RandBall: Weekend Links

Rand must have somewhere to go today; the Weekend Links are already live.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

It's been a long month.

Spring Training: Twins 10, Reds 4 - Brian Buscher hit a two-run homer, and Brock Peterson (a utility guy at AA and AAA last year) added a grand slam as the Twins ran their spring record to 2-0. On the mound, Nick Blackburn threw two perfect innings, and Matt Guerrier got three guys in a row out, something he hadn't done since about last July. However, Philip Humber - one of the candidates for the last bullpen job - started out poorly, giving up four runs and four hits in one inning.

NFL: Sage Rosenfels will be your new Vikings quarterback - The deal for the Texans quarterback will apparently be official today. Meanwhile, Matt Birk and Jim Kleinsasser are officially free agents, meaning the Vikings are in danger of losing their solid upper-midwest-white-guy bloc in one fell swoop.

Media Watch: Yahoo partners with SB Nation

Big news swept about the sports blog world yesterday morning, what with the news that SB Nation blogs (such as Twinkie Town, which I write for) were now going to be at least peripherally part of Yahoo! Sports.

Now, if you go over to the Twins team page on Yahoo! Sports, you'll see this box:

Frankly, it's great for the SBNation blogs (Hockey Wilderness, the Daily Gopher, the Daily Norseman, and Canis Hoopus are the other local ones). They should see a spike in traffic from people clicking through from Yahoo.

On a personal level, however, I'm frankly terrified. I spend most of my time on Twinkie Town making horrible, random jokes that are usually funny to at most three other people in the entire world. Now, on a grander stage, I'm expecting to be savaged mercilessly.

In all seriousness, congrats go out to the network for the partnership, especially to Jesse Lund, the main Twinkie Town proprietor. I'm thrilled that he'll get a chance to write for an even larger audience...

... even if he's burdened by having to drag me along with him.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

Western Minnesota readers are likely seeing this as they are buried under a foot of snow. Central and eastern readers, perhaps slightly less. Still, we can all take heart - after today, just three more state tournament blizzards to go, and it'll be springtime!

Spring Training: Twins 5, Red Sox 2 - I admit that I may have been a little over-excited for this one, to the point that I even broke out a bit of poetry on Twinkie Town. Still: live baseball! Against another team! Being broadcast on the television (well, the NESN feed on the MLB Network, which in many ways is the same thing as real television.) Glen Perkins looked okay in pitching two scoreless innings - he did give up five fly ball outs plus a Dustin Pedroia double, which may translate to home runs on a different day, but I suppose eight batters is not a large enough sample size to draw any conclusions. I was also quite impressed with Jesse Crain, who set down all three batters he faced in short order and looked to be throwing pretty good out there. At the plate, Justin Morneau golfed a Tim Wakefield knuckler for a double, and Brian Buscher lined one down the line into the right field corner (two hits in two trips - take that, Joe Crede) - but that was it for extra-base hits. Yet the Twins put together three runs in the second, in such a classic Twins format - it was just a blast to see them dinking and dunking. Delmon Young got an infield single to deep short. Buscher dumped one into right field, and Young took third. Mike Redmond fisted one off to right, scoring Young, Jason Pridie hit a sac fly, and Alexi Casilla singled home Redmond with a shot that actually landed behind the first baseman - that's a supposed "Gold Glove" first baseman, folks, Kevin Youkilis, who put his head down and charged back to right field as the ball landed ten feet behind him. Anyway, I've gone on a bit here, but it's just so darn wonderful to have baseball back.

NBA: Utah 120, Timberwolves 103 - Boy, the Wolves sure can fill it up these days. Kevin Love had 24 points, Ryan Gomes had 24 as well, his fifth (!) consecutive 20-point game - heck, even Mike Miller had 21 points. Sadly, though, Sebastian Telfair and Randy Foye combined to go 8-27 from the floor and 1-10 from downtown, and that was really the difference, because Minnesota sure as heck isn't going to stop the other team from scoring buckets and buckets of points. Utah had seven guys in double figures, led - of course - by a center, Mehmet Okur, who had 25. Yes, Al Jefferson is terrible defensively, but at least he's 6-11 and wide enough to provide some kind of roadblock on defense. Without Big Al, or Corey Brewer, the Wolves have a collection of players who are too short to guard anyone the same speed, and too slow to guard anyone the same height. Oh, and new acquisition Bobby Brown played his first game as a Timberwolf; he missed a shot, turned the ball over, and committed two fouls, all in just four minutes of playing time. He'll fit right in. (Shelden Williams and his enormous forehead stayed on the bench, even as Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins combined for 20 minutes of PT.)

