About Sports Columnist, Mike Ankoviak: Mike Ankoviak is a resident of Champlin, MN.  He was raised in Albert Lea, MN where his father, Bill Ankoviak, finished his career as a professional baseball player.  Along with his 5 brothers and sisters, Mike was brought up on a steady diet of baseball, golf, basketball, tennis, football, and mumbley peg.  He would spend his evenings scouring the paper for the latest sports box scores.  Today Mike's appetite for sports continues.  He has been a season ticket holder for most of our pro sports teams in the Twin Cities.  He has been a part owner of a race horse stabled at Canterbury Downs, and is an avid golfer and tennis player.  You may not agree with all of Mike's opinions but I think you will agree that his insight into the world of sports is always refreshing.  Send Mike an Email:  Mike@MnSeniorsOnline.com

2/7/12  Football is King, and Vegas Loves the Super Bowl!!!

There is not much more of an exciting time to be in Las Vegas than Super Bowl weekend. From my experience this past weekend, Vegas is alive and well. The casinos, sports books, gaming tables, restaurants and bars were jam packed.

We stayed at Harrah's on the strip as some friends had some comp'd benefits that we were able to share in. Its sort of "old school" Vegas, but right in the center of the action. And if you can get past the $40 room service breakfasts (coffee not included), overall it's a pretty reasonable and fun place to stay. Back to the Super Bowl. It turned out to be an exciting game but there is no way I can be convinced that the Giants are the best team in football. They just got hot at the right time. Much like the Packers did last year. And much like the Giants did a few years back when they also knocked off the Patriots in the super bowl, putting an end to the potential "greatest season ever" by the Pats. Also keeping Miami's perfect season record intact. Same thing this year, a close hard fought game, with just a couple of key plays the difference between winning and losing. I just wish I hadn't been swayed by our cabbie from Wooster, Mass who was so intent on the Patriots winning, that I switched off of the Giants, and backed the Pats. Needless to say, shortly after the game I was wandering the Vegas Strip in search of a Wells Fargo cash machine. Ouch!!! I wish I had bet on the coin flip, color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach, over/under on the national anthem, or whether Madonna was going to appear in fishnet stockings (she did), rather than the game's outcome. But being a huge Tom Brady fan, I'll go on record now picking New England back in the big game next year, but it will be against the best team in the NFL, the Packers. Already put my money on it in the sports book! And a side note, if Indianapolis can host a Super Bowl, let's get a new downtown stadium with some high profile corporate sponsors and get Minneapolis on the list for the big game! The TV audience hit a record 111 million viewers, and was also the largest streamed sporting event worldwide ever, so football fandom is at an all time high. Let's hope we have a team in MN for all to enjoy.

What about the Wolves!! Just off a win at home against Sacramento with Kevin Love on suspension. The win puts them a game over .500 and currently sitting in the 10th spot in the Western conference, and continues what has been a great start to the season under new head coach Rick Adelman. Can the Wolves really be considered a Playoff contender? Well if Rubio keeps playing like he has, and someone reminds Love its not polite to stomp on your opponents chest, I think they can!! And can there be any truth to the rumor that the Twins are in talks with Rubio's people about a possible tryout as a shortstop/pitcher based on his little league highlights from back in Spain? We can only hope.

1/20/12  When Can I Go Back in the Water?

That’s what we used to ask Mom after wolfing down our meals and then running down to the beach all ready to dive in.  But the answer was always the same. You can’t go back in for at least an hour! And we’d whine and all that stuff kids do, then run back into the water as soon as that hour was up. Well that’s how I feel now about the NFL. When can I go back to watching football? I hate losing. I hate it when my team loses. When I was a kid I hated to lose too. When I was a kid I hated when one of my favorite teams lost. So I’ve pretty much sworn off talking about or watching or listening to all the football chatter this week…..since the Packers lost.  I was probably 6 or 7 when we first passed through Green Bay on a road trip to my Dad's home state of Michigan. We took a small detour by Lambeau Field on that trip and I was hooked. Much to my Dad's chagrin, I became a Packer fan and never changed from that. I paid no attention when the Vikings brought their funny looking purple uniforms and helmets to Bloomington. If it wasn’t green and yellow (or gold depending on the light of day), it didn’t matter to me. The only thing that did matter during football season was how the Packers did on Sunday. Well this past Sunday was hard to digest. They lost a playoff game they should have won. Sure the Giants were a hot team and I give Eli Manning credit for his solid play. But the Packers receivers dropped balls all over the field with two of those drops for likely touchdowns. They also fumbled the ball away a couple times and when the game was on the line the defense played like a high school team. Basically they played their worst game of the year, and at home for gosh sakes! But I am slowly getting over it. Five days have past and I was actually able to look at the sports section of the star tribune today.  I still haven't watched SportsCenter since Sunday, and don't ever want to see the replays or highlights on the NFL Channel of that game. But the Pack will be back and I feel improved next year. As will likely the Lions and possibly the Bears. Not sure we can say that about the Vikings yet. But probably the biggest news on the Vikings side of things will be if some sort of Stadium bill gets passed. Here’s hoping the powers that be get it right and get a new stadium in the works soon. And as far as the NFL goes, New England is my pick to win the Super Bowl. They’ll get a rematch with the Giants and prevail this time. (we’ll see how that works out on Sunday).

