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The Minnesota Twins in happier times.

FOND DU LAC – The National football media hasn’t exactly been fawning 
over the Minnesota Vikings during the offseason or the exhibition season either. I felt they might possibly be a sleeper team and surprise many fans and scribes alike. 

On the other hand, they have some young and inexperienced players in some pretty crucial positions, but that doesn’t usually equate to much success. I thought they were in the middle of a rebuilding year with some of those young players gaining some very valuable experience. 

This afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised when the Purple traveled out to the Meadowlands and put a 28-6 spankdown on the New York Giants. 

I figured the Vikes were in for a challenging game. These two clubs’ most recent meetings have been some real hammer and tong games, and the Vikes didn’t always emerge as the victors. As surprised as I was, I’ll gladly take the win that featured a dominating performance by the Vikings. 

The Giants didn’t play a good game, with their Quarterback Dan Jones, appearing to be way out of his element. The Vikes dominated the box score and the stats line. 

The Vikes had more total yards, 312-240, and more passing yards with 201-166. The rushing game had the Vikes putting up 111 yards to 74. The Vikings fumbled once and lost it, and QB Sam Darnold threw one interception. Jones threw two INTs with no fumbles. The Purple had five sacks, the Giants got to Darnold once. The Giants had nine penalties, the Vikings 7. 

I know the rules have been upgraded to feature some new standards on the way certain penalties are called, especially on illegal formation calls. We’ll have to see if the officials get overzealous on some of these calls to please the rules committee early in the season and taper off on these calls or if they remain consistent throughout the season. I feel many fans are growing weary of NFL games being dominated by referee calls. 

All in all, today’s game was a nice start to the season for the Vikes. My three stars of the game would go to Darnold, (19 of 24, 2 TDs, and 1 INT), running back Aaron Jones (14 carries for 94 yards and one TD), and wide receiver Justin Jefferson. (4 catches for 59 yards and 1 TD).

Next week will be a big test when the San Francisco Forty-Niners come to Minneapolis to meet the Purple at the Bank. Most fans who follow the league know this is a quality team with a solid roster and management team. Since 2011 the Niners have appeared in 7 NFC Championship games (3-4) and of course, the 3 Super Bowls. (0-3) They have won 5 Super Bowl titles in club history. 

I was taking a quick look at some NFL player contracts, including some contract extensions these past few days and some of these are just mind-boggling in scope. The two that caught my eye were extensions for Green Bay QB Jordan Love and the Dallas Cowboys Dak Prescott. 

Regarding Love, the Pack drafted him 26th overall in the 2020 NFL draft, he signed with them and was placed 3rd on the depth chart. He got to play behind a pretty good Aaron Rodgers for three seasons before the team and Rodgers parted ways. In 2021-22 he appeared in 10 tilts overall with a record of 0-1. Last season he played in all 17 games with a 9-8 record. 

This offseason the Pack doled out a 4-year, $220 mil contract extension to him. Why? Sure, this player has some tremendous upside, but in my view, he hasn’t won anything yet and that represents a substantial risk. 

Just this morning the Boys and Prescott agreed to another extension that doesn’t make much sense to me. His extension is for 4-years and $240 mil. This is nuts and as far as the league goes, I believe their current economics are unsustainable. They are going to get a hole in their boat sooner or later. 

What exactly has Dak done to deserve this windfall? Not much. He is splendid in the regular season (74-41) and is a stiff in the playoffs. (2-5) They haven’t even advanced to a Conference Final with him at the helm. Where can I sign up for one of those deals? 

The college football season is in full swing and the most recent ratings for the week have come out this afternoon. I don’t put a lot of faith in them for much of anything other than entertainment. And as much as I like the Sagarin Ratings for the NHL, (and use them for certain information) I’m losing faith in them for college ball. 

For instance, last week, Notre Dame was a top-ten-ranked team. That was before losing to Northern Illinois yesterday 16-14. The Irish were the first “top ten” team that NIU has ever beaten in the history of their program. Good for them. 

So why is Notre Dame still anywhere near the top ten? (#9 this week) I can only conclude that they are the recipients of a “reputation” rating. The trouble is they haven’t been that great of a team for at least a couple of decades now. They haven’t won a National Championship in 36 years. There’s no way or reason they are the ninth-best team in the country right now. The Sagarin is supposed to level things out over the course of the season, but it sure looks off-kilter at the moment...

And finally, our Minnesota Twins. What to make of them now? They have been holding true to the form I’ve seen in them this season, in that every time it looks like they might make some headway in the standings, they always lose the game that would do that for them. 
I know their injured list would hurt a lot of clubs right now, (Kepler, Buxton, Ryan, Correa, Kirilloff & more), but almost every team is fighting that at this point of the season. The Twins just can’t seem to get past that. 

Since Aug. 18 they have compiled a record of 6-14. Oddly enough they are still hanging on to the last AL Wild Card spot, but just by their thumbs. They are 4-6 in their L10 and on a 3-game losing streak. They are 37-51 versus teams above them in the standings when they played, and their chances of winning the AL Central have evaporated like an ice cube in the Sahara desert. 

As of tonight, they are barely holding on to that last wild card spot with a scant 3.5 lead over division rival, the Detroit Tigers. Right now I believe the Tigers would take them in a home or away series. I’ll be quite surprised if the Twins are able to stay in the race much longer. 

I also came across a dark rumor down in the Metro recently that said some of the team’s stars are not getting along. I could not verify that, and a source of mine in the Twin Cities told me there was nothing to it. I’d be surprised if there was because, for the bulk of club history, this has been a cohesive organization. PEACE