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

Arsenal finally scored a goal. I'd be happy, except they missed two other chances that any random idiot should have been able to score on. I guess I should never underestimate the sucking power of Eboue.

NHL: Los Angeles 2, Wild 1, SO - Fellas. It's not that hard. Everybody else can beat the Kings; why not us, you know? Antti Miettinen and Kim Johnsson scored for the Wild, which normally would be fine except Johnsson scored for the other team. And so once again, the Wild came off a very good stretch - back-to-back wins against Detroit and Chicago - and laid an egg against the Kings. And now, the team goes on the road for 14 of its next 17 games. Minnesota is currently in seventh place in the conference, but that's misleading, as it has the same number of points as the eighth through tenth-placed teams. If they can say the same 17 games from now, it'll be a minor miracle.

NBA: Toronto 118, Timberwolves 110 - This game sums up the Wolves, post-Big Al: they can't play defense, especially inside (Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani had 26 points apiece), and if they don't get a miraculous shooting night from pretty much the entire team (Sebastian Telfair was 5-14, but the team shot 50% as a group), they have almost no hope. That's ten straight losses to the Raptors, which seems almost inconceivable to me. That's like losing over and over to the Kings in the NHL... ... right.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

There are seldom very many games on Monday. My question: why? Is there some school of thought out there that holds that fans refuse to head out to the arena on Monday, or that television viewers refuse to hoist their remotes on Mondays? This can't possibly be true, of course - three words: Monday Night Football - so I admit I'm stumped. Theories (or solid facts) in the comments, please.

NFL: Vikings close to trading for Sage Rosenfels - I know what you're thinking: "Not THE Sage Rosenfels," you're saying to yourself. "Perhaps there must be another that I'm not aware of. The Texans couldn't possibly be thinking about giving up the man, the myth, the quarterback that has a name that makes him sound like a lacrosse-playing accountant?" Take heart, doubters: references are to the one and the same. THE quarterback who threw nearly twice as many interceptions (10) as touchdowns (6) in six games last year. THE signal-caller whose QB rating (79.5) was just points higher than Gus Frerotte's. According to the folks who know these things, it's all but a done deal - Rosenfels to the Vikings in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. As part of the deal, Minnesota would extend the soon-to-be31-year-old QB's contract for three years at $3mm per year, because when a guy like this comes around, you need to lock him up.

Twins Spring Training: Koskie goes Canadian, Crede reaction - First of all, we offer congratulations to Corey Koskie, who will officially be part of the Canadian squad in the World Baseball Classic. Being an American myself, I of course can't officially be seen cheering for the Great Frozen North, but I'll say right now that I hope Koskie hits eleventy home runs (against anybody but the USA) and finds his way back into a major-league starting lineup. Meanwhile, Joe Crede seems to be settling in after a couple of days at Twins camp. With Koskie around, this means that Crede's already had to deal with peanut butter in his underwear, having his spikes nailed to the floor of his locker, and having his pants frozen stiff in the training room. (Note: none of the preceding may be true, but with Koskie, you never know.) The new third baseman's been wearing #24 at camp, which was Mike Lamb's number last season, which I think begs the question: why didn't the equipment guys burn that number for all time? It'd be the opposite of retiring a number, and if anyone deserves that treatment, it's Lamb. Ultimately - if he can stay healthy - Crede's a great fit for the Twins: a good defensive 3B with some pop in his bat, which he swings right-handed. Even if he reaches his contract ceiling of $7million, if he does what he's done previously in Chicago, he's a bargain.

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

And the Oscar for Best Performance in a Sunday Hockey Game goes to... (Sorry. Last Oscars reference in this whole post, I swear.)

NHL: Wild 2, Chicago 1 - Josh Harding was the hero in this one. You may hear talk about the fourth line (Dan Fritsche scored again, and Peter Olvecky got the game-winner, his first NHL goal), but this was all Harding. The Wild backup goaltender made 44 saves, some of them impossible, and I mean that as a pure reference to their physical possibility. At least three of Harding's saves on the night were good enough for his personal highlight reel; at least two were good enough for anybody's highlight reel, never mind who they are. Harding had been unlucky enough to have a 1-7-1 record coming into the game, even though he'd posted a better save percentage and goals-against average than Niklas Backstrom (and that, friends, is saying something.) He'll move up to 2-7-1 after this game, but believe me when I tell you that he merited about four wins all by himself.

