Election 2010: It's Almost Over

Image via WikipediaHere in Minnesota, we don't have politicians who avoid the mainstream media, denied ever being a witch, threatened violence or run racist attack ads against their opponent.  None of that Tea Party craziness for us, thanks.

Oh wait.  We have Michele Bachmann.

The Third District Republican Congresswoman (and conservative superstar) is favored to keep her seat against Democratic challenger Tarryl Clark, but only after spending millions of dollars on some of the worst campaign ads ever seen in these parts.  "Mount Spendmore"?  "Jim the Election Guy"?  "Taxin' Tarryl"?

Clark has responded with her own ads claiming that Bachmann is more interested in being a publicity hound than in serving her constituents, but it may be too little and too late.  Clark has a better shot two years from now, should Bachmann decide to run against Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The Minnesota governor's race has been relatively civil, with all three major candidates--Democrat Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer and Tom Horner of the Independence Party--leaving the attack ads to well-heeled outsiders (unknown or not) while debating countless times over the past few weeks.

This race is Dayton's to lose, unless he says or does something stupid.  His record as a U.S. Senator shows he's done a little of both. 

Emmer has been campaigning as an outsider in comparison to his rivals, even though he's been a state legislator for the past several years.  In his ads, Emmer comes across as a Hollywood tough guy, willing to pick a fight against those who cross him regarding tax cuts and government spending.  But do Minnesotans really want a bully as their governor?

Horner's message that he's not as extreme to the left or right as Dayton and Emmer are have won him endorsements from nearly every newspaper in the state, as well as from former Governors Arne Carlson and Jesse Ventura.  But Horner doesn't have much of a chance because (A) he's not as flamboyant as Ventura, (B) he's too close to his public relations clients and won't reveal who they are, and (C) a vote for him is really a vote for the other guy.

Now a word about the Third District congressional race between Republican Erik Paulsen and Democrat Jim Meffert.  Incumbent Paulsen is the heir to Bill Frenzel and Jim Ramstad, Republicans who had the respect of rivals and constituents alike.  So why is Paulsen resorting to attack ads against Meffert, who because of limited finances restricts himself to a website and media appearances?  Paulsen has since come out with more positive ads, but the damage has already been done.

Tuesday, November 2nd, is the day when the final chapter of this election takes place.  It is to be written by we, the people, who march down to our polling places and decide the fate of the men and women who want to lead this state and nation.  But before you do that, study up on the candidates and make up your own mind.  Don't take our word for it, or those ads on TV.  See you after the election.

Promoting Fear and Balance

Image by Fairfax County Public Library via FlickrUnless you're an avid consumer of public radio and/or cable news, you've probably never heard of Juan Williams before last week.  Isn't he the guy who got fired from NPR (National Public Radio) as a news analyst for saying on TV that Muslims in traditional garb make him nervous when they share the same plane flight?

Williams said that during one of his appearances on the Fox News Channel, where he serves as a commentator.  NPR let him go because he was derelict in his duties, so they say.  So what's the difference between a commentator and a news analyst, you ask?  It depends on the employer.  FNC likes to think of itself as "fair and balanced", so long as its news coverage and the commentators who appear on it tilt to the right.  NPR is more in the traditional mode, where they tend to report the news straight and their analysts are supposed to hide their biases.  In other words, to conservatives, they're just another liberal network.

Leaving aside questions about this latest example of Islamophobia, promoting fear does have its rewards.  Williams, generally considered to be a liberal as well as being one of the few African-American faces on FNC, was just offered a new contract to remain as the resident punching bag for Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc.

Because of this incident, Republicans are threatening to cut NPR's federal funding when the next Congress convenes.  Conservatives would like nothing better than to see public broadcasting die.  And replace it with what?  They already have their own bullhorns in FNC and talk radio to shove down people's throats.

Pledge drives, as much as we loathe them, have never been better for NPR's member stations despite the Williams dismissal.  That said, why does NPR allow its people to appear on a network known for demonizing liberals?  And why was Williams tossed out with the trash without so much as a warning?  Does he not have a First Amendment right to say what he thinks at the risk of getting fired?

