BACK TO WORK: — Happy 2026! Did you miss Sports Take while we were on vacation? Sports Take missed you and we have a lot to talk about. FIRST THINGS FIRST: I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions for myself or for any of the things we discuss here. But I was at a high school basketball game just after Christmas and was struck by this slogan on the Rochester Mayo warm-up jerseys: BE ABOUT IT. That’s going to be my expectation for the new year, whether it’s about what I write or what we should expect from the teams and athletes that get covered here. EXAMPLES? For the Wild, it means winning the Stanley Cup after the big Quinn Hughes trade. For the Twins, it’s restoring credibility after swapping out Pohlads and last summer’s roster demolition. For the Gophers and St. Thomas, it’s NCAA tournament berths. For Lindsey Vonn and Jessie Diggins, it’s more Olympic gold. Be aggressive, be all out, be better than expectations. Sometimes “be about it” is an admonition; sometimes it’s encouragement. No half-measures. Anything that gets done well can be done even better. That’s my stand for 2026. Let’s be about it! — Howard Sinker
YOU GO, NIKO! Via Chip Scoggins at Star Tribune. In addition to being the right coach for the Gophers — based on what we’ve seen so far — Niko Medved has a knack for saying the right thing. The latest example came after Minnesota’s upset of No., 19 Iowa. The Gophers aren’t playing like a hastily thrown together group that is down to a seven-player rotation owing to injuries and a talent gap at the end of the bench. VERBATIM: “‘Sometimes when there are no choices, you’re either going to embrace it or you’re going to give in. We’re not going to give in. We’re going to fight.’ Fans of basketball should love this team. They compete incredibly hard and play the right way.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/niko0108
NEXT: Home games at The Barn on Friday vs. USC (7:30 p.m., BIG) and Tuesday vs. Wisconsin (6 p.m., BIG). Announced attendance for the Iowa game was only 8,976. Getting a seat shouldn’t be a problem. TICKETS | STANDINGS
MORE MEDVED: Via Ryan James at Gopher Illustrated. VERBATIM: “College basketball matters in the Twin Cities. It really does. It's our job to make it matter. It's games like this that start to get that going again. I love having the students rush the court. It's supposed to be fun. You want them to come to the game and enjoy being there and rush the court. See us win. Enjoy it. They go home. They had a blast and you know they are probably going to show up Friday too. And they'll probably bring their friends. I hope they do. But that's how you get it back.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/gophers0108
LOONS COACH LEAVING: Via Andy Greder at Pioneer Press. After two seasons with Minnesota United, coach Eric Ramsay is leaving for West Bromwich Albion, which plays in England’s second-tier Championship League. The team is currently 18th in the 24-team league. VERBATIM: “Ramsay is under contract with the Loons for the upcoming 2026 season, and MNUFC will likely call for compensation from West Brom. A MNUFC spokesman had no comment on the news when contacted Thursday. . . . The timing is inopportune for MNUFC. Loons players report to training camp in Blaine this weekend, and the first training session is scheduled for Monday. Ramsay was expected to lead those sessions going into United’s first regular-season game Feb. 21 at Austin FC.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/mnufc0108
THE PERICH PROBLEM: Via John Shipley at Pioneer Press. Safety Koi Perich, who won local hearts by spurning Ohio State and others to sign with the Gophers out of high school, has opted to enter the transfer portal. Some of the writing about it has been in likely to depart mode. But the reality is that, despite a second Minnesota season that didn’t measure up to his freshman-year debut, Perich wants more than he’s getting from the U — on the field and in his bank account. VERBATIM: “Whether it’s more money, more national exposure or a more likely path to the NFL — debatable — Perich has decided it won’t happen at Minnesota. As a college football fan, one has to wonder if watching most of your school’s best players go look for the bigger, better thing after every season is palatable. And as a Gophers’ fan, one has to accept that this just doesn’t bode well for the program’s viability as, for all intents and purposes, a small-market professional football franchise. One could look at what Indiana has done the past two seasons and see a crack under the fence just big enough for those without a ticket to crawl through. We know that, for now, it’s possible for an also-ran Power Four program to genuinely contend for a national championship. But Minnesota appears to be moving the other way at an inopportune time.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/koi0108
