THE OPENER: — Almost-certain victory turns into crushing defeat. Our local QB battles back against the doomsayers. The Twins clear up a few things. Sort of, at least. High school sports grabs headlines for the wrong reason. It was a jumbled-up week of sports that creates intrigue for the days (and months) ahead. Sports Take also has four Minnesotans who became Olympians in the last 24 hours, more on the shortfall in women’s sports media coverage and my second-annual list of Christmas gifts. I hope you’ll find good stuff to read (and buy). — Howard Sinker
AMAZING MELTDOWN: With 44 seconds to play in the second overtime of their game against No. 7-ranked Maryland and the Gophers leading 99-90, I sent a text to a friend who was in the third row at The Barn. “Court storming photos, please.” It was a reasonable request. And then this happened:
IF YOU DIDN’T WATCH: Here’s the sequence. Maryland hits two free throws. Maryland steals the ball, gets lay-up and free throw. Maryland steals the ball again, gets another lay-up and free throw. (That’s eight points in nine seconds to make the score 99-98 with 35 seconds left.) Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit finally calls the time out she had available. That moved the ball to midcourt. Gophers throw a bad pass. Turnover with 12 seconds left. Maryland scores with 11 seconds left. Gophers fumble with the ball and get off a desperation shot that doesn’t come close. FINAL: Maryland 100, Minnesota 99. It was a coaching and on-court breakdown of epic proportion that escaped the dissection it deserved because on-the-scene media coverage of the game against a highly ranked opponent in the conference opener didn’t exist. (More on that later.)
WHAT IF? Had the Gophers won that game, we would be talking about how the Gophers were reaching the next level hyped when Plitzuweit was hired in 2023. We’d be talking about how they’d held off a ferocious rally from one of the nation’s best teams to win despite (1) 3-for-20 shooting by star Mara Braun, (2) giving up a 15-point first-half lead and (3) Maryland five-point rally in the last 19 seconds of the first OT that tied the game at 84. I’m betting a victory would have boosted attendance for the rest of the Big Ten schedule beyond the 4,834 at Sunday’s game. In other words, a missed opportunity on multiple levels.
WHAT IF, PART 2: Suppose J.J. McCarthy hadn’t missed six weeks after spraining his ankle in the second game of the season. Would the Vikings have realized more quickly they were asking too much from their novice quarterback, and simplified things as they did in the game plan that led to last weekend’s 31-0 win over Washington? Let’s keep in mind that beating the Commanders, a tuned-out opponent with a 3-10 record, is not a turnaround. It’s a step in the right direction — one that needs to be built upon in the final four games and even more in 2026. Playing Dallas, a team fighting for playoff spot, on Sunday night will be more telling. For now, though, the McCarthy mockery has been back-burnered while the bigger question remains: What have coach Kevin O’Connell and others learned from a season that was lost owing to factors that went well beyond McCarthy’s struggles?
SIMPLIFY AND WIN: Via Andrew Krammer at Star Tribune. What was different about Sunday’s game? For one thing, it took him only an average of 2.35 seconds to throw passes against Washington, according to Pro Football Focus. That was second fastest in the league in Week 14. His season average before the game was 2.94 seconds, which ranked 40th. There was more to it, including throwing with “conviction.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/jj1211
OTHER WAYS TO SAY IT: Via Matthew Coller at Purple insider. VERBATIM: “O’Connell talked about having less ‘inventory.’ Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips talked about formations and motions. Tight end TJ Hockenson said it was “not something we want” the coaches to have to do but considering the state of the offense, they had to make it ‘a little less at the line [of scrimmage].’ Aaron Jones couldn’t think of a better phrase than ‘dumbing it down’ so he rolled with that.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/simple1211
VIKINGS (5-8) VS. COWBOYS (6-6-1): 7:20 p.m. Sunday kickoff on NBC, Peacock and the Vikings Audio Network. Vikings depth chart | Real-time betting info, match-ups | Cowboys web site
HUGE TOURNAMENT CANCELED: Via Marcus Fuller at Strib Varsity. After the final game of a day-long boys’ basketball event at Hopkins High School was suspended on Saturday night because of a fight among spectators, Edina school officials canceled a much larger tournament, sponsored by St. Cloud-based Breakdown Sports, involving 36 teams and four gyms that was set for Saturday. The one-day events involving Minnesota’s top teams have become more popular in recent years. VERBATIM: Edina schools spokesperson Daphne Edwards said, “In light of recent incidents across the state and nation that have, at times, resulted in unsafe situations at large events, we conducted a thorough evaluation of the request to host the tournament and determined that we could not ensure the level of safety necessary for this event.“
SHOWPIECE GAME: Before the total cancellation, a rematch of last season’s Class 4A title game between No. 1-ranked Wayzata and No. 4 Cretin-Derham Hall was pulled from the event by the schools. Instead, the undefeated teams will play at 6 p.m. Saturday at Cretin-Derham Hall. The game between host Edina and Prior Lake is still scheduled to be played at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Edina Community Center. Other schools have been scrambling to set up games. For example, Breck School and Liberty Classical Academy had been scheduled to meet different opponents in Edina, but will now play at 7 p.m. Saturday at Liberty.
