Minnesota Wild Blogs

Vancouver is the heavy favorite heading into the 2011 NHL playoffs to win the Stanley Cup.  Their Northwest Division foes can vouch for that.

 The Vancouver Canucks, who won the President’s Trophy by a landslide-ten points over the East’s Washington Capitals, posted an impressive 54-19-9 record for a league-leading 117 points in the regular season.  Obviously, the Canucks head into the Quarterfinal Series as the top seed in the Western Conference where they will meet the eighth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks.  But how much did Vancouver playing in the Northwest Division help bloat their point total?

Continue reading "Weak Northwest Division Could Benefit Blackhawks"

I've seen the the replay 10 times and it still feels sort like you stole cookies from the jar and didn't get caught.  No one said, "Hey, no dessert."  In this odd ending to a helter-skelter Cup Finals, nobody said "No goal, Patrick"  and the Hawks survived Philly's onslaught to steal the game on Kane's great shot, and thus win the Stanley Cup.

Continue reading "A Goal Is A Goal And Kane Gets Cup Winner"

The Wood is a six horse field, and the two chalkier runners look tough, while the other 4 need improvement. Improvement is possible. But this not a betable race. There are many words for people who bet this race, but "handicapper" is not among them. To win money on races like this involves nothing but "dumb" luck.

Continue reading "Illinois Derby the most betable prep today"

Here is how I see the east region and their chances of advancing to the final four.  I have them ranked on likely hood of reaching the final four, not on their seeding.  The seed is in paranthesis.

Continue reading "NCAA East Region breakdown."

A Golden Effort Falls Just Short By Brad VanFossan I know it’s more than just a hockey game when my 63 year old father is looking forward to watching, and has been watching most of the

Continue reading "Golden Effort Falls Just Short"

Some nice 2007 foals hit the track as two year olds in 2009 and among the best are those nominated for Eclipse awards in the 2 year old division.

The top nominations for colts are Lookin at Lucky, Noble’s Promise and Vale of York while the top fillies nominated are Blind Luck, Hot Dixie Chick and She Be Wild.

Continue reading "2 year old Eclipse nominees"

Yes, I'm an Ovie fan.
He's fun to watch when he is on top of his game.

His show-boat style and wild goal celebrations are entertaining to me.
He may not be the games classiest player, but he does demand our attention, and usually gets it. Good or bad.

Continue reading "Strike Three?"

     Big Daddy's spectacular Halloween weekend could not have ended any better than with a Darren Sharper pick to clinch the victory against the hated Dirty Birds on Monday night. Don’ t you feel sorry for people around the country living in cultureless gated communities whose neighbors are from anywhere USA, half of which will move within a year chasing a more lucrative job to fulfill the false illusion of sprawling malls, 401(k)s, mortgages, car payments, and college funds which define success in today’ s misguided America? In this edition on the

Continue reading "Big Daddy’s Unforgettable Halloween:"

     Sunday’s rain showers didn’t slow down Black ’n’ Gold tailgaters readying themselves for battle. Entering the Superdome, Big Daddy encountered Jets fans displaying their typically rude, loud-mouthed New York attitudes, demonstrating why many despise New Yorkers. Cocky Jets fans’ relentless attempts to diminish Who Dat intensity were less effective than the Army Corps’ levees. After the Saints forced Jets fans to “eat it!” all day, those Yankees had nothing to say. In this week’s edition of

Continue reading "Big Daddy Screams For Defense"

I was not happy at all about the first half. We had NO PASS RUSH and our offense just couldn't get it going. 

There were a few really useless plays called and I know it's just pre season but, if we are going to run a "wildcat" formation...we should at LEAST get something out of it. I'm realy glad that we held them to ONLY 10 points in the first half. Then only gave up another 3 for the rest of the game. Our defense has been suspect to big plays and that needs to be addressed.

Continue reading "Dallas Game"

Martin Havlat saw the writing on the wall in Chicago when they signed winger Marian Hossa to a 12-year contract earlier in the day.  The Wild jumped on the chance at grabbing the free-agent winger.

Continue reading "Wild sign Martin Havlat to 6-Year, ..."

