With such a busy sports calendar, where does a writer start? It seems best to report on a little here and there. ….
On Friday morning my friend John Bell Wilson gave me his predictions for the weekend. “I think the Twins are in a playoff on Tuesday,” he said. “I think the Tigers choke.”
Wilson was upbeat about the Gophers and Vikings, too. Minnesota beats Wisconsin 24-21 and the Vikings “crush” the Packers, 28-10.
There will be plenty of jawing back and forth these days with two “border wars.” Seems like bad timing to question the worth of Gophers for the school nickname but another friend, Mike Wilkinson, sent a group email last week reporting on Web sites taking “issue” with school nicknames.
Wilkinson asked what local school made most of the lists and then wrote the following: “Yup, our beloved University of Minnesota, thanks to what I have always felt was an awful nickname and mascot….a Gopher!!”
As consolation, though, Wilkinson offered that Illinois College is stuck with a bad one, Blue Boys. Others he listed included the California-Santa Barbara Banana Slugs and the Cal-Irvine Anteaters. Richard Nixon’s alma mater, Whittier College, is the Poets. Wilkinson’s other schools with “embarrassing names” are the Delta State Fighting Okra, the Tufts Jumbos, the Trinity Christian Trolls and the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys.
The Wild’s first regular season game was a loss in Columbus on Saturday night. The Gophers won an exhibition game against the British Columbia Thunderbirds on Sunday. Too early for hockey. My golf clubs are in still in the car.