Lots to talk about, even more so because we’re taking off next week for the Fourth of July. It may take a couple of sittings to digest this week’s Sports Take. But I hope you find it filling.
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME: Before we get grimy, I want to share a sweet scene from Minnesota United’s 3-1 victory over Houston last night. Bongokuhle Hlongwane’s mother and baby brother were at Allianz Field, watching him play for the first time in Major League Soccer. Watch when he scored the first of his two goals.
VIDEO on X: https://fluence-media.co/bongi0626
VIDEO ON BLUESKY (Watch them both): https://fluence-media.co/bongiblue1 and https://fluence-media.co/bongiblue2
THE UGLY GAME: The Twins are a mess. A mess more likely to result in a disastrous season instead of turning a corner and righting itself. I hate to bring it up, but here’s some of what I wrote in the April 17 Sports Take after the Twins bumbled through the first weeks of their season: “Almost every game brings new troubles. . . . Management did nothing to make the 2025 Twins better than the 2024 version — and the real ‘24 version appears for now to be the team that finished by spitting up a playoff spot by losing 27 of its final 39 games.”
IT GETS WORSE: I told a friend yesterday that the Twins would be fine -- if Joe Ryan could be their starting pitcher every day. Seriously, two rotation pitchers (Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa) shouldn’t be in the majors and the others (Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack) have given up almost a run per inning in their recent starts. Pablo Lopez won’t be back soon. The offense is unreliable, the baserunning is timid and opponents take advantage of the defense when the Twins aren’t making mistakes on their own. Pitchers can’t complete their most basic assignments: getting the third out in the inning or putting away batters when they have two strikes on them.
The other night, postgame radio lauded Trevor Larnach for stretching a single into a double with aggressive baserunning. Basic stuff. But after yet another loss, it sounded like a middle school participation award. It’s embarrassing that infielder Jonah Bride has pitched mop-up relief four times in the last three weeks. It’s more embarrassing that opponents have used position players twice to get the final outs because they were so far ahead that they didn’t need a real pitcher. (Cheers for radio analyst Dan Gladden and fill-in TV analyst Trevor Plouffe for not shying away from the ugliness.)
THE FANS: Cranky at the start of the season and crankier now. And disappearing, too. The Twins have nine ticket-price tiers. The three games against Milwaukee last weekend were among four in the highest-priced tier. Twins vs. Brewers on a weekend! Expect sellouts or something close! Maybe 100,000-110,000 for the three games, right? Wrong. Announced attendance was 77,475 – and that’s tickets sold, not the number who actually showed up.
WHAT’S AHEAD? Only three American League teams are doing worse than the Twins against opponents with a winning record. After today, the Twins will have reached the halfway point of their season. Of their final 81 games, 47 are against teams with .500 records or better (58%). More than half of those are vs. teams currently leading their divisions, including 10 against Detroit and seven against the Yankees. I have more numbers, but I’ll spare you.
Right now, Don’t be surprised if the Twins lose 90 games or more. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.
TAKEOVER COMPLETED (FINALLY): Via Chris Hine at Star Tribune. If you read one story about the Wolves and Lynx finally completing their ownership transfer from Glen Taylor to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, it should be this one because it looks to the future rather than revisiting the past. KEY TAKEAWAYS: 1. They’ll be more active owners than Taylor in terms of the basketball side of the business. 2. They own most of the team and have limited partners read to spend. 3. Continuity is important to them. Coach Chris Finch, star Anthony Edwards and basketball boss Tim Connelly are key to the future. VERBATIM: “Continuity is going to be a part of our strategy to win,” Lore said. “It’s played out well so far. Tim, Coach, Ant, that threesome is hopefully going to be intact for a long, long time, and it’s a great nucleus to build around.”
HOLD THEM TO THIS: Rodriguez and Lore say they need a new arena, and a place to build that can grow around it. VERBATIM: “Lore said while they haven’t discussed the specifics of where the funding would come from for this project, they are ‘prepared to fund it privately.’ “ (Bold italics are mine.)