Meanwhile on a much brighter note, the Twolves continue to impress. A nice come from behind win over Detroit on Wednesday brought their record to 6-8. I haven't checked into it to verify, but I believe it's been quite a few years since they have had 6 wins through 14 games of a season. The young guys are showing lots of spirit and athletic ability. Love is developing into a true NBA all-star and Ricky Rubio is surpassing many of the tempered expectations and getting a fair amount of national recognition in the hoops sports world. There is definitely more excitement down at Target Center than anytime since KG left town. It will be fun to catch the game on tonight out in LA against the Clippers to see how we stack up against another team loaded with young stars. The Clippers are trying to challenge the Lakers as the top team in LA.

And talk about teams moving in opposite directions, the Wild have now lost 15 of their last 17 games and are just trying to keep in contention for a possible spot in the playoffs. Injuries and lack of scoring have brought about a huge change of direction in the season, following their hot start. There is still a long way to go so we’ll see if coach Yeo can get his team back on track. This will be a tough task for the rookie coach, but I’m hoping they can crank it back up a few levels and make a playoff run. But if they don’t get some kind of offense going, as their scoring has been abysmal, they don’t stand much of a chance.

So I'm making my way back into the water, albeit slowly. If the AFC and NFC championship games were today, I probably wouldn't be ready to watch them. But by Sunday I'm pretty sure I’ll be ready for some football.  Its just not the same when your team isn't in it anymore. Now I know what the Vikings fans go through most years.
 

12/28/11  Wolves Show Flashes.....But Can They Win?

The Monday night season opener brought back memories of the best times at the Target Center. A packed house and Rickey Rubio created a sensation we hadn't felt for a long time. But in the end, it was another loss. I'm writing this as I watch the Tuesday night game in Milwaukee as the Wolves have rallied back from 20 points down to make a seemingly out of reach game into a tight battle in the waning minutes. Will it be the new-look Wolves who pull out a victory, or more of the same old stuff and another loss in a close game without the finish needed.......same old Wolves. A loss to the same team we beat last week in both of our pre-season games.  Damn. Close but no cigar. The Wolves go 2-0 in the pre-season, but now face Miami, Dallas and San Antonio this weekend and next Monday. There's a good chance we'll be staring up at an 0-5 start. But all is not lost, the young guys look like they can play with the big boys, and it's going to be a fun ride.

And like all good sports junkies, I was channel flipping and caught the Gopher game also. As with the Wolves in the regular season, wins are going to be tough to come by in the Big Ten. No matter what you do in the pre-season or non-conference, the regular season is all that matters and it'll be a struggle the whole way. The Big Ten is loaded with good teams and the Gophers would appear to be in the middle to lower part of the pack. A loss to Illinois on the road in the Opener isn't shameful, but the Illini would seem to be a middle of the pack team also. It's going to be one of those seasons where the Gophs will need to win a majority of their home games, and beat some of the lousy teams on the road to have any shot at being a .500 ballclub. Losing Mbakwe sure didn't help, but the other guys are stepping up so far so again it could be a fun season.

And just when we thought the Vikings season couldn't get any worse. They lose Adrian Peterson to a season-ending and possible career threatening knee injury in a meaningless game that no one wanted them to win anyway. So now instead of having a shot at the #1 draft pick and at least having that to look forward to, they'll finish up the season in another meaningless game hosting the banged up and beaten Bears on Sunday with nothing at stake. I'm sure tickets are easy to come by, so get out and watch Joe Webb and Toby Gerhart take on the Bears and their 2nd or 3rd string quarterback along with a couple of back-up running backs. If they aren't careful, they might finish up the season with a 2 game winning streak! Does anyone care?
 

