Less than two weeks removed from the franchise’s “Hive Cares Night” in which the Swarm raised thousands of dollars for the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund and broke several records on the floor, Minnesota set another milestone Friday night on Treasure Island Field. For the first time in the organization’s history, the Swarm tallied 20 goals in a convincing victory over the Philadelphia Wings (5-7) behind stellar play from Callum Crawford. The Ottawa, Ontario native finished with seven points (4g, 3a) and now has scored 25 points over his past three games. Minnesota has been on a streak of its own as of late, winning consecutive games for the first time in 2013 – and doing so in convincing fashion. They bested the Washington Stealth 12-5 on March 16 and then took down the Wings 20-11.  “The whole team is playing offensively,” Crawford said. “We started out a little...

Barely a week after Tubby Smith was fired as the Minnesota Gophers' men's basketball coach, they've made a new hire, and his last name is Pitino. No, not THAT Pitino. OK, well, SORT of... Minnesota announced Wednesday that they have hired Richard Pitino, son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino, as their new head coach. Richard most recently was the head coach for Florida International University, a team that plays in the Sun Belt Conference. In his only season with the Panthers, Pitino led the team to an 18-14 record, 11-9 in the conference - the team's first winning season in 13 years. He's spent time as an assistant coach under Florida's Billy Donovan and his father at Louisville. Those are some pretty big names to have spent time with, learning the coaching craft. He's about to turn 31, and supposedly is one of the top up-and-coming young coaches in the game....

One streak done.  Another continues. For me, the wrong one ended. Away from the action at Target Center as the Wolves tangle with the LA Lakers, the main NBA TV event was Miami’s effort to extend its 27-game winning streak in Chicago. By now you know the Bulls were going to have none of it and good for them. It’s tough to win on the NBA road, even for a team as good as the Heat. And for a kid who grew up (albeit very young) watching Wilt, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston, Pat Riley and Jimmy McMillen set the modern record of 33-straight wins, I was glad to see that mark stay in place. That was then and this is now and I can’t say the same for the current Lakers hex on our Wolves. For 10-years, the Wolves haven’t been able to beat the Lake show. It’s a...

What a difference two weeks make! Since we last gathered the Minnesota Wild (20-10-2) were fighting to separate themselves from the pack and aim for a nice six seed in the playoffs.  The grinders of the north land, the Minnesota Wild are the hottest team in the Western conference, winners of seven straight thanks to a surging offense, staunch defense, and the increased physicality we saw peeks of in early March.   The Wild, as you may recall, were dead last in goals for in the National Hockey League as late as February 26th. With serious concerns about making the playoffs after big splashes in free agency.  Now, as of, March 28th, the Wild are 14th in the league in goals per game (2.7) and have gotten even better on preventing goals, ranking 5th.   The offense has been on fire as of late, averaging 3.64 goals since February 26th, outscoring opposing...

Last Thursday, March 21st, when the Gophers won their first game in the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in convincing fashion, 83-63 over the UCLA Bruins, fans of the team were feeling good. The Gophers had showed the rebounding, toughness and defense that had helped them to a 15-1 start, and signature wins over Michigan State, Illinois and then-number-one Indiana. The team was going up against the Florida Gators next, the number one team from the SEC. At the beginning of the tournament, a fair number of experts were picking the Gophers as a "sleeper" team, one that could go deep into the tournament. It turns out the Gophers played like a perfect version of their late-season selves. Florida jumped out to a 21-point halftime lead, and kept Minnesota at bay, as the Gophers never got closer than 7 points in the second half. Florida won running away, 78-64. The following...

Heading into the Minnesota Swarm’s (4-7) matchup with the Philadelphia Wings (5-5) this Friday night, the team has a clear objective: continue chasing a West Division playoff berth. “We want to keep our playoff hopes alive and not just sneak into the postseason, but come in with momentum…” said Swarm head coach Joe Sullivan before the team’s 12-5 victory over the Washington Stealth (7-5) March 16. “If we could finish the regular season at .500 that would be perfect.” The Swarm worked toward that goal in their last game as the team set a season record, only allowing five goals behind superb goaltending from Tyler Carlson. Forward Callum Crawford scored eight points (4g, 4a) in the game just one week removed from posting a career-high of 10 (3g, 7a) against the Roughnecks.  Needless to say, the Swarm captain has been red-hot in March and is looking to close out the month...

The free agency period has been very active so far for our Minnesota Vikings. As we predicted the electric, dynamic but high maintenance talent that is Percy Harvin is no longer a Minnesota Viking after he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a first and fourth round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.  Kudos to the Viking front office for corralling a first-round and a fourth-round pick from the Seahawks for a malcontent who has struggled to stay healthy, has had tantrums with players and coaches and was generally becoming a malcontent on the roster.   The trade probably has upset some Vikings and pleased others, much like when the Vikings traded away Randy Moss.  These Vikings are in better shape however leadership-wise. Typically trades don’t happen between teams in the same conference, let alone two teams that both the playoffs in the previous year but Minnesota got the best value...