Fox News shouldn't be covering themselves with glory in this matter, either.  They are the most-watched of all the cable news channels, whether it's for regular programming or breaking news.  They have become, more or less, the house organ for the GOP.  But they are also the most reckless in its attitudes toward anyone who doesn't agree with them, and who in their view are a danger to the American Way of Life..  That's why Juan Williams has a job there, to reinforce those attitudes without having to keep his biases in check.

A Tale of Two NBA Teams

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAll eyes are on the Miami Heat as the NBA tips off its 2010-11 season.  The time has come to prove that three big stars--LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh--can play together as well as coexist together.  All for one and one for all, right?  Right?

The passions (to put it mildly) caused by James' nationally-televised decision to ditch his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for South Beach are still reverberating.  James has gone from a hero with no championships to a villain (outside of Miami, of course) whose new team has the potential of winning several, just like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and golfer Tiger Woods.

The Heat won't win every game this season because (A) we have a long way to go between now and April, (B) the possibility of injuries and playing less than their best on the court, and (C) there are other teams that can play just as well (or better) than they can on a given night.  As for whether the Heat can win the NBA title, who knows?  The Yankees aren't going to the World Series, the Cowboys are having a lousy NFL season, and Woods is having the kind of year he (and we) would like to forget.

On the other end of the spectrum lies the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose general manager David Kahn took out full-page newspaper ads to tell us that the team won't make the playoffs this season.  Whether it's supposed to be a motivational tool or not for his players, that'll really do wonders for ticket sales and TV ratings, won't it?

Kahn has moved so many players since he took over the Wolves that the only constants remaining are Kevin Love and coach Kurt Rambis.  The rest are relative newcomers, including Michael Beasley (from Miami, of all places) and Darko Milicic, who will try and bring the Wolves to respectability.

The Wolves had one of the worst records in the NBA last season.  So the only question is, how bad will it get this year?  One encouraging sign:  They were 6-2 in the preseason, including a win over the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in London.  But then, Kobe Bryant only played a few minutes due to injuries.  And teams usually tend to rest their best players against the Wolves.  When the regular season starts, they'll be back to their old selves again.

Enjoy this season because it looks as if next season the NBA might go the same way as the NFL, threatening to lock out its players while negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.  It may sound like rhetoric right now, but commissioner David Stern is reportedly talking about cutting back on players' salaries as well as contracting a few teams.  If Stern's serious about the latter, then Minnesota's a good place to start if things don't improve on and off the court.

Here's who we think will be playing past the regular season:

EAST  Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards.

WEST  Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs.

Change Has Come to "Gopher Nation"

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIt's been 50 years since the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers last won a national championship in football.  And it's been almost that long since the program has been anything but mediocre, with coaches coming and going, promising a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl but could only deliver on postseason trips to Phoenix or Nashville.

The latest coach to lead the Gopher faithful down the primrose path and getting burned is Tim Brewster, who had the dubious honor of being the first to get fired midway through the season.  His replacement, at least temporarily, is offensive coordinator Jeff Horton.

Brewster, who was hired with no previous head coaching experience (he was an assistant with the NFL Denver Broncos), certainly proved himself to be a motivator and a recruiter.  As a coach, not so much.

The Gophers won their opening game this season against Middle Tennessee State, then dropped the next six.  You don't lose to smaller schools such as South Dakota and Northern Illinois--at home, no less--and expect to keep your job.  After the loss to Purdue, university officials apparently decided enough was enough.

Overall, Brewster's teams were 15-30 with a bowl appearance or two sandwiched into a four-year period.  Of importance to Gopher fans, if not to anybody else, is that Brewster failed to win any of the so-called "trophy games" against their Big Ten rivals:  the Floyd of Rosedale against Iowa, the Axe against Wisconsin, and the Little Brown Jug against Michigan.  Of course, the Gophers have trouble winning these "trophies" no matter who the coach is.

Now the search begins for a new coach for the 2011 season.  Presumably, the ideal candidate should have had prior head coaching experience and have an excellent track record.  Tony Dungy, we hear, is reportedly not interested.

