NFL Draft – Too Much Hype?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, for sports.  The NHL playoffs are in full swing, now we get to see Barry Melrose and his historic mullet every night on ESPN for the next few months in addition to sports’ best, most grueling, playoff.   March Madness just came to a riveting end, even though the two semifinal games were lame the final made up for it.  The most prestigious tournament in golf began Thursday with the hype being at an all time high because of one big cat you may have heard a little about.  The MLB season has just begun as well, now impatient fans can finally get a good feel if their team is going to be a contender or pretender as each club embarks on the 162 game quest.  The NBA playoffs are about to start and aside from the endless coverage the NBA receives on ESPN they continue to be unbelievably forgettable.  The WNBA draft took place on Wednesday, everyone made sure to tune into that.  The Frozen Four is underway right now and offered a great overtime game last night setting up what will most likely be an outstanding final.  And amidst all of these great sporting events the NFL and its brain trust still find a way to stick their nose in everything.

 
In the middle of the offseason, when you usually hear very little news about most other sports, the NFL has found a way to make headline after headline in what is by far the most hyped professional sports entry draft.  It’s at this time every year that the likes of Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, and Jeremy Green begin frothing at the mouth, spewing out new prediction after new prediction like a sick college freshman after their first “big night” in an effort to keep viewers on the edge of their seat regarding who will be number one.  The volatility of the stock of these poor college kids would deter even the most intrepid investors from investing in them.  There was even discussion last year of moving the first round to Friday night, so the weekend could be completely suffocated by NFL coverage.  Fortunately the brain trust didn’t pull the lever.  
 

Tiger Woods Will Not Be Tamed at the Masters

Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that Tiger Woods will go on to win yet another green jacket at Augusta this week?

Tiger will look towards taming the course and the field starting Thursday at the Masters to claim his 5th Masters Title. There are many other golfers playing great golf that should offer us golf fans a great tournament, but Tiger hasn’t won the Masters since 2005 and has clear intentions to go for the Grand Slam this season.

Tiger has played in only 1 tournament that he didn’t win so far this season and he clearly didn’t play his best golf that week at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral where he still finished in 5th place.

If I was a golfer on the PGA Tour, I would be scared with what Tiger had to say as he sat down with Scott Van Pelt for ESPN’s Sunday Conversation:

To me, Tiger Woods is a person that has an unmatched drive and clear confidence with his ability to get better, as if any of us thought that was possible. I may be wrong, but there is no reason not to believe we will see history being made this year again by this man, and there is no sign of it ever slowing down.

If I was a bookie in Vegas I would be willing to pay great odds for a selection of the field, I think it is only fair when the man that has to be beat is Tiger Woods.

Who do you think has a chance to give Tiger a run for the title of 2008 Masters Champion?

from sports.espn.go.com posted with vodpod

Could the Twins Be Headed for Another Dark Ages?

“Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation,” wrote Wernher von Braun, a NASA rocket scientist, on the continuation of spiritual existence after death.  His reasoning is simple: things do not die, for nature is built to transform itself, and therefore everything must continue on in some form after its demise.  In the offseason this year, it appeared the Minnesota Twins baseball club died a little by losing the club’s two biggest superstars in Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, and now on March 31st, 2008, here we are to see the Twins transformed into a completely new ball club, full of new names. 

The success of the newly transformed Twins will only be seen as the season wears on, and many sportswriters are predicting the Twins to finish in third or fourth place in the AL Central Division. As I see it, however, this year doesn’t matter, because with such a transitional, young ballclub, it’s difficult to believe that that the Twins could win the Central, or even be very competitive in comparison to the Indians and Tigers this year. The danger that I see is that the Twins could spin again into another dark age, similar to the epic string of losing seasons the club suffered in the late 1990’s.

Minnesota Wild Playoff Picture

As The NHL playoffs start to become more than a speck on the horizon of a long 82 game season, the Wild find themselves front and center in the playoff picture.  On Wednesday night the Wild recaptured first place in the northwest division by defeating the red-hot Edmonton Oilers, who are now 7-3 in their last ten games.  The Oilers spanked the Wild pretty badly up in Edmonton on Monday night;

the game was not as close as the 5-3 score would indicate as the Oilers were up 3-0 early in the first.  On Wednesday the Wild looked like a completely different team, playing in front of their home crowd they jumped on the Oilers early and completely dominated them for the first two periods of play.  
 

Top 5 Golf Getaways to Get Out of Minnesota

Living in Minnesota doesn’t allow for the luxury of playing golf all year round, to help combat that problem many people take golf trips to get out of the cold and discover new golf courses. Since it is snowing here in Minnesota today, I figured I would make a list of my Top 5 Golf Getaways for scratch golfers and hackers alike to escape to, to tune up for golf in Minnesota:

Arizona

Arizona has some of the best golfing conditions all year round, and early spring is one of the best times to go because it isn’t so hot. You will find a wide variety of golf courses in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, at very reasonable costs.