It’s been a great week for me in the land of the never ending winter. A one on one with the team Prez, saying goodbye to one of the team’s out of sight but never out of mind MVP’s and catching a game that didn’t mean much but said plenty. First, the game. As I write, there are 18 games remaining. The Wolves tangle in Sacramento and then have some formidable opponents ahead including the LA Lakers, OKC, Utah and KG’s return with the Celtics on April 1. I was pleased to see the team step up and win a game they were supposed to win against the Hornets-soon-to-be-Pelicans this week. Several things stood out. In the 2-point win, it was the Wolves first “W” in a one-possession game since beating Denver 108-105 on Dec. 12. They shot 56% from the floor and if you’ve followed them this season, that’s a...

Well, the Gopher Men's basketball team made it to the Big Dance. I thought for sure they'd be left out this year, after the awful finish to the regular season (blowout loss to Purue and a first-round loss to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament. What saved them is their #1 RPI ranking in the country, a strong 15-1 start and a signature win against then-number-one Indiana at home. So, they make it into the tournament and Tubby Smith gets a bonus. The 20-12, #11 Gophers take on #6 seed UCLA on Friday, March 22nd. A lot of the experts have been picking the Gophers, including the one and only Dick Vitale, to win in a slight upset against the Bruins. The word on the Bruins is that they have some injury problems. Freshman G Jordan Adams was lost for the rest of the post-season last Saturday against Oregon in the...

With a season-changing 12-5 victory over the Washington Stealth (7-5) Saturday night, the Minnesota Swarm (4-7) pulled to within 2.5 games of the West Division leaders with five games left in the season. Goaltender Tyler Carlson was impenetrable in the game, allowing just five goals – the fewest an NLL team has given up all year. “The difference was we actually played a full sixty,” said Carlson. “We didn’t play one quarter here, one quarter there, or shift here. We actually played a full game. And we stayed tight, guys let me see the shots, and that’s exactly what our coaches have been talking about all year, so that’s exactly what we did tonight.” Forwards Callum Crawford and Ryan Benesch were huge contributors in the game as well, setting multiple career milestones. Benesch recorded four points (3g, 1a) to become the Swarm’s all-time goal scorer with 132.  Crawford found the back of the net early and often,...

The National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) Minnesota Swarm (3-7) fell in Calgary 19-15 Friday night after the Roughnecks (6-5) went on a run of five unanswered goals in the second quarter. Minnesota launched its own streak after the halftime break, tallying four of the third period’s final five goals, but it was not quite enough to take down the West Division’s second-seeded Roughnecks. Despite the loss, Swarm players reached a multitude of milestones on the night. Ryan Benesch was all over the floor, scoring seven times (4g, 3a) to reach more than 300 points as a member of the Swarm. In just his fourth season in Minnesota, Benesch is only the third player in franchise history to ever reach the scoring total and is the first left-hander to do so. Callum Crawford was no slouch at Calgary, either, leading the game in scoring with a career-high 10 points. The Ottawa, Ontario native...

Since we last checked in the Minnesota Wild were 8-6-2 and coming off a 3-1 win against the young but talented Edmonton Oilers.  While Cal Clutterbuck is day-to-day after being on injured reserve because of a vicious knee shot from Edmonton’s Taylor Hall, the young Wild have responded with a more physical, attacking style of play.   Devin Setoguchi, who scored in that game, has really turned it on with three goals and seven points in the last seven games.   The line play of him, Matt Cullen and Jason Zucker have spurred an improved Minnesota team lately.  Heatley has turned it on with 3 goals in 5 games as well and asserting his own style of play. Consistency may still be elusive, but the offense has been clicking more of late and goal totals are climbing per game. There has been improvement in Minnesota that goes beyond just wins and losses.  As...

“I miss winning”. That short, concise and passionate quote came from Ricky Rubio and underscored just how important one win is to this team. ONE win, even if it was against the Washington Wizards. To tell you it’s been a tough season for the Wolves is perhaps the biggest understatement of the winter. In all my years of work in sports and news from TV to radio and points in between, I’ve never seen anything like what this team has endured. Injury on injury, time after time. Players coming in as others go to sickbay. The coach has to take leave because of his wife’s illness. So much excitement and optimism as the season starts and then, into the first week of the season, the gremlins come to roost. But as this March day unfolds, the Wolves win now ends a 6 game losing streak and a stretch in which the...

In the absence of any real Vikings news this week (except for the team releasing WR Michael Jenkins today), I thought I would paint a picture that many Minnesotans know so well: what it's like to be a Vikings fan.

It's something that's in your blood. Generation to generation, since 1961, people have cheered on the Purple and Gold. There are other professional sports teams in Minnesota, but no team stirs the passions and stokes the devotion of generations of fans like the Minnesota Vikings. It's something that's hard to describe - people are bound together in hope, believing year after year that this is the year that the Vikings will win the Super Bowl.