There are some who believe that Athletic Director Joel Maturi, the man who hired Brewster and who is on the hot seat himself, shouldn't be involved in the decision-making this time.  But he did bring in Tubby Smith, the man who led Kentucky to a national title in 1998, to be his men's basketball coach.

Ultimately, though, it takes more than a new coach or a new stadium to bring back the days of Bernie Bierman, Paul Giel or Sandy Stephens.  You have to have talent to compete in a conference like the Big Ten (which is adding Nebraska next year), and the Gophers don't have a whole lot of it.  Even high school football stars from Minnesota would rather go elsewhere than play for good ol' Ski-U-Mah.  That's what 50 years of mediocrity can do to a football program at the biggest university in the state.  The next coach has his work cut out for him.

Trouble In Eden (Prairie, That Is)

Everybody, whether they have children in school or not, seems to have an opinion on the quality of education they're getting.  It's where they're getting it that's another story.

Here in Eden Prairie, where a national magazine recently declared it the best city in America, the local school district announced a proposal to redraw the boundaries so that some children who currently go to one of the five elementary schools near where they live will be bused to another school somewhere else.  That would start with the 2011-12 school year.

The district claims they did this to ease the overcrowding of some schools, so they're going to even things up by moving at least 1000 kids to less-populated schools.  Oh, and the demographics needed to be changed to accommodate the various schools' free-to-reduced lunch program.

Some parents, who question the need to send their "little darlings" on a 25-30 minute commute across town when they could be walking to school in their own neighborhood, have responded  by threatening to pull their kids out of the district and moving elsewhere.

For those of us with long memories, doesn't this sound like what happened in the 1970s, when courts ordered big-city school districts to bus students to the suburbs to achieve racial balance?

As a former student who attended Eden Prairie schools in the 1960s and '70s, I could count the number of minority students with one hand  Maybe two.  Eden Prairie has grown a lot more diverse since then, but it's still overwhelmingly white.  Maybe that's why some parents don't want their children to be bused somewhere else.  Maybe they don't want them to know about "those other people".

The Eden Prairie School Board, led by Superintendent Melissa Krull, hasn't helped their cause by cutting parents (or anyone else) out of the loop on this issue.  They've been accused in the past, mainly by disgruntled parents and one of the local suburban newspapers, of alleged violations of Minnesota's open meeting laws and allegedly hiding behind the Data Practices Act every time someone wants information.  Now they may have resorted to this for legal reasons, which is fine.  But when you're accountable to the public, deciding the future of your children's education with something like this smells like a backroom deal gone bad.

No, not everything is perfect here in The Best City In America.  People want what's best for their kids, whether they're willing to pay through the nose for it or not.  They just don't like being told that they can't send their kids to a school that's close by, and are willing to take to the streets to prove their point.  But what are the kids learning?  That the actions of adults will have a big influence in their upbringing, and that they are powerless to stop it?

Pink Is The New Green

Image via WikipediaDid you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

How could you not?  The color of pink seems to be everywhere.  From yogurt cups and lipstick to NFL football players and the Sunday comics, the concept of being aware about breast cancer is at an all-time high.  Sometimes it gets to the point where you need another kind of pink--Pepto Bismol.

There's no mystery about why we're hearing more about breast cancer.  It's one of the leading killers of women.  So it shouldn't take much for them to self-examine themselves, then go to their nearest health professional if they find anything wrong, particularly if they're over 40 and/or have a family history of the disease.

Companies, even those who don't normally cater to women, have seized upon the pink and the ribbons not just to raise awareness, but to line their own pockets while making themselves look good.  Because breast cancer affects women.  And women buy stuff, thinking the money raised will help speed along the promise of a cure.

(If you're a man, seeing one of those products with a pink ribbon on it would have the same effect as a best-seller with the "Oprah's Book Club" label on it, or most of prime time TV.  You tend to stay away from them.)

It makes you wonder about all those other diseases besides breast cancer that have been begging for money for decades in the name of "research".  How come we are no closer to a cure for any of those than we were before, as millions more die every year?  Why the tease?

