 12-3 record with a sub 2.50 era. In his first 13 starts, he hadn't given up more than 2 earned runs. So for he has been an aberration. A pitcher that does well in Cincinnati's Great American BallPark, the very definition of a hitter's park. It's not supposed to happen. He is making that possible.

Trades aren't supposed to work this well for both teams. I know, thats the premise of a trade, for it to work amazingly for both teams, but they rarely do. Usually one team gets a proven commodity and the other gets some random prospects that no one has ever heard of that you wont see in the big leagues for the next three years. This is the epitome of a fantastic trade and other teams should take note. This will be interesting to see if both these players can keep up their torrid starts. These are two of the brightest young stars in the game today and I'm personally rooting for both of them to keep amazing us as they have thus far.

Speaking of bright young stars. Tim Lincecum certainly doesn't look like a baseball player. He looks more like the guy you goofed around with in band practice during high school. I can imagine there is plenty of band members that stand 5 foot 11 and weigh 170 pounds. But I can venture to guess there aren't many who throw 99 miles an hour and have a breaking ball that buckles knees. Not many people are like Tim Lincecum. He may be one of a kind, actually. Little guys like this aren't supposed to do the things that he does. He's a truly scientific marvel. Sports Illustrated recently published an article on Lincecum breaking down and explaining the reasons why he could do such things with such a diminutive figure. They explained that it's his windup and his delivery that generates all his power. They described it as his body generating such energy and torque that, basically, his arm just comes along for the ride. This greatly reduces his propensity to injury and will, in turn, make sure we see this Marvel for years to come. The article kept making comparisons between Lincecum and Mark Prior, the oft-injured former future star of the Chicago Cubs, now with the San Diego Padres. Mark Prior was the picture-esqe prospect. Big, strong, strapping young lad with an arsenal of pitches. The Twins were even thinking the same thing when they were deciding between whether to select Prior and Joe Mauer with the 1st pick in the 2001 Amateur Draft. Maybe the Twins saw something that the rest of us did not. The article pointed out that there was obvious mechanical flaws with Priors delivery that everyone seemed to ignore, as they were clearly blinded by his somewhat more obvious frame and stature.

The ultimate quandary.. How does the 5 foot nothing outlast and outshine a 6'5" ideal pitching prospect? Another amazing storyline, although most have never heard of this flamethrower. That might be because of the fact that he plays for one of the worst teams in baseball, the San Fransisco Giants. But anyone who bothers to look at his stats so far this season won't be able to look past him anymore. So far he has an 11-2 record, a 2.57 Earned Run Average, and 135 strikeouts in a 127 innings. Thats 11-2 on one of the two or three worst teams in Major League Baseball! Impressive. Even more impressive than his stats is actually watching him pitch. It's something that I suggest everyone see for themselves. I can tell you, you won't be disappointed.

Lastly, something closer to home.




The Twins are surprising a lot of people with the way they have been playing so far this season. What I hope people aren't forgetting about is that we have a not-so-secret weapon waiting in Triple-A. Fransisco Liriano is officially back. After undergoing Tommy John Surgery over a year and a half ago, people were wondering is what they saw in 2006 was a thing of the past. That the glimpse of greatness and dominance was just a flash of light that faded away. From the sounds of things, that isn't how its going to go. From multiple reports I've come across, Liriano is back to form, maybe even more so then before. One report had him hitting 99 Mph on the radar gun, higher than I ever remember him throwing before. This can only be music to Twins' fans ears. Another problem that he had when he came back from his surgery was his command. That apparently is no more, either. Over his last 21 innings, he has only walked 3 batters, while striking out 24, and over the entire minor league season, spanning 16 starts, he has walked only 28 batters in 97 innings. Fransisco is back to his old self and one can't help but smile at that. In 2006, baseball fans saw greatness and if you are a fan of baseball whatsoever, you have to be rooting for this young man to succeed. The question now is when will we see him in a Twins uniform? The Twins current staff has been pitching very well over the past couple months, with the exception being Livan Hernandez. There doesn't seem to be a spot for Liriano in the current rotation and from what I've read, the Twins seem content with leaving Livan in there, despite his 5+ ERA and leading the league in hits allowed. Apparently there have also been talks about moving him to the bullpen as a late reliever/set up man for Joe Nathan. I couldn't care less how you get him up here, but get him up here. At first I would recommend putting him in the bullpen to get him re-accustomed to major league hitters. If he still has the talent I like to think he does, he will find his way into the rotation sooner than later. He's young and there's no rush. I want to see this kid dominate like we know he can, and if that means waiting a while before throwing him to the wolves, I'm all for it.

Over the past year, I have seen my love for baseball return. These young stars are part of the reason why. With all the steriod talk clouding over the game in recent years, the future still looks brighter than ever. How can that be? These are the reasons why. This is why I still tune in, night after night to seemingly meaningless games in the heart of July. To see things that amaze me. That is why I will keep tuning in.

Thank you Erin



Hat tip: Twinkie Town