MY TAKE: Erring on the side of caution at a school facility needs to be the norm and a school’s decision to back out of hosting or playing shouldn’t be questioned. Last season, I attended a section semifinal basketball game that was halted for about a half-hour, with players sent out of the gym, because of a fight in the stands. Years ago, I covered a game that was called off because a fight spilled onto the court. This isn’t a new issue. The question here is whether the Hopkins situation and Edina’s response leads to more scrutiny — and possibly fewer — of these large-scale events. (There are other day-long basketball events on Saturday at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Maple River and Thief River Falls.) BREAKDOWN SPORTS WEBSITE | WAYZATA VS. CRETIN-DERHAM HALL TICKETS
ENOUGH GLOOM, GO SHOPPING! Last year’s holiday list ranged from an obscure minor-league baseball jersey to the best accessible seats at Target Field to Zamboni driving lessons. I hope you find some stuff for your favorite sports fans here:
*WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS HOCKEY TICKETS: The under-20 tournament features the USA, Canada and eight other nations. There are 29 games scheduled at Grand Casino Arena and Mariucci, and you can buy single games as well as the medal around or full-tournament packages. https://fluence-media.co/juniors1211
*A GOOD, USED GLOVE: Have an old baseball glove that needs some love. Want to gift a high-quality refurbished glove from the 1970s? D&J Glove Repair is a one-of-a-kind shop in south Minneapolis. https://fluence-media.co/glove1211
*PREGAME PIZZA: The North Loop has several good meet-up options for Twins, Wolves and Lynx pregaming. My go-to is Brickworth Beer Co. on N. Fifth Ave. across the street from the Graze food court. Good pizza and a solid patio. They have gift cards. https://fluence-media.co/bricksworth1211
*CLOSER TO THE U: A Bar of Their Own is starting its third year as a women’s sports headquarters in Cedar-Riverside and has become a model for newer ones around the country. Order the Tee Off Turkey Burger. (The Caitlin Clark shoes are nailed to the wall, so don’t even think about it.) GIFT CARDS: https://fluence-media.co/aboto1211
*ZAMBONI LESSONS: The Hopkins rink featured here last year — and then by the Strib — is already booked for the winter. But the rink in Elk River — Furniture and Things Community Event Center — offers two-hour and half-hour sessions. The former includes 75 minutes of off-ice training, 45 minutes to make a full sheet of ice and a souvenir key chain. https://fluence-media.co/zamboni1211
THE BOOKSHELF: Five books with Minnesota ties for readers of assorted ages and interests.
