Monday November 3, 2003
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE WEEK

TIMBERWOLVES THOUGHTS

LEBRON AND CARMELO UPDATES

TWINS THOUGHTS (Arizona Fall League)

TWINS THOUGHTS (Team USA)

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

GOPHERS FOOTBALL THOUGHTS
WILD THOUGHTS

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

WEEKEND RECAP

So, I’m watching some TV this weekend, and I saw a commercial I have seen a number of times. It was for an over-the-counter sinus medication. It discussed how this stuff makes a person feel so much better. Then right at the end of the commercial, typed in very small letters at the bottom, and spoken, very quickly and quietly, “side effects include nausea, <something> and diarrhea.” I had never really paid attention to that part before. That’s really disturbing. I mean, think about it… I think I’d rather struggle with a running nose, rather than a runny something else caused by the medicine. Wouldn’t you?

OK, enough already, it was a sports-filled weekend, so I’ll just be doing a little recap of the games that took place. Oh yeah, I threw in some comments and opinions of my own in there. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE WEEK

We haven’t had a Discussion Question of the Week for a while. I have a new one for you to help me answer. As we have done in the past, I will ask a question today, and I’d like to hear your opinions on the question. On Friday, I will post the responses I receive. So, be sure to send me an e-mail and have your voice heard. So, here is this week’s question:

What is your favorite sport to watch? And Why? The second part of the question is just as important as the first. I realize that the majority of people that check out my site on a daily basis are baseball people, but I am beginning to get more and more basketball fans as well. But why? What is it about baseball that we love watching? What is it about basketball? Here is the list of my personal favorite sports to watch, in order (subject to change by Thursday). On Friday, I will also discuss the reasons that I enjoy them (or don’t as much, in some cases).

1.)     Baseball

2.)     NBA Basketball

3.)     NFL Football

4.)     NCAA Basketball

5.)     NCAA Football

6.)     College Hockey

7.)     NHL Hockey

·         feel free to distinguish “watching” as “on TV” or “in person”, because, hockey is not enjoyable at all, for me, to watch on TV. However, watching games in person is as exciting as any of the above sports.

·         Feel free to distinguish between regular season and playoffs? I think College basketball is pretty boring, except during March Madness. That said, if college football went to a tournament, I might enjoy that more than the current Bowl process.

·         Baseball is a grind, with six games a week, over a 6 month period. The NFL plays one game per week. Does that factor in?

·         Does the sports marketing affect how much you enjoy the sport? The NBA markets its players. Warren Sapp is right, the NFL markets the teams, and not the players. I don’t really know who the NHL markets.

·         Other thoughts, I’m sure I missed many reasons. Actually, I know I have, because I’ve got more that I’ll share on Friday.

·         Because some might ask, I was driving to my parent’s place last Friday afternoon, a 3+ hour drive. I spent some time listening to the Sports Brothers on ESPN radio, and this was their topic. I didn’t listen to the whole thing because I like to sing to myself (really loudly) in the car so I spent a lot of time doing that too, but I caught a few of their points.

Take a look back at our previous Discussion Questions of the Week to see the format. I like giving the readers a chance to express their feelings, so I basically just post what you write (although expletives will be removed!). Here they are: 

6/26/2003 - Would the Greatest Be SO Great?

8/8/2003 - Who Do You Want To Talk To?

8/15/2003 - All-Time Best Lineups

8/29/2003 - Your Thoughts on the Twins

9/5/2003 - Is Terry Ryan "The Man" or "The Goat"?

10/16/03 - Your Thoughts on the 2004 Minnesota Twins Roster

So there you have it, send me an e-mail and let me know your thoughts. Then check back Friday and see the results.
 

TIMBERWOLVES THOUGHTS

The Wolves split their weekend back-to-back to go to 2-1 on the season.

Friday night, they played horribly, quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen them play, and lost to the New Jersey Nets 84-61. 61 points, for the game! There will probably be a few games this year, when the Wolves will have 61 points at half time!  This is a game where you give the Nets a lot of the credit, especially defensively. The Wolves had 24 turnovers, and they are traditionally around the league lead in fewest turnovers. Some of the blame for that can be attributed to the Wolves lack of team chemistry, but much of the credit does go to the Nets. They are a very solid team, with a strong starting 5, and with Aaron Williams and Alonzo Mourning coming off the bench. Just wait until they get Lucius Harris and Rodney Rogers back.

The Wolves shot just 33% from the field for the game! You’re not going to win a lot of games shooting that poorly. Kevin Garnett was the lone Wolf scoring in double-digits. He was 10-21 from the field for 23 points. So, taking Garnett’s near-50% shooting percentage out of the equation, the rest of the Wolves shot just 27.8%. Jason Kidd recorded a triple-double in leading the Nets with 21 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds. High-flier Richard Jefferson led the Nets with 26 points on 12-17 shooting. Of course, many of his shots were of the high-percentage variety!

