Nothing against regular Fox Sports North analyst and Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, but when “T.K.” is on a game telecast even the most knowledgeable baseball fan will learn something from the manager who led the Twins to their only two World Series titles up to this point.
The Golden Gophers’ basketball home court is one of the oldest arenas in the United States, and when the men’s team is good there is perhaps no greater home court advantage in the entire Big Ten.
A controversial play during the 1991 World Series occurred when Minnesota Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek may have helped Atlanta Braves outfielder Ron Gant off of first base before tagging him out. Did simple physics lead to Gant being unable to keep his foot on the base?
The last three seasons have not resembled what became known as the “Twins Way”, but prior to that the term essentially meant cultivating major league-level talent in an excellent farm system, playing good defense and generally playing the game in a fashion that baseball people would call “the right way.”
During a playoff win at Lambeau Field in January of 2005, Vikings' wide receiver Randy Moss pretended to pull his pants down to “moon” the crowd after scoring a touchdown. Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck then went off, calling the act “disgusting.” Way to keep things in perspective, Joe.
After he was fined for the “mooning” incident, Moss was captured leaving the Vikings’ facility and asked about how he pays his fines. He responded, “The rich don’t write checks.” When further prompted and asked again how he pays his fines, Moss said, “Straight cash, homey.” An early piece of YouTube gold if there ever was one. Go ahead and go search for it, I’ll wait…
Favre may have spent most of his career playing for the rival Green Bay Packers, but I bought a #4 Vikings’ jersey soon after he became part of the team in 2009 and I know I was not alone.
Green became known as “Norm Greed” when as owner of the Minnesota North Stars he moved the team to Dallas in the early 1990’s. It would be close to a decade after that before the Minnesota Wild played their first game, and for some fans they will never have the appeal of the North Stars.
The stature of players who have left Minnesota teams and had success in Beantown is fairly startling, as Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett and David Ortiz all had to leave the Twin Cities and head east to realize their championship dreams.
The list of professional wrestlers, particularly of the past when the WWF and AWA ruled, that have called Minnesota home is quite extensive. We even elected one, Jesse Ventura, governor in 1998.
45,000 people showed up at TCF Bank Stadium last Friday night to watch the Golden Gophers’ men’s hockey team play Ohio State, despite chilly temperatures even before accounting for wind chill.
As a Minnesota sports fan, you automatically have a built-in affinity for athletes that were born in the state and went on to have success. Among those we can call our own are Kevin McHale, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, Dave Winfield and Joe Mauer.
Poole had 34 catches in four NFL seasons, but none was bigger than a game-winning touchdown catch he had from McCown with the Arizona Cardinals on the final play of the finale of the 2003 regular season to knock the Vikings out of the playoffs. Worse yet, the rival Packers earned a playoff berth with the Vikings’ loss.
Now I’m not just talking about cities that are a reasonable drive away, like Chicago, Green Bay or even Kansas City and St. Louis. I’m talking about fans that have relocated to say, California or Texas and manage to see a Minnesota pro team play in that location.
Once the Twins moved to Target Field, the Mall of America sponsored the football field at the Metrodome. But no amount of sponsorship money can change the name fans will call the soon to be completely demolished building.
Mauer falls under the “one of us” concept, but he has been the subject of a lot of vitriol from fans since he signed a big contract and the team has struggled over the last three seasons.
From having the third pick in the 1992 draft when Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning went first and second, to a rash of injuries to key players more recently, the local NBA franchise simply has to have some higher power working against it. Right?
Minnesota teams, college or pro, seem to be the inadequate little brother to Wisconsin teams that regularly contend for conference and division titles while occasionally making deep postseason runs.
A Facebook friend stated this perfectly ahead of the Vikings’ final game at the Metrodome at the end of this past season-“It may be a dump, but it’s MY dump…it’s my generation’s dump.” Enough said.
Simply put, the sky will fall no matter how good things may seem to be going. Case in point? The 2010 NFC Championship Game.
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