12/8/11 The NBA is Back!! And Elvis has left the Building

With the NBA labor dispute settled, it's time to look forward to a new beginning for the T-Wolves. A new coach with a solid reputation and winning history, Rick Adelman takes the helm. Practices start later this week and the first game is December 26. Honestly I didn't think I'd miss the NBA, but now that it's all settled I'm excited about the potential that this team has. It's hard not to get anxious to see Ricky Rubio finally in a Wolves uniform. He hasn't exactly garnered rave reviews playing over in Europe recently, but he's a classy young player, and if he's anything like the player we thought he might be, he'll be a great addition at least in terms of marketing and fan appeal. Along with Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, he'll be a great fit as one of the young faces of the newly re-invented Timberwolves. Still yet to sign rookie Derrick Williams is another bright spot and should develop into a significant cog in the machine. I think he’ll be a nice reward for getting that second pick in the draft last year. I might be getting a little ahead of myself, but I believe they'll be significantly improved over last years team and it should result in more wins for us fans to enjoy. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the Vikes, like Elvis, have apparently left the building. They got derailed by the Tebow Train this past Sunday. And while the somewhat unorthodox southpaw is being scrutinized for his poor passing statistics as well as his religious fervor, the Broncos have ridden the Tebow Train to first place in the AFC West. While the Vikings are more likely to be found riding in a converted Blue Bird school bus halfway across the north woods of Wisconsin on their way to Detroit. Christian Ponder will win many more games in his career, but maybe no more this year. They face Detroit (albeit slumping) on the road, New Orleans here at home (no chance), travel to Washington (should be a close game), and then finish up with the Bears here in the dome. Now that game could be interesting if the Bears are still fighting for a wild-card spot and should also be a close game, as most are with the Bears. Ponder is a bit banged up and is questionable for the start this week anyway, which might bring Joe Webb back into the QB picture. Another question the Vikings face and will come into play impacting potential wins and losses, is how much do you run Adrian Peterson down the stretch in a lost season. Of course he wants to play and is said to be about 70% strength right now, but the Vikings need to be planning for next year. And a healthy AP is a must to get back to even thinking they can be a .500 team. That and a lot of help in the secondary and likely the offensive line, might get them there.  

Hey, and don’t forget the Tommies are still in the running for a national championship in D3 football.  After a couple of very impressive playoff wins at home, they head out to visit UW-Whitewater in a semi-final match-up. This will be a lot tougher. Whitewater has won the last 2 national titles and playing at home will be very tough to beat. But it's great to see them get that far. You can catch that game on WCCO radio Saturday afternoon also. Let’s see if we can bring home another national championship to the Twin Cities (remember the Lynx!).
 

10/20/11  Finally...It's World Series Time

I swore off the season when the Yankees got knocked out of the playoffs. But the World Series is different. If you are a baseball fan, you have to watch it. Two teams making it through the marathon 162 game season and a couple of playoff series to go head to head for 7 games. There is no more a test of champions than this. Forget about the corporate hoopla that has become the Super Bowl (think Jerry Jones hosting last year's Super Bowl just because he built the biggest stadium) and the NBA showcase for L.A. and Kobe Bryant. This is the best pitchers trying to outduel the best hitters and managers trying to out smart the other guy, juggling pitchers, trying to manufacture runs and get the most out of their bullpens and utility players. It looks to be a good match-up with the Cardinals and Texas Rangers. The first game turned into quite a battle with St. Louis winning game 1 at home by a score of 3-2. Good stuff and game 2 is on tap for Thursday night. (Ya think Nick Punto missed playing for the Twins this season as he finds himself playing in the World Series?)
 

NBA Lockout.....Who cares! Head on over to Osseo High School this Friday night and see some of the best young stars of the NBA right here in town. Michael Beasley has put together a nice little showcase of some very good players (himself, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant to name a few). And it's all for a good cause with proceeds going to well deserving charities. Check out the link right here on the AnokaCountyOnline site. But speaking of the lockout, it is doubtful we'll have any regular season games before the Christmas time frame as of now. Going to miss heading down to the Target Center for that action, especially with the Wolves gathering some excitement with the hiring of the new coach, Rick Adelman. Here's hoping they get it figured out soon.
 