It started early - the Vikings won their first-ever regular-season game. In a shocker, the Vikings took down the mighty Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears, 37-13 in September of 1961. It wasn't much longer that the Vikings made the playoffs in 1968, the first team in the expansion era to do so. That started an incredible run, as over the next 15 years (until 1982) the Vikings won 12 division titles. In 11 of those seasons, the Vikings averaged 10+ wins a year. That's some serious winning.

Since 1982 the Vikings have kept up their winning ways, winning 14 division titles. And there have been few times over the years where the Vikings were not the hottest ticket from August through January. There have been a few lean years, but generally, fans have always turned out in droves to cheer on the Boys in Purple. While it's been 35 years since the Vikings have been back to the Super Bowl, every single year fans turn out, starting in July and August at training camp, to get their fix.

The Minnesota Swarm fell 11-8 at Washington Sunday night to drop to 3-6 on the year. While that record is not where the team would like to be at this point, Minnesota is still in position for a playoff spot in a wide-open West Division. Those teams at the top of the conference are still within the Swarm’s striking distance with seven games remaining in the season. It’s now Minnesota’s mission to reach the franchises leading the West. “That’s our goal,” said head coach Joe Sullivan last week. “…In order to get there we’ll need more responsible defense and have to take advantage of chances on offense.”  The Swarm certainly played responsible defense Sunday night, holding the high-powered Stealth offense to just 11 goals – one of their lowest totals of the year. Coming into the game, Washington was second in the league in scoring. Defensemen Jeff Gilbert and Nik Bilic...

All Gopher hardwood fans hope the up-and-down season will stay up after the University of Minnesota knocked off number one ranked Indiana Wednesday night.  In comes March. The month of March normally brings a sense of urgency to many a NCAA basketball program facing questions about whether they’ll be invited to dance at the annual tournament of 64 later in the month.  Again, I repeat: The Minnesota Gophers basketball team scored a season saving or at least season changing 77-73 win over the No.1 Indiana Hoosiers Wednesday night at Williams Arena.   The Gophers were sliding off the bubble, losing eight of their last eleven, including blowouts to Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Iowa, just recently.   The Gophers who have had uneven frontcourt play all season, outmuscled the Hoosiers grabbing 40 points in the paint and 23 offensive rebounds.  The physicality was led by Trevor Mbakwe, who had 21 points and...

The Minnesota Vikings have a few holes to fill going into 2013.  As any pundit or front office type in the NFL will tell you, the best teams are always built through the draft.  The Vikings are around 13-15 million under the salary cap which will allow them to address needs as well.  But you want to bake the cake in-house and then perhaps shop outside for the fancy frosting; The Vikings could look at various free agents to address glaring needs. A combination of both will work best.  Let’s look at some of those glaring needs. Secondary - The Vikings have a traditionally been vulnerable in the secondary and 2012 was no exception.  Harrison Smith made some big plays and free safety looks to be set a long time.  However, the secondary as a whole gave up 28 touchdowns and picked off only 10 passes; both near the bottom of...

The Swarm split their doubleheader weekend against the Rush, winning on the road Friday night but Minnesota was outlasted at home Sunday afternoon. The team’s next game will be at the Washington Stealth Sunday March 3 at 5 p.m. CT. Friday’s win at Edmonton was Minnesota’s first road victory of 2013. The contest looked like it was going to go down to the wire as the Swarm had a 9-7 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. However, after a Cory Conway goal inched the Rush closer at 9-8, Minnesota caught fire to score four unanswered goals and finish the game with a 13-8 win. Swarm forward Callum Crawford led the way with nine points (2g, 7a), followed by Ryan Benesch (1g, 6a) and transition Jordan MacIntosh (3g, 3a). MacIntosh also scooped up a team-high eight loose balls and takes a vast majority of the club’s face-offs. Captain Andrew Suitor left midway...

The Minnesota Vikings played their first season in 1961, finishing 3-11 under new coach Norm Van Brocklin, himself a Hall-of-Fame QB who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1949-1957, and for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958-1960. Van Brocklin was a 9-time Pro Bowler and 1-time All-Pro as a player, and as the first Head Coach of the Vikings, at 35 he was one of the youngest ever. Van Brocklin led the Vikings through their formative years, and while he was a HOF player, his coaching style tended to rub some players the wrong way. As the Vikings' coach from 1961 through 1966, the Vikings struggled at times. Their first season with a winning record was 1964, when they went 8-5-1. That would be the only winning season in Van Brocklin's Vikings coaching career however, and he finished his career with the Vikings at 29-51-4. Vikings legend Bud Grant took over...

Rod, Artie, and Eric are live from Twins Spring Training in Ft Myers, Fl, with special guest NeumDog. We discuss the team and the Spring Training Experience!  ...