WHERE TO, KOI? Via Braulo Perez at Canes Warning. I’m betting on Miami, which hired defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman away from the Gophers after last season and is playing Mississippi tonight in the FBS semifinals (6:30 p.m., ESPN). VERBATIM: “Hetherman has been a blessing for Miami, as he has completely turned around the defense. Last year, Miami's defense kept the program out of the CFP. Fast forward to this year, and Miami is one win away from reaching the National Championship Game. Hetherman can further cement his status as a stud coach for the Canes if he helps reel in Perich as well.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/miami0108
OTHER CHOICES: Via Randy Johnson at Star Tribune. A source said Perich will be visiting Texas Tech and Oregon, playoff teams with deep-pocketed boosters. VERBATIM: The Red Raiders, who won the Big 12 championship, have billionaire oilman Cody Campbell as a donor. Campbell, a former Texas Tech offensive guard, founded the Matador Club, the school’s official name, image and likeness (NIL) collective, which reportedly has donated $60 million to Red Raiders athletes since 2022. At Oregon, Nike co-founder Phil Knight has donated more than $1 billion to the university, with a substantial portion going to athletics facilities. He remains active in NIL donations.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/visits0108
AT WHAT PRICE: Via Sam Khan Jr. at The Athletic. Can’t be sure of what Perich was getting at the U or could get elsewhere, but the Athletic recently produced a college football pay scale for different positions. Unfortunately for Perich, safeties are typically at the low end of the scale — at $250,000 to $900,000 per season. VERBATIM: “A hybrid safety/outside linebacker, if he’s a true impact player, can get high six figures. Safety is a place where some front offices spend less, unless it’s an elite top-end player. There are a few top safeties whose deals surpassed $800,000 this year, but for the most part, teams have looked to spend a little less than what they have for corners.” SALARY SCALE AND STORY: https://fluence-media.co/scale0108
PERICH THOUGHT: One former Minnesota player, who frequently celebrates Gophers “victories” in the transfer portal, called Perich a “traitor” on social media. Not fair. All he’s doing is following the lead of coaches who leave big money for bigger money. If all goes well for Perich, he gets more money and better preparation for pro football. If the NFL doesn’t work out for him, at least he’s getting the money when he can. That’s college sports now.
HIGH SCHOOL FALLOUT: If you think your local high school star isn’t getting the major-college attention everyone thought they’d get, it’s not an illusion. Here’s what a D-I assistant coach told me recently: “We’re recruiting high schools less compared to junior college, the transfer portal, international students. That might change if rules change. But right now it’s about getting older and trying to stay old. You’re seeing players leave and now you’re trying to replace those guys.”
IN OTHER WORDS: The transfer portal is killing the teen dream for many high school athletes. Deal with it. (Yes, I’m stealing a line from a 1990s cult movie.)
TWO VIKINGS THEMES: This has been kind of a hangover week for the Vikings as we recover from a season that went off the rails early on and never got righted. We’ll boil the bigger list of 2026 issues down to two big ones: The (still) premature rush to judgment on J.J. McCarthy and whether defensive coordinator Brian Flores will remain in Minnesota.
ON McCARTHY: I feel the need to keep talking about McCarthy because he’s only played 10 games over two seasons due to injuries and it is foolish to draw any conclusions beyond the reality that the Vikings need a veteran as his back-up instead of Max Brosmer and the others who were brought in on a just-in-case basis. Coach Kevin O’Connell brought on a lot of this by talking about all that McCarthy learned while being sidelined, but he deserves more time before being related to Christian Ponder status.
