Losing Flip Saunders: A Fan's Perspective

 

For various boring reasons, it has been many years since I have actually posted a blog. My writing is rather rusty, and my grammar may not be up to par, but the loss of Flip Saunders was something that I felt compelled to blog about, so here goes…

 

It felt like a punch in the gut. I had avoided the internet all day since I was watching football later on my Tivo, so I was feeling fairly chipper about the Vikings comeback win in Detroit on October 25, 2015, when I picked up my phone to read the alerts I had missed during my self-imposed media blackout. “Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders dead at 60” and numerous variations of the same message appeared as notifications from all of my sports and news apps. I felt sick inside. The signs had all been there for awhile, if I’d wanted to read them: Sam Mitchell being named interim coach for a few months and then for the whole season, before that season even started; Glen Taylor saying he was in touch with the family every day (but not Flip), then saying that it was really serious; Flip’s close friend/Michigan St. men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo getting emotional after talking about Saunders during Big Ten Media Day, saying he hadn’t talked to him in nearly 2 months, but he had talked to his family; Star Tribune writer Jerry Zgoda’s web chat citing sources saying that this was possibly a life threatening situation. I should’ve seen this coming, but I didn’t, or at least I didn’t want to, and I was not alone.

 

Flip was 60, which of course, isn’t that old, with the energy of a 20-year-old, seemingly in the shape of a 30-year-old, aside from this “treatable and curable” Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis that he was given in June 2015, which we found out about two months later in August. Flip had just lost his 93-year-old dad Walter Saunders in May (the man who continued to wear Timberwolves clothing even as his son sent him gear from the Pistons and then the Wizards); it couldn’t be Flip’s turn to go already. Flip had come back in 2013 to rescue his former franchise, the Minnesota Timberwolves, in his adopted home state, and had a huge impact in just 2 years, on player personnel, practice facilities, work culture and fan excitement, making his mark in every facet of the organization as the Head Coach/President of Basketball Operations/Partial Owner. There was no way he could be gone this fast, before getting to see his plans come to fruition. But it was written there in black and white, over and over and over; CNN, ESPN, AP News, Yahoo Sports, Score, USA Today, etc. I opened Twitter and immediately saw messages and thoughts from all over the world of basketball, and all throughout Minnesota. As hard as it was to believe, and as much as I didn’t want to believe, it was true.

 

Like most Minnesotans, I didn’t actually know Flip Saunders. I had “met” him once 16 or 17 years ago while I was working at the Ridgedale/Minnetonka Best Buy, when he asked me to help him find a DVD. I wished his team good luck, and he graciously thanked me. That was it. But like most Minnesotans, I loved Flip Saunders. How can we have strong feelings about someone we don’t even know? While I am no expert, I have taken a number of psychology classes, and have read countless behavioral articles over the years, which have taught me, well…nothing. It seems as if there are more theories to explain this than there are stars in the sky, but there is no logical reason for us to feel an attachment to a person we have never truly interacted with, and have only watched from our couches or bleachers, but logic has nothing to do with it. Perhaps it is because sports give us something to be passionate about without having many “real world” implications. With passion and emotion comes a form of attachment, which is manifested in our love of players (and for those of us too young to have seen him play, our love of a coach). But really, what does it matter why we feel this way? We just do. It might not be logical, but I know I am not the only Minnesota sports fan who feels genuine sadness about the loss of someone that had no direct involvement in my life. Flip was “our” guy. He might not have been from Minnesota, yet he was a quintessential Minnesotan: loyal, kind, hard-working, generous, friendly, humble, and of course [Minnesota] nice. He had been a Minnesotan by choice since he was 18-years-old, even after his then close friend and former Minnesota Gophers teammate Kevin McHale fired him just months after Flip took the Timberwolves to their first (and still only) Western Conference Finals. He could’ve moved elsewhere as he held jobs in Detroit, Washington & Bristol, Connecticut, but he chose to keep his family base in his adopted home state, telling his ESPN colleagues who wondered why he stayed in the state so long after he had been fired by the Timberwolves “Well, you don’t really understand unless you’re from Minnesota.You don’t really get it. Even when it snows on May 3 you don’t really get it.And the loyalty and the passion that the people have here is what always drives me back.” We finally got him back here to save our basketball team from the destruction that began the year he left with the sour attitudes and unhappy contract situations of certain players, and the even more hopeless scenario that developed during the dubious tenure of David Kahn. As Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse wrote last week, Flip was “our point guard.”