No matter how the new federal health care laws shake out (or even if the Republicans carry out their promise to gut them once they take over Congress after the elections), the insurance and pharmaceutical companies still have the upper hand.  Why, there could be cures for so many diseases that may have already been discovered.  But Big Insurance and Big Pharma could be keeping them under wraps because, with the money rolling in for so-called "research", why mess with a good thing?  Besides, if these cures were really available, the cost would be so exorbitant that few could afford them.

Thanks to social media, nearly everybody knows somebody who may or may not have survived breast cancer.  What we don't need are corporations and organizations who exploit and trivialize the seriousness of the disease just to make a buck.  Don't these women and their loved ones deserve better?

Twins 2010: Good, But Not Good Enough

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Minnesota Twins ended their season just like they ended some of their seasons in the past decade--losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series for the second consecutive year. 

While the Yankees will always be a team with a billion dollars' worth of talent playing at a high level, the Twins will continue to be a cut-and-paste operation reliant on minor leaguers and whatever players makes sense fiscally to management in the free agent market, new ball park or not.

Actually, the Twins' shortcomings became apparent long before getting swept by the Yankees.  Yes, they won the American League Central title for the second consecutive year with a record of 94-68, on the strength of having the best record in a division of bad or mediocre teams.  But the Twins won only two game since clinching the division.  And their record against the Yankees and the rest of the American League East was so abysmal, even the last-place Baltimore Orioles took a few games from them.

In the Year of the Pitcher in the major leagues, the Twins did not have a dominating arm, although Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano came close.  With reliever Joe Nathan sitting out the year because of surgery, Matt Capps--brought in here from the Washington Nationals, which explains a lot about that franchise--did a nice job as a fill-in closer.  Jesse Crain and Scott Baker reinvented themselves as effective middle relievers after no longer cutting it as starters.

The one free agent that really paid dividends for the Twins was Jim Thome.  His towering home runs at Target Field and elsewhere enabled him to surpass Harmon Killebrew and Mark McGwire in the post-steroids era career record book.  Never mind that Thome is 40 and needs a pinch runner for those times when he hits a ball inside the park.

Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Delmon Young and Jason Kubel had good years at the plate, even as it became obvious that Target Field was becoming a hitters' park for the other team.

Injuries have also been a factor.  Justin Morneau hasn't played since suffering a concussion in a July game at Toronto.  Joe Mauer has been in and out of the lineup, which prevented him from racking up his usual MVP-caliber stats.

Those in the know are talking up the possibility that Ron Gardenhire would finally be named the American League's Manager of the Year, after having been passed over several times.  But after what's happened to the team the past few weeks, don't be shocked if the honor goes to someone else again.

The Twins will contend for the Central Division crown again in 2011.  If they want to bring a world championship to Minnesota, they'd better have the kind of talent that can compete with all of the American League teams, not just two thirds of them.  Can they afford to do that?

The Return of Randy Moss

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Vikings have stumbled out of the gate this season with a 1-2 record, beating only the Detroit Lions (who should be 4-0 instead of 0-4).  The offense has been listless, and the defense not much better.  Fortunately for them, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are not going to run away with the NFC North division title.  But the Vikings needed to do something.

Then quarterback Brett Favre got a nice 41st birthday present:  the wide receiver he's always wanted since his days as a Packer.  Randy Moss is back in town.

The New England Patriots surprised the rest of the National Football League by trading Moss back to the Vikings, where he had starred from 1998 to 2004, for draft picks. 

Moss is one of the most exciting wide receivers the NFL has seen, when he's on.  But he's burned his bridges everywhere he went--from Minnesota to the Oakland Raiders to New England--because of his "I play when I want to play" attitude and his antics on and off the field. 

Bill Belichick, who likes to run a tight ship as coach of the Patriots, must have gotten tired of Moss' antics and his lack of production on the field.  So he would rather sacrifice his team's offense than put up with it.

For the Vikings, this latest example of owner Zygi Wilf's willingness to acquire name-brand talent is born of desperation.  He wants a Super Bowl.  He wants a Metrodome filled with purple.  He wants a new stadium. (Not necessarily in that order)  And the sooner, the better.

