A Summer Summary

As I've traveled and enjoyed the Summer my attention to the sports scene has been diminished. That's far from a unique circumstance this time of year, but has been compounded by the fact that the Twins have been somewhere between abysmal and forgettable.

In addition to that, the addition I have put toward sports over the last week has been to prioritized the soon coming positivity.

Football is almost back folks. That is an annual fact that brings nothing but positive emotions. If not for the product on the field, for the hardcore fantasy football that can once again breath.

But I digress because this is not about football, at least not mostly.
Over the last few weeks there have been many notable sports occurrences.

The MLB All - Star game

The NBA Summer League

The passing of a once great football coach

The firing of the Twins GM

The preparations for the Summer Olympics

And those are just the things with local ties

I've still been holding strong to my boycott of the Twins this year. I have yet to watch a single game and when they are on the radio I turn to a different station. Much to my chagrin, I think it's important to acknowledge the some of the recent things that have happened with the Twins.

While only on the field for one inning, the Twins lone member of the All star festivities made an impact. Eduardo Nunez showed, in the brief time, that he deserved to be included. But the Twins are what they are this year so the limited chance he had was part of the result.

In person far more then on here, I have railed against the whole Twins organization this year but the move that was made a few days ago does little to change things in the short term. Terry Ryan was charged with running the show and has done a poor job of it over the last five years and further back. The moves that the Twins have made, dating all the way back to the Johan trade have not worked out as they needed to. A team can't win every trade, but losing so many of them is unacceptable. When the Pohlad's bring in a new voice, and I hope it's a new voice with little or no ties to the current run, the whole place needs to be remade. Scouts, players and every other member of the organization need to be put on notice and sweeping changes need to be made. I don't like positing for people to get fired but that's where being a rube conflicts with reality. I'm not sure what is gained by making the move now, but it sounds like a semi-mutual decision so let's take a wait and see approach.

Last but certainly not least, the one and only David Ortiz is coming to the end of his Hall of Fame career. He got his start in the bigs with the Twins and is currently in the last series of his career against the Twins. A few days ago he penned a letter to Minnesota which is very worth reading. While he came to the baseball world with Seattle and as a fact would have been with A-Rod and Grif Jr. had he stayed there, he broke in the Bigs with Minnesota and that makes him one of us. He is a Red Sox all timer but he was a Twin first and his career ending, even on the obnoxiously high note that it seems to be, is the latest testament of how the organization has gotten things wrong. But great job Papi, thanks for the memories!

Moving on from that past time to the hardwood.

The Timberwolves summer league team made a good run to the championship game.  Behind the exemplary play of Tyus Jones they pushed the Chicago Bulls to overtime. Just take a look at the video if you want all the proof, but if you just want to see him hit a big time shot, skip to the 7 minute mark.  

It may not mean anything when the team reconvenes but the youngsters showed some skill and hopefully a few of them get invites to show what they have in the pre season and in practices. But basketball is done for now so it's nice to end on a fairly high note.

Then came the news yesterday about the passing of Denny Green.

I'm old enough to remember him as the head man of the Vikings but did not care too much about sports in those days so the thing I remember most of him was the well worn press conference. The "they are who we thought they were" one. Hearing the talk about him on KFAN yesterday was quite a thing. I had no idea the coaching road that he had been on or the success that he had accomplished. Winning Big 10 coach of the year when only winning 3 games is the most noteworthy accomplishment, as I see it. He may never have won a Super Bowl but few have. His time as the head coach in Minnesota was a good one on the field, all things considered. Time passes for each of us and while it was too early, time passed for him as well. It's sad news but there's a lot of that going around these days.

But all these things are past. The Olympics lay ahead.

I've heard of some former NDSU athletes competing the olympic trials but haven't heard of any local athletes being a part of the 4,000+ members of the total team. National pride and interest in sports is enough for me to watch as many of the events as I can but any one from the tri-state area will have me rooting for them just a little bit harder and paying that much more attention.

So that's what I have, for now. Did I miss anything? What say you?