Greetings Rubes!  Hope you were all able to share the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with friends and family in peace and in good health.

Mass condolences go out to the friends and families of those affected by the Russian plane crash which killed 47 people, including former Minnesota Wild winger Pavol Demitra.  RIP.

Well, after suffering through yesterdays Vikings loss, I felt it behooved me to share a few thoughts.  First off.....39 passing yards?........for the entire game?   Hideously unacceptable.  I know the blogosphere is already howling about Donovan McNabb being washed up and we need to start Christian Ponder right away and blah, blah, blah.  But I'm looking at this debacle from a different angle, and I'm very disappointed with the game plan that new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave vomited upon us yesterday.  All through the preseason (I know, I know..preseason doesn't count--but I want to make a point here), all through the preseason, whether it was 1st, 2nd, or 3rd stringers, no matter who was at quarterback, the Vikes spread the ball around very evenly between the backs, wideouts, tight ends...it was very unpredictable and had some flow to it, and I was thinking the days of ex-head coach Brad Childress "kick-ass offense" were behind us.  Instead, yesterday we get Adrian on 1st down, Adrian on 2nd down, then attempt a dump-off to Percy Harvin on 3rd down and hope he runs for it.  That was it.  For four quarters??  I'm not questioning featuring Adrian, but the predictability was not what I was looking for.  Contributions from Bernard Berrian, Visanthe Shiancoe, Kyle Rudolph, Lorenzo Booker, Greg Camarillo, and Devin Aromashodu yesterday?  Zero.  Efforts to include any of these guys in the play calling...maybe a couple of times.  What is that?  Prime example of piss-poor play calling:  3rd quarter, Vikes ball around their own 40 or so, 1st down, and we line up in our Blazer formation (our version of the Wildcat)  Some people are saying this was a bad move, but I disagree.  Perfect time to throw in a new wrinkle or two, but what happened?  We've got QB Joe Webb in the shotgun with Adrian and Percy next to him, arguably the most athletic trio of teammates the Vikes have ever lined up in the backfield to take an offensive snap, and Bill Musgrave calls.................????................two gut plunges.......................??  Really Bill?.....two gut plunges??  That's just sad.  Defensively, I thought they played pretty well, but due to the offense's ineptitude, the defense was stuck on the field for 37 minutes and eventually just wore down.  And they also couldn't seem to figure out a way to cover TE Antonio Gates and RB Mike Tolbert, who continually got open underneath.  Also, I thought CB Chris Cook had a decent game.  He did have two pass interference calls.  One was legit, however the other one was a really bad call.  And Percy Harvin returns the opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown, and for the next kickoff return...we get Lorenzo Booker back there??  Booker is a pretty good kick returner.....Percy is ELITE.....why is this an issue somehow???  Well anyway, plenty of crap to look at on film and get cleaned up before facing Tampa Bay at home next week.  SKOL VIKES!

You know who you are.....

Oh, and I did want to send a message to a good buddy of mine, who happens to be a Cheesehead and continues to call the Vikings really clever things like Chokings.  Nice 2nd grade insult, and just for that, I hope on your way to work tomorrow, I hope a bug flies up your nose and causes you moderate discomfort.

The impending NBA lockout has me bummed.  I want to see these young Wolfies learn how to play together, and being locked out isn't helping.  A lot of the rubes are still bitching about GM David Kahn, and I'm really not getting it?  Not sure why there is so much Kahn bashing, though I know it's the fashionable thing to do. In his short tenure, Kahn has built an extremely talented, young roster and given the Wolves a ton of cap flexibility. If he can get Rick Adelman to come and work with these guys, the Wolves will have the best coach in franchise history. Though it wasn't an easy process, he rebuilt McHale's mess. When it all comes together and the Wolves start winning games, there are going to be a lot of people eating crow.

