Who: See Below

A few doses of reality before our dive in to some provincial takes:

Sid Hartman did not take the hope selling bait from Dave Lee with this response to Lee’s question “Will the Gophers (basketball) win at IU?” with a blunt No chance!  Sid also tempered Mr. Lee’s loving up of Ernie Wheelwright III by stating no Gophers would be drafted very high - if at all.

Chad Hartman wondered when Wild Coach Jacque Lemaiere would start taking some heat and stated he has been given too much of a free ride by the local press.

Very out of character for a member of the “love covenant”, Paul Allen described Cory Brewer’s game vs. Portland as “horrific”.

“Three straight years of post-season failure” was one way Dan Barriero described the Gopher men’s hockey team.

Patrick Ruesse pulled no punches when describing the Gopher men’s hockey team as “a collection of pampered players that haven’t won anything” and when he stated the Vikings radio broadcast team “makes me Ralph”.

And now for some parochial pontifications:

After a bad Wolves loss to Utah, Anthony LaPante stretched credulity by claiming, “they’re (Timberwolves) not as far away as their record would indicate”.

While speaking with Vikings V.P. Rick Spielman about new Viking Thomas Tapeh, Dave Lee loved up the former Gopher fullback with “we were blessed to watch him” and “our jaws would drop when Thomas Tapeh blocked”.

Twins beat writer Lavelle E. Neal suggested Delmond Young “could be frightening”.

Dave Mona pointed out “the public should know that” in reference to Brad Childress making an apparent $10K donation to charity.

Self-acknowledged hockey novice Paul Allen proclaimed Don Lucia was “best coach in all of college hockey”  (Wonder what Denver, North Dakota, Michigan, and Boston College fans think of that?) while his partner Jeff Dubay revealed his coziness with the coach by referring to him as “Donnie”.

Likely overcompensating for his notorious reputation as a homer, Mark Rosen voiced his indignation at Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s comments regarding Garnett’s “tanking” with “my blood pressure is off the charts” and “colossal blunders that are laughable” (Mark, where were you during the seven one and dones)?

Hockey writer Roman Augustoviz described the performance of the Gopher men’s hockey team during the WHCA tournament as a “wondrous, magical ride”.

The 2007 Homer of the Year (Dick Bremer) continued where he left off last season with his spin on the Twins by enthusiastically describing two ground out sacrifices by Joe Mauer as “productive outs”.  He also joined radio color analyst Dan Gladden (although without orchestratation) by evoking the name Rickey Henderson when speaking of Carlos Gomez. 

Dan “Common Man” Cole predicted the Twins would win their division, have the rookie of the year in Denard Span, and their new third baseman would be more productive than the last ten years of production at that position.  Unfortunately for the free wheeling social commentator even the “seven out of ten” could discern that his comments were a bit.  No Heisman, no Marconi, and still no Homer of the Month.

On rare occasions a media member gets an opportunity to set the record straight with some objective analysis that contradicts the opinions of his fellow colleagues.  This was the case prior to the Wolves game vs. Portland.  FSN Wolves Live host Telly Hughes (runner-up) began a segment discussing how Randy Foye and Brandon Roy will be “forever linked” and dubiously suggested it was “hard to judge as of now” which team made out better and “the jury is still out”.  He turned to Jim Peterson (co runner-up) who compared Vince Carter and Antwon Jamison and how the initial assessment in favor of Carter has turned to a push and that would likely happen with Foye and Roy “give him some time”.

Winner:  So the Foye vs. Roy conversation turned to new analyst Paul Allen and his meticulously contoured eyebrows.  Sadly, P.A. failed at his opportunity to contradict the company line with “I’m completely in unison” (with what Hughes and Peterson said) …”give him (Foye) a chance to grow and develop”…”patience is important”

Bottom Line:  You wonder if the few hundred fans who actually witnessed this incredible attempt to put the Foye for Roy trade in a positive light watched the Trail Blazers defeat the Wolves with Roy scoring 27 and Foye 9?