ESPN recently released its "Ultimate Standings" for all 122 franchises in MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL. They gave a fancy-pants explanation of how they got their numbers, but all you care about is where your team is ranked, right?

Well, the Minnesota teams fared thusly: Wild, No. 50; Twins, No. 58; Vikings, No. 69; Wolves, No. 83. Average of the four: 65.

In other words, we have no standouts. We have no real dogs. We are right in the middle.

The most interesting part, to us, was the top five: 1) Memphis Grizzlies; 2) San Antonio Spurs; 3) Indiana Pacers; 4) Oklahoma City Thunder and 5) Green Bay Packers.

The top four are, interestingly, NBA teams.

Also: Four of the five are franchises in markets that only have one of the "major" four pro sports, at least as defined by ESPN. The other, the Pacers, are in a two-sport market (Indianapolis also has the Colts).

Those teams have been pretty successful, Green Bay's back-to-back increasingly lost seasons notwithstanding. And if there is only so much to get excited about, fans will be thankful for what's available.