NBA: Lakers 111, Timberwolves 108 - Sure, it helps the Wolves' lottery cause, but beating the Lakers would have been worth it just for Los Angeles's embarassment factor. No doubt it would have been one of the worst losses of the year, for any team, and that it would have been the Lakers - sweet. Nevertheless, it was not to be. Minnesota actually led midway through the fourth quarter, and kept it as a one-possession game all the way down the stretch, but could not find the final dagger to take control of the game. Plus, Kobe Bryant was allowed to run over a defender on the way to making LA's final basket happen, which always helps. Sebastian Telfair (when did he learn to shoot?) and Ryan Gomes led the Wolves with 20 points apiece; Bryant had a game-high 29.

RandBall: Weekend Links

To quote commenter RandBall's Stu: WEEKEND LINKS! WEEKEND LINKS!

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

(Editor's Note: I forgot to write this until very, very late. Please be prepared for many half-baked metaphors, at least one laughably incorrect statement, and a couple of confusing word choices.)

NHL: Calgary 3, Wild 2, OT - All hail the "loser point." If it wasn't for getting points for losing the game, the Wild would never get anything when they play Calgary. A fourth-line "barrage" in the second period - a short-handed goal from Dan Fritsche, his first with the team, and a goal off a turnover from Colton Gilles - wasn't enough to put the division-leading Flames away. In OT, Adrian Aucoin threw a puck at the net with 70 seconds to play, which hit traffic to Niklas Backstrom's left and then looped ridiculously over the goaltender and into the net. One of those goals that you couldn't duplicate given 500 pucks, you know?

NBA: Wolves deal Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth - And in return, they get the legendary (by which I mean barely-noteworthy) Shelden Williams and backup backup point guard Bobby Brown from the Kings. This is like trading a thirty-year-old Alfa Romeo and a Yugo for a rusted pickup with no wheels and an Edsel. Sure, you're getting rid of some garbage, but in return you have to take home a new set of garbage. McCants is a team-killing weirdo and Booth never, ever, ever, ever plays, so sending them away qualifies as addition by subtraction, especially in 'Shaddy's case. On the other hand, Williams is an undersized big man, something the Wolves already have plenty of, and Brown is basically the third-string point guard on the worst team in the league. If any of these four are still on either of these teams next year when training camp opens, it will be a major shock.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

If this kid played hockey, the Wild would be asking, "Yeah, but can he backcheck?"

NBA: Timberwolves 111, Miami 104 - For those of us who have put all of our eggs in the lottery basket again this year, this one's not very good news. How are the Wolves to grab more ping-pong balls, if they're beating teams with winning records - on the road, no less? The Wolves tried to give the game away by giving the ball away, turning it over an astonishing 20 times, but they made up for their ballhandling carelessness by shooting the lights out. Minnesota made 14 threes, shot 53% from the floor and 63% from downtown - and helped themselves by outrebounding Miami 49-24. In a nutshell: even Bassy Telfair was 50% from the floor, making six of ten threes (?!?) and scoring 30 points to lead Minnesota. Today's big news will be the trade deadline, which is later this afternoon. All reports are that the Wolves are high on Kirk Hinrich of the Chicago Bulls; I suppose they figure they can give away almost nothing to get him, and that he'll be a better point guard than anyone else they can get via the draft or free agency. But we'll see if they pull the trigger.

Twins Camp Report: Bobby Korecky leaves, no Joe Crede anytime soon, and Francisco Liriano no va al Clasico de Beisbol - All reports indicate that the Twins and Joe Crede have more or less reached an impasse in their ongoing contract negotiations. (Let us never forget that Crede is represented by the hard-headed and somewhat delusional Scott Boras.) Meanwhile, most of the players are expressing support for Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris, and Crede is quickly running out of potential suitors... this isn't headed for a great ending. Elsewhere, the Twins tried to sneak minor-league reliever Bobby Korecky through waivers, in order to get him off the 40-man roster and make room for Luis Ayala, and failed - Arizona picked up Korecky. And Francisco Liriano officially announced that he'll be giving the World Baseball Classic a miss, which may be good news for both the Twins and the lefthander, if not for la Republica Dominicana.