 

Perhaps I am wrong, but I got the sense that the majority of Minnesota Timberwolves fans also trusted Flip Saunders to resurrect our team. We may have questioned drafting a controversial player like Shabazz Muhammad, but we trusted Flip’s judgment, maybe because he didn’t just give the party line about Shabazz being the player they wanted all along – he admitted that he had his own doubts about the former high school superstar who by this time was best known for his selfish style of play at UCLA and lying about his age. Unlike the “throwing darts at the wall” type of personnel management of the David Kahn era (Jonny Flynn over Steph Curry? Ugh…), Flip seemed to have a plan, and we believe in Flip, and believe that Flip knows what he is doing, and that Flip cares. Then when Flip managed to turn a disgruntled Kevin Love into 2014 #1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, we felt like the tide was turning. He later convinced Timberwolves legend and future NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett to waive his no-trade clause and come back to the team where he grew up, to be a mentor to the young players, and a role model who has won it all, and knows what it takes to be a champion. (After all, “Anything is possibbbbbbllllllleeeee!!!!”).

 

When Minnesota finally won the NBA Draft Lottery this year for the first time in franchise history, despite being in position to win countless times in the past (while never so much as even moving up one spot), it seemed like the curse was lifted. As he drafted Karl-Anthony Towns #1, a player with seemingly unlimited upside whose interviews showed the maturity of someone twice his age, and then negotiated a trade to bring hometown star Tyus Jones back to a Minnesota team after one year in Durham, NC, running the Duke Blue Devils offense and being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in their successful championship run, it truly seemed like things were going our way. Perhaps Target Center wasn’t built on Indian burial grounds after all, as many fans have jokingly suggested (and perhaps some conspiracy theorists thought was actually true), looking for some explanation for the continual absence of any good luck, and an all too steady stream of bad luck that seemed to follow the team. When we found out that Flip was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, it just seemed like a minor speed bump, as doctors described it as a very treatable and very curable cancer. Plus he had already been getting treatments at Mayo Clinic for nearly 2 months, all while continuing to run the team without any noticeable difficulty. A cancer with a 5 year survival rate of 85-95% (per various articles posted in the past 9 days) was certainly not going to take out a guy like Flip Saunders just months after his diagnosis, especially not now, after the Murphy’s Law scenarios that perpetually dragged down the Wolves had finally been defeated. We had heard Flip tell the media during spring that the fact that Kevin Garnett had not done everything possible to try to play in the last couple games on the schedule, was a good sign that KG was planning to return for his 21^st season. We never imagined that Flip would be the one that we would never again see on the Timberwolves bench.

 

Yet here we are, just 2 months after learning of this very beatable cancer battle that Flip was fighting, and he is already gone. It just doesn’t seem fair to Minnesota sports fans. And more importantly, it doesn’t seem fair to his family and his friends…and Flip’s “friends” list seemed to include anyone who was able to spend any significant time with him, as everyone who knew him, loved him. The tributes all over social and traditional media show just how much Flip had positively impacted everyone that was a part of his life for any length of time. I wish we had been able to hear so many of these stories about him before he passed away. I never knew he did magic tricks, or loved watching infomercials and home shopping networks, calling his friends in the middle of the night to talk about what new gadget he had just ordered. I knew he liked to do nice things for people, but I never knew the extent of it until all the stories started rolling in over the last 9 days: Timberwolves head coach (the second time around) Flip Saunders giving a little Twolves bib to Twin Cities AP journalist Jon Krawczynski for his newborn daughter, Timberwolves President/partial owner Flip Saunders buying Girl Scout Cookies for fans outside Target Center after a game, Timberwolves Head Coach (the first time around) Flip Saunders getting a magic tricks coloring book for the young children of his then player Sam Mitchell, 24-year-old Golden Valley Lutheran College Men’s Basketball Head Coach Flip Saunders going to shoot hoops at the playground with kids in his Bloomington, MN neighborhood after they relentlessly tried to make him notice them “shooting” a basketball at a light post outside his house (as told in separate stories by those former kids Mike McCollow, a basketball coach who was once an assistant on Sam Mitchell’s Toronto Raptors team, and Steve Rushin, a long time sports writer). I know how much it means to me when people do something “little” for me that they didn’t have to do and I tend to remember those things, even as other memories fade away. It sounds like Flip tried to do that for as many people as he possibly could, which merely reaffirms that he was the special person described by all those who were close to him.

 

As fans, we obviously can’t mourn for him in the same way as people who truly knew him, but that does not mean that we don’t have the right to feel sadness about losing him, or to already miss his impact on our lives as followers of Minnesota sports. Only time will tell if his dreams for this team will come true without him here to guide them, and we’ll never know how things would’ve turned out with him at the helm. Those are the types of “what if?” questions that life never answers for us. What we do know, however, is that having Flip back in our lives, even if it was only through a TV or from an arena seat, made us believe that perhaps this franchise is not destined to fall apart at the seams anytime a small thread is loose. Flip believed that things were moving in the right direction, and we believed in Flip, giving us a hope that Timberwolves fans have not experienced since, well, the last time Flip was working in Minnesota. Rest in Peace Flip Saunders. Even those of us who were not lucky enough to truly know you, will miss having you in our lives.