Saturday night, the Wolves played almost as pathetically. Fortunately for them, the Toronto Raptors played even worse! The Wolves won a very low-scoring 73-56 game. Well, if I’m going to give the Nets credit for good defense, I had better give the Wolves some credit for great defense against the Raptors. And, that is true. Latrell Sprewell held Vince Carter to just 15 points on 5-15 shooting.. His defense continues to impress me. Offensively, he had just 4 points (on just 7 shots), but added 4 rebounds and 6 assists, which led the team. So many people were worried about the type of teammate he would be. Well, play shut down defense and led the team in assists. He’s doing the little things to help the team win. No selfishness in that! Of course, Kevin Garnett led the team in scoring, with 20 points, and rebounds, with 7. Michael Olowokandi had a very strong game, shooting 7-11 for 14 points. He added 6 rebounds and 4 block shots (KG had 4 blocks as well). Sam Cassell struggled with foul trouble but added 13 points. Backup point guard, Keith McLeod had to play 18 minutes and performed admirably. He had 5 points, 3 boards, 2 assists and a steal, and most importantly NO turnovers.

So what’s next? Tonight the Wolves host the 1-1 Utah Jazz. In my NBA predictions, I had the Jazz as one of the worst teams in the NBA this season. Andrei Kirilenko leads the team in scoring at 18.5 per game, in the 2 games. Carlos Arroyo became the first Jazz point guard not named John Stockton to be the Jazz starting point guard. In their first game against the Trailblazers, he accumulated 18 points and 13 assists. Not bad. However, he sprained an ankle and didn’t play against the Mavericks on Saturday night’s loss. This is a pretty bad team with a couple of pretty decent role players. Kirilenko can do a little of everything. Matt Harpring is a pretty solid all-around ball player. Greg Ostertag has his days… once in a while… ok, not too often. Raja Bell is a great defensive player who has started off well shooting from beyond the 3 point arc, making 4 of 7 (so no, it’s not worth worrying about too much!). Hopefully the Wolves don’t look past the Jazz game to Monday’s home game against the Sacramento Kings.

Any thoughts on the Wolves start? E-mail me.
 

LEBRON AND CARMELO UPDATES

Both Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony played games on Saturday night. Before that night, Lebron James had shown exactly why he was the #1 pick as he was scoring points, rebounding and distributing the ball well. Carmelo Anthony had not yet shot the ball well in his first two games. So what happened on Saturday night?

Lebron and the Cavs lost their 3^rd game of the year to the Portland Trailblazers. King James had his first off night of his young career. He shot 3-12 from the field. He ended the night with 8 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

Carmelo finally had himself a pretty strong game. ‘Melo helped the Nuggets to another impressive win over a top Western Conference team, this time the Sacramento Kings. They are now 2-1. Carmelo shot 9-14 from the field ending with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Nuggets play in Indiana on Tuesday night before going to Cleveland to match up against Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game will air on ESPN. Believe me… I’ve seen all of the commercials for it! Will you watch the game?  I plan on it! It should be fun to watch. Also, it’s fun for me to see some of those “other” teams that don’t always get the coverage they deserve.
 

TWINS THOUGHTS (Arizona Fall League)

There are still a couple more weeks worth of games in the Arizona Fall League. Here is an update of the Twins players playing in the Fall League:

TWINS THOUGHTS (Team USA)

Team USA is playing in the Olympic Qualifying tournament down in Panama. Their first game was Friday against Nicaragua, and USA won 7-0. They were supposed to play Brazil on Saturday, but the game was rained out and now will not be played until Thursday. So, Team USA plays Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Pool play (the pool includes Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Brazil). Then, starting on Friday, the Quarterfinals will be played. I will try to keep you updated on the games.

Now back to Friday’s game against Nicaragua. Twins top prospect, Joe Mauer, caught and batted 7^th. After beginning the game hitless in his first three at bats, Mauer singled and then hit a 9^th inning RBI double. JD Durbin didn’t play. He will be used primarily out of the bullpen because he is being limited. Jesse Crain is also pitching out of the bullpen, but he has been doing that all year. Jason Stanford, a left-handed pitcher from the Cleveland Indians organization, pitched 7 shutout innings. Graham Koonce, a 6-4, 220 pound 1B from the Oakland organization, had quite a game. In true Oakland form, Koonce went 2-3 with 2 walks, a homer and a double. Justin Leone, a 3B from the Seattle Mariners organization went 2-5 with two solo home runs. Any thoughts or questions on the Twins on Team USA or in the Arizona Fall League. E-mail me.
 

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

They almost had me believing in them. I was even nice and respectful after they played horribly last week against the NY Giants, thinking maybe it was just a bad game. I might have been wrong. Those of you who watched the Vikings/Packers game last night on ESPN may have to agree with me.

