Happy New Year! I guess it has been a while! So much has happened since October of last year! I have been swamped with school and starting an internship. I have been learning a lot on the job and am really enjoying it. I am thinking I have made a good decision changing careers. But enough about me……

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants…hey better late than never. The first World Series win since they were in NY, 1954 I believe. If my teams, the Red Sox and Twins aren’t in it, I like to see other new teams get a chance. As usual pitching ruled the day. Lincecum and Lee put on great performances and it was fun to watch.

Football…what a season to be a Viking fan…which I am not. The collapse of the Metrodome roof was kind of a metaphor for the season…a colossal failure from the Randy Moss fiasco to the inability to win games. Do not get me started on the many Brett Farve issues from is he playing or not to text messages to real or imagined injuries he kept the team in the news. Honestly, what is it with athletes and sex? I know it has been going on since the beginning of time, but you would think that these guys would know better, or at the very least would hire people who know better to run their lives.

My beloved Colts gave a valiant effort, but just could not over come all the injuries. I know good teams are supposed to overcome, but it just was not meant to be.

Speaking of athletes and sex……we are on to the Super Bowl in a couple weeks. Steelers vs Packers. I really have no vested interest in either team. Having gone to school in WI, there is a bit of anti-Packer in me, but I am not sure I can get behind a quarterback like Roethlisberger. Whether these things actually happened or not, I guess I do not care. However, I do believe where there is smoke there is fire…even if just some smoldering. People should never put themselves in situations where they can be accused of things. Again if you don’t know the difference between right and wrong hire someone who does.

It is just like these celebrities who consistently get busted for drinking (or other drug use) and driving. You have enough money to hire a car service for the night, take a cab or better yet hire someone to look after you and take your keys away. I have no sympathy for these people. Sorry getting off soap box now!

I have grown fond of a new sport, Lacrosse. My friend Kate turned me on to it by taking me to a professional game last year and it was a lot of fun. This year I have gone once and have a ticket for this weekend’s game. It should be fun as it is a double header with a women’s roller derby event right after the game. I should have some comments about that one come next week.

Lastly, I got to give some props to ESPN-W. I have been perusing the site on and off and I have to say while it is not my favorite sport website, it is not as pink hat as it initially looked like it would be. Although my one comment is that there appears to be very few contributors to the site. I see the same names over and over…not that they are bad, just variety is the spice of life.

Apparently I missed some good baseball yesterday afternoon/evening, but I was offered a free MN Wild ticket and really how could I refuse.  After all, I do live in the state of hockey.  My professors might beg to differ as I have a number of papers/projects due this week, but life is too short, right?

The game itself was nothing to write home about.  As my friend put it, it kinda looks like fish flopping around out of water.  I know it is the third game of the season and there are some kinks to work out, but we both felt like we were watching a pee wee game as opposed to professional hockey.  Passing was sloppy, puck handling was nonexistent and their defense strategy appeared to be throw our body at any shots on goal.  At the end of the first period I think the Wild had one or maybe two shots on goal.  They were totally out played and lucky to be down by only one goal.

View from our seats @ The Wild game

But the Wild never disappoint.  A good fight and a power play goal got the crowd into it. The Xcel Energy Center is a great place to watch a game and when it is rocking it is rocking.  Throw in a controversial call and it was pandemonium.  I would hate to be the officials in MN after last night’s game.  A dogfight in front of the Wild’s goal ended up with the goalie and the puck in the net according to one official.  The play was reviewed and the play stood.  Replays shown on the jumbotron and TV did not look like a goal and the fans went nuts.  The officials were told to do things you would not ask of a professional.

Which brings me to my gripe of the day.  Why oh why do I always end up sitting next to obnoxious, drunk, loud mouthed, know it alls who don’t know anything?  If I heard the word p*ssy one more time, I thought I might just dump my beer on his head….but the beer cost me $7, and a) I am a poor graduate student and b) that would have been a waste of perfectly good beer.  Everytime the whistle blew he would start yelling about it while the play was stopped for a completely unrelated reason.  If it was a penalty, he would scream off sides.  If it was off sides, he would yell hey you p*ssy quit tripping.  Insert eye rolling here.  His buddy, whom might have been his father or uncle, at one point sensed our irritation and traded seats with him. Unfortunately he wasn’t much better.  As Sue and I were cheering or jeering without obsenities, he just kept staring at us and laughing.

Why do people feel the need to scream/yell offensive things in the first place?  What is it about sport that brings out this behavior in people?  I know these are big questions that will never be answered, but I do think about them.  Is it the same thing that turns ordinarily normal parents into sport crazed my kid is the best, push them to the limit people?  Is it sport itself that does this to people, or is it society’s value of sport?  People have to realize on some level that yelling obscenities or that someone sucks is not really going to change the outcome of the game.

