Multiple-car pileup

I grew up in Wisconsin and lately the sports news has been pretty good. The Packers won the Super Bowl after an improbable run through the playoffs. The Wisconsin Badgers won a share of the Big Ten title in football and a spot in the Rose Bowl. The Badger women's hockey program won the NCAA championship and the men's basketball teams from Wisconsin and Marquette both made it to the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA men's basketball championship. Yes, the Milwaukee Bucks were terrible, but all in all, it's been a lot of fun lately.

I live in Minnesota, though. And here the sporting landscape is, well, dismal. Let's see:

• The Vikings were supposed to have a Super Bowl run. Instead, Brett Favre suddenly realized he was 41 years old, the rest of the team performed well below expectations and then, to add insult to injury, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed.
• The Minnesota Wild performed well below expectations, missed the playoffs and fired their coach.
• The Minnesota Gophers were dismal up and down the line. The football team was at the bottom of the Big 10 and the coach was fired. The men's and women's basketball teams were both second division performers and the hockey programs made no progress.
• And last, but certainly least, the Minnesota Timberwolves end the year with the worst record in the NBA, which likely means they'll draft about 5th this year, given their history.

It's weird, actually. There's no reason why all these things happened at the same time; most of these entities operate independently of one another and, in recent history, all have been successful enterprises. But here we are.

I'm planning to write a few posts in the coming days about the various travails of these teams and programs. I think it's an interesting story. Or, rather, series of stories.