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

Once again, folks: the ESPN Draft Lottery Generator. It will get us through the lean times.

NBA: Washington 111, Timberwolves 103 - The important thing to remember: this loss, while painful and frustrating, is probably necessary. The Wolves are going nowhere fast this season; we can but hope for improvements in three things: Randy Foye's game, Kevin Love's game, and the team's draft-lottery position. On this night, Foye didn't have his best game (23 points, but he took 21 shots), and Love played okay (17-11, although Kevin McHale insists on starting him at center, which may kill him by the end of the year.) The lottery position, though, you have to like, as the Wolves lost to an 11-42 team that may be the consensus favorite to finish last in the league.

Twins Camp Report: Francisco Liriano may skip World Baseball Classic - The lefty seems to have his head on much straighter this year. After annoying the entire organization for most of the spring last season, Liriano has showed up this year with what would appear to be a better attitude. He's said he may skip the World Baseball Classic in order to focus on making the team, and while the Twins say that they would never prevent a guy from playing for his country... when it comes to a young lefthander with extraordinary stuff who came to camp out of shape last year, they'd much prefer him to be in Fort Myers.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

On a day like today, I'm just impressed that both local dailies can get out a sports section.

MLB: First day of workouts at spring training; Boof already hurt - This does not bode well for the Boofmeister having a comeback season. Bonser apparently has tendonitis in his throwing shoulder, to the point that he had to have a cortisone shot last week to try to ease some of the inflammation. However, he's already having some trouble getting through his throwing, and though he's got more than six weeks to get that shoulder right... it's an inauspicious start to the spring, to say the least. Also, there's been no movement on a possible Joe Crede signing. No doubt the team is planning to low-ball the third baseman, then say that they "did all they could" to sign him.

NHL: Jacques Lemaire can't stay healthy - Less than a week after becoming the story himself by getting hurt in a fall at practice, the Wild coach had the exact same thing happen, as a clearing attempt caught him in the back and sent him sprawling to the ice, injuring the opposite arm this time around. We've heard some reports about reactions from inside the Wild organization. A few selected ones: Owen Nolan told Lemaire to "suck it up," but also told reporters that he would miss two games with osteoporosis. Derek Boogaard suggested that the coach "punch away the pain." Marian Gaborik advised Lemaire to take the next three years off, minimum, and to sit around and steal money from the organization as much as possible. Doug Risebrough traded for Bob Probert and Joey Kocur, both in their mid-forties, to "provide some offensive grit on the coaching staff." No doubt it's a long road back for the Wild coach.

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

A struggle today, to find anything to write about. No games and no news make Jon something something.

MLB: Twins report to camp, do almost nothing - I suppose that the days are gone when reporting day to spring training would feel like the first day of school. In the old days, perhaps, it'd be a time to catch up with guys you hadn't seen for five months, a time to get reacquainted and strike up new friendships with the new guys in camp. Now, well, half the team was already down in Fort Myers working out, there aren't any official team activities until tomorrow, and - save for new reliever Luis Ayala and a couple of non-roster invitees like RA Dickey - everybody already knows everybody else, because the Twins haven't signed anybody new. Still, it's nice to know that somewhere, baseball is being played. Heck, the Gophers open their season this weekend as well; forget the groundhogs, this is the true sign of impending spring.

NHL: No deaths reported from Wild practice - With four straight days off, the team wasn't supposed to meet or practice on Sunday. After Saturday night's abysmal come-from-way-ahead loss to Ottawa - let's just say a noon Sunday meeting was rather mandatory, following that game. Jacques Lemaire was not his usual jovial self Saturday, and one imagines that the attitude carried over to Sunday. GM Doug Risebrough also spoke to the team, which plays 14 of 17 on the road. I'm sure that he told the players that they'd better make the playoffs and win, or they're all fired the team would promise to make some minor, underwhelming moves in the off-season, in the hopes of procuring a first-round playoff exit next year.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

It's been a long week already, unless you're out today for President's Day, in which case you're probably not reading this anyway. I envy you, imaginary readers!