One would think that Moss, in his second tour of duty in Minnesota, has grown older and wiser at 33.    Then again, maybe not.  The rest of the season will determine if Moss has anything left to offer, or if the Vikings just traded for a nostalgia act.

For The Wild, "X" Might Miss the Playoff Spot

Image via WikipediaThis is the Minnesota Wild's 10th season in the National Hockey League (skipping over the 2004-05 season that never was).  With the exception of the 2003 run to the Western Conference finals, most of their short history has been as a one-and-done playoff team, if they got there at all.

Thanks to the combination of Jacques Lemaire's defense-first coaching and Doug Risebrough's conservative roster moves during most of the decade, current general manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Todd Richards are stuck in a box.  They couldn't choose difference-makers because of high draft numbers, and they couldn't sign veterans who aren't on the decline.  Thus, the Wild did not make the playoffs last season.  This year, they face another uphill battle.

Minnesota's new additions include Matt Cullen, John Madden (no relation to the former TV football commentator) and Brad Staubitz, who was brought in to replace departed enforcer--and fan favorite--Derek Boogaard.

Injuries still haunt the Wild.  Pierre-Marc Bouchard is recovering from a concussion that kept him from playing most of last season.  James Shepard was hurt in an ATV accident and won't return until midseason.  Goaltender Josh Harding was injured during a preseason game at St. Louis, so veteran netminder Jose Theodore has been signed to back up Niklas Backstrom.

To stay competitive, the Wild will need scoring from Mikko Koivu and Guillaume Latendresse, among others.  Enough scoring, that is, to avoid having to go into a shootout every night.

For nine season, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul has been sold out for every Wild game.  That may not be the case this season, as fans are getting tired of seeing their team perpetually struggling on the ice.  And they will continue to struggle without a playoff berth to show for it.

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The Chicago Blackhawks will try to defend its Stanley Cup title in spite of the exodus of many of its top players, reminding one of baseball's Florida Marlins.  After that team won World Series titles in 1997 and 2003, they got rid of most of its players and tanked in the standings for a few years.  If that happened to the Hawks, the Cubs might win the World Series before the Cup takes up residence in the Windy City again.

Here's who we think will still be playing in mid-April:

WEST  Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators.

EAST  Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers.

"Baseball" Could Have Used Another Inning

Image by Getty Images via @daylife"The Tenth Inning", Ken Burns' follow-up to his 1994 film "Baseball", ran for four hours over two nights on PBS.  In all that time to cover the last two decades of the sport, he didn't touch all the bases.

Just like racism was the underlying theme of the original documentary, steroids and its effects on the game served that role here.  Barry Bonds, suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs while eclipsing Hank Aaron's career home run record (for which Bonds still hasn't answered that question to anyone's satisfaction), was presented by Burns as a tragic hero.

The strike of '94, Cal Ripken Jr.'s consecutive game streak, the home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire (which turned out to be a mirage), 9/11, the Boston Red Sox finally winning a World Series, and the congressional steroid hearings were all adequately covered.  But Burns could have added these:

• An attempt by Major League Baseball to contract teams that couldn't compete financially or on the field, in which the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos were the most likely victims.  It failed, but the Expos did leave Canada in 2005 to become the Washington Nationals.
• In 1997, Major League Baseball honored the career of Jackie Robinson, its first African-American player, by retiring his number 42.
• The decline of African-Americans playing in the majors, who opted instead for the big money and instant gratification of football and basketball.

Inevitably, the fortunes of the Red Sox and New York Yankees got extensive play in "Tenth Inning", being the two most dominant franchises on and off the field since the strike.  There were other players and teams who made their mark during this period.  But unless you played the Red Sox or Yankees in the World Series (or Bonds and the San Francisco Giants in 2002), you hardly rated a mention with Burns.

"Baseball:  The Tenth Inning", for all its flaws, remains a valuable document on the history of the game.  But if Ken Burns ever decides to do an "Eleventh Inning", he might want to look beyond Boston and New York for material.

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Oh, one more thing.  We foresee a rematch between the Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies in this year's World Series.