JUSTIN JEFFERSON’S TAKE: Via Emily Leiker at Star Tribune. VERBATIM: “We need to get J.J. out of the little, small bad habits that he had throughout the season,” Jefferson said. “But he’s still young. He still has room to grow. He still has time to really blossom as a quarterback. This is his first real year playing. People need to give him a little bit more leniency, but we definitely will go back to work and still put in that work to get where we need to get.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/jj0108
ON FLORES: Do the math. There were eight head coaching openings as of Thursday morning. (Dolphins, Raiders, Cardinals, Falcons, Giants, Browns, Raiders and Titans.) There are also about 10 defensive coordinator openings. Brian Flores’s three-year contract just expired. That’s a lot of leverage for Flores. It wouldn’t take long odds for me to bet on Flores becoming the next defensive coordinator in Dallas.
LEBER BASHES McCARTHY: Via KFAN and Jonathan Harrison at Vikings Territory. Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber didn’t like how McCarthy removed himself from Sunday’s game against the Packers after completing a pass in the second half. VERBATIM: "I don't love the theatrics of it. I don't love the optics of it. There's so much drama that's surrounding that. You don't need to place a towel over your hand. It's not melting. There's not a bone sticking out. It's not disfigured. It's not harming anybody by looking at it," Leber said on KFAN's Power Trip Morning Show. "I think that he's got a lot to learn about the body language, the behavior, the outward optics of how things look." MORE: https://fluence-media.co/leber0108
LISTEN: Leber’s complete answer and his thoughts on whether McCarthy will work out in Minnesota are here.
WELL DONE, RIVER FALLS: Via Bob Burrows at River Falls Journal. Few people without a bias gave Wisconsin-River falls a chance to win the Division III football title, but the Falcons shocked four-time champion North Central of Illinois 24-14. in the title game Sunday. MINNESOTA ANGLE: 67 of the 119 players on the River Falls roster played high school football in Minnesota, including quarterback Kalen Blaha, who played at Frldley and won the Gagliardi Trophy, named for Saint John’s coaching legend John Gagliardi and given to the outstanding player in D-III. 180 DEGREES: River Falls used to be a pushover in its conference of Wisconsin state schools, similar to Hamline and Macalester in the MIAC. VERBATIM: “These current players always should get the most credit, and they do,” Coach Matt Walker said. “But It felt like we were playing for a lot more than just our players today. These guys, they know guys that were on my 0-10 teams and 1-9 teams and 2-8 teams. They know guys in the community that love Falcon football. It felt like we were just playing for so many more people today and I’m so proud of everybody involved.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/riverfalls0108
ULTIMATE UNDERDOG: The River Falls title is ever more astounding when you consider the patience the school had with its head coach. Walker had a 20-67 record in his first nine seasons (2011-19), but has gone 44-13 in his last five. Clearly, even while losing on the scoreboard, Walker was learning things that would help him create a winning program. BIOGRAPHY | ROSTER
PALM UP: Via Coach and Coordinator. VERBATIM: “When Walker arrived at River Falls football, the program sat in disarray—just 44 players and only a handful of wins over the previous decade. To rebuild, he didn’t start with playbooks or recruiting slogans. Instead, he began with a mindset—the foundation of what would become the Palm Up culture. ‘We use this term Palm Up,’ Walker said. ‘It’s the idea that we’re all relentless givers to the program—that we’re never going to be palm-down people.’ Palm Up is literal. Players raise their hands palm up when breaking the huddle as a reminder to give, not take. In contrast, Palm Down represents selfishness—grabbing attention, losing composure, or draining energy from the team. This simple gesture embodies humility, composure, and contribution. It shows up everywhere—from helping a teammate off the turf to how players react to mistakes. ‘It’s as small as reacting the right way when things don’t go well. Are you going to throw your helmet and scream, or are you going to get your ass up and get ready to go?’ “ MORE: https://fluence-media.co/walker0108
MOST UNPOPULAR OWNERS: Via Lumaris Research. The main finding shouldn’t be a surprise but the details are interesting. A Minnesota Community Survey of about 1,200 state residents showed that the Pohlads are viewed the most unfavorable among the owners of the six major professional teams in the state. It’s not even close. The Twins’ owners were viewed unfavorably by 31 percent of those survey compared to 20 percent who viewed them favorably. By comparison, none of the unfavorable ratings for the other owners reached double digits and all has favorable ratings ranging from four to 10 times higher than their unfavorable ratings. CONTEXT: “Don’t know” was the most popular answer for every owner, ranging from 49% for the Pohlads to 79% for Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire.
