The beginning of the end...

And so it began. Chris Schad, probably the most offensive sportswriter in the history of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, set out for a new medium to vent his weekly frustrations about Minnesota sports and other things. But how did we get here? Why am I doing this? Well, first of all I would like to thank Rick Burgesteiner for his support and showing me this website. As some of you may have noticed, the size of the UWRF Student Voice newspaper has been shrinking over the past year and I have too big of an ego not to have my voice heard. So, I've become a blogger. Not your prototypical blogger who sits at his computer playing Magic the Gathering (but I've heard Ozzy Osbourne supposedly does) but one who drinks beer and swears at his TV religiously anytime a sporting event is on.

You may ask yourself if I am qualified to rant and scream on the internet. My response is to have you look at my mother's side of the family and find out for yourself. My mom is just as crazy as I am. If she hadn't been on an anti-swearing rampage in recent years, I'm pretty sure that she would refer to the coach of the Vikings as "Brad Fucking Childress." From there, is my uncle Carl, who just like I, sits in front of his gigantic TV every Sunday and watches football like an audience at a Billy Graham rally. (On a sidenote: What do Billy Graham and the Vikings have in common? They can both get 64,000 people to stand up and scream JESUS CHRIST on any given Sunday.) My other uncle, Timm, is a strong Vikings fan, but also is involved of the realm of professional wrestling. Then my late Grandpa Jerry was so hardcore of a fan that he A) probably threw that Windsor bottle that took out the refree when Drew Pearson pushed off on Ahmad Rashad in the 1976 NFC Championship game and B) Grounded Timm for cheering for the Houston Oilers to piss him off. Now you may ask about my dad's side of the family, but I strongly believe that they are all closet Packer fans. Although my dad will NOT give up on the Timberwolves. THEY WILL RISE AGAIN....(at least he thinks so)

So with that, I thought I would get you caught up to date on how I see the world of sports at the current moment.

Vikings - The Vikings have a strong history of choking in this spot. It doesn't matter how close they are to a playoff spot or division title but they just don't find ways to lose. They find SPECTACULAR ways to lose. In 2003, the Vikings had the Cardinals beat until Josh McCown to Nathan Poole (both of whom can burn in hell). In 2000, the Giants curbstomped the Vikings 41-0 in the NFC Championship game. In 1998, Gary Anderson missed one kick all year. The one that would have sent the Vikings to the Super Bowl. Don't even ask about the 1970's. I would be more comfortable had the Saints held on to defeat Brian "I have more concussions than brain cells" Urlacher and the Bears, but the Vikings needed to hold up their end of the bargain regardless. The task at hand is to put Kurt Warner's ass where his head currently resides and vice versa. I have a feeling Jared Allen will play this week so that's a good thing going for the purple. Tarvaris Jackson will start, but I'm not scared. I said at the beginning of the season that I have faith in Tarvaris and I still do. Remember, he was very solid towards the end of the year last year, and we need to know what we have in T-Jack. If we don't have much hello Graham Harrell, or Tim Tebow, or Colt McCoy, or Sam Bradford, or Donovan McNabb.

Twins - The Twins went to the winter meetings looking to boost their offense. Names that were thrown out were J.J. Hardy, Garrett Atkins, Adrian Beltre, and Jason Donald (a prospect in the Phillies organization). So who did the Twins haul back to Minneapolis? NICK PUNTO! Yes, thank god he's back to save our offense. He hauled in a whopping 41 RBI last season. YES!! If I were the White Sox, Indians, or anybody else in our division I would crap my pants seeing the mear sight of Nick Punto in the batters box. Yes, he plays amazing defense, but we already have a great defensive infield. We need a guy who can hit balls deep enough so that people can't crowd the infield like Adrian Peterson is at the plate. The Twins still haven't addressed their third base need and they still need a set up guy to get to Joe Nathan as they screwed up another elbow injury (Pat Neshek).

Wolves - They finally fired Randy Wittless. The bad news is that Kevin McHale is roaming the sidelines. This move had more good news than bad however, as McHale is no longer making personell decisions. No longer will we see a future superstar like Brandon Roy, Josh Howard, Rip Hamilton, or O.J. Mayo seem like they're in our grasp only to have them taken away. I hope the Wolves can turn it around, but first they need a coach that is willing to travel to road games.

Wild - Please, trade Marian Gaborik ASAP. The best thing that can happen for this team is Gaborik coming back, lighting the world on fire, and then dealing him to an Eastern Conference team. I liked the Montreal deal, so maybe they can rekindle that interest.

Gophers - The basketball Gophers are going to get their test next Saturday against Louisville whom some predict to win the National Championship. The good news is that the game is going to be played in Arizona on a neutral court. While I'm not ready to pencil Tubby and Co. into the Final Four just yet, they will be an improved team from a year ago. The only bad thing is that we'll have to wait until Big 10 season to see what they can do.

OK, that's enough writing for today, but if I see something that I got to spit out, this is where you'll find it.