October 23, 2011. Green Bay Packers. Maybe 7 or 8 years and some playoff victories into the future, and it'll be a nice Vikings trivia answer. When did Christian Ponder make his first start for the Minnesota Vikings against which team. The future is now for the young QB. It might take some time as it generally does for rookie QB's in the NFL, but it seems like the right time and the right direction to take. All the best teams that are the most consistent winners and get to the playoffs regularly, (and more importantly, win playoff games) develop consistency at the QB position. So it's time to see if Ponder can be that guy, and it will give him a head start for the 2012 season. Obviously if the Vikings were in contention in the division, it might be a scenario where he waits until next year. But if we've seen McNabb's best, then it isn't good enough. And speaking of consistency, those winning teams also develop that at the head coaching position. It's hard to develop a winning program with a new coach every few years also. So it's time for Coach Frazier to step up and show he belongs in that spot. The honeymoon is over. He needs to get better at motivating a team to play 4 quarters, figure out how to utilize the talent they have at key positions (think AP and Percy Harvin), improve the play calling and as a former defensive guy, get the somewhat overrated defense fired up to the point where they can actually stop someone when it counts. But for now, enjoy Sunday and let's see how they fare against the undefeated Packers. I know I'll have my regular $5 weekly bet on the Pack this week to cover the 8 point line.

9/30/11 A Jammed Packed Weekend of Sports!    

Now that we're right in the middle of the State Fair, it really means that it's back to school time, and it's time to get serious about the football season. We can kiss the Twins goodbye, but a note of thanks to Jim Thome for giving us the lone Twins highlight of the year with his 600th home run. And now he's playing in Cleveland (some reward) as they try and catch the Detroit Tigers. An exercise in futility I believe. I guess we also did have Francisco Liriano tossing a no-hitter way back in May, but most have forgotten about that long ago. Not much more to say except wait till next year. I may jump back in with baseball news or updates as the playoffs approach since I  do have a major rooting interest to follow. More on that later.

As evidence of how important football and specifically the Vikings are in this town, every TV channels' highlight of their State Fair coverage on Sunday was Christian Ponder walking around the grounds, sampling the fair food. But I'll bet you as of now, he doesn't know the difference between a pronto pup and a corn dog. He was however, carrying a big oversized stuffed animal around the whole time, like it was one of his offensive lineman he just helped up off the turf. Nice that he was wearing a Twins cap which is a great way to endear himself to the hometown crowds before he takes over the reins of the Vikes. That could be a year or two off, or maybe not depending on how successful McNabb and/or Webb are in putting games into the win column. The Vikings faithful aren't going to have too much patience with another sub-.500 team as the defense ages, and AP heads into free agency. The Vikings appeared to make some progress in pre-season game 3 so there are some reasons for optimism. Any offense with AP and Percy Harvin lining up in the backfield has a chance to explode from any point on the field. I'll preview the North teams in my next article.
 

Speaking of optimism, how about the Gophers football team. I really do think Jerry Kill can be the guy who can instill some Gopher pride back in the program and get this thing turned around. Forget the rah-rah hype of the Brewster era, Kill is of mid-western stock who was the classic undersized, yet overachieving football player in high school and college. And he has the work ethic and the kind of grit we haven't seen around here for a while. Now it won't be easy with the talent that is here yet. Coach Kill himself, rather than blowing smoke after the spring practices, came out and said the team isn't good enough, strong enough or fast enough at this time. But he's working them harder than they're used to and will make positive strides. The Big Ten is probably stronger than it was last year, especially with Nebraska on the slate so getting wins is going to be tough. But I think they will be fun to watch and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action against USC this Saturday on ABC. It will be a tough task, but we'll get to see right off the bat how they stack up against the big boys.
 

I, along with a great group of friends, witnessed the coolest hole-in-one this past Saturday at our nearly 20th annual Mille Lacs/Ruttgers golf outing. With the entire group of about 30 of us gathered around the 18th green, and another 20 plus folks up on the clubhouse deck observing, John Horita scored the Ace with a 4 Iron covering 194 yards over the lake protecting the elevated green. A soft bounce and a short role and it dropped quietly into the hole. And the whole place erupted with a roar! Not quite like the ones that have echoed around Hazeltine when the PGA was here, but just as exciting nonetheless. Congrats to John on a truly spectacular shot! (and if you don't know the difference between a pronto pup and a corn dog, just Google it sometime).