 

The Vikings Must Win, for the Sake of My Mental Health

I'm not exactly a happy (sports) camper right now. My Zags won their Thu & Sat games vs Pepperdine & Loyola Marymount, but completely forgot their defense on the team plane, after putting it to good use in Portland, Moraga & San Diego. Had they been playing any team with something resembling a winning record, they would've been tagged for a loss. I believe LMU had 5 key players injured, yet it was tied at the half, and close until the last 5 min or so. But hey, they got the wins, which gives them 8 in a row. Undoubtedly their RPI will fall, but they'll keep their spot in the top #10-12 in the rankings.

I was also disappointed by the Timberwolves ending on Friday night. Trailing by 3 with under 6 seconds left, rookie Jonny Flynn drove to the hoop, got the lay-up as well as a foul call. Flynn never gets foul calls! This is a frequent topic during the broadcasts. He calmy swished the FT, and the New Orleans Hornets called a timeout with 3 seconds remaining. As assistant coach Tim Floyd handed out money to college recruits and the two NBA teams took the floor for the pivotal last possession of regulation, Minneapolis local station KSTC-45 promptly cut to a furniture commercial.

I was not born for the Heidi game 40+ yrs ago, when the AFL championship between the Raiders & Jets was cut off for the start of the movie Heidi, with 65 seconds left and the Jets leading by 3 points, but I read all about it as kid wearing my purple Tommy Kramer jersey. While angry football fans flooded the network switchboards, only those in the stadium were able to watch Oakland somehow score 2 touchdowns in one minute, to win by 11! Not long after that, football television contracts included provisions that games would be broadcast in full, regardless of time.

Ok, so the Hornets-T-Wolves is not exactly the AFL Championship, and the number of viewers affected was slightly smaller, but it was still frustrating as I yelled at the TV screen, until the commercial ended and video of Hornets players celebrating appeared on my screen. Apparently they hit a shot...

My mother had the perfect response to this Hornets win though, stating that it was good that New Orleans won, since that was the only win that city would get this weekend. Atta girl mom!

In honor of today's annual Hockey Day Minnesota, where FSNorth shows wall-to-wall hockey games, including outdoor high school challenges, the Gopher men's hockey team made sure outstate Minnesota had more to cheer about. After a few winning weekends to get back on track, including a solid 3 pts (out of 4 possible) last weekend vs. North Dakota, Minnesota followed that up by letting St. Cloud sweep them in a home-and-home series, 4-3 in St. Cloud on Friday (the Huskies built leads of 3-0 & 4-1) and 4-1 on their home ice. Impressive...

Finally, Tubby's boys took the floor Saturday morning, for a huge game against #7 Michigan State. This was a "not quite a must win but pretty much a really need to win due to the pathetic loss at the currently not good Indiana Hoosiers" game that looked more difficult with the news that junior starting point guard Al Nolen would be out due to academic suspension, which could extend the rest of the season. Devoe Joseph started in his place, and he is a better offensive player, but Nolen definitely is the stronger defensive presence. Considering this, I just hoped the little yellow rodents could stay in the game. Maybe I should've wished for more...

Minnesota took control, with a commanding 8 point lead at the half, and 2nd half advantages of 13 or 14 points (I'm doing this insomniac blog without any stat sheets). Devoe Joseph filled in very nicely, as a scoring presence, and dishing out a good number of assists (I know he had 7 midway through the 2nd half). Unfortunately, Michigan St made the run every good team makes to try to get back in it, and that would've been a great time to have a stopper like Al Nolen on the floor, especially since he's one of the only guys quick enough to try to keep up with Spartans PG Kalin Lucas. Michigan St found a way to tie it late, and of course, Kalin Lucas was the gut who got open enough to hit a 3 pointer with 1:29 left to take a 3 point lead.

Senior Damian Johnson was able to cut it to 1 point, and the Gophers played shutdown defense to get the ball back with about 17 seconds left. Lawrence Westbrook took a shot with close to 5 ticks remaining (remember; no stat sheets), and even though CBS' Seth Davis tweeted that there sure was a lot of contact on his shot, it would've been rather surprising to hear a whistle at that point in a game, for better or worse. Westbrook's shot just sorta floated straight up, and a few Gophers tried to tip it to the net, but luck wasn't on their side and time expired with the scoreboard showing a Michigan State win.

In terms of sports losses, this hit me pretty hard. Knowing they had the game under control and lost it, keeping themselves on the outside of the NCAA tourney bubble with only a few more chances to beat a team "better" than they are, was quite a bummer.

