A Few Observations

Here are a couple of thoughts on a cold Saturday night.....

1. Jase and I attended the Wild game last night against the hated Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver won 2-1, took over first place from the Wild and, to make matters worse, Jase and I were in the beer line when the Wild scored their lone goal. The game was still a lot of fun, however, as they always are. I couldn't help but think throughout the game that the Wild could benefit from the services of one Mary Ann Gaborik, but he is still out (of course) with a "lower body injury" sustained while playing hackey sack (100% truth).

I don't want to talk about Gaborik, however. I want to talk about an odd trend that continued last night. The trend is that no matter what game I attend - Wild, Twins, Vikings, Wolves (hypothetically), or Gophers - I am guaranteed to sit right next to fans of the opposing team. This happens without fail. And, sure enough, Jase and I sat right next to 4 Canucks fans visiting town from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that, to be fans of an evil team like Vancouver, these guys must have been real pricks, bordering on Satanists. That is what I thought, too. I have found that most fans of the opposing team are ass-holes, particularly Chicago Bear fans. Well, too my surprise, these guys turned out to be 4 of the nicest guys you could ever meet. It turns out they adopted Vancouver as their team after the Winnipeg Jets left for the hockey hotbed of Phoenix a few years back.

We actually hung out with these guys at the Liffy after the game and they bought us a beer. They were very complimentary towards the Wild, their fans, and the Xcel Energy Center. One of them used to cheer for the North Stars, for God's sake. I guess it just goes to show you that if Wild fans and Vancouver fans can get along, there might just be hope for this world after all.

By the way, if the NHL wants to get serious, the league must admit that it is a regional, northern sport and put teams back in Winnipeg, Quebec and Hamilton. To accomplish this, they should move Nashville, Florida and Atlanta's teams to those Canadian cities. Hockey in those southern cities is a joke.

2. Tonight at Target Center, the 4-14 Timberwolves take on the 3-16 Los Angeles Clippers. Do you think there are still tickets available?

3. Lastly, I see that Pat and Kevin Williams have been given a reprieve by a federal judge in St. Paul and will be allowed to play against the Lions this Sunday. There is also speculation that they will be able to play the rest of this year. Now, I have asked myself how I would feel about this whole thing if these were not Viking players. On one side, I blame the Williams boys for taking any type of supplement that was not clearly approved by the league. That is a huge risk to themselves and their team's fortunes. On the other side, it sounds like they took steps through their physicians and by calling league offices to try and surmise if the supplement was acceptable and they did not receive an answer from either source. If the NFL is going to start suspending players with no pay for 4 games, they had better develop a list that is clear - beyond a doubt - of what supplements are acceptable and not acceptable. If you want to read a good article on the subject by Patrick Ruesse, certainly no Viking apologist, here it is.

So, Pat and Kevin will be allowed to play against Detroit on Sunday. This is a game the Vikings should win by 21 points. Anyone who has followed the Viking franchise knows, however, that this is the type of game that they blow. On the road against a divisional opponent, a week of distractions with the legal case, ex-Viking QB starting for the other team. I must say that I am getting bad vibes.

I will say this - if the Vikings cannot beat the 0-12 Detroit Lions on Sunday, they have no business claiming they should be NFC North division champs and they have no business making the playoffs.

That is all for now.

Jeff