*SKIPPER: WHY BASEBALL MANAGERS MATTER (AND ALWAYS WILL): Published in May five weeks before author Scott Miller died of pancreatic cancer, the book shows how managers control the game and how, in various ways, the game controls them. Miller covered baseball for the Pioneer Press for several years in the early 2000s. https://fluence-media.co/skipper1211
*THE BOOK OF PIV: I mentioned retired coach Jay Pivec’s book earlier this year soon after it was published but it’s worth a second notice. Pivec grew up in Minneapolis, was fired in North Dakota and then became a legendary junior college coach in Minnesota. It’s a memoir in which he admits the stories are “as true as they need to be.” https://fluence-media.co/pivec1211
*ATTORNEYS IN THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME. There are 11 of them among the 346 members of baseball’s Hall of Fame. Louis Schiff is a Hamline graduate, retired Florida judge and teaches a weekend-long class on the law and baseball during the summer at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law. https://fluence-media.co/lawyers1211
*ATHLETES AS INFLUENCERS: Twin Cities journalist Heather Rule’s book, set to be published next week, is geared towards children and explores the rapid rise of athletes as influencers. It also explains Name, Image and Likeness, which means you can read the book and learn something before giving it. https://fluence-media.co/nil1211
*OLIVIA THE BRAVE: It’s not a sports book, but the children’s story by Lindsey Young, a writer and editor at vikings.com, focus on anxiety and mental health for young readers. If you order from the book’s web site and send her an email, Young will inscribe the book. https://fluence-media.co/olivia1211
CHASKA RINK MAKES OLYMPIC CURLING FIELD: Via NBCOlympics.com. The United States team skipped by Danny Casper, 24, of Minneapolis defeated China 9-4 on Wednesday night in British Columbia to qualify for one of the two final spots in the men’s curling competition at the 2026 Olympics in Italy. Last month in South Dakota, Casper’s side upset the USA team skipped by Chisholm, Minn., John Shuster, who led the 2018 Olympic gold medalists, for the right to represent the country in Olympic competition. The team also includes Minnesotans Ben Richardson, a cellist with a degree in music, and Aiden Oldenburg, who attended Minnesota State. The team’s alternate is Rich Ruohonen of Brooklyn Park, a 53-year-old personal injury lawyer, who would become the oldest American to participate in the Winter Olympics if he sees action. ALSO: The women’s side skipped by Tabatha Peterson of Eagan is competing today in Canada for the final spot in the women’s event. STORY, VIDEO: https://fluence-media.co/curling1211
TWINS CLEAR UP THINGS? KINDA: Via Dan Hayes at The Athletic. We still don’t know who the team’s new minority partners are. But Twins president Derek Falvey said at this week’s Winter Baseball Meetings that the Twins are planning to build around core players Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan rather than further purge the roster through trades. However, reports from the meetings said the Twins would be doing it on the cheap — with perhaps a $15 million to $20 million increase on the current payroll of about $95 million. Considering the need to rebuild the bullpen and their acknowledged search for a power-hitting first baseman, that’s not a lot to work with. VERBATIM: “If we have the types of performances from the group that we have right now, that we think they’re capable of, then we put ourselves right in a competing spot even with maybe a lesser payroll than some of the bigger spenders,” Falvey said. “We feel we can do that.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/twins1211
THE BULLPEN: Via Bobby Nightengale at Star Tribune. The plan to bring in inexpensive relief candidates and rely on young holdovers who haven’t been reliable is a scary brew. The best-case scenario may be converting potential starters, which is what the Twins did with Louis Varland before trading him to Toronto. Going back in time, the Twins turned Eddie Guardado and Rick Aguilera into closers after they had limited success as starters. That was also the career path of new bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins, who was a Twins starter for five seasons before his tour of a dozen major league bullpen over his next 15 years in the majors. VERBATIM: “A young bullpen, manager Derek Shelton said, is a reason why LaTroy Hawkins was the first hire to his staff. He can relate to players well and he pitched in every role during his 21-year major league career. ‘We may get in a situation, depending on how it shakes out, that we have six young guys down there,’ Shelton said. ‘I want someone sitting down there that has the ability to have those conversations.’ “ MORE: https://fluence-media.co/bullpen1211
VOLLEYBALL TONIGHT: Via Sarah Cunniffe at Minnesota Daily. The rash of injuries that beset the Gophers volleyball team could have been justification for a subpar season. But Minnesota, which has made the NCAA field for 11 years in a row, has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022 and will play Pitt, the No. 1 seed in its region, tonight (6 p.m., ESPN2). The winner will play SMU or Purdue for a Final Four spot on Saturday. All the lineup tweaks created a challenge for setter Stella Swenson, who said she’s made a special connection on the floor with star hitter Julia Hanson. VERBATIM: “Losing people early on meant that lineups changed constantly. So it meant learning what my hitters liked and didn’t like, right away. I had to figure out what they needed, what they didn’t want. The fact that I made those connections and that I can set Julia blindfolded is huge for our team.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/gophers1211
RETURN TO GLORY: Concordia-St. Paul is in the quarterfinals of the Division II volleyball tournament today, playing Gannon University of Pennsylvania (1:30 p.m., ESPN+) in Sioux Falls. Semifinals and finals are Friday and Saturday. The Golden Bears won nine national titles between 2007 and 2017, including seven in a row (2007-13). Makenna Nold, a sophomore from Jamestown, N.,D., was named Division II Player of the Year this week.