So as you can clearly see, I am so due for a big win that sends me leaping off the couch for joy (that would be a roughly 1-1.5 inch leap), and I'm guessing many other Minnesota sports fans feel the same. So Dear Vikings, please take this opportunity to ensure that no one in purple & gold takes the field for the Pro Bowl next week, as you would be preparing for a much more important game in Miami! My mental health & well-being is counting on you! (Who knows...I might even fall asleep before morning if they win!)

Posted via email from trueliz's posterous

The Future of Tim Brewster plus Strandom Thoughts: Baby Zags, Andre Agassi, T-Wolves & Greinke

I had very good intentions of trying to write some each day, but unfortunately, after using my brain for things I had to accomplish, it just didn't happen. But I'm here now, so I'll take advantage of that!

Tim Brewster has been a popular topic the past two weeks. Between the Minnesota Gophers football team losing at home to (currently) lowly Illinois, and barely squeezing out a win against I-AA team South Dakota State, spirits are not exactly soaring among the Gopher faithful (yes, I know I-AA doesn't exist anymore, but I'm ignoring that just like I ignore the BCS was of deciding champions). I certainly can't say that I am happy with how the team has performed this year, and I definitely can't figure out why the switch was made to running a pro style offense while keeping Adam Weber behind center. He was very good as a spread quarterback. Pro style has lowered his overall numbers, while putting a magnifying glass to his already pesky interception rate. I like Weber, but I don't think he is being put in a position to succeed.

As for the call to fire Tim Brewster, I'm not quite on board with that yet. He was hired because of his recruitment skills. There are some questions as to whether or not he has recruited up to the reputation, but regardless, a coach who is put in position because of recruiting, needs 4 to 5 seasons in place to really see the whole picture. If the Gophers fare worse next year than this year, then it will be time to move on, but if they show any actual signs of taking steps forward, then a 5th year would be warranted. I know this position isn't popular among many Gopher fans, but they have been Bowl eligible the past two years. Bowls are pathetic now compared to what they used to be, but it's not as if Glen Mason brought the team to January Bowl during his way too long tenure.

Give Brewster another year, and if they don't come out with a winning Big Ten record, start looking for the next coach, now that there is a nice new stadium & wonderful facilities to use to entice the big names that have turned Minnesota down in the past. Maybe Brewster is a good recruiter, but doesn't know what to do with the players once he gets them. All the more reason to keep him a 4th yr - give the new coach great freshman - senior players to turn into a winning team.

Now for the Strandom thoughts:

• Andre Agassi has taken a lot of heat from many different walks of life, about the revelations in his new autobiography "Open" but the thoughts from Martina Navratilova have been puzzling. She compared Agassi to Roger Clemens, for using the drugs & not coming clean when given the chance. Ok, where to start...Roger Clemens is accused of using performance enhancing drugs; ones that give people a competitive edge over other athletes. Andre Agassi used Crystal Meth, a drug that is an advantage only if one wants to join Oasis' Noel Gallagher in trying to break the world record for consecutive hours awake without sleeping. As for Andre not telling the truth, he is well aware that it was not right for him to react the way he did then, writing the letter to the ATP tour & lying about how ingested the drug, but he's telling the truth now. He is a very private person, but he is not just hiding behind the book now, he is going out & doing the interviews and facing people. Perhaps Roger Clemens could learn something from Andre Agassi about how a star athlete should respond to their past transgressions.
• The Timberwolves are bad right now; worse than any of us could've imagined. For the first 2 weeks or so, they were hanging in the games, giving it a good fight the whole way. Now they seem to be outmatched as soon as they step on the floor. I think it's just a wee bit too early to start jumping to conclusions though. I believe Kurt Rambis will be an excellent coach, and I believe the Wolves have a few of the pieces that will get them where they want to be down the road. But I also believe that (like most everyone else) that they have a long way to go in terms of needing more talent on the team. I don't want to see them abandon the offense Rambis is trying to teach, just so they can win a few more games this year (and to appease young players who are in no position to be complaining about what systems the coach is using). I would prefer to see them learn it for the future, while in the meantime, increasing their odds for a #1 pick and hoping that just once, the ping pong balls will drop their way. They can't be cursed forever...can they?
• Gonzaga at Michigan St. on Tuesday night showed me a lot of things about the young Bulldogs team that will be calling the "Baby Zags" or the "Bullpups" during this season. After losing 5 seniors (Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs, Ira Brown & fan favorite Andrew Sorenson) as well as sophomore Austin Daye departing for the NBA, the Baby Zags have 9 freshman on their roster. They decided to redshirt David Stockton (you may have heard of his dad John) and Sam Dower, out of Osseo High School right here in Minnesota. Thanks to the leadership of Matt Bouldin, and the strong inside play of redshirt sophomore Rob Sacre (who missed all last year with an injury) and freshman Elias Harris, this already looks like the toughest Zags team I can remember in many years, if not ever. It looked like a Big Ten game out there, and I mean that as a compliment. The "finesse" style Gonzaga had last year was fun to watch, but Heytvelt & Daye had no interest in getting bruises inside the paint; their strengths were in outside shooting. So while I went into that game just hoping the #2 ranked Spartans wouldn't blast the Zags out of the gym, I ended the evening bummed that GU couldn't hold on for a win, and feeling very optimistic for the season up ahead. Still a lot of freshman, which will lead to a lot of growing pains, but on their good days, there could be a whole lot of excitement too.
• I am very glad that Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young award. No pitcher was more dominating this season than Greinke. He should not have been punished just because he played for the hard luck Kansas City Royals, and thankfully, the voters looked past the win-loss record. Wins should just be taken out of the equation, as this is for the best pitcher, not the most valuable pitcher.