And I wasn't going to do this, initially, but since I am an equal opportunity ripper I suppose I should say something about the Minnesota Twins.  How about "man....what a dismal season"?   Injuries and/or ineptitude just doomed the season, pretty much from the get-go.  It's actually more fun to watch now the Double and Triple A call-ups are up here so we can see what we've got to look forward to in our future.  If you look at the current roster, you can name the guys who actually had "decent" seasons on one hand:  OF/DH Jason Kubel, All-Everything Michael Cuddyer, P Glen Perkins, maybe 3B Danny Valencia, and OF Ben Revere gets a free pass because he's a rookie and showed some flash with speed and a great glove.  Other than that?........pretty much complete horseshit.  How does C Joe Mauer, in 2 years, go from a 28 home run hitting MVP, to a $23 million singles hitter with warning track power...supposedly in the prime of his career?  1B Justin Morneau?...he hasn't played in a Twins post-season game since 2006?  Those two guys alone account for 1/3 of our payroll, and their diminishing performance DOES NOT justify their hefty paychecks.  SS Tsuyoshi Nishioka?........why do I have this sinking feeling that we just paid $10 million dollars for Matt Tolbert jr...??  Good Grief!   The season can't end soon enough for me.

Shriekfest at the WTA....ugh!..yah! ..ugh!...bah!

Lastly, I don't know if any of you are tennis fans at all, but I've been a fan since I was a kid (Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl were my guys), and I still follow along at least as far as Grand Slam events go.  But has anyone else noticed how unwatchable the shriek-fest known as the Women's Tennis Association has become?  It's just brutal.  It's not everybody, and it has been going on for awhile, since Monica Seles began shrieking-away back in the 90s, but if you end up watching, say Maria Sharapova vs. Serena Williams?.......keep the aspirin handy.  10 or 15 minutes of that and you'll be begging to blast some Yoko Ono tunes at full blast.  I can't believe the officials of the WTA haven't made any effort to curb this nonsense.  Note to women on the WTA tour:  Relax ladies....you're just hitting a tennis ball over a net....you're not giving birth right in the middle of Center Court, so tone down the volume....PLEASE!!!

Mourning the Macho Man

Also, mass condolences to the family and friends of former minor league baseball player and WWF World Wrestling Champion Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who died, apparently, from a heart condition, which lead to a fatal car crash.  He will not be easily forgotten....OOOOH YEEEAAAAH~!

After a flurry of mostly unexpected moves, the Minnesota Wild have me absolutely stoked about the upcoming season...as well as seasons to come.  By trading away All-Star D Brent Burns and RW Marty Havlat to the San Jose Sharks for snipers Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, as well as top prospect C Charlie Coyle, the Wild have seriously upgraded their offensive talent.  The Wild ended up last year being last in the league in shots per game at 26.2, and they were 26th in the league in scoring, so some punch was needed.  Heatley and Setoguchi will be teaming with Mikko Koivu, Matt Cullen, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Guillaume Latendresse, likely in some combination of the first two lines and that should give us two REALLY nice scoring lines to compete with.  Losing Burns' offensive punch from the defensemen will be felt, because other than D Marek Zidlicky, there won't be any other offense coming from the D, but then again, as much as Burns added, he often got caught pinching too much, leading to two-on-ones going the other way, so I think, overall, we've added some net plusses!!   We did lose G Jose Theodore to the Florida Panthers, but we did re-sign G Josh Harding, so we should be pretty well covered in the nets.  Not to mention adding D Jonas Brodin and scoring C Zack Phillips in the draft, to go along with last years home run of draft picks of C Mickael Granlund, LW Brett Bulmer, C Johan Larsson, and F Jason Zucker,.....this team is pointed in the right direction...NO QUESTION!!!!

Sticking to the Twins theme, as we've gotten to, and past the All-Star break, the Twins have made a remarkable turnaround, from being 20 games under .500 and 16 games out of first, to being 7 games under .500, and only 6.5 games out of first.  It's really been the most bizarre Twins season I can remember.  They played like manure for the first two months of the season, all the big guns ended up on the DL, then they go on a tear to get back in contention.  Good Grief! I don't even know what to think about the rest of the season.  They still have major decisions to make at the trade deadline at the end of this month.  OF/DH Jason Kubel, DH Jim Thome, All-Everything Michael Cuddyer, P Matt Capps, and P Joe Nathan are all in contract years.  Not to mention that OF Delmon Young, P Francisco Liriano, and I believe P Glen Perkins are arbitration eligible after the year is up.  GM Bill Smith cannot continue to make bad trades and/or let all those contract year guys walk without getting anything in return, because the farm system isn't exactly loaded with primo-prospects.  His decisions over the next several weeks will leave a lasting impact over the Twins future over the next 5 years......stay tuned.