D3 FOOTBALL UPDATE: Bethel University’s reward for reaching the Division III football quarterfinals is a game at noon Saturday at North Central of Illinois. The Cardinals are ranked No. 1 in the nation and won national titles in 2022 and 2024. The only games they have lost in the last five seasons were the 2021 and 2023 D-III championship games. UW-River Falls, which smashed Saint John’s last weekend, is host to Wheaton of Illinois at 2 p.m. Saturday. Both games are on ESPN+. RIVER FALLS TICKETS
WOLVES MILEPOST: Via Britt Robson at MinnPost. The Timberwolves are about to reach the one-third mark of their season and returns are mixed. They’re on pace to win 51 games — good enough for a postseason spot, but probably not enough for home-court advantage. Part of the problem is the decline of 38-year-old point guard Mike Conley. VERBATIM: “The eye test says the offense runs hot and cold. Not all assists are created equal. An open shot on the fourth pass of the possession provides greater team rhythm, unity and goodwill then an open shot off a single pass. Neither Julius Randle nor Anthony Edwards are as adept at interior passing as they are kicking the ball out or swinging it to the other side of the perimeter. That creates stagnation in the half-court, as players ring the perimeter awaiting that kick-out or swing pass rather than cutting for the hoop. Then there is the poise factor. When Conley was the sensei on the court as well as in the locker room, the Wolves were more frequently locked in mentally, following his lead.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/wolves1211
DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS BOWL: The Gophers will play in the Rate Bowl on Dec. 26, a matchup that got less attractive when Iowa State lost head coach Matt Campbell to Penn State and the Big 12’s Cyclones opted against the bowl bid that would have meant facing the Gophers. Instead, Minnesota will play New Mexico of the Mountain West, which went 9-3 and has a six-game winning streak. LOCAL ANGLE: The Lobos are coached by Jason Eck, whose career path includes two seasons each at Winona State and Minnesota State. ECK BIOGRAPHY
ALMOST MADE IT: Via CBSsports.com. I thought we were going to get through all the recent changes in college football head coaching jobs without seeing P.J. Fleck’s name. But the wild story surrounding the sudden firing (and jailing) of Sherrone Moore at Michigan has created one more set of potential-successors lists — and guess who made several of them? The guy who left Western Michigan for Minnesota nine seasons ago. VERBATIM: “We’ve never seen Fleck at a program with the kinds of resources Michigan has, and he could be intrigued to find out what he could do with that kind of investment. At the same time, there is the risk that he’s a program builder but not the kind of coach that maximizes elite talent to the level Michigan hopes. That’s the question the Wolverines would have to ask, but if they strike out on the biggest names on their list, they could certainly do much worse than bringing Fleck back to the state of Michigan.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/fleck1211
OTHER LISTS: Detroit News | Athlon Sports | College Sports Wire
AND FINALLY: I’ve noted previous Sports Takes, the gap between expectations for women’s sports coverage and what we’re seeing from major Twin Cities media outlets, particularly the Star Tribune. My sensors went up again over the weekend when the Strib did not have a writer at the Minnesota-Maryland Big Ten opener or at the Gophers’ second-round match in the NCAA volleyball tournament at Maturi Pavilion. They were “covered” by a reporter writing remotely. Minnesota’s volleyball victory over Iowa State appeared as a one-paragraph story in the print edition.
EXPERT VIEW: I posed questions about women’s sports coverage to Dunja Antunovic, a U of M professor and affiliated scholar at the U’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Antunovic has researched the topic and I’ve talked to her in the past about her work. She wrote that “across the nation, we are seeing an expansion and growing interest in women’s sports while newsrooms are shrinking,” and that fans are going to other sources for news, including school and team websites.
MORE FROM ANTUNOVIC: “While we are hoping that newsrooms are investing resources in feature stories or contextual coverage, the reality is that realignments and staff reallocations have a disproportionately negative impact on women’s sports coverage. Women’s sports are rarely a ‘beat.’ In fact, we found that journalists often cover women’s sports in addition to their other assignments or in their ‘free time.’ The problem becomes particularly pertinent when a journalist with expertise in women’s sports coverage leaves. Are newsrooms then filling those spots and hiring qualified journalists who are knowledgeable about women’s sports? Our research found some promising changes in terms of journalists’ positive attitudes about women’s sports, but we are still looking for long-term solutions for sustainable women’s sports coverage.”
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THANKS FOR READING: Stay warm and drive safely.
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