Part 3 of my “Goaltender Options for the Flyers” series will include a couple of “international” goaltenders, and additionally, I will give you my final opinion on what I’d like the Flyers to do.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 3"

Part 2 of this series will include Restricted Free Agent options as well as possible acquisitions via trade.

In Part 1 of this series I covered some of the more realistic Unrestricted Free Agent options for the Flyers in their quest to acquire a starting goaltender. In addition to the Unrestricted Free Agent options, there are several viable Restricted Free Agent options. The benefit of restricted free agents is that they are all young…that is, after all, why they are restricted free agents. They are often times coming off their entry level contracts, and just haven’t played enough seasons to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The bad part about restricted free agency is that, depending on how much the player is signed for, the team is required to pay some sort of draft pick compensation.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2"

I’m not talking about the Wild’s penalty kill (which is the best in the NHL) but more of when this line up becomes 100% healthy. Chemistry is something that wild head coach Jaques Lemaire has preached and strived for in his 8 years as coach.  By changing goaltenders in the middle of playoff series to different lines to keep teams on their toes.  The team lately, I will openly admit, has had its struggles. Marian Gaborik for what seems like his 6th consecuitve season, has found himself on injured reserve and is fighthing to get back on the bench. He had is hip surgery, which last I heard went successfully and he is now back on the practice squad getting conditioned for his return. What does this mean for Minnesota?

Continue reading "When the Minnesota Wild Become Full Strength"

What a difference a night can make. Going into last evening the Big Ten looked like it was pretty much a lock in terms of who was going to the dance and who was out and who was riding the bubble.

Continue reading "Big Ten Picture Just Got Cloudier"

The St. Louis Blues have made a recent push to make the playoffs, climbing out of the cellar of the Western Conference to six points out of the 8th and final seed.  As of late, Blues media and fans are talking about a possible playoff run, putting the team in the big dance for the first time since 2004.  Are these dreams necessary?  Should Blues fans even want a playoff try this season?

Continue reading "Playoff Hopes are Unnecessary"

" It´s like Deja-Vous all over again ". Ahh, yes, who could forget  that humorous, infamous quote from the legendary Yogi Berra. Well it could not be more fitting for the upcoming

Continue reading "GIANTS , EAGLES : " Best two out of three ""

His name is Chris Matthews, and we hope he'll play hardball in the SEC next year for the Kentucky Wildcats. Currently the 9th ranked JUCO prospect according to Rivals, Matthews is an athletic receiver from Los Angeles Harbor College in California who runs a 4.5 40, and weighs 210 pounds. With a 6'5" frame, Matthews hopes to elevate the Wildcats wide receiving corps currently made up of mostly freshman.

Continue reading "Great wide receiver pickup for the ..."

There were a lot of reasons for the collapse of the Ron Prince era, but the biggest might have been his lack of quality assistant coaches.  Tim McCarty, who was Ron Prince’s offensive line and assistant head coach, announced Thursday that he would return to Division II school Eastern Central University in Oklahoma. McCarty coached at ECU in 2004 and 2005, compiling a 9-11 record. McCarty is not taking a job as an offensive line coach at some other BCS school. He is not even taking an assistant job for a Division I-AA team. He’s heading back to Division II.

Continue reading "Kansas State assistants furthered Prince's demise"

30 years ago my parents, a young married couple in Tucson, AZ, had no insurance or money to pay for the upcoming birth of their first child.  They turned to The University of Arizona Medical Center for assistance.  My mother was immediately enrolled in a program for aspiring Obstetricians that would cover all pre and post-natal care.  Immediately, from birth, I became a University of Arizona Wildcat happily in-debted to them.  Shortly after my arrival to Tucson, Coach Lute Olson came to town and brought a new identity to this city and this University through the Men's Basketball Program.  The town fell in love with this program, this Coach and I enjoyed the ride at an early age.  Every March we had a game to watch, a team to route for from our small town, and pride to see our landscape continuously on national television.  I could not wait until the day I enrolled as a student to solidify my status as a Wildcat!

Continue reading "Will the Real Arizona Wildcat Fans ..."

