A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal presidential poll came out Wednesday, and for some reason I've decided to take one of the most important decisions in our country and turn it into a vehicle to talk about Minnesota's sports teams.
You'll find no analysis here of Hillary Clinton's six-point lead over Donald Trump. Instead, you'll find the qualities of several of Minnesota's teams put through a few of the same poll questions that formed the basis of the recent candidate poll. And instead of putting this to a vote, this is a dictatorship: only my vote counts (at least until we reach the comments section, where you should obviously chime in).
The entities who will be considered here: Vikings, Twins, Wild, Wolves, Lynx, United and Gophers.
And here are the questions, modeled after some of the questions in the poll. We'll grade the first two on a scale of 1-100.
*All in all, do you think that things are generally headed in the right direction, or do you feel that things are off on the wrong track?
Vikings: GM Rick Spielman has his critics, and the team has been exposed as being thin at QB and offensive line due to recent injuries and poor play. But overall, there's no denying this is a team on the upswing and that the GM at least deserves some of the credit for a deep roster. Approval rating: 75.
Twins: If the election was a year ago, the Twins and Terry Ryan would have been right in the hunt. But now, heading toward a 100-loss season in which Ryan was fired and several prospects have stalled? Confidence is low, and the franchise is one David Kahn-esque personnel hire away from deep oblivion. Approval rating: 25.
Wild: Here's an interesting one. If we consider where the franchise was four years ago — full of optimism after signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, but coming off a slew of disappointing seasons — the on-ice product is certainly better. But are things headed in the right direction? They seem at more of a standstill, or at least a step forward/step back pace under GM Chuck Fletcher. Approval rating: 50.