I have more thoughts, but I'm going to give the brain a break and stop writing for today!

"Strandom" Thoughts of the Night: Timberwolves, NBA Refs, Gophers, Zags & Damages

I had a suggestion tonight from @olearychris on Twitter to call my blog Strandom Thoughts. I like it. I'm not going to change the blog name (yet), but I will use Strandom Thoughts as the title whenever I'm going to be jotting disjointed ideas, rather than writing about one subject. So here goes the debut of Strandom Thoughts:

• The Timberwolves are only 1-3 so far this season, but for some reason, they seem to be much more fun to watch than last year. GM David Kahn did promise me in the security line at the airport, that I would enjoy watching them play, so I had expectations, and so far they have been met. Obviously this is not a playoff year for the Timberpups, and they will likely have twice as many losses as wins, but learning the new system under Kurt Rambis, acclimating new players to the line-up, missing Kevin Love due to injury & having Al Jefferson & Corey Brewer returning after long injury rehabs, all indicate that it is a growing year for the team. But they are showing that "growing" does not need to be brutal to watch.
• Speaking of Corey Brewer...he is by far the most improved player on the team so far. I have been a fan of Florida Gators basketball for awhile; not ahead of the Gophers or Zags, but I've enjoyed watching them since the days when Teddy Dupay was running point (and apparently learning how to run bets at the same time). So I was excited for Corey Brewer to be on the Woofies. His rookie year was obviously a learning experience (and what the heck was with Randy Wittman not allowing rookies to wear headbands; Brewer had always worn one & felt like you & I might feel if we left the house without wearing shoes). Then last year, he was showing some huge strides defensively before that knee injury. This year, he is finally showing the whole package out there. After his career high of 19 points on Sunday night, he had 14 pts on Monday, plus 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and most impressively, 5 steals (with only 1 turnover). Now he just needs to get that shooting percentage up a little higher, but with his 2010-11 option picked up, he will have the opportunity to continue to improve his game.
• Final Timberwolves thought, about Monday's game in L.A. vs. the Clippers. When Ryan Hollins had a very athletic dunk to cut the Clippers lead to one point with under 20 seconds left, he was very clearly fouled, yet no call was made. This allowed the Clips to just hit their free throws & ride out the rest of the game. I'm not sure if the NBA refs spent their work stoppage time last month watching MLB umpires or SEC football refereeing crews, but they might want to wipe those images from their minds now...
• It is almost time for my attention to be focused on "real" basketball, as the college season is just around the corner. While I will always cheer for the Timberwolves, the overall NBA game is not my thing; too many isolation plays & not enough teamwork out there. College ball just makes me smile. The countdown numbers are almost in single digits now: 10 days until the University of Minnesota Men's Basketball team takes on Tennessee Tech, although it's only available to watch online (Fri. Nov. 13 at 7:00pm CST). Gonzaga Bulldogs kick off their season in 11 days vs Mississippi Valley St., which I can watch on FS Northwest thanks to the DirecTV sports pack (Sat. Nov. 14 at 7:00pm CST). Finally, it is 12 days until the Gopher women get started vs. Lamar, which is unfortunately, like most of their non-conference schedule, not available to watch on TV (Sun. Nov. 15 at 2:00pm CST).
• This leads to the other important countdown atop my list: 135 days until March Madness begins (meaning 131 days until the Christmas day of the sports year; Selection Sunday).
• Speaking of Gonzaga & Minnesota, they are once again linked, and this time it has nothing to do with Dan Monson. Osseo alum Sam Dower is a freshman at Gonzaga this season. As far as I know, he is the first Minnesota native to play for the Zags. He had a great game on Monday night in the exhibition vs. Alberta, getting 15 points & 5 boards. I'm not sure yet if he will be red-shirted for the season, but I'm looking forward to watching him play again. I enjoyed seeing him (along with current Gopher/Hopkins alum Royce White) during the MN State tournament a few months back.
• My writing time is up for the evening, so I will conclude with one non-sports thought. Find Season 1 of FX's show "Damages" (starring Glenn Close & Tate Donovan, my favorite former Space Camper accidentally launched into orbit) on iTunes or Netflix. I enjoyed the new USA Network show Royal Pains this summer, and got to like Campbell Scott, who played the millionaire Boris on that show. Upon reading that he would be in Damages Season 3, I decided to check out the first episode from Season 1, just to get an idea of what the show was, so I would have a clue of what was going on in Season 3. All it took was one episode for me to be completely hooked in this serial law thriller, with more twists than Chubby Checker (wow, that was way too cheesy). I just finished Season 1 and am ready to kickoff on Season 2 soon. Ted Danson was a main figure in this season, but the real scene-stealer was Zeljko Ivanek (who has also played Emile Danko on Heroes, JJ on Big Love, Governor Delvin on Oz & Andre Drazen on 24, as well as one episode guest appearances in about every hour-long drama on television in the last decade. Visit his IMDB page at http://bit.ly/4AgMkl if you want to count how many shows you've seen him on over the years). The Slovenian actor convincingly played a lawyer with a down south accent, and he managed to grab the spotlight from the bigger name stars in the show. I promise you won't regret checking this out (unless you find yourself missing your bedtime because you want to watch just one more episode before sleeping.)