DEEPER DIVE: Unfavorable ratings for the Pohlads climb among higher those with higher incomes and more education. The Pohlads are viewed favorably by those with incomes of less than $30,000 (25% to 14%) and most unfavorably among those with incomes of more than $150,000 (46% to 13%). The split based on education is 23% to 22% unfavorable among those with a high school education or less, 29% to 20% unfavorable among those who attended college and 39% to18% percent among those with a college. The Wilf family, owners of the Vikings, have the highest favorable rating — 41% to 8% unfavorable. Splits for the other owners (all favorable) are 32% to 3% for Wild owner Craig Leipold, 33% to 5% for Wolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore and 17% to 4% for McGuire.
VERBATIM: A conclusion from the researchers. VERBATIM: “The Pohlads face a credibility problem that cuts across Minnesota’s political divides. Partisan polarization or regional tensions don’t drive their negative ratings. Instead, the pattern suggests that Minnesotans who follow the team most closely, including wealthier and more educated residents, hold the dimmest views. This could complicate any legislative debate over extending Hennepin County’s sales tax for Target Field maintenance. Lawmakers may be reluctant to champion public funding for owners who lack public goodwill, particularly among the higher-income constituents who tend to vote in off-year elections and contact their representatives.”
ALL THE RESULTS: More data , including a gender gap among respondents, are here.
DAMAGED BY DEADLINES: When the Star Tribune outsourced its print edition to Iowa last month, it meant a major hit for “newspaper deadlines,” making the tree-killing edition even less relevant for sports fans — about 5:15 p.m. for the daily edition and 4 p.m. for the Sunday “paper.” The move also impacted the Pioneer Press, which had been printed by the Star Tribune. Fans finally have to grasp that the Internet is where their latest sports news will be and for the media to understand that it needs to provide a well-organized web product that doesn’t make readers work to find stories.
AND FURTHERMORE: More Star Tribune sports stories than before are being written by reporters who aren’t at the games. That’s the result of diminished travel budgets and a shrinking staff. The problem is especially noticeable in coverage of the Gophers, where basketball and hockey games have frequently gone unstaffed. You can find recent examples where the same reporter is writing about games being played in different cities on the same day. WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? The reporter only has access to information provided by a broadcast or by media relations personnel. That’s not real journalism. Sports Take will prioritize on-the-scene reports whenever possible.
SOLID STEP: The Strib’s women’s sports position posted in July will be filled by Cassidy Hettesheimer, who will move from Strib Varsity after the winter high school sports season. Hettesheimer covered the Lynx during the WNBA postseason and has written about the Minnesota Aurora. She’s a strong choice.
OLYMPIC THOUGHT: Despite the fact that 34 athletes with Minnesota connections are on the U.S. Olympic team (and a dozen more are representing other countries), KARE-11 morning reporter and anchor Alicia Lewis will be the sole Minnesota media presence at the games in Italy next month. The Star Tribune abandoned its on-location coverage after the 2022 games in Beijing. It’s not the same as being there, but at least one local media outlet has made overtures to retired Strib reporter Rachel Blount about bringing her years of Olympics expertise to its coverage. I hope that happens. MINNESOTA’S OLYMPIANS | DAILY GAMES SCHEDULE
BAD RULE, NCAA: Via Rebecca Tauber at The Athletic. Mohammad Bati, the Augsburg distance runner and four-time MIAC cross-country champion, has been ruled ineligible for the indoor and outdoor track seasons because of a GoFundMe account that raised about $9,000 to help pay for senior year tuition. He could have received money as part of an NIL deal under NCAA rules, but taking money for tuition violates D-III scholarship rules. VERBATIM: “Bati’s situation has struck a chord in a college sports world of haves and have-nots — where some DI athletes receive full rides and earn hundreds of thousands and even millions in NIL deals — while a DIII athlete like Bati struggles to pay tuition. . . . The NCAA said that since 2020, it has dealt with nearly 100 situations of students taking money through crowdfunding, though not all of those involved tuition, which is where DIII athletes run into problems.”