NHL: Detroit 4, Wild 2 - Maybe this is just me, but when I watch the Red Wings - especially on the offensive end - I think, "Boy, this is what hockey is supposed to look like." The Wings wheel and deal and find open passing lanes that I didn't see, and skate to open portions of the ice at just the perfect time to receive a pass, and suddenly, somehow, there's a red jersey wide open in front of the net. It's fun to watch. Except when it's against your team and your team is getting stomped. When it was all over, Detroit had 43 shots on net, and Minnesota was lucky to escape with only four goals against. The last two nights have pretty much shown the Wild's level - they're good enough to eke out wins against the Colorados of the world, but when they're faced with the Detroits (even sans Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom) - they're just not good enough.

MLB: Twins pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Sunday - Friends, our wintry nightmare will soon be over. Plenty of Twins - pitchers, catchers, and otherwise - are already in Fort Myers, but Sunday's the official deadline for battery participants to be in camp. And from there, it's just a short... seven-week... wait until Opening Day! Okay, it'll be awhile yet before we really get into the swing of baseball season, but rest assured - we're almost there. Baseball is getting ready to come back.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

Note to anyone who's still confused: the three stars are gone, okay? It's just a simple roundup now.

World Cup Qualifying: USA 2, Mexico 0 - TAKE THAT YOU CHEATING MEXICANS! HAVE SOME OF THAT! I'd like for the style to settle down a bit, but I'm just so wonderfully excited: MICHAEL BRADLEY IS A MAN WHO BUILT THE WHEEL OUT OF BRAWN So: it's the first game of the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Just to refresh those of you who aren't soccer fans, the USA will play each of five other teams both home and away, with the top three teams moving on to World Cup 2010, and the fourth-placed team playing off against a South American team for another World Cup berth. Mexico has always been the top team in the region, but that said, "El Tri" hasn't won on US soil in something like 13 tries, and hasn't won a World Cup qualifier on American soil since - seriously - September 1972. Still, though, the red, white, and blue needed to get off to a good start in qualifying, at home against their most bitter rivals. The game didn't disappoint. Michael Bradley scored late in the first half, firing home a rebound from about two feet away following a goalmouth scramble, then put a final nail in the coffin in injury time, driving a blast through the Mexican goalkeeper to make the scoreline 2-0. And just to make it more delicious, defender Rafael Marquez was sent off midway through the second half for spiking USA goalkeeper Tim Howard in the thigh. They aren't too happy with Marquez down south; one article noted that Marquez "only shines for Barcelona, but with Mexico he consigns the team to harm." It goes on to say that, for Marquez, "it concerns him more to play for Barcelona than for Mexico, even though Mexico gives him a large amount of money for publicity." (All translations, poorly done, are mine.) Anyway, that's a good start for our boys in red and white (and blue), who are [redacted] dynamite (and, uh, blue).

NHL: Wild 3, Colorado 2 - Antti Miettinen's goal with less than 90 seconds remaining lifted the Wild over the Avs - but it was Owen Nolan's work that got Minnesota to that point. You know, Nolan's a man who built the wheel out of brawn, as well. He set up Minnesota's first goal and scored its second, and on top of all that, his 37th birthday is today. Without his grit - and his two points - the Wild would have been nowhere.

NFL: Favre "retires"

Oh, poor Brett. Was the media paying attention to somebody else for once?

In honor of SportsCenter, which was running four consecutive Favre segments in a row - including two titled "Is Brett Done?" and "Favre to Retire", which would seem to explain each other and therefore be unnecessary - it's time once again for the following picture:

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

Troy Aikman is finally graduating from college. Good thing UCLA started offering that major in Post-Concussion Syndrome...

NBA: Toronto 110, Timberwolves 102 - Let's not kid ourselves; if the Wolves lose every game for the rest of the season, it still might not be a bad thing. Each loss gets them closer to a higher number of ping-pong balls in the draft lottery, and with a gaping hole in the middle, the Wolves need all the luck they can get. That said, there are things that Wolves fans can look for each night. They can look for Kevin Love to develop (15 points and 11 rebounds in 38 minutes). They can hope that Randy Foye steps up and becomes The Man with Big Al out (33 points). They can watch Minnesota throw out one of the shortest, slowest front lines in post-1960 NBA history (Love, Ryan Gomes, and Mike Miller - that's three small forwards, none of them very quick). They can laugh at Rashad McCants, who still doesn't get to play. It's all fun!