Very Random Sports Thoughts: Manny playing early, Timberwolves trading & drafting, and my Twins

I have so many thoughts on my little iPod "Notes" app, of things I want to write about in the blog, but getting my healing brain to cooperate seems to be the issue. So I am going to put those notes aside, and just cover some current sports things on my mind, since they don't take a lot of deep & analytical thinking!

• I already complained about this on Twitter, but why does suspended Dodger Manny Ramirez get to have "rehab" games in the minor leagues before his 50 game suspension is up? He shouldn't be allowed to play anywhere higher than American Legion ball until the suspension is done. MLB says he can't talk to the media from the Dodgers clubhouse, but he's allowed to go get his swing back in the minors? If a player is tossed from a game, the player replacing him doesn't even get a warm-up throw, catch, etc (and it's not even the fault of the replacement player), but Manny can play AA ball? This is a suspension for failing a drug test, not a DL trip for a torn ligament. If he needs rehab games, it should happen after the suspension. Someone please explain to me how this makes sense.


• The Timberwolves are currently trying to make up for all their lost draft picks from the Joe Smith debacle in this one year (just to clarify, I liked & still like Joe Smith, but he is not the kind of player that one should risk a lengthy punishment to try to sign him early...), by picking up their 4th pick of the 1st round. The latest trade, sending Randy Foye & Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards for 3 players & the #5 pick, is ok with me, if that actually matters to anyone. I plan to write an expanded blog about Randy Foye's time with the Wolves, and the impossible situation he was in through no fault of his own, but I think it would help him to be somewhere where is not continually compared to Brandon Roy. Mike Miller just seemed to lose the shooting touch he'd always shown against the Wolves, once he was actually on his childhood favorite team. My personal opinion is that his "man bob" haircut was the reason he was struggling, since not many Minnesotan men wear headbands, but I have no scientific backing on that thought! Now the question is what the Wolves will do with these picks, which leads me to...


• Please don't package picks to get Hasheem Thabeet. I have nothing against Thabeet, and he seems like a nice enough kid. I just think the odds of him being a complete dud in the pros is larger than the odds of him being a star. This is based on watching him play against the Zags twice in the last 2 years, as well as watching a large number of Big East games during his tenure at UConn. He has some defensive presence, but I feel that in the NBA, that will be overshadowed by his lack of offensive skills. I think Stephen Curry, with his size issue, is a much better risk than Thabeet. Having said that, I'd be ok with the T-Wolves taking Thabeet at #5 or #6 if he is still there, as there is a shortage of big men in this draft, just not with them giving up picks to move up to #2 or #3 for him.


