It was a strangely quiet October night in local college and pro sports on Thursday, and Friday isn't much noisier.
Four home games. One Saturday. Can Minnesota keep winning?
The Gophers, Wild, Timberwolves and Minnesota United are all home on Saturday. They'll try to keep the good times going.
October 22, 2021 at 3:54PM
Saturday, though, will put your sports endurance — and the positive energy generated among our major teams lately — to the test.
The Gophers football team has won two consecutive games. The Wild started the year 3-0. The Wolves won their opener Wednesday. Minnesota United has a two-game winning streak.
All four of them will put those unblemished runs on the line Saturday. And all four of them will do so with home games that all start within a 4.5-hour span of each other — something I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast.
Here's the gamut:
Maryland at Gophers football, 2:30 p.m., Huntington Bank Stadium.
Anaheim at Wild, 5 p.m., Xcel Energy Center.
LAFC at Loons, 7 p.m., Allianz Field.
Pelicans at Wolves, 7 p.m., Target Center.
An enterprising sort could probably get to about half of all four games — using the Green Line, by the way, for all of it. I totaled up the "get-in" prices for all four games on StubHub and found it was a combined $129 (not including fees).
Just saying: Stay until halftime of the Gophers game, scoot to the X for the first and part of the second period, cruise to Allianz for the first half, then over to Target Center for the second half.
But I digress. For you, it's the opportunity to see multiple games. For the teams, it's a chance to keep momentum. None of the opponents are necessarily marquee names but all of the games are important.
The Gophers can establish further contention in the Big Ten with a win. The Wild can start 4-0. The Loons are locked in a playoff battle and need these three points. The Wolves can provide evidence that their opener wasn't a fluke.
I'll put the over-under on Minnesota wins Saturday at 2.5. I'll put the over-under on hours of sports consumed Saturday at a higher number.
But hey: At least the Vikings, also on a two-game winning streak, have a bye this week and will let you catch up on life outside of sports on Sunday.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