The Twins are 11 1/2 games out of first place with 7 weeks left in the season. I'm always the optimist, but the best thing that's happened to them lately is a rain out in Cleveland on Sunday. On the off day, maybe they had time to take in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I'm pretty sure Bananarama isn't in it, but their hit song from the 80's "Cruel, Cruel Summer" about sums it up for the home town boys. Hot summer streets..., the pavements are burning..., the air is heavy and dry. The balls aren't carrying out of Target Field, the team can't play defense, the pitchers look like they should be playing in the Northern League and Gardy is looking more and more like a Christmas Elf caricature every day. But fortunately this season isn't the norm around here as we've come accustomed to being in the thick of the pennant race and generally about this time are looking forward to the playoffs. They'll be back with a couple new faces next year and a couple familiar ones likely gone. Let's hope Jim Thome gets his 600th home run here this year as it would be the only real highlight of the season.
 

Tiger Woods heads into an early end of season retirement of sorts, after an embarrassing comeback attempt in the PGA Championship in Atlanta over the weekend. And he fails to make the cut as I'm sure all are aware of. But I do believe he'll dedicate himself to getting back on track and I look forward to watching him the next time it really matters, at the 2012 Masters. The PGA was still fun to watch with several new faces battling it out in extra holes, but the high drama that these Majors have had over the last 10 years simply doesn't exist when Tiger isn't in the mix. Some of the names on these recent leader boards may become household names in the golf world, and some, like Bananarama may be one or two hit wonders. Have to wait and see.
 

And for those serious 80's music enthusiasts, check out the video and see if these really do look like the good old days!  I'm not so sure...

8/4/11 - Football Takes Center Stage

Tiger Woods returns to action today in Akron, Ohio at the historic Firestone Country Club. It's a no-cut event so he'll get 4 rounds in (assuming he's healthy and doesn't withdraw) as preparation for next week's PGA Championship in Atlanta. No doubt his return will spark TV ratings as there are many casual golf fans who still tune in to see what Tiger does and don't even turn to the event if they realize he's not playing. It will be interesting to see how competitive he is after nearly a 3 month layoff due to injury. He'll also have a new caddie on the bag (a long time friend of his) so that also is a change that may have an impact on his overall performance.  

Also in golf, the Champions Tour is in Blaine at the TPC. Golf greats who will be here include Arnold Palmer and Chi Chi Rodriguez along with top current players Fred Couples and Tom Lehman. Tournament play starts Friday and wraps up on Sunday. And remember it's free parking and admission, so take advantage of the chance to see some great golf on a great course, all for FREE.  

The Twins are somewhat treading water, or some may say taking on water. Its a very tough part of the schedule playing the Angels now, White Sox this weekend, Red Sox next week and the Yankees still to come in a couple weeks. I haven't seen enough improvement in the offense or the starting pitching to think they can really challenge Detroit in the Central Division. But I won't give up hope just yet. There are plenty of games left and it just takes one really hot streak to get back in the race.  

And lastly, gotta salute the Lynx, since its often hard to find them mentioned in the sports page. They just won their 7th game in a row and now have the best record in the WNBA. It's almost the halfway point in the season so its quite an accomplishment. I'm going to make an effort to get to one of their games yet this season.

7/25/11 - Bono and Bert Blyleven!  Weekend Wrap-up

The State shutdown finally ended! We can buy lottery tickets and scratch-offs again! Even better, the horses are running at Canterbury and Running Aces, the dealers are again dealing blackjack and hold 'em. Canterbury had over 21,000 paying customers for the 4 days since Thursday's re-opening weekend. Both tracks put a couple thousand folks back on the payroll. So that's a good thing!

We're not quite that far along with the NFL lockout. But the players association executive committee votes on Monday and if all goes well, players could be in training camp later this week. Then we can get on with figuring out more important things like who might the Vikings go with at Quarterback if they're going to try and be respectable, while chasing the Packers, Bears, and Lions in the division. Plus for us fantasy footballers, draft time is barely a month or so away, so we need to get the free agents signed and give us time to study for the draft. Did anyone else hear the news Sunday that the Eagles are actually considering old #4 for a role as back to Mike Vick in Philly? Like a bad cold, some things just won't go away.