RIP Harmon...

Greetings Rubes!...so nice to be back!

Mass condolences go out to the friends and family of former Twins great and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who succumbed to esophageal cancer at the age of 74.  A true gentleman, and a great representative of the Twins and Major League Baseball.  He will be sorely missed.

Pay back time...

Greetings Rubes!

First of all, mass props go out to the elite of the American military in continuing to track down and finally eliminate Osama bin Laden.  Hope he gets a nice room in hell....with Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer.

NFL Draft Time!

Regarding the recently concluded NFL Draft, it is so amusing to go and read all the expert's "Draft Grades".  To this point, the Vikings draft has been graded anywhere from B+ to a D, mostly due to whether or not they happened to like the Vikes 1st round pick, QB Christian Ponder.   Most of the "Experts" who don't like the Ponder pick, were the same "Experts" who loved the Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, and JaMarcus Russell picks.   Geniuses.  In fact the idiot who gave the D droned on exclusively on what a bad pick Ponder was, while not mentioning they got a stud TE in Notre Dame's Kyle Rudolph, or tremendous value in 4th rounder DE Christian Ballard from Iowa or 5th rounder CB Brandon Burton from Utah.  Another idiot gave a bad grade because "the Vikings failed to address a weak offensive line until the later rounds".  Well guess what buddy, no team has EVER addressed EVERY need, in EVERY round, with EVERY draft pick, and it's stupid to think it's possible, especially when there has been no free agency period to address other areas of need to this point.  Same thing with the analysts who said "..oh the Vikings panicked".  Eh?......no.  They made no secret that they wanted a young quarterback to build around, and if they found someone at 12 that they liked, they were taking him.  Ponder was a guy they liked, and they took him....Case closed.   I'm not sure that I want to see Ponder being handed the keys to the whole she-bang right away, but I'm also not a big fan of paying a Donovan McNabb-type a bunch of money to come in a hold the seat warm either.  With this labor nonsense continuing to go on, it's still way up in the air as to whether or not we'll get to keep DE Ray Edwards and WR Sidney Rice for another year or not, so I'm hoping they'll work something out where unrestricted free agency can't happen unless they've got 6 years of service time in, meaning we would get to keep them.  If not, that's two very big holes to have to fill.

The Vikes are definitely in a bit of a quandary, with an aging team, and with two division foes (Chicago and Green Bay) making the NFC Championship game, and the Pack winning the Super Bowl, and with a Detroit Lions team, that continues to stockpile young talent.  The Vikes need to have some of these late round picks be more than just filled roster spots.  That, and the Vikings can still continue to get better from within.  A healthy offensive line would do wonders for both the running and passing games.  G Steve Hutchinson and C John Sullivan were hurt, virtually all of last year, and RT Phil Loadholt can improve on the poor 2nd season he had a year ago.  That, and last seasons offensive line coaches were fired, and in new Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave's offense, we may do away with that lousy "zone-blocking" garbage and get back to a power-blocking/road-grading type of team like we should be to begin with.  We also need to really find out what we have in several 2nd and 3rd year guys like LB Erin Henderson, DT Letroy Guion, S Tyrell Johnson, LB Jasper Brinkley, CB Asher Allen, G Chris DeGeare, DE Everson Griffen, C Jon Cooper, and FB Ryan D'Imperio.  It will be critical for the future of the Vikings that these guys decide to distinguish themselves as solid NFL contributors, or if they'll be remembered for being on the Vikings roster for a couple/few years and then fading into obscurity.