*Troon North – Scottsdale, AZ

South Carolina

South Carolina has some of the best golf resorts in the world, and is known as a hot bed for travelers around the world that enjoy golf vacations. Whether it is Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head or golf in the Midlands the South Carolina Golf Trail has a lot of offer.

*Oceanfront Course- Hilton Head, SC

Hawaii

In a dream world, everyone that plays golf would go to Hawaii, not just for the golf but to relax in paradise. Hawaii’s islands offer some of the best settings for golf that you can find anywhere, although it is more expensive to get there, the golf is well worth it. Golf in Hawaii boasts the famous Kapalua – Plantation Course and Wailea Country Club, both of which are on the island of Maui.

* Kapalua Resort – Maui, Hawaii

Minnesota Boys Hockey – 2007-2008 Star Tribune All-Metro Teams

The Star Tribune had their annual end of the season all-metro teams for boys hockey in the paper yesterday, here is a glimpse of who was honored as well as who won Mr. Hockey. After great section championship games, there is a lot to look forward to this weekend at the State Tournament, with many of the players on all-metro teams playing at the X.

Metro Player of the Year 2008

D – Jake Gardiner – Minnetonka

1st Team
F – Zach Budish – Edina (Gophers)
F – JT Brown – Rosemount
F – Marshall Everson – Edina (Harvard)
D – Jake Gardiner – Minnetonka (Wisconsin)
D – Chris Student – BSM (Providence)
G – Joe Phillippi – Hill Murray (Nebraska-Omaha)

*Photo by David Brewster – Star Tribune

2nd Team
F – Danny Mattson – AHA (North Dakota)
F – David Eddy – Woodbury
F – Tyler Barnes – Burnsville (Wisconsin)
D – Nick Leddy – Eden Prairie (Gophers)
D – Joe Gleason – Edina (North Dakota)
G – Alex Fons – Hopkins

Minnesota Vikings – Making Waves with Free Agent Signings

And by making waves I do not mean on Lake Minnetonka, mostly because the lake is still frozen.

Looks like for the first time in years the Minnesota Vikings are aggressively pursuing the one common goal of all NFL franchises…winning. With a strong, but aging defense and a superstar offensive talent (AP), the Vikings are realizing that now is the time to fill the gaps and go for a run at the Super Bowl.

The most expensive signing, but likely the most important for going into next season is the signing of Bernard Berrian, Berrian will bring a mix of deep threat speed with great hands, immediately catapulting him to the top of the depth chart for receivers.

To strengthen the safety position of the outstanding defense the Vikings also signed Madieu Williams, who was with the Cincinnati Bengals last season. Madieu was brought in to shore up help with defensive pass-coverage an area that the defense definitely needed to address.

Is Francisco Liriano the Franchise?

With all of the speculation over the Minnesota Twins starting rotation being up for grabs, one major question to answer is, should Francisco Liriano be deemed the “Franchise” now or should this tag go to Delmon Young, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer (new team leader) or Justin Morneau?

 For those of you who haven’t seen the Twins Territory commercial that aired on the Super Bowl and was created by Periscope, who really is the face of the Twins these days?

Minnesota High School Hockey – Boys AA Section Finals

If this time of year doesn’t excite you about high school hockey, then you obviously do not live in Minnesota. There isn’t a better month than March to get your fill of great hockey whether it’s the High School sections and Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament or the Gophers and Wild.

Here is a quick round up of two of the games I was at last night in the boys AA section finals in Section 6 and in Section 2 AA.

 

Benilde St. Margaret’s 3, Minnetonka 2

• Minnetonka probably had the advantage on paper in this game and clearly outplayed the Red Knights most of the game, however as they sat on a 2-0 lead going into the third period Benilde took advantage scoring 2 goals in about 9 minutes to tie it up and force overtime. Minnetonka seemingly had a goal early midway through the third period when Jake Gardiner, Minnetonka’s senior star defenseman jammed at the puck that was sitting in the crease, however the goal was disallowed, with the refs saying the puck was pushed in with a hand. Momentum quickly shifted at this point and Benilde took that swing into overtime, scoring a rebound goal on Matt Buonomo 40 seconds into the overtime frame, giving them the Section 6 title and a trip to the X next weekend.

 

Edina 4, Burnsville 3

Welcome to Minnesota Sports Daily

Welcome to Minnesota Sports Daily, my name is Jeff and I am excited to have a place for people to find scores, stories, pictures and videos covering sports in the state of Minnesota.

Feel free to share any stories, images or videos with me that relate to sports and the outdoors in Minnesota. You will find that I am a huge baseball and hockey guy, but I also enjoy anything related to the other great sports teams we have, especially high school sports.