• Which draft picks would I love to see on the T-Wolves when it's all said and done? I'm not even going to include Oklahama stud Blake Griffin, as he will be gone, and I think the Wolves have a couple good building blocks at his position, in Kevin Love & Al Jefferson. I will be showing a bit of a bias here with a couple of them, but I'd love for them to get any of the following:
• Spain's PG Ricky Rubio - I think he is overrated, but should still be a solid player, with the potential to have some Steve Nash passing ability...though potential is not a guarantee. Ndude Ebi had potential too.
• Davidson's SG/PG Stephen Curry -small, but that shot is something that Wolves haven't had in...well...ever. Closest they came was the year Freddie Hoiberg was hitting 50% on 3's, but he wasn't as good at creating his shot.
• Syracuse PG Jonny Flynn - I rank him above Jrue Holiday & Tyreke Evans
• Duke SG Gerald Henderson which pains me to say, due to my anti-Duke stance, and memories of Christian Laettner, Cherokee Parks & Will Avery.
• Gonzaga SF Austin Daye - but this is primarily because of my Zags love. I think Daye needs a few more years & a whole lot more bulk due to his position.
• St. Mary's PG Patty Mills - I've seen him play in person 3 times, and even when he wasn't shooting well, his quickness blew me away. Plus, unlike every other college player in this draft, Mills has played against NBA All-Stars in the Olympics, when he played for Australia, and he more than held his own. How often do teams get a chance like that to see how a kid does when he is up against the best?
• Gonzaga PF Josh Heytvelt - No, this is not just because of my afore-mentioned bias...Heytvelt is more like Kevin Garnett than Al Jefferson (not in skill level, but style of play). He likes to play face-up to the basket. Plus he has a long range jump shot that becomes a match-up issue as a 6'11" player. Wolves could throw out an interesting Jefferson/Love/Heytvelt mix, and see if the opponent has enough big men to follow them all.
• Now for what wouldn't make me happy...Hasheem Thabeet before the #5 spot, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, Dejuan Blair or BJ Mullens.

• And now for my Twins...disappointing loss in Milwaukee, after a bad relay throw home allowed the game to be tied, and a bad decision by Pitcher Nick Blackburn allowing the go-ahead run to score. But the way Nick Blackburn has been pitching for most of this season, is something very fun to see! After surprising most of us in Game 163 at the Chicago White Sox (due to an absurd coin flip) with an almost perfect performance, he just seemed to pick up where he left off, trusting his stuff, and trusting his fielders. I love it!

• Everyone noticed that this was the first Milwaukee-Twins series to not be on a weekend, seemingly since Milwaukee was in the AL. Naturally the Milwaukee at Minnesota series was on the weekend, but I am convinced that Bud Selig was tired of seeing the Twins fans showing up at Miller Park, so he switched it to a mid-week series to make it a little tougher on the fans, so there wouldn't be so many Twins chants during the games. I think he's still bitter that he was unable to contract the Twins, and then they've "owned" his team ever since then. (Ok, perhaps I'm not really convinced of all this, but I like the theory anyway!)

• Finally, in what was a perfect birthday present for me, the Twins got rid of Luis Ayala on June 22. It's as if they granted me the wish when I blew out my candles! I just couldn't handle him as a pitcher (and admit that I did not have an open mind when he came to the Twins due to his play for the Mets last season), but to find out he was asking to be traded because he wanted to be the set-up guy and was mad he wasn't getting the 8th inning, and that wouldn't help for his contract for next year? Aside from the fact that Gardy wouldn't stand for that no matter what, why would the Twins give the 8th inning to a pitcher who let batters hit .353 with runners in scoring position (.306 overall), especially considering his 1st batter faced BA had to be over .500 (but I can't seem to find that stat anywhere) which increases the odds that a player will get into scoring position. Oh well. I no longer need to debate this, as it is all over now! Thank you Twins!

Life on Mars and Other Random Thoughts

I finally finished watching ABC's version of Life on Mars and I'm not quite sure what to think yet! But let me give it a try...

The ending, well...I appreciate that there was an ending. Too many shows to list have let down fans by just stopping & never tying up loose ends (first ones coming to my mind are Las Vegas, The Nine & The Agency, two of which were also on ABC, one also starring Jason O'Mara). So ABC does deserve credit for finishing it, but that was the ending? ...(stop reading this paragraph if you haven't finished the show yet & come back another time)...A space trip to Mars with neurostimulated brain scenarios? The idea of it is somewhat fascinating in and of itself, but its an "empty" end to what was a pretty good show.

Which leads me to why it was canceled - I thought the Pilot was fantastic, then week 2 or 3 seemed to be a little too far out there, and it continued along like that for a few months. I know a number of people who gave up on the show during this time, as it was harder to follow, and had twists that just didn't make sense. In my non-TV critic opinion though, the February & March episodes knocked it out of the park. They had crisp story lines with "plausible" twists, while still being quirky enough to stand apart from other cop shows. Unfortunately, too many people had already given up on the show by then, and its fate was already sealed.

If you were one of the people who gave up on it, but liked it to start the season, I suggest going to iTunes & picking up the Feb & March eps. to see how it all came together - http://tiny.cc/iTunesLifeonMarsABC. It could be interesting to go back and watch again now that I know the ending too...I'm just wondering if the writers had decided what the ending would be from the very beginning.

