Minnesota is a state with a fragile collective sports psyche. We don't believe in bad news coming in threes, unless we're talking about years or decades. And so if you watched the awful end of that Gophers game Saturday (and maybe even flipped over after to see the Wild lose in overtime), you might have wondered this: Should I even bother watching the Vikings on Sunday? I know what is going to happen.

But there's this: That 23-20 win was completely off script for everything we have come to expect about Minnesota sports in general, the Vikings in particular and the direction of the weekend specifically.

TRACK MEET I hereby declare the Saints and Giants to be honorary members of the Big 12 after their 52-49 shootout on Sunday.

Great stat As noted by the Timberwolves' PR staff, the three teams Flip Saunders coached (Wolves, Pistons, Wizards) started the year a combined 7-0.