With a month of MLB action having been completed, this years Twins season of hope and optimism has nosedived into the season of injury and ineptitude.  What a complete and total buzzkill.  27 games in and the Twins sit with the worst record in baseball at 9-18.  I can't say I saw this coming at all.  Yes, the injuries have contributed, with the Nishioka's, Mauer's, Slowey's, Young's, and Thome's being on the DL, but the Twins have demonstrated with unequivocal clarity that we can't hit (3rd worst team batting average in the majors), we can't pitch (dead last team ERA in the majors), we can't field, and we can't run the bases (new 3rd base coach Steve Liddle has no idea what he's doing).  That kind of puts a damper on things doesn't it.  Only a month in, and I'm already thinking fire-sale at the trade deadline.   I was hoping we could get something for P Franciso Liriano in a trade, but his ERA is over 9.00.  He's in a contract year, and even at his best, he's a 5-inning pitcher and not worth near what he's making.  Cuddyer, Kubel, Thome, and Young are also in contract years, and I think we need to do something to re-stock the team because the guys we've brought up to fill out the roster:  OF Rene Tosani, C Drew Butera, IF Matt Tolbert, and C Steve Holm have been awful, and are simply not major leaguers.  Even All-Everything C Joe Mauer was looking like the highest paid singles-hitter in history, before he went on the DL.  P Joe Nathan has been awful as well, and is also in a contract year.  Not to mention that one of the guys we traded to the Washington Nationals to get closer Matt Capps last year, stud C prospect Wilson Ramos, is hitting .358 with a couple of homers.  Looks like a long, long, ugly summer of baseball ahead.

Also, as of now, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has still not hired a new Head Coach after firing Todd Richards after two playoff-less seasons.  By the way,....the guy I was hoping Fletcher would have hired two years ago?....former Houston Aeros (Wild minor league team) Head Coach Peter Laviolette?....he's currently the Head Coach of the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference Philadelphia Flyers in the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs against the #3 seeded Boston Bruins.  Ugh!

Greetings Rubes!  So nice to be back.

Now that an appropriate amount has passed for mourning my Steelers Super Bowl loss, I will give mass props to the Green Bay Packers on winning this years game.  Not much analysis needed...two pretty even teams played and the Steelers made far too may mistakes (penalties, turnovers) to overcome, and the Pack took full advantage.  I think this year, perhaps more than ever, former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle's "Parity" dream has come to complete fruition:  A 10-win 6-loss 6-seed with no running game runs the table, on the road, and wins the Super Bowl.  They just rode QB Aaron Rodgers (who was fantastic) and won the whole she-bang.  (Reluctant) Mass props.

Former Cretin-Durham WR and current Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd was arrested for DUI for the 2nd time in 15 months.

Former Twins 2B Luis Castillo has been released by the New York Mets, and subsequently claimed by the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Mets are still on the hook for Castillo's $6 million salary.

Regarding the NFL's current lockout situation let me say this:  Institute a rookie-wage/salary cap, dump the 18-game schedule and get on with it.  You're all millionaires, stop acting like buffoons and sign a deal.

However, if this thing drags on past the NFL Draft, that really screws things up because, normally, you would fill holes with free agents first, and then supplement with the draft.  If this goes on until the summer (or whenever), it will be the other way around?  Along those lines, the Vikings did not tender QB Tarvaris Jackson, meaning he will be an unrestricted free agent whenever this thing gets settled and will likely be elsewhere next season.  Well, you know what?.....when I look at this list of free-agent QBs out there:

Kyle Boller (Oakland), Todd Bouman (Jacksonville), Marc Bulger (Baltimore), Kerry Collins (Tennessee), Kellen Clemens (Jets), Todd Collins (Chicago), Brodie Croyle (Kansas City), Charlie Frye (Oakland), Rex Grossman (Washington), Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle), Tavaris Jackson (Minnesota), Matt Leinart (Houston), J.P. Losman (Seattle), Luke McCown (Jacksonville), J.T. O’Sullivan (Oakland), Chad Pennington (Miami), Patrick Ramsey (Minnesota), Chris Simms (Tennessee), Alex Smith (San Francisco), Jim Sorgi (Giants), Brian St. Pierre (Carolina). Billy Volek (San Diego)............I would take Jackson over any of these guys.  Maybe that's the homer in me,...but I would.