FULL STORY: There's meat from the first sentence to the last. https://fluence-media.co/sale0626
RUNNING THE LYNX: Via Jon Krawcynski at the Athletic. VERBATIM: “They are one of the WNBA’s crown jewels, with four championships and seven finals appearances, including the loss to the New York Liberty last season. Coach Cheryl Reeve and superstar Napheesa Collier, the leading candidate for league MVP this season, have the team primed and ready for another run at title No. 5 this season. ‘Marc and I are looking to support Cheryl and her vision and help her execute what she’s already done for many, many years,’ Rodriguez said. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/lynxowners0626
LEAVING TARGET CENTER? Via Katie Galioto at Star Tribune. A new arena may not be in downtown Minneapolis — or in the city. VERBATIM: “When and where the new arena will be built is up in the air, but they said it might not be in downtown Minneapolis, which is anchored by pro sport facilities that have become more important as the office culture has floundered since the pandemic. ‘I think you envision it being downtown, but we have to obviously find the right location that can support the vision for this new arena we’re looking to build,’ Lore said.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/arena0626
FANS WANT TO KNOW: Basketball writer Hine held a Q&A on the Strib web site Wednesday and there were plenty of good questions. READ: https://fluence-media.co/qanda0626
BACK ON THE COURT: The Wolves made a surprise pick in the draft’s first round, 6-foot-11 center Joan Beringer, an 18-year-old from France. The hope is that he can be an understudy to Rudy Gobert, who turns 33 this month, and eventually move into a significant role. Thoughts on Beringer:
Adam Finkelstein at CBS Sports: “He's very young. He doesn't turn 19 until November and has only played for a few years. But he's just under 7-feet without shoes and has better than a 7-foot-4 wingspan. He's an extreme athlete with excellent mobility and good hands. His archetype is a rim-running shot blocker and lob threat. That's very valued in today's NBA. In Minnesota, Beringer gets to learn under Rudy Gobert -- and could potentially take over for him a few years down the road. That's a great succession plan at the center spot. Grade: A”
Krawcynski at The Athletic: “The Wolves . . . entered the draft with a priority on landing a developmental big man, as Gobert turns 33 on Friday and has no true center in the pipeline who projects as a rotation-level player. Now the Wolves have developmental players at every position, including Rob Dillingham at point guard, Jaylen Clark at off guard, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Josh Minott on the wing and Leonard Miller at power forward.”
Leo Sun and Andrew Carlson at Canis Hoopus: “Imagine a Gobert who’s springier, and has better hands, running pick-and-rolls with Dillingham. That is the vision here. It might take a couple years, but this future duo is tantalizing.”
Kevin O’Connor at Yahoo Sports: “He's one of the rawest projects in the entire draft. Makes you wonder what the Wolves' plan is with the other bigs on the roster, notably Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle. Beringer dunks everything around the basket. He's a rim protector and has shown improvement in other aspects of his defense. An area he'll need to improve on is he was a hackable player you didn't fear sending to the free-throw line. He's a worker, though, and wants to get better. Grade: C-minus.”
NAME SOUNDS FAMILIAR, N’EST PAS? I allowed myself some Bluesky fun after the Beringer selection. Introducing Monsieur Fumée.
REEVE VS. COLUMNIST: Via Drew Lerner at Awful Announcing. USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, author of an upcoming book about Caitlin Clark, is revisiting the controversy from last season about Clark not being named to the Olympic basketball team and her feelings that Lynx coach Reeve, the team’s coach, treated Clark unfairly. SHORT VERSION: Reeve tweaked the WNBA last summer for advertising an Indiana Fever livestream on social media. Brennan took it as a slap at Clark, who was also a candidate for the Olympic team at the time. THE FIGHT: Largely being carried out on talk shows. VERBATIM: Appearing on FanDuel Sports Network’s Golic & Golic, Reeve said, “What [Brennan] wrote is fiction. And if she were paying attention, one of the things I have done for years is hold the league accountable for their missteps, mishaps, their lack of representation of all teams.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/book062625
MY TAKE: Brennan has a book coming out and is revisiting the battle to help sales. Reeve is always up for a battle. Talk shows are gasoline for the fire. If we didn’t have this feud, would I be giving a link to the book, which comes out July 8? Brennan’s good at writing; Reeve’s good at coaching. LINK: https://fluence-media.co/order0708
STAR TRIBUNE DEPARTURES: Writers leaving the Star Tribune sports department via the buyout offer announced earlier this month are baseball writer Phil Miller, women’s basketball writer Kent Youngblood, general assignment writer Jerry Zgoda and high school reporter Ron Haggstrom. Also going is veteran editor Kevin Bertels, a standout editor who filled an assortment of key roles and made everything he touched better. Look for some holdover writers to fill new roles and new names attached to expanded high school coverage.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR? What will a revamped and smaller staff choose to emphasize — and ignore?
