How bad was it?

 

The question sounds like a lead-in to a comedian’s joke but few sports fans have found humor in the performance of local pro sports teams and the Gophers during the last several months.  It’s been 16 years since the results were somewhat comparable but the 2011 situation is worse.

 

In 1995 the Vikings, Twins and Timberwolves didn’t qualify for the playoffs, nor did the football Gophers participate in postseason play.  The 1995 Gophers men’s hockey team did lift spirits by advancing to the semifinals in the Frozen Four, losing 7-3 to Boston University.  And the U men’s basketball team had a one-and-done in the NCAA tournament.

 

Other than the Twins’ three-and-out performance in the playoffs against the Yankees, only one other of our major teams has been in post-season play during the last seven months, and just barely.  The U hockey team, once the most reliable postseason entry in town, lost a first round playoff series in consecutive games but for a third straight year didn’t qualify for the WCHA Final Five and the NCAA tournament.

 

Here’s how frustrating it’s been since last October: the Twins, Vikings, Wild, Wolves, and Gophers football, basketball and hockey teams have won 192 out of 424 games.

 

The Wild (franchise started play in 2000) and the Timberwolves ended regular season play this week while keeping their non-playoff streaks intact.  The Wild have made the playoffs three times in franchise history and have missed the postseason three straight years.  The Wolves haven’t been to the playoffs since 2004.

 

The 2010 Vikings weren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. The Gophers football team didn’t qualify for a bowl game after playing in the Insight Bowl for two straight years.  The Gophers basketball team not only missed the NCAA tournament but didn’t qualify for the NIT.

 

 

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It was only two sentences, but what Dave Curtis wrote can’t help but command attention among Gophers football fans.

The Sporting News Magazine’s college football authority wrote this in the publication’s April 11 issue: “Of the 21 schools that hired coaches for 2011, none will be more pleased than Minnesota.  Jerry Kill can make the Gophers Big Ten contenders.”

I emailed Curtis and asked him to elaborate on his statement that was part of a First-and-10 column with short takes on college football.  Here’s how he replied including his reference to prominent TCU coach Gary Patterson:

“A few things come to mind about Jerry.  First, I love his bloodlines.  I see a lot of Gary Patterson’s attitudes and tendencies in Jerry, and I know Gary would walk to Minneapolis and give Jerry a piggyback ride to Fort Worth if he would join the TCU staff.  It’s easy to like a guy who brings such a consistent no-nonsense approach, from the way he runs practice to the way he holds press conferences.

“Next, where Jerry goes, the teams win.  He turned around Southern Illinois, which had some administrators thinking about dropping the program.  He restored NIU as a MAC power after a slip in the mid-00’s.  The highlights don’t always belong in Canton, but Jerry’s teams somehow end up with more points than the other guys way more often than not.

“I also think Jerry has one of the most important characteristics of a Division I-A head coach: an understanding of his program’s place in the sport.  He knows Minnesota won’t compete for most five-star, blue-chip recruits, so he won’t waste his time with them off the bat.  He’ll cater his style of play along these lines, a la TCU or even Iowa. He knows Minnesota needs to restore fans’ confidence, so he’ll spend time reaching out to them as a public speaker, and do it in genuine fashion.

“I like where he comes from.  I like the numbers that show he’s successful.  And I like his approach to the program, in terms of developing toughness, avoiding nonsense, and identifying a path to make the Gophers a winning program and a source of pride in the Twin Cities.”

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Former Gophers quarterback Bobby Morgan emailed that his nephew Jon Cairns played quarterback for Kill at Southern Illinois.  Regarding Kill, Morgan wrote: “I don’t think the Gophers could have made a better selection for our program.”

Kill has opened practice this spring to the public including tonight’s 7:15 p.m. scrimmage at TCF Bank Stadium.  The spring game will be on Saturday, April 23 in the stadium starting at 1 p.m.

Other Big Ten spring games on April 23 are Illinois, Ohio State and Wisconsin.  Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern and Penn State have their spring games tomorrow.

The Gophers will have the most glamorous of opening games during the Big Ten’s first weekend.  Minnesota plays at USC while most of its conference colleagues feast on nonleague softies like UT-Chattanooga and Indiana State.  Other than the Gophers and Trojans, the best of the offerings are UNLV at Wisconsin and Northwestern at Boston College.

The Twins saw their 81-game home sellout streak end on Tuesday night when a crowd of 38,154 attended the win over Kansas City.  Wednesday afternoon’s series finale and loss against the Royals drew 36,286 in the 39,500 seat ballpark.

There’s an ongoing Metrodome promotion to provide a piece of the roof fabric from the original covering to anyone who pays $4 to take a tour of the facility.  Tours begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission executive director Bill Lester told Sports Headliners the Metrodome roof replacement cost is $18 million and the insurance claim for damages is $22.5 million.  The project is expected to be completed by August 1, a few weeks in advance of the Vikings’ preseason games against Dallas and Houston.  Specific dates haven’t been announced by the NFL but Lester said the games will be played on August 26 or 27, and September 1 or 2.

Friend and Sports Headliners reader Clint Schroeder emailed about the “amazing parallels” between Tiger Woods’ Masters performance this year and that of Minnesota’s Tom Lehman’s in 1993.  “Through the first three days each shot a 67 (five under par), and two days at or above par,” Schroeder wrote.  “On Sunday morning each was seven strokes behind the leader at the start of the day.  Each birdied holes two and three to get on the leader board on Sunday.

“Each was five under par through eight holes.  At the very same time, the leader (Bernhard Langer in 1993 and Rory McIlroy in 2010) was bogeying hole No. 1, leaving Lehman and Woods only one stroke out of first after eight holes.  For the next 10 holes, Lehman and Woods each played about even par.  Lehman ended up tied for third and Woods ended up tied for fourth.”

The Swarm hosts the second annual Hive Cares tomorrow night on Treasure Island Field at Xcel Energy Center. The team will wear pink helmets and jerseys against Philadelphia in the game starting at 7:30 p.m.  The Hive Cares effort will generate funding from multiple sources including T-Shirt sales and a $1 donation for every game ticket. Proceeds raised from the event will benefit the Randy Shaver Cancer Research & Community Fund.  Swarm owner John Arlotta lost his wife to cancer in 2009.

The Wild’s Houston Aero’s affiliate in the AHL had a 48-26-1-5 record, best since 2005-06.  The Aeros, who began a first round playoff series Wednesday night against Peoria, have 16 players who also played for the Wild this season.

The 2^nd Annual CCM Minnesota Hockey High School National Invitational began yesterday and continues through Sunday at the Plymouth Ice Center.  Participating in the round-robin tournament are teams comprised of top high school players from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Massachusetts.  More at www.minnesotahockey.org.

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