NHL: Wild news: Everybody hurt, day-to-day - Craig Weller is still recovering from the brain-scrambling that he got from Sheldon Souray, who felt the need to whack Weller with a wrist guard instead of using his fist like a real man. Kurtis Foster is down in the AHL, finally beginning his rehab stint. And Tuesday, things just got worse. First came the news that Minnesota's top draft pick last year, defenseman Tyler Cuma, is going to be examined by Wild doctors following a knee injury. Cuma was hurt last December, missed over a month, tried to come back last Friday - and again felt pain in the knee. The team is trying to say that it's just precautionary, but they're clearly worried about his long-term health. Then, at practice on Tuesday, Antti Miettinen plowed over Jacques Lemaire, who ended up having x-rays on his elbow. No word on the coach's injury situation yet, but according to assistant Mike Ramsey, Lemaire was clearly in pain throughout the remainder of the day. Somebody get the bubble wrap over to the Xcel Center, stat.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

Just to recap Monday's big story, that I already covered: Al Jefferson is out for the year. Feel free to start firing up nbadraft.net and the ESPN lottery generator.

MLB: Alex Rodriguez admits steroid use - So there we go, that's pretty much the lot. By the stats, Barry Bonds may be the greatest hitter of the last two decades, Roger Clemens the most dominating pitcher, Mark McGwire the greatest pure power hitter, and A-Rod the game's most complete (and highest-paid) player. All four are now steroid-tainted. The whole thing makes me feel a little bit ill. I don't know why, but it does.

CBB: Trent Tucker to become fifth Gopher in history to have his number retired - Tonight, Tucker's #32 goes up into the Williams Arena rafters, next to Kevin McHale, Mychal Thompson, Lou Hudson, and Jim Brewer. The current Big Ten Network analyst played for Minnesota from 1978-1982, leading the Gophers to the conference title in his senior year. He is still in the top ten in UofM history in points, steals, field goals, and free-throw percentage. He went on to play 11 years in the NBA, winning a championship with Chicago in 1993, his final season.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson out for season

Al Jefferson tore his ACL last night, and will likely miss the remainder of the year.

What say you, advice dog?

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

He wants to stay. The team wants him to stay. The jilted lover - well, the LA Galaxy aren't letting David Beckham go to AC Milan without throwing all of his stuff out in the yard first...

NBA: New Orleans 101, Timberwolves 97 - Remember in late January, when I was fairly bursting with excitement about the Wolves? Can we all forget I said anything? The Wolves got hold of the Hornets at the perfect time - Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler didn't play for NO, and David West got ejected in the first half. But despite N'Awlins missing their three best - not to say only three decent - players, they still had enough to beat the Timberwolves. And if the news wasn't bad enough, Al Jefferson came down funny on his knee and left the court - not at all under his own power, either. Big Al's a big dude, and now he has knee problems, and the Wolves are left without their one truly above-average, difference-making player. Meanwhile, Randy Foye (4-15 for the game) still can't shoot, only he doesn't have the common courtesy to stop shooting (he's averaging 15 shots a game in 2009 and making barely 40%.) The Wolves have lost six of seven, and it would appear that their mini-renaissance is over.

NHL: Wild 3, Edmonton 2, SO - Mikko Koivu is good to go, as far as shootouts. He does need to work on his celebrations a bit. The Wild center scored the only goal of the shootout, beating Dwayne Roloson five-hole with a laser, but then attempted to do the fist-pump-knee-raised celebration and crash-landed in front of the Edmonton bench. The goal gave the Wild a much-needed extra point in the Western Conference standings; the shootout win made the difference between seventh and ninth, showing just how close the middle of the West is right now. Niklas Backstrom deserves at least that much credit for his performance in the shootout as well; he stopped all four Oilers shots, including a pair of spectacular pad saves. He's improved in the shootout immensely - it's gone from a major weakness of his game to a strength.

RandBall: Weekend Links

The weekend links aren't up over at RandBall this week; you see, Mike is on vacation, doing exciting things that are far too wonderful to interrupt for something as pointless as weekend links. Actually, he's in Vegas, so he's probably just going to bed about now anyway. However, Rand's disappearance is no reason we can't have a bit of entertainment over here - and this time, no editing! I'm free and clear to write whatever I want!