The University of Tennessee comes into the match-up against Kentucky with a dismal 4-7 record but not because of their Defense.

The Vols rank #6 in the country in total Defense but in Total Offense 114th out of 120 teams. That is not Tennessee football fans have been used to seeing in the past 10 years.

Continue reading "University of Tennessee pays tribute ..."

Week 13 College Football Preview

Last week: 5-0 Season: 22-16

This weeks picks: Penn St, Utah, Orgn St, TX Tech, BC, TCU, Boi St, E Car

 

Its sounds like a broken record by now but yet again the game of the week is in the Big 12 south.  This game could decide who will end up in the National Championship game. Texas Tech will be going on the road for this big showdown unlike the other ones which were played in Lubbock, TX.  Tech still seems too not get any respect by the odds makers as they are a seven point dog to the sooners.  I wonder if the number two team in the nation has ever been such a big dog.   I think OU will win this game but I am take Tech and the point, hopefully this game will not disappoint like some many others this year.

Continue reading "Week 13 College Football Preview"

11/09/08/1:00pm/FOX/Sunday-Dolphins(21) vs Seahawks(19)(Seahawks Coach-Mike Holmgren 02/09, then Jim Mora)

1st Qtr:

1. Fins Tedd Ginn, Jr. (19),would have had a touchdown from a kick return, if it hadn’t been for a holding penalty by Charlie Andersen (56).

Continue reading "Sunday Game-11/09/08 Dolphins (21) ..."

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

Hopefully the number in the subject line continues to rise, as does the number of teams that we are passing by in the standings. 

With the win yesterday afternoon, our beloved Bronx Bombers sit in second place in the Wild-card and just 3.5 out of first in the AL East. 

Continue reading "6 and counting!"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

Welcome to my first ever blog...This is going to be my new voice.  I will talk about everything from getting married to sports to trying to make money in weird ways.  Have you ever driven a

Continue reading "Welcome to the Jungle"

There's an episode of the Simpsons were the Homer-coached Springfield Wildcats are preparing for a game and Homer lends his hand in leading a cheer for his squad.

 "Who are we? The Wildcats! Who're we gonna beat? The Wildcats!"

Continue reading "Whatever Happened to Originality?"

http://lebasketbawl.blogspot.com/2008/03/andre-3000-and-basketball-eek.h

Continue reading "Andre 3000 and Basketball, EEK!"

Despite an unconfirmed rumor that she will accept a wild card in Bogota this week, Sesil Karatacheva will bring a world ranking of 382 into Memphis as a Wild Card recipeint in the Qualifying draw next

Continue reading "Karatancheva To Make WTA Comeback Debut In Memphis"

It's been just three days since the Giants won the Super Bowl and to tell you the truth, each day just keeps getting better.  The weather is warmer, jokes are funnier and the highlight clips are endless.  I mean, how many times have you watched the Manning to Tyree play?  Today I want to get into Eli, Strahan, the Coach, and the Tom Brady Snub

Continue reading "Blog Jammin with Mikey Treehorn: ..."

http://lebasketbawl.blogspot.com/2008/01/upset-day-in-college-basketball

Continue reading "Upset day in college basketball!"

Eli Manning won a wild card game, but Eli Manning is not a wild card. All season long, and all off-season, too, NFL analysts across the board love to talk about Eli Manning’s unpredictability. People love to lay into him about his demeanor not becoming of a winning quarterback, and his number one overall draft selection as a byproduct of his last name only, not his talent. I’m sure that last name on the back of his jersey just handed him the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2003, as well as naming him SEC Offensive Player of the Year. Undoubtedly, if I had that last name I would have been able to pass for 3,600 yards, 29 TD’s and only 10 INT’s, while amassing a completion percentage of 62% my senior year. Even as recently as this past weekend prior to the Giants/Bucs kickoff, the FOX studio crew was pondering which Eli would show up? The Good Eli or the Bad Eli? And yet as recently as halftime during the same game, the same studio crew was praising Eli saying that we may be witnessing the coming of age of the young quarterback.

Continue reading "Eli's Coming!"