Blizzard

Lakers-Celtics
It's the former Minnesota NBA Finals! The Lakers won their first five championships as the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Celtics' superstar Kevin Garnett...well, you know that already, don't you?

Obviously the Lakers are going to win--when you leave Minnesota, it takes some time to shake off the playoff choking bug. After leaving Minneapolis, the Los Angeles Lakers lost in the NBA Finals seven times before finally winning a championship in L.A. in 1972. The Patriots lost the Super Bowl largely because Randy Moss wasn't quite far enough removed from Minnesota. And now KG is supposed to win a championship immediately after leaving the land of 10,000 lakes? Not bloody likely!

Still, it's exciting when teams with a combined 30 championships meet in the NBA Finals. You can't help but feel this year's NBA Finals really, really means something. I mean, really, aren't you sort of excited just to see those jerseys? Doesn't the green and white and the purple and gold look great together on the basketball court?

I'll be rooting for the Celtics because my soul is not crusty and pestilent, even though that means rooting for yet another Boston championship.

These are the times that try men's souls
In January, I vowed not to read a column by Tom Powers or Jim Souhan for all of 2008. It means fewer "bad sportswriting" features, but I just wanted to be happy, man.

But now it's summer, and there isn't a lot of hard football news, and a football junkie will look for any article on the Vikings at all for a fix. And Powers and Souhan are writing about the Vikes more frequently, providing a possible fix. But I just know I'm going to be annoyed or insulted if I follow the link, so I keep skipping their columns.

It's time
I'm hoping to get down to my serious fantasy football analysis and preparation this week. Regular fantasy football posts won't show up on this blog until sometime after the NBA Finals. But I've got to get my analysis going--the Hazelweird Draft is approximately two months away! We think. As we go further into adulthood, our adult responsibilities make scheduling a draft date more difficult.

Links
Bryant McKinnie is meeting with Roger Goodell (Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, ProFootballTalk). When they negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, the players need to demand a system in which player discipline and punishment isn't at the subjective discretion of one person.

Viking Update looks at the Vikes' special teams.

Football Outsiders previews its Kubiak top 25.

My current fantasy baseball hero: Adrian Gonzalez.

ESPN sums up 10 great playoff games between the Celtics and Lakers.

Fire Joe Morgan looks at Jemele Hill's column arguing for a Spurs-Pistons Finals.

Joe Namath turns 65 (Hashmarks). If you're like me, you best know Namath from the slow motion highlights of Super Bowl III, and as a key figure in pro football history (choosing the AFL over the NFL, forcing a merger with the Super Bowl victory), and these things make it seem like Namath must have existed sometime in the 15th century. But no, I'm surprised to learn that he's just 65. Or maybe I've reached the age when 65 doesn't seem that old. I don't know.

Jay Cutler, fantasy prospect (Pancake Blocks). Lately I feel like I keep getting Jay Cutler cards. And every time I open a pack of baseball cards, there's usually an Ichiro card. I sort of like that, actually.

Alright, I've got one more episode from Treasures of the Twilight Zone to go watch. Have good times, people.