On with the links:

• I link to Joe Posnanski pretty much every week, as he's the best sportswriter in America. This week's link: a reimagining of the Mighty Casey of the Mudville Nine, as heard during a post-game locker-room press conference from the manager.
• I also link to the Vikes Geek pretty much every week, as well. This week: In the post-Super Bowl climate, he notes that both the Steelers and the Cardinals were willing and able to adapt to hide their own flaws. And according to VG, this is a good thing - because it really, really makes Brad Childress look like an idiot - with the implication being, the sooner everyone realizes this, the sooner the Purple can move the heck on.
• Doug Risebrough took to the interwebs last week to tell the story of how he came to trade defenseman Erik Reitz for forward Dan Fritsche. The upshot of the story: the only reason he traded Reitz to New York was because he knew Rangers GM Glen Sather, and that relationship greased the wheels of the deal. I think I speak for Wild fans everywhere when I say that I'll gladly chip in for Risebrough to buy drinks for every other GM in the league, in the hopes that maybe he'll do something to improve his team instead of watching them sink into the mid-Western morass.
• The Twins re-signed Matt Guerrier last week, even though he was the worst pitcher in baseball in August and September last season. Over The Baggy thinks that the deal was fair, mostly because it means the team won't have to pay him in 2010 unless he rights the ship. John "Twins Geek" Bonnes, on the other hand, compares Guerrier to... a cheese?
• And finally: Richard Zednik scored a goal that puts most of the rest of the soccer players in the world to shame, leaping over a prone defender and prodding home for the tally. Doubling the impressiveness: Zednik plays for the Florida Panthers, and he did it while wearing ice skates.

That'll do it for me, and for this TNABACG-ified edition of the weekend links. I predict that next week, I'll be back to RandBall... unless he ends up in jail in Nevada. Which is distinctly possible.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

Turns out, Alaska governor Sarah Palin actually named her daughter Bristol after ESPN headquarters. Seriously. She is just delightfully, wonderfully insane, isn't she?

MLB: Twins re-sign Matt Guerrier - The two sides avoided arbitration by splitting the difference; the team had offered $1.2 million, Guerrier wanted $1.75 million, and they cleaved 'er down the middle and settled on $1.475 million. This follows with the team's long-standing policy of avoiding arbitration whenever possible. In this case, they basically paid an extra $275,000 to not have to go to a hearing and say, "You know, Matt, you were probably the worst pitcher in all of organized baseball in the last couple of months of last season, and that includes young children with disabilities that regularly have to be convinced to not attempt to eat the baseball when it is given to them." In August and September of 2008, Guerrier posted a 10.07 ERA and very nearly allowed more baserunners than he got outs; opponents put together an OPS of 1.044 against him in that span. Basically, no matter who came to the plate against Guerrier, they were transformed into Chipper Jones. So yeah, it's hard to be particularly thrilled about this signing, right now.

NHL: Owen Nolan to be DNP-Old Age again tonight - Apparently, Nolan is having back spasms of some kind, and if that seems like an injury that should be a problem for your dad in his over-50 senior league, well, tell dear old Dad to take heart - a guy like Nolan, who's just barely eligible for those senior leagues, has the same kind of problems. Anyway, Nolan won't play tonight, and Craig Weller - who's still out because Sheldon Souray found it necessary to strap a tire iron to his hand, then fight Weller - is doubtful as well.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

The less said about certain things this morning, the better.

NHL: Wild 3, Anaheim 0 - Boy, where would this team be without Niklas Backstrom? The Wild goaltender was great again, recording his sixth shutout and making 34 saves along the way to help flip the scoreline from an embarrassing 3-0 loss to the Ducks last month into a 3-0 win. Andrew Brunette helped, too. He's the captain for this month, and he set the tone in the first period on the power play by basically gripping the puck between his teeth and plowing through two Anaheim defenders and the goaltender to get it into the back of the net. Mikko Koivu doubled the lead in the second, getting on the end of a no-look backhand pass from Antti Miettinen, who handcuffed the entire Ducks defense by doing what was least expected - actually providing some offensive pressure. A late goal from Pierre-Marc Bouchard sealed the third period. And oh yeah, there was that Backstrom fella, too.

