A Bad Streak for the Wild
By Tom Grout
February 26, 2008
The Wild have been on a losing streak lately. About a week ago they were on top of their division by six points now they are in third place. It’s amazing how their division can change so quickly but it’s understandable if you have been paying attention to the standings as there never have been many points separating the teams.
Part of the problems lately for the Wild has been the fact they have run into some hot goal tenders but that is the easy way out. In some of the recent losses they haven’t been all that outplayed as much as they have been out muscled. Other teams are getting really physical with the Wild and have been knocking our skilled players around. Fedoruk and Voros have tried to help out but who they miss is Derek Boogaard.
Like him or not the Boogie Man is one of the best enforcers in the league. He stands 6’9” on his skates and is the best fighter in the whole NHL. He is also the smartest enforcer in the league because he knows when to holdem and knows when to foldem as he not only protects the skilled players; he draws a lot of penalties from the other team. There are teams like Edmonton who is deathly afraid of Boogaard as he also gets into their coaches head. So without even getting onto the ice just his presence on the bench affects the game. Chicago the other night, in my opinion, really embarrassed the Wild as they were by far the most physical team on the ice, and Chicago isn’t that good of a team.
Unfortunately Boogaard isn’t quite ready to come back from his back injury. My son, who works at Parade Ice Gardens where the Wild practice, said Boogaard comes in almost every day to skate and he told Ben that he wouldn’t be back for another couple of weeks. I fear the fact that he has been injured most of the year he may get released at the end of the season. I think that would be a mistake unless the injury is a career ending one.
The trade deadline is also today. The Wild had been looking to sign Peter Forsberg which would have been great. He would have been a great fit with the team. But, Forsberg signed with Colorado so that went down the tubes. They have also been interested in acquiring Olli Jokinen from Florida which would be a good deal. He as 30 goals and 30 assists on the year and plays center which is what the Wild is looking for. Jokinen made the news recently by being the guy whose skate cut teammate Richard Zednick’s throat. With a lot of pending free agents at the end of the year it will be interesting to see what the Wild would give up for him. New owner Mr. Leopoldt has a reputation of going out and getting the people he thinks he needs, so today will be interesting to watch.
Truly you are a hockey fan, and rightfully so!
However, there are _other_ sports being played at their highest level this time of year.
How about something on College Basketball? NBA?
You guys want something to banter about? How about the "best conditioned athletes?"
I say basketball players are the most physically gifted and cardio-vascular attuned athletes at any sport!
Decathletes are up there too!
Where do football players, baseball players, tennis, golf, boxing (klitchko who?) rank?
Tubby Smith, as I predicted,(duh) is doing a magnificent job at the U. I think he'll get them to the 64.
It was great to see Tennessee beat Memphis @ Memphis!
Since there isn't a whole lot of talk here about basketball, I would like to know if any of the readers are fans?
Best conditioned athlete? Howard Cosell always thought NASCAR Racers were the best athletes. I'm not sure I agree but it was an interesting observation.
My opinion would be wrestling at major college level or Olympic. I grew up with basketball and more basketball so I always thought that that was it, but after watching my son grow up through wrestling and learning the sport, and watching what it takes for the high-level wrestlers to compete, I would say they are the best. To go 6-9 minutes against some of the toughest men anywhere and to have to have no weaknesses at all that someone can exploit, they are in tremendous condition and to get there had to show tremendous fortitude.
I do have great respect for the basketballers and I would place them second. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them to go all night with the heat in some of those arenas.
Tennis players are super human also. They will play for hours and in courts that are sooo hot sometimes, they have to be held in very high regard.
As for Tubby, I never saw it coming. He didn't have that much talent coming back that I could see but boy has he delivered. The U. has something there. I only hope the Gophers have a football coach that good too. I'm a Bison alum and fan and for them to whip the Gophers like that in football was embarrassing for Minnesota. Brewster might be good but he didn't have a great team to start with so we'll see.
As for the NBA, does anyone really understand how their salary structure works with their salary cap and all? These trades lately don't make much sense in terms of basketball so I'm assuming it's alot to do with the salary cap.
Good morning, all. Great job guys, changing the topic from hockey to sports!
Bibsly-- great call on the Gophs, I never saw it coming either. Great season, but do you think the Tubster can actually get this team to the NCAA? I'm pissing my pants waiting for his first recruiting class to arrive. That's going to be something!
Sandbags -- Two things.
Thing One: Best conditioned athletes are wrestlers? Yep. No half-time, no time-outs, and no substitutions. I would bet that at most high schools the wrestlers actually do more running than the basketball players. And that's before or after wrestling practice. Sucessful wresting coaches know that the close matches are won or lost in the last 30 seconds. Who performs best when they are dead tired? And that is the idea around which wrestling practices are designed in the sucessful programs. The college and olympic wrestlers are just incredible. Not sure what athletes I'd rank second. I used think basketball, but got cured of that when I went to a Timberwolves game. Geez, they had it on cruise-control. I am amazed at the boxers in the lower weights, most of the martial arts guys, and NFL defensive backs. The track guys are certainly built and conditioned to run.
Thing Two: I hear the recycling bin needs attention.
TDoc - I got the news about the recycling bin, will be done today. I had forgotten.
As for wrestling, they have the greatest motivational sayings of any sport. My favorite is "When wrestling a gorilla, you don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired!" In my opinion, a great saying for life in general.
SaddleBags -- I knew you'd be all over it. Love that Gorilla quote. One of my favorites is J Robinson, something like this: "In the Serengeti desert a lion must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death; a gazelle must outrun the fastest lion or it will get eaten. It doesn't matter whether your a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
I just don't see the Wild doing much. If they make the playoffs, they probable will not get by the first or second round. Signing Simon does bring some physical attributes but they need more scoring guys that are physical. The year that we made it to the finals, we had Jason Marshall, who wasn't all that big but didn't take any crap. Brad Brown would duke it out with just about anybody and Jeremy Stevenson, who was alot like Marshall. Then we had Matt Johnson, who was considered our tough guy. Throw in a little Willie Mitchell and Sergi Zholtok and you got 6-8 guys who would play physical on any given night.
I don't know?? Maybe they will snap out of it and come to the like of last years Anaheim team and maybe go on but right now..I just don't see it.
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