IGNORED: It was a step forward when the Strib included a “Minnesota Aurora” section in its sports home page makeover last year. It’s a leap backward that the top news story is still the Aurora home opener — when the final game of the regular season is Saturday night. I asked Aurora co-founder Andrea Yoch about that. VERBATIM: “Aurora continues to be a remarkable sports story — a team built by the community, filling the stadium, 47 regular season games without a loss and four division titles in a row. It is disappointing that the changes in coverage of women’s sports has impacted sharing that story with a broad audience.”
COMING UP: The Associated Press Sports Editors national summer conference runs today through Saturday in Minneapolis. ON THE AGENDA: A session on women’s sports coverage is promoted this way. “With even more options for women’s sports coverage at a college and professional level — but not more staff to do it, and skeptical colleagues lurking over every page view — where is the road to a successful coverage plan? In short: how can we get eyeballs on our women’s sports coverage and then keep them there?” MY TAKE: How do you get eyeballs on things that aren’t covered?
COMMISSIONER’S CUP TUESDAY: As of Thursday morning, most remaining tickets for Tuesday’s 7 p.m. final against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are in the top rows of the upper level. PRO TIP: Season-ticket holders who bought tickets through the game presale received them on their apps today. So better seats will be showing up — and high prices, too. (No, you can’t have mine!) TV: Amazon Prime. TICKETS: https://fluence-media.co/cuptix0626
LEAGUE OF UPSETS: There’s been an uptick in upsets as the WNBA season has gone along. The Lynx felt that Tuesday when they lost to ninth-place Washington on the same night that 12th-place Dallas shocked No. 4 Atlanta. Expansion Golden State came within three points of upsetting New York on Wednesday. This is a good thing for the league, which has too often felt predictable in recent years. For the Lynx, who haven’t yet played New York or Atlanta, it means a schedule that will get tougher as the strongest teams fight among each other and lesser teams, for the most part, keep improving.
NHL DRAFT: Via Scott Wheeler at The Athletic. Less drama than usual for the Wild here because they don’t have a first-round pick on Friday and only four picks in Saturday’s final six rounds. LOCAL ANGLES: Minnesota’s first-round pick (No. 20 overall) was traded to Columbus and the Blue Jackets are projected to take Logan Hensler, the former Hill-Murray defenseman who plays for Wisconsin and the NHL scouting combine’s 12th best player overall. Edina center Mason West (No. 27 overall) is projected to go to Nashville in the second round with the 35th pick. Wheeler’s mock draft has the Wild taking Ethan Czata, an 18-year-old center with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League. VERBATIM: “Czata, a competitive, hardworking forward who rose into the second-round mix this season and profiles like a future third-liner, could be a solid pick.” MOCK DRAFT: https://fluence-media.co/mock0626
FIRST MINNESOTA LIST: Via Sarah McLellan at Star Tribune. Here are the state players ranked by NHL Central Scouting, including their schools and other affiliations. https://fluence-media.co/minnesotans0626
SECOND MINNESOTA LIST: Via Let’s Play Hockey. Six Minnesotans were taken in this week’s PWHL draft, including Rory Guilday of Minnesota and Cornell, who was taken fifth overall by Ottawa, the team that lost to the Frost in the Walter Cup finals. OTHERS: Olivia Mobley (Breck School/UMD), third round, 18th overall by Boston; Lily Delianedis, (The Blake School/Cornell), third round by Seattle, 24th overall; Peyton Hemp (Andover/Gophers), fourth round, 29th overall by Ottawa; Jada Habisch, (Buffalo/UConn), fourth round, 31st overall by Ottawa; Hannah Baskin (Minnetonka/UMD), fourth round, 41st overall by Toronto. PROFILES: https://fluence-media.co/pwhl0626
WORLD JUNIORS SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED: Team USA opens the 2026 men’s World Junior Championships vs. Germany on Dec. 26 at the X. The tournament runs through Jan. 5, when gold and bronze medal games will be played. The United States is in a bracket with Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany. The other bracket — Canada, Czechia, Finland, Latvia and Denmark — will play its preliminary-round games at Mariucci Arena. SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFO: https://fluence-media.co/iihf0626