The Twins stumbled a bit in the 4 game series with the Tigers, losing 3 of 4 and falling 7 games behind the division leading Tigers. Looks to me like the Tigers are the class of the division, with a more potent line-up in both batting average and power, a pretty strong starting pitching rotation led by Justin Verlander and a solid closer out of the bullpen. They will be tough to catch. But as I've said, the Twins still have a lot of positives as they get their starters healthy (nice to see Kubel back in the line-up) and Span still to return.  Baker looked good back on the mound and Nathan appears to be ready to fill the closer's role permanently. I still have the feeling that Gardy will keep them in the race. A tough schedule lies ahead as still not a day off until August 1, as they hit the road for 4 games in TX followed by a 6 game trip to Oakland and Los Angeles before heading back home to host the White Sox on August 5th.

And don't forget the Lynx. They are now in first place at the WNBA All-star break. Not quite halfway through their schedule they find themselves 10-4 and on top! So there is a MN team that's on top of their game! The Lynx sent 3 players to the All-Star game also, which was nationally broadcast on Saturday on ABC. Remember with the NBA lockout this may be the only pro hoops we get this season...so you might want to start paying attention.

07/13/11 - The Wide World Of Sports ...and Hoosiers!

1) Take the Twins for example. At the all-star break they now find themselves now only 6.5 games out of first place. And that's following a first half of baseball that saw them play arguably the worst they've played in years. But as I have said, don't count them out. I think their best ball is ahead of them.

2) The US Women's soccer team pulled off a dramatic come from behind victory over Brazil last week, and today plays France. It may even be over by the time you read this. They are trying to duplicate the miraculous feat of the '99 team that won the World Cup. Let's HOPE that they can do it again.

3) The (British) Open Championship gets underway very early Thursday a.m. Most of the golf world is wondering if Rory McIlroy can follow-up his first place performance in the US Open and repeat as a major champion. But beware, someone showed me the history of first time major winners their next time out in a major event, and many of them failed even to make the cut. Something about the hype and then the letdown factor. But I'll be cheering for Rory because he is the classiest young player out there and golf needs a new hero!

4) And finally can you believe this damn state shutdown is still going on? But does anyone care? I do for the fact that it is putting people out of work, at a time when we need jobs and paychecks the most. Very sad situation and our leaders in St. Paul are letting us down big-time.  The impact may be fatal for our struggling horse racing industry as both Canterbury and Running Aces sit idle as this continues. They are both regulated by the State's Racing Commission, which has been closed, and therefore can't operate according to current rules, which is totally nonsensical since they both generate revenue for the State. Now with their employees out of work and attempting to draw unemployment, they act as another drain on state resources. Oh well, let's hope they make some sense out of the budget mess soon. We could use some good news around here!

07/08/11 - Observations from the World of Sports 

1) The Twins are still 8 games out of first, trailing Cleveland. But following the nice win over the White Sox, are just 2.5 games behind the Sox for third place. They could potentially catch them with 3 games remaining in Chicago over the weekend leading up to the All-Star break. And Mauer makes the transition to first base with ease. For Twins fans, it's the biggest celebrity move since Simon left Idol. Look for much more of Joe playing first base in the coming months, especially if Morneau's return is delayed.

2) Derek Jeter moves closer to becoming the first pinstriper to get 3,000 hits in a Yankee career. Now just 2 short and a lock to get it this weekend at home. One of the few stats I care about, as he has done it with class, without steroids and as the consummate team player, the Yankee Captain!  He will be on top of greats such as Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig and DiMaggio.

3) Has anyone noticed that the MN Lynx are quietly in second place in the Western Conference?? Sure they're only 9 games into a 34 game schedule, but they are playing well. The Lynx host Connecticut at Target Center this Saturday in case that's been overlooked also. It's not all together impossible to think they are the best team in Minnesota to play on that floor. What with young stars Maya Moore and Seimone Augustus along with Lindsay Whalen, they have a legitimate chance to make the finals this year. We'll follow their progress over the next month and see how they are doing.

4) And for golf fans, don't miss the LPGA US Open Championship from the storied Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. A fantastic course to watch golf played on, and a great tournament as Paula Creamer defends her title. She might be our best hope to instill some life into the LPGA giving the Americans someone to really get behind and cheer for. Also for the guys who are out there trying to bang the ball 300 yards every time they take a swing, you can learn from the rhythm and tempo of the ladies' golf swing, and see that accuracy wins over haphazard length nearly all the time.