Coach Speak

The Minnesota sports teams have had an array of coaches over the years. Some of them were pitiful, some excellent. I think that the current lot of coaches is as good as there has ever been in this area.

Bruce Boudreau
Mike Zimmer
Tom Thibodeau
Cheryl Reeve

I'm not a hockey fan so I'm going to give my take on Boudreau first. Much to my chagrin the NHL season still hasn't even wrapped so making any postulations about a new coach is premature and foolish but reflecting on his past work may point toward future results. He's been the head coach for
the Washington Capitals and the Anaheim Ducks. Every year he's been in charge have resulted in his team's having a winning record. That's an impressive statistic on it's own but within that is one that is most impressive. In 2011 he was fired by the Capitals 21 games into the season. He had a 12 and nine record but there must have been extenuating circumstances which resulted in his release. It seems that it was only a problem with Caps and not with him because in-season the Ducks hired him as their head man. With no off season or training camp he was able to guide the Ducks to a 27 - 23 record. Not the most impressive win loss ever but when adding in those details its a good showing of who he has been and hopefully who he will continue to be for the hockey lovers out there.

But on to the other three now

Fast Break

So there have been some big local news breaks over the past couple days but none of them merit a post alone so I'm gonna go with a quick wrap on everything.

• The Lynx are undefeated. 7 - 0 with more double digit wins then single digit victories. This is what champions do. Great job ladies!

• Rumor has it the Timberwolves will pursue Joakim Noah from the Bulls. That's not especially surprising since he played very well under Thibs during the Bulls recent run of success. I'm not sure he has longevity or athleticism to merit a starting roll type contract for the pups but his experience will probably deride that to some degree if he signs here.

• A few days ago Vegas put out odds on every NBA's team chance to win the 2017 championship. The local five were eleventh. A team that hasn't made the playoffs since I was frosh in high school is in the top 11!!!! There are only four Western Conference teams above them. It's unbelievable! Fairness in facts, they're tied with three other West teams so as not to mislead. Do I think they're a contender? No. But Vegas gets these things wrong so rarely. Even they're putting money on our squad making the playoffs!

An Ode to Champions - North Dakota

I'm digging deep into my bag of abyss breakers right now, but that makes it an ideal time to recognize the many champions from the state of North Dakota. I'll start with the female sports then male afterward.

• Volleyball
• Class A - Bismarck Century
• Class B - LaMoure
• Track & Field
• Class A - Fargo Davies
• Class B - Hazen
• Tennis
• Team - West Fargo Sheyenne
• Class A - Shaelyn Johnson, Grand Forks Red River
• Class B - Maddie Anderson/Maddie Johnson, Grand Forks Red River. Anderson won consecutive champions in the doubles
• Swimming & Diving
• Bismarck Century
• Softball
• Class A - West Fargo; That continues a streak of 19 championships. Wow
• Class B - Kindred - Richland
• Soccer
• Bismarck Century
• Hockey
• Bismarck 
• Gymnastics
• Dickinson
• Golf
• Class A
• Not announced
• Class B
• Team - South Border
• Individual - Emily St. Aubin, South Border
• Cross Country
• Class A
• Team - Bismarck High
• Individual - Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, Bismarck High
• Class B
• Team - Hillsboro/Central Valley (Fifth consecutive championship)
• Individual - Kate Fox, Southern McLean (Washburn/Wilton/Wing)
• Basketball
• Class A - Shanley (Third consecutive championship)
• Class B - Shiloh Christian

A draft recap

As we continue to grind the through the weeks until Football is back I think it may be a good time to take a look back at one of the Vikings recent drafts and break down each pick. It takes a few years to have a real idea of what a team has gained or failed to do so, as has often been the case, so I'm going to take a look at the 2013 draft tonight.

I wish I could be positive about the class as a whole but it was not nearly as good as some of the drafts that have happened since and I want to be objective

Well let's begin, shall we?