NBA: Atlanta 94, Timberwolves 86 - The word "sleepwalking" comes to mind. The Wolves came out and played the first three quarters of the game exactly like you'd expect a team that had to play in Indianapolis last night to play. Trailing by 13 at the start of the fourth, Minnesota pulled back into contention thanks to Mike Miller going on his own personal 8-0 run (which is nice to see), and actually chopped the lead to two points with less than two minutes to go. But Randy Foye (4-19 from the field, and lately, he's got whatever shooting disease Miller had, only he's got the strain that allows you to keep throwing up bricks rather than ceasing to shoot like Miller) missed a three, Mike Bibby hit one for Atlanta on the other end, and that was really the end of that. It kind of seems like the Wolves spent the first part of the year playing well for three quarters, then bad enough to lose in the fourth... and the second part playing badly for three quarters, then well enough to win in the fourth. Maybe this will be part of a lesson for young Minnesota - against a decent team, that just isn't quite enough.

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

HIGH LIFE!

NBA: Timberwolves 116, Indiana 111 - The less said about this one, the better, except to say this: ah, the bountiful goodness of the dregs of the NBA! The Wolves led 112-106 with under a minute to go, then gave up a three-pointer and committed two turnovers underneath their own basket - and the Pacers STILL couldn't tie it up, as TJ Ford missed two of four free throws. Two Sebastian Telfair free throws and a missed Indiana three-pointer later, and the Wolves went home winners. Al Jefferson had just 12 points, Randy Foye turned the ball over nine times... and Minnesota still won. I guess they're not all pretty.

MLB: Twins claim no interest in Jerrod Washburn - A day after rumors flew that the team would be dealing Delmon Young to Seattle for Washburn, who is an exorbitantly-overpaid starting pitcher - perhaps the last thing the Twins need - the team scuttled that speculation. Joe Christensen's source noted that the Mariners had their chance to fleece the Twins into taking Washburn and his ridiculous salary, and they blew it last year.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

It's just Tuesday, and for whatever reason I can't stop thinking it's Wednesday already. Also I am still writing "1979" on my checks. It's a tough world.

NBA: Kevin McHale named Western Conference Coach of the Month for January - It is not April Fool's Day and this is not a joke headline. I repeat: this is not a joke. Minnesota's 10-4 record in 2009 launched McHale to what almost surely is his first award as a coach or executive. I'm re-assessing everything, really. Heck, maybe expecting a guy who won multiple NBA titles and played on some of the best teams of all time to be successful isn't so far-fetched. There's no reason that it would make him good in the front office - I don't think he made any trades for the Celtics, unless you count later in life, like the KG trade and the time he willingly and under the influence of no powerful opiates traded for Mark Blount AND Ricky Davis - but it's not outlandish to think that he might actually be a decent NBA coach. Or maybe I'm just talking myself into this whole thing. Maybe I'm just buying the propaganda - Sebastian Telfair can become a quality point guard! Randy Foye is a proven scorer! Kevin Love can jump over the Sunday New York Times! McHale is just the guy to lead this team - this year and beyond! I guess I still have my doubts.

NFL: Local columnist Tom Powers signs on to Favruh bandwagon, becomes enemy of all right-thinking Vikings fans - Yep, Powers has all sorts of reasons the Vikings should sign Favre. To refresh your memories, here's the reason they shouldn't: because Brett Favre is a selfish, narcissistic jerk who would ruin the franchise. He's the Roger Clemens of football.

Minnesota: The Groundhog Day Roundup

Happy Groundhog Day, my favorite pointless holiday of the year! Here's hoping you're celebrating just like every copy editor in America: screaming, "HOW THE HECK DO YOU SPELL 'PUNXSUTAWNEY'??"

Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23 - These Super Bowl thingies seem to keep getting better every year. I'm not sure what edition XLIV can do to top this one - overtime? Five kick returns for touchdowns? Think about the number of absolutely superlative plays in this game - not only the game-winning, Roethlisberger-to-Holmes touchdown, but both of Larry Fitzgerald's touchdown catches in the fourth quarter, James Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown at the end of the second half... all four could have, and maybe will, go down as some of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.

NBA: Boston 109, Timberwolves 101 - Boston was without an ill Kevin Garnett in this one, and though the eight-point might suggest that they didn't need him, Al Jefferson's 34 points would indicate otherwise. That said, Paul Pierce had 36 for the Celtics, taking over in KG's absence, and Minnesota never got closer than six points after trailing by 18 at halftime. After winning 10 of 12 games, the Wolves have run into some good teams on their schedule, and have lost three in a row. And with three of their next four against winning teams, it's not soon going to get easier.