Who: See Below

A few doses of reality before we dive in to some classic provincial material:

While discussing the ability of presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s ability to win his home state of Michigan, political reporter Pat Kessler noted “there is no short amount of homerism in Minnesota”.

Columnist Patrick Reusse refreshingly asked, “Why do we celebrate the fact Indiana gave us (Gopher men’s basketball) the game and we didn’t take it”?  “Thursday morning people had us in the tournament.”  Mr. Reusse wasn’t buying the moral victory angle taken by so many in the local press.

Chad Hartman laughed at the notion that the “Wolves have turned the corner”.

Now for some crazy takes by some of the usual suspects:

Early in the month Paul Allen (in typical overreaction fashion) was selling some serious premature hope to Gopher men’s basketball fans with “this is a tourney team – gonna happen”.  He also conjectured that point guard Al Nolan would become “an exceptional Big Ten player”.

The day of the Gopher vs. Indiana basketball game “Doogie” Wolfson suggested it was “hard for workers to concentrate” in anticipation of the contest.

Sid Hartman proclaimed that Gopher forward Dan Coleman was “becoming a superstar and one of the best players in Gopher history” after a win over Northwestern.

Jeff Dubay loved up his buddy Ron Gardenhire by stating he is an “upper end (echelon) game manager” and attempted to sell the Santana trade with “if four or five pitching prospects work out it could be good”.

Thanks to a tip by our friends at www.10000takes.com we were informed that Wolves analyst Jim Peterson (in discussing substitution patterns) claimed Coach Randy Whitman “coaches by feel” and “that’s what the great ones do”.

On the threshold of a win over the Celtics (which they ultimately lost), Wolves broadcaster Tom Hanneman sounded foolish by declaring the team was “on the verge of the biggest win in franchise history”.

Paul Allen peddled some hope regarding the Timberwolves with this gem: “next year will be dramatically better”

Pioneer Press writer Sean Jensen did a post-mortem on the Vikings 2007 season which included a calculation they were only 5-6 plays away from a good year.

“Doogie” Wolfson jock-sniffed former Vikings coach Mike Tice by predicting he would be a much better head coach the second time around if given another chance.

Sid Hartman appeared to interview himself when speaking with Vikings player personal director Rick Spielman.  Specifically, after asking Spellman how far away they were from the playoff teams, Spielman’s non-response was followed by this from Sid, “Well, I think you’re close.

Sid and Sunday morning partner Dave Mona tried to deflect criticism of the Wolves from their callers by playing the “how would you like to be the Miami Heat” card.

Winner:  Like pair of homers at a poker game with deep pockets, Columnists Sid Hartman and Charley Walters both loved up Wolves postman Al Jefferson.  Sid suggested he would not trade him for Kevin Garnett.  “Shooter” Walters trumped Sid by writing he would trade Jefferson for two Garnetts.  Thus, Mr. Walters wins the pot and the Homer of the Month.

 Bottom Line:  Wonder what we’d get in return if we traded Sid and Shooter?