Did anyone happen to catch the great Minnesota sports action on tv yesterday?  In back-to-back telecasts the Wild got slaughtered 8-1 at home by the Montreal Canadians, and the Timberwolves got slaughtered 127-95, also at home, by a terrible Sacramento Kings team.  Boy, what a thrill to watch those debacles unfold....put me in such a nice mood I tell ya.  Well, the Wild have gone 2-7-2 since the trade deadline and the playoffs are, yet again, not to be.  I've spent some time reading the rants from the bloggers on the Strib/Pioneer Press web-sites calling for the heads of Head Coach Todd Richards and GM Chuck Fletcher, and it's hard to disagree, but I think some rational thinking needs to be added here.   Don't forget, about 2 and a half weeks ago, the Wild were clinging to the 6-seed in the West, and have only recently fallen on their face.  An 8-1 home drubbing in unacceptable yes, but this team simply does not have upper-echelon talent, and when that is the case, losing major chunks of the year to the Bouchard's, and Latandresse's, and Zidlicky's and Koivu's, I think it's remarkable that they've done as well as they have.  The previous (Doug Risebrough/Jacques Lemaire) regime handcuffed this team with bad contracts and a depleted farm system.   We simply don't have the stockpile of picks and young talent to get this team over the hump, and that's not Richards or Fletcher's fault.  I think they've tried to do the best with what they're stuck with, and that's going to amount to another year of playoff-less-ness for the Wild.

The Wolves on the other hand,...I just can't seem to get a read on.  I actually like this team.  They're only a few games improved over last years awful team, but (other than yesterday) they're watchable....if wildly inconsistent.  They're the youngest team in the league with a roster full of lottery picks, yet the improvement from the beginning of the season to now is negligible at best.....and the defense continues to be the worst in the league.  That does fall on Head Coach Kurt Rambis and his staff, including former NBA greats Reggie Theus and Bill Laimbeer.  F Kevin Love has certainly been a bright spot, as has been F Michael Beasley, but whatever they give you on the offensive end, they give up on the other end.  Same with C Darko Milicic.  And I like the addition of F/C Anthony Randolf, the growth of G Wes Johnson, the energy supplied by F Anthony Tolliver.   But where's the desire to play some shut-down defense?   Back in the day, I played as much ball as could be played throughout the teenage years, and if anyone dared get past me on the dribble, rest assured the guys shot attempt ended up twelve rows up in the stands.  And yes....the "white men can't jump" thing?.....it's a fallacy.  (I hurdled 4-feet once).   It's about pride.  Get fired up....get angry....don't settle for being "poster-ized" by some no-name looking to make a name for himself.  Instead of letting some guy walk in for a lay-up, throw an elbow into his gut.....you'll put him on the line,...but he'll think twice about trying that again.   Actually, I think the biggest disappointment has been G/F Martell Webster, not so much for his play, but that he's been hurt all year and hasn't really been able to show what he can do.  Let's hope next years squad, with the arrival of PG Ricky Rubio, yields better results.

Charlie and Crazy Factory

Is Charlie Sheen purposely flushing his career down the toilet,...or is he trying to pull out some kind of Joaquin Phoenix nonsense and act like an asshole for awhile and then show up in a year and go.....April Fools!.......???  I certainly hope so......I mean, the guy's Manic-level is off the charts.  He thinks he's some kind of "tiger-blood" warrior,....a rock star from another planet?  No Chuck,...you're a chain-smoking, anti-Semetic, woman-beating dope fiend.....get some help for cripes sake.   Although, for some reason, there seems to be some kind of 25-year Hollywood itch thing going on for these long-time leading men.  Think about it.....for about 25 years normalcy reigns,....then Tom Cruise goes nuts, followed by Mel Gibson,....and now this on-line train-wreck.  Good Grief!

Somalia hijackings...

Another unrelated tid-bit:  I'm having a hard time understanding another repeated occurrence that has become more and more prevalent over the last 2 or 3 years:  this Somali hijacking thing.  Maybe I'm missing something, but let me see if I have the facts straight:  There's an 800-foot freighter sailing through the ocean,.....and apparently 2 or 3 guys come zipping up in a 12-foot dingy or something and.........somehow commandere the vessel?  How does this happen?  The freighter is afraid of colliding with the 12-foot dingy and being scuttled to the bottom of the ocean?  I would think this would be a simple operation to avert this nonsense.  For one, arm your crew.  But being that I'm not familiar with the laws of international waters, if you can't do that, just do this:  Take a little mirror and look over the rail of the ship to see where they're at.  Then get a bunch of guys to grab a pallet of potatoes or something and toss it overboard down on the hijackers.  You'll probably knock off a couple of the jerks that are climbing up the side of the ship, the pallet sinks the dingy, and any survivors are chum for the sharks