Now on to the random thoughts:

• The Minnesota Timberwolves finished the season tonight with a loss to the Sacramento Kings, making their final record 24-58. As bad as this record feels, it is only the 7th worst record the team has had, though I wouldn't start bragging about that! The Wolves were 8 point favorites at home tonight, but even with some extra crowd support, they couldn't hang with the worst team in the league, who only has 17 total wins, with this being their 6th win on the road. Uff da (which is Norwegian speak for "good grief," or the equivalent of a really big sighing noise/exhale). Maybe having Senior Night (starting the 5 oldest players) backfired, but then they seemed to do better than the young guys. At least former Gopher basketball star Bobby Jackson, who never played for the 1997 Final Four team that never existed, had a nice night in the Twin Cities (14 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast & 4 stls)! The Wolves also only finished as the 6th worst team in the league, so they'll need some lottery ball help, which has never happened before. That means they are due, right? I have more thoughts about this T-Wolves season, but I'll save those for another day.


• Along the same lines, I'm wondering what teams think when they get rid of coaches who just couldn't "win the big game" only to find out without that coach, that they no longer get anywhere near playing in the big game! The T-Wolves experienced this with the still regrettable firing of Flip Saunders in 2005. All those first round losses in the playoffs look really nice compared to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs while people still have ornaments up on the Christmas trees! Phoenix Suns may be going through that same feeling now. They didn't actually fire Coach Mike D'Antoni, but there was a lot of grumbling from fans, the media, etc., and the team allowed him to talk to other teams about jobs, which is not exactly the same vote of confidence as say, a contract extension. D'Antoni made the Suns so much fun to watch, but they just couldn't get over the hump and win that big game. In the previous 4 years, they lost in the 1st round once, the Conference Semis once & the Conference Finals twice. This year, the NBA Live 2009 video game is the only way this roster will even be playing any first round games. D'Antoni's New York Knicks aren't going to be in the playoffs either, but considering the mess he inherited there, even the prickly New York fans are not bickering...too much! A first or second round loss would sound mighty good to Suns fans right about now!


• To update my short text blog yesterday about Minnesota Twins reliever Luis Ayala...well, it got worse. If you need a reminder, I wondered why the Twins signed Mets free agent relief pitcher Luis Ayala to fill the Neshek/Reyes void, when I had consistently watched Johan Santana leave Mets games with the team holding a lead, only to have every member of their bullpen collapse to send the team on their way to a loss. Yesterday I wasn't happy that Ayala's ERA was around 7. Silly me. After tonight's appearance vs. the Blue Jays, his ERA is a nice round 9.00 (for those of you who don't follow baseball stats, this means that if he were to pitch 9 innings, the length of a game, he'd average giving up 1 earned run per inning/9 runs for the game - which wouldn't include any unearned runs, generated with the help of things such as errors). His WHIP (Walks & Hits per innings pitched) is 2.17. The goal is to be around 1.00. Opponents are batting .429 against him. Even a healthy Joe Mauer can't hit .429...unless he got to bat against Ayala. The majority of Twins games are played at night, and on turf...his ERA on turf is 10.80 & at night is 11.25. The Twins won't be winning games when he appears. In fact, the Twins have only won 1 of the 6 games that he pitched in, a 6-5 win over Seattle in which he was the winning pitcher after they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Of course, if he hadn't given up a run in the top of the 9th inning, the Twins would only have needed 2 runs to win. Yet the writers of the stats rules say he's the winning pitcher, because he was the last guy on the mound before they made their comback. I am rarely the critical fan about players, and usually give them the benefit of the doubt too much (I'm still sad that Juan Rincon is gone, even though I had gotten to the point that I no longer wanted to see him in games, but I still had a hard time saying anything bad about him!), but Ayala is not a long-term Twin that I'm pulling for out of loyalty. So far he just looks like a bad free agent signing!


• Finally, speaking of relievers, why did the Twins let Bobby Korecky get away on waivers? I thought he was back on the Triple A Rochester Red Wings, until I saw stats from him pitching for Arizona, suddenly appearing on my phone. During the time that he failed to clear waivers, I had a personal family issue going on, and wasn't paying much attention to those details, so I was surprised to learn that today. Korecky did much better than Ayala in his first attempts at pitching in the big leagues when he came up with the Twins a few times last year! I was really hoping that the multiple time Triple A All-Star closer could get a spot in the Twins bullpen for the long term, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least I was there at the Dome when he got his first major league hit last year, in what should stand as the one and only hit recorded by a pitcher in an MLB game at the Metrodome! That was pretty fun. He pitched pretty well too in that extra inning game, coming in to a very tight situation & shutting down the Rangers, picking up his first MLB win the same night he got that first hit, all of which allowed the Twins to have the celebration pictured below! I'll miss you Bobby! http://tiny.cc/BobbyKoreckyNight