On a completely different note.  Coach Brewster was relieved of his MN Gopher football coaching duties today.  Shocked I am, just shocked…..not really.  The Gophers lost to Purdue yesterday bring their win loss record to 1 and 6.  Brewster will be replaced by co-offensive coordinator Jeff Horton on an interim basis.  It is hard to believe it has come to this after all the high hopes back in 2007 when he was brought on board.  I remember being at a MN Gophers’ basketball game when Brewster was introduced to campus.  Since then he has had a losing record almost every season.   I think he went 7 and 6 one year…yippe.  According to AD Maturi

“We have high aspirations for our football program and we are not satisfied with its current direction. The results so far this season have been unacceptable and the program has simply not shown enough improvement over the past three and a half years to continue with the status quo.”

The buck stops with Maturi.  I can’t help but wonder where he is going to go from here.  Yes you can change the coaching staff, but until you get some of the countries better players into the program, the status quo will continue.  Unfortunately the country’s top recruits are going to play in FL, Ohio State, Auburn, Oklahoma….I could go on and on.  MN is just not known as a good football school while I don’t have any answers, I know it is going to take more than a new stadium and coach to create this.

It is hard to believe we are on to the next series!  Tampa, MN, Atlanta and the Reds are out.  I hate to say I told you so, but…I told you so.  The Twins cannot beat the Yankees.  I became worried when they finished the season 2 and 8.  People said they were just resting, but I think they rested too much.  Everyone kept saying this time it is going to be different against NY, but it wasn’t.  Oh the uproar over the NY newspaper front page…..EZ Pass.  I heard it all, we have a better team this year, we have a new stadium, the Yankees don’t have any pitching.  I don’t think it is a mental thing that many people say it is, I just think the Yankees field a better team, year after year than the Twins do.  A new stadium might rejuvenate the fan base, but really what does it have to do with winning….besides possibly creating new revenue streams that allow teams to spend more on payroll, but research has proven that rarely do team owners do that….but I digress.  Just to prove my point about home field advantage…..just look at the Rangers/Rays series.  That was exciting.  What looked like a 3 and done boring series turned into a 5 game series.  What home field advantage?  I think I read somewhere that this was the first time that all the wins came on the road for both teams.

Well the Championship Series is set: Phillies, Giants, Yankees and Rangers.  I am thinking this is going to be a good couple weeks of baseball.  The AL series is going to be interesting.  The Yankees don’t have very good pitching after CC Sabathia but they can mash the ball better than anyone and that does cover a lot of issues.  What will be interesting though is in a best of 7 they need more than one good pitcher.  I know that Pettitte has been a very good pitcher in the past, but he is coming off of injury While his last start against the Twins was good, the one before it wasn’t.  For his sake I hope he is back, but I don’t think he is to the reliable stage yet.  Hughes is coming into his own as a pitcher and is a good pitcher, I mean 18 wins is nothing to sneeze at, but his ERA of 4.19 is a bit high.  That being said, I don’t know a whole lot about the Rangers.  I just do not follow the AL west all that much!  Most of the games are on too late.. I know, I know the Rangers are in the central time zone, but they play in the West a lot.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.  I do know Cliff Lee from the Indians.  He was a pain in the Twins’ something for many a year.  I am happy for him to finally be in the post season.  This CJ Wilson character appears to be a decent pitcher.  15 wins aren’t great, but his ERA at 3.35 is reasonable.  I like that most of the Ranger starters have ERAs under 4.

I am sorry that Booby Cox’s career as a manager is over.  What a run he had.  29 seasons, over 2400 wins, 5 pennants and 1 world series title.  The Braves gave it a run, but came up short.  They played a full 162 games taking control of their destiny and it seemed like magic might have carried them but Lincecum, Bumgarner and Sanchez were just too much.  Even Cain pitched well in the series.  I am happy for the Giants.  If I remember right they haven’t won the whole enchilada since they moved to San Fran.  I think they have been in the playoffs 9 times and even made it to the series, but never won (while in CA).  I am also happy for Huff and Sanchez.  Both of them tolled in basement dwellers (Baltimore and Pittsburgh) for so long, now they have a chance to enjoy the playoffs.  The Phillies, what can you say?  Their fans notwithstanding, have a good team.  They have made the playoffs for the last 4 years and made it to the world series in two of them.  The addition of Halladay has been a great.  Another player I am very happy for.  Pitching a no hitter in his first playoff appearance, how do you top that?  Don Larson of course…a no-no in the world series.  I read a quote from one of his teammates saying he thinks it will happen again this year.  I hope so.  I love good pitching.

Let the games begin…