TOMMIES ARENA HOOPS OPENER: St. Thomas basketball will debut its new arena on Nov. 8 with men’s and women’s games vs. Army, the alma mater of Lee Anderson, whose name is on the new basketball/hockey facility. Anderson, a Breck School graduate, played basketball and football at West Point. The Lee & Penny Anderson Arena officially opens on Oct. 24, when the hockey teams play host to Providence. SEASON TICKETS: https://fluence-media.co/ust0626
U WINS RECRUITING BATTLE: Via Andy Greder at Pioneer Press. Top Minnesota football prospect in the Class of 2026, Roman Voss of Jackson County Central, has made a verbal commitment to the Gophers, choosing them over Alabama, his other finalist. He is a high school quarterback and safety who projects to being a tight end in college. VERBATIM: “Longtime Jackson County Central head coach Tom Schuller told the Pioneer Press in December he believes Voss is the best player he has ever coached and can be “an NFL-caliber tight end.” The U’s 2026 class has already received pledges from the No. 2 and 3 recruits in Minnesota — Forest Lake defensive lineman Howie Johnson and Cold Spring offensive lineman Andrew Trout. Minnesota also secured the top three in-state players in the 2025 class.” STORY: https://fluence-media.co/voss0626
AND THE NO. 4 RECRUIT? Via Black Shoe Diaries. That would be Triton quarterback/free safety Pierce Petersohn, and he just committed to Penn State over the U. The Nittany Lions are looking at him as a tight end while the Gophers saw him as a linebacker. VERBATIM: “Penn State . . . appears to like Petersohn at tight end and it makes some sense when you see Petersohn’s size/length (6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan) and speed (a reported 4.54 laser-timed forty). Petersohn is going to have to get much bigger — he’s currently listed around 195-200 pounds right now — but the tools are there for an athletic receiving tight end.” STORY AND VIDEO: https://fluence-media.co/petersohn0626
EDINA STAR PICKS SPARTANS, AWAITS GOPHERS: Via Let’s Play Hockey and Star Tribune. Mason West, Edina’s football and hockey standout, has chosen college hockey over football and Michigan State over other finalists, which didn’t include Minnesota. West will quarterback the Hornets in the fall and then play for the Fargo Force of the United State Hockey League. VERBATIM: “It was really important for me to play football as a senior with my friends. I always set goals for the year, and that was to win a state high school hockey championship and also a football championship. I haven’t done it in football so I kind of want to achieve that and stay loyal to my team because I think they need me.” ON THE GOPHERS: “I never really talked to them. But for sure, I want to play them, prove to them what I can do.” LPH: https://fluence-media.co/mason0626. STRIB: https://fluence-media.co/west0626
PICKED, NOT PICKED: Mara Braun, the Gophers star who has missed most of the last two seasons with foot injuries, did not make the United States women’s team that opens play in the AmeriCup tournament on Saturday in Chile. Minnesota’s connection to the team is Gianna Kneepkens, the 6-foot guard who has transferred from Utah to Final Four-semifinalist UCLA for her senior season. At Duluth Marshall, Kneepkens scored a state-record 67 points in a state tournament 2A quarterfinal loss to Providence Academy in 2021.
RUNNING EVERY GRANDMA’S: Via Kevin Pates on Facebook. There’s now only one person remaining who has completed every Grandma’s Marathon since the race started 49 years ago. That’s because Jim Nowak, 74, of Cornell, Wis., dropped out of this year’s race at the 15-mile mark. VERBATIM: “Nowak entered knowing he recently contracted Lyme disease, a bacterial infection, which can cause a fever, headache, extreme tiredness, joint stiffness and muscle aches. The retired high school special education teacher knew his chances of getting to the Canal Park finish line in 2025 were slim. And by the time he reached 15 miles, on-course medical personnel told Nowak he was at risk and that his day was over. "Of course, I wanted to keep going because this streak means so much to me. But I didn't have the strength," said Nowak.