First, I need to say that, regardless of what the announcers tell us, the Packers beating the Vikings is never an upset, regardless of records or anything. As long as Brett Favre can play, nothing they do will surprise me. To me, he is the Derek Jeter of football. He has won Super Bowl Championships, like Jeter has won World Series Championships. Their teams have both remained successful. Derek Jeter is treated by announcers as if he is some sort of Greek god. The same can be said about Brett Favre in football. Television people make everything they do bigger than it is. Is that their fault, not at all. Brett Favre makes a lot of mistakes, but at the same time, he’s a big game QB. Derek Jeter, as Aaron’s Baseball Blog taught us last week, isn’t as “clutch” as the terrible Tim McCarver the joke, Joe Buck, want you to think. Yet, I’ll be honest, of the Yankees, I would want Derek Jeter up to bat in a clutch situation, regardless of the stats (because of his approach at the plate). Anyway, what I’m saying is that a lot of people don’t like both Favre or Jeter, and I think it’s because of this preferential media treatment. Again, that’s not their fault, it’s the media’s, and it doesn’t take anything away from just how good these players are.

That said, the story of the game was the Vikings inability to stop anything the Packers tried to do, especially Ahman Green and the running attack. The team rushed for 261 yards on 34 carries. That’s an average of 7.7 yards per carry. Basically, that means they averaged 2^nd-and-2! That’s a good position to be in. The Vikings didn’t have an answer for it. Ahman Green had nearly 100 yards in the first half. He ended with 137 yards (6.5 yds per carry). His backups did well too. The big man, Najeh Davenport carried just six times, but for 43 yards (7.2 yards per carry). Tony Fisher had four carries for 38 yards (9.5 yds per carry). But it wasn’t even just that. They were successful on a number of screens and other short passes. But yards after the catch were too much (for Vikings fans).  Green had 5 receptions for 52 more yards. It was all just too easy. Then the Packers passing game, to their receivers, were able to come up big. Javon Walker, the second year player, had two touchdown receptions.

The Vikings just made too many mistakes on defense. They were in poor schemes and coverages many times. The line was unable to get anywhere near Favre most of the game. And there were so many missed tackles. It was so reminiscent of the Vikings the past few years, and that is frustrating for a Vikings fan. They let us think they were all improved, making plays and getting turnovers, in starting 6-0. But, let’s be honest, who have they beat? The Packers. OK, good win at Lambeau. The Bears? The Lions? They’re both bad teams. The 49ers looked good yesterday, but I don’t think they’re terribly good. And, the Falcons, who are really bad.

That said, the Vikings still have a two game lead over the Packers. Their next two games should be wins, as they’ll be playing two really bad teams in California the next two weeks. They play the San Diego Chargers next week, followed by the Oakland Raiders the following weekend. They’ll just have to tighten things up on defense.

I’m really not worried about the offense that much. It was great to see Michael Bennett get in the game and contribute to the team. You could see what he will be able to bring to the team that Moe Williams is simply unable to. When he gets back to 25 touches a game, the Vikings should be dangerous.

What are your thoughts on the Vikings? Am I overreacting to two bad defensive performances in a row? Are the Vikings as good as their 6-2 record would indicate or have they been fortunate in the scheduling? E-mail me.
 

Gophers Football

The Gophers played a really terrible Indiana team on Saturday in their Homecoming game. As should have been expected, the Gophers won easily, 55-7. The score was 13-0 after the first quarter and 34-7 at halftime. It wasn’t even a good game. Laurence Maroney carried 18 times for 164 yards and a 17 yard touchdown. Marion Barber III carried 17 times for 108 yards and a TD. Fullback Thomas Tapeh carried 14 times for 65 yards and 2 TDs.

The Gophers improved to 4-2 in the Big 10 conference and 8-2 overall. Sounds impressive, huh?  Not really. Name one good team that they beat?  This week, they will play Wisconsin (3-2, 6-3). Yes, the Gophers are improved. I’d even go as far as to say they’re good. Just so you realize how bad the teams they’ve beaten are, and how bad the Big 10 is, in general.

Any thoughts on the Gophers?  E-mail me.
 

WILD THOUGHTS

Andrew Brunette and Wes Walz each scored a goal in the Wild’s 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. The win was the club’s third win in a row, and fourth in their past five games. It brings their record to 5-6-1 and tied with Calgary in points with 11, five behind Vancouver in the Northwest standings.

However, the big news of the weekend for Wild fans is that wing Marion Gaborik finally reached a contract agreement with the team. It is believed to be a 3 year, $10 million deal with incentives that could bring him more money. The team needed him. Last season, he was the team’s top scorer. Last year’s second leading scorer was Pascal Dupuis, who just signed with the team last week. To have both players back and on the ice should be a huge lift to the team. At this point, newcomer and former #1 overall pick Alexander Daigle, leads the team with 4 goals.

On Tuesday, the Wild play in Colorado, against the Avalanche, who are one point behind the Wild and Flames in the Northwest standings.

Do you have any Wild Thoughts? Be sure to e-mail me and let me know your thoughts.
 

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

We all struggled this week with our picks. Through 13 games played on Sunday, just one of our participants had a record above .500. That was Vic Quick and that was just 7-6. The winner of our league picks this week is not yet certain and dependant on the winner of tonight’s Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. Here is how we did… not too impressive, huh?

That’s it for today! I hope that everyone had a great weekend, and that you have a really great week!

E-mail me on anything you’d like. Questions, comments, ideas, or anything!

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