Enjoy a Wednesday notes column.
Get used to the number 8, Vikings fans.
A search of the most authoritative annual prognosticators of NFL team records turns up a lot of eights for the 2026 Vikings season. Here’s a sample of the usually most accurate swamis.
NFL Network analytics expert Cynthia Frelund: 8.7 wins.
Public analytical database Nfelo: 8.5 wins.
FanDuel Sportsbook: 8.5 wins.
ESPN’s Football Power Index: 8 wins.
Sports Headliners: 10 wins.
Why 10?
To make you feel better.
There was an Arizona Cardinals airplane parked at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last Wednesday. Perhaps it was in town relative to Minneapolis-born and raised Larry Fitzgerald Jr. being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month.
Fitzgerald was a Vikings ball boy in his youth and idolized Randy Moss who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. Fitzgerald played his entire 17-year NFL career with the Cardinals where his pass catching skills ranked with the best in NFL history.
Bill Guerin, named NHL General Manger of the Year last week, is believed to earn “north” of $2 million with the Wild. NHL GM jobs don’t pay the kind of money their NBA counterparts make. The Timberwolves’ Tim Connelly reportedly makes $8 million annually.
Guerin was hired in August of 2018, and his work has helped create a Stanley Cup contender. A former NHL player, he prioritizes communications.
“…Because I feel now, like more than ever, the coach, the general manager we’re not so much in a position to say, do this, do that. It’s how can we help you get better? What can we do for you to help you carry out our game plan? We’re here for them,” he told Sports Headliners last year.
The annual Big Ten Football Media Days will be held July 28-30 in Chicago and televised by the Big Ten Network. The Golden Gophers will be one of the programs focused on July 29 at the Hilton Hotel. The three-day event allows media members to meet with coaches and student-athletes prior to the season.
Minnesota opens its season September 3 at home against Eastern Illinois. Peacock will televise the 7 p.m. kickoff nonconference game.
Sources disagree on who is the tallest goalie ever to play in the NHL, referring to 6-7 or 6-8 goalies. Either way the Wild has a solid entry in the competition with 2026 fifth round draft choice Filip Ruzicka from Trinec, Czechia. He is listed at 6-8 and 229 pounds and will certainly be noticed if he ever plays in the NHL.
“Filip is an extra-large goalie with athletic abilities,” said Wild goaltending coach Frederic Chabot in a club statement. “He has good hands for a guy that big and had a nice progression last season after taking over the No. 1 job in Brandon (Wheat Kings of the WHL).”
Before last night’s game against the Astros, the Twins had played 26 games in June. Their slugging percentage of .476 ranked second-best in baseball to the Rockies at .492. The Twins had homered in all but four of their last 23 games since June 4, hitting 42. Since that date, Minnesota ranked second in homers, trailing the Athletics (43), going into last evening.
Last Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine Golf Club, South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu took home $1,950,00 for winning her first major title. Scottie Scheffler, the men’s No. 1 in the world, will try to win $1,584,000 at the 3M Tournament July 23-26 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine.
The Lynx announced today star forward Napheesa Collier, after undergoing surgeries on both her right and left ankles during the offseason, has returned to team practice and continues to progress as expected.
Medical research confirms spectators watching events like the emotion-stoked World Cup experience cardiovascular issues and even deadly heart attacks.