SOLE SURVIVOR: John Naslund, 75, of Bloomington is now the only person who has completed all 49 races. Naslund and Nowak were track teammates at Minnesota Duluth and members of the Grandma’s Hall of Fame. Pates reported that Naslund has also completed all 41 Twin Cities Marathons. Naslund finished the race in 5 hours, 31 minutes, 6 seconds. His personal best in the Two Harbors-to-Duluth race: 2:35:25 in 1986. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/grandmas0626
NEW COACH NEEDED: Via Ray Tenebaum at Champs App. St. Cloud State needs a new women’s hockey coach after Brian Idalski was named to that job with the new Vancouver PWHL team. Here are nine possible candidates, including associate head coach Jinelle Zaugg‑Siergiej and several others with Minnesota ties. LIST: https://fluence-media.co/stcloud0626
HUGE SOCCER CALENDAR: Lots going on from this weekend through the middle of July. The US Men’s National team hosts Costa Rica in a Gold Cup quarterfinal match at 6 p.m. Sunday with Canada playing Guatemala at 3 p.m. in another quarterfinal at U.S. Bank Stadium, which will have a natural grass field installed for the matches. Tickets start at $68, including fees. The US-Costa Rica match is on FOX. Winners play at 6 p.m. Wednesday in St. Louis (FS1) and the finals are a week from Sunday at 6 p.m. in Houston (FOX). AURORA: Playoff specifics have yet to be announced, although first-round USL-W games are expected to be played July 4 and 6.
MNUFC: After road matches at New York Red Bulls on Saturday and Dallas on July 4, the Loons return home on July 7 with a friendly against Holstein Kiel of Germany, which was relegated to Germany’s second division after winning only six of 34 Bundesliga games this season. MLS play resumes on July 8 with Chicago and post-match fireworks. YOUTH: The Target USA Cup, the largest youth tournament in North America with more than 1,100 teams, runs July 11-19 at National Sports Center in Blaine and is the season-ender for many Minnesota travel teams.
THAT GRASS FIELD: Via MPR News. Getting Sunday’s pitch ready at U.S. Bank Stadium. VERBATIM: “The turf was grown on sand, making it ideal for indoor applications with minimal drainage. The turf is cut from a sod farm field and rolled up at night, trucked it to Minneapolis in refrigerated trucks and installed quickly to keep the grass cool and alive.” STORY AND VIDEO: https://fluence-media.co/grass062625
THE STREAK: Aurora’s 47-match regular-season winning streak has come in the Heartland Division, which currently fields six teams in the USL-W. The entire USL-W actually consists of 93 teams in 15 divisions around the country. In the latest power rankings, Aurora is No. 3 of the 93 and the only Heartland team listed. So the postseason means a step up in quality of competition. RANKINGS: https://fluence-media.co/power0626
RUGBY SUNDAY: Via Daniel Graham at MplsStPaul. Women’s Elite Rugby, the first women’s professional rugby league in the nation, will play its title game at 2 p.m. Sunday at TCO Stadium in Eagan when the Denver Onyx meet the New York Exiles. (Twin Cities Gemini finished the season fifth in the six-team league with a 3-7 record.) HOW PROFESSIONAL? The league pays players a stipend and covers travel and insurance costs. There’s a youth rugby clinic for children as young as 5 on Saturday at Central Park in Eagan. VERBATIM: “We're known for no helmets, no pads, just raw athleticism,” Gemini senior general manager Nick Donnelly said. “We're very open to everyone. Anyone can play rugby, and we're very much encouraging that. We, as a league, embrace body positivity, diversity, but also we encourage that gladiatorial spirit. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/rugby0626. TICKETS | LIVESTREAM
CONDOLENCES: Scott Miller, who covered baseball for the Pioneer Press in the 1990s and most recently was writing for the New York Times, died last week. He was a gem. So was Mike Kaszuba, the veteran Star Tribune investigative reporter who brought his talents to the sports department for several years. Here’s one of Kaszuba’s stories, about the struggles of a junior college football team on the iron Range. https://fluence-media.co/mike0626
MILLER’S BOOK: Published in May, Miller wrote about how the job of baseball managers has changed in recent years, a book rich with dozens of interviews and insider access to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. https://fluence-media.co/skipper0626
AND FINALLY: Settle in for some Joan Beringer highlights.
Thanks for reading. Have a great Fourth of July. Back at you in two weeks.
HOWARD ON THE WEB:
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HOW TO WATCH ALMOST ANYTHING
ESPN's guide to sports on about 250 channels and streaming services: https://fluence-media.co/3T4rYw4
Minnesota Division II and III sports: MIAC Network | Northern Sun Network | Upper Midwest Network
NSPN Minnesota high school livestreams: https://fluence-media.co/3My8Tyv
NFHS Minnesota high school livestreams: https://fluence-media.co/3MvFSU6