MORE: A Minnesota example of crowdfunding within the NCAA rules was the GoFundMe established for Carleton College quarterback jack Curtis, which raised more than $54,000 to help with expenses for his cancer treatments. Bati has decided against filing a reinstatement request with the NCAA. VERBATIM: “In life, if you want to get somewhere, you have to go through some challenge. “I see it as one challenge in my life. … I just want to move on and then just work hard every day.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/bati0108
MAKING IT RIGHT: Via Drew Lerner at Awful Announcing. Credit the Timberwolves excellent broadcast duo of Alan Horton and Jim Petersen for correcting a flub they made during Sunday’s game at Washington. It involved Anthony Edwards signing a jersey near the end of a game. The announcers thought a female Wizards fan had taken what was intended to go to a young Wolves supporter sitting near the bench. Horton spoke during the pregame show on Tuesday. VERBATIM: “We’d like to take a moment to apologize for something that happened in our last broadcast Sunday in Washington, D.C. We made misleading comments towards a young fan that received a signed Anthony Edwards jersey toward the end of that game. We did not have full context, and later learned that young woman was in fact the intended recipient of that jersey. She did absolutely nothing wrong, and we apologize for bringing attention to it, and any distress that may have caused.” STORY AND VIDEO: https://fluence-media.co/apology0108
TEAM ON FIRE: Minnesota State’s women’s basketball team, the 2024 Division II national champion, is 14-0 and ranked second in the nation. The Mavericks have won all but one game by more than 10 points and play this weekend at the University of Mary (7:30 p.m. Friday) and Minot State (5:30 p.m. Saturday). The Mavericks have two players averaging more than 20 points per game: senior guards Natalie Bremer from Lake City and Mackenzie Schweim from Mankato east. WATCH | ROSTER | SCHEDULE
ANOTHER WNBA DEADLINE: Via Annie Constabile at Front Office Sports. Friday is the latest contract deadline in the labor dispute between the WNBA and its players. The deadline has been extended twice but there’s no guarantee that would happen again. As of Thursday morning, the players’ union said the league had not responded to its latest proposal. Lynx star Napheesa Collier, a union leader and founder of the off-season Unrivaled league, discussed the situation on Monday’s Unrivaled broadcast. VERBATIM: “You’ve heard a lot of chatter about what we’re asking for is not sustainable for the business. Being on this side with Unrivaled, I know what it takes to run a sustainable business. If they can’t find a model that makes it happen, they need to put people in place who can. We’ve proven that it is possible. There is a way. We’re thriving in that.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/wnba0108
WHAT I’M FOLLOWING: 1. The CFB playoff games on Thursday and Friday for another reminder of the difference between the schools that are spending big on football and the others. 2. No. 1 Minnetonka (12-0-1) at No. 3 Edina (10-3) boys’ hockey at 7 p.m. Saturday at Braemar Arena. (Livestream) 3. Class 2A girls’ basketball: No. 5 Rochester Lourdes (10-2) at No. 1 Providence Academy (7-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday. Senior guard Maddyn Greenway, is averaging 31 points per game and closing in on 5,000 career points. She’ll play college basketball for Kentucky. 4. Gophers women’s basketball at the Barn vs. No. 21 USC (2 p.m. Sunday) and No. 4 UCLA (7 p.m. Wednesday) Two more tries for the Gophers to hold a lead and beat a ranked opponent. (Games are on BIG+). 5. Gophers men’s basketball vs. Wisconsin at 6 p.m. Tuesday (BIG). How will you feel about the Gophers if they win to go 5-1 in the Big Ten?
AND FINALLY: When Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he won’t run for a third term, it opened up the race to another batch of candidates. It also provided a flashback to a time when politics was more civil — and even more fun. Who wants to convince Mark Rosen to do this again?
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