I am writing this week exhausted from the incredible sports weekend in the Twin Cities. Saturday the Gophers predictably fell to the Badgers for the umpteenth time and the Johnnies made a valiant comeback to shock the Royals in Collegeville. Sunday the Twins thrilled the 51 thousand at the Dome and those tuned in on TV with a dominating win to clinch a berth in a 1 game tiebreaker for the AL Central Division Title. Monday night brought cold rains, raucous crowds, incredible tailgating outside the Metrodome, and a shootout where Brett Favre looked like his mid-90s prime in front of the largest cable TV audience in history. And last but certainly not least Tuesday afternoon/evening was the Tigers vs Twins showdown that didn’t want to end and is being called one of the greatest regular season games in baseball history. The Wild played across town in St. Paul at 8pm and fell behind 3-0 only to make an incredible comeback scoring the winning goal in overtime to win their Home Opener 4-3 over Anaheim. Holy cow!! And the train doesn’t stop for anyone tonight. The Twins are in the Bronx less than 24 hours after defeating the Tigers in Game 1 of the ALDS.
With all that going on, Saturday seems like a distant memory at this point. The Johnnies and Royals combined for numerous mistakes which prevented either team from separating themselves from the other. The Johnnies stormed back to overcome a 14-0 4th quarter deficit including a late missed extra point from Russell Gliadon. The 49 yarder to win the game with 2.8 seconds left has become a YouTube instant classic with over 42 thousand views. The spontaneous excitement expressed in the voice of Johnnie Football, Mark Lewandowski, makes this video one you want to watch multiple times as a Johnnie fan.
The Johnnies face Hamline this weekend in St. Paul. The Pipers have been an annual doormat in the MIAC for a long time. It is hard to get excited about the game while as a fan having the luxury to look ahead to the Tommies on October 17th. An enormous crowd (10K+), as always, is expected in Collegeville for that matchup. Here’s hoping that the Tommies can sneak by the Cobbers this Saturday allowing them to come to St. John’s undefeated!!!!
