No titles, sure -- but lots of good stories

Sport makes whiners of us all. By "us all" I mean "you."

Sport is like golf -- in theory an exercise in relaxation, in reality a Taser to the soul.

If I hear one more Vikings or Twins fan complain that their team never wins championships, or one more Gophers fan or Wild fan complain they were robbed by the officials, I'm going to turn Cal Clutterbuck's name into an offensive anagram.

Meet the average fan, and the first two things they'll tell you are just how accomplished they are in the world of fandom ("I've been a Vikings fan since 2007!") and how wronged they feel because their loyalty has not been rewarded by a victory parade ("Why can't we just win it all every year?").

No one ever promised you a rose garden or a Rose Bowl. Well, Tim Brewster promised you a Rose Bowl, but if you bought that, you probably also own newspaper stock and are waiting for someone to meet your eBay "Buy It Now" price of $50,000 on your vintage '75 AMC Pacer.

Our airwaves are filled with complaints and paranoia regarding the local teams, but anyone with a little perspective would recognize that as we begin the new year, we're blessed with some of the best athletes and story lines in the nation. Consider:

A nice kid from St. Paul became the American League Most Valuable Player while leading the Twins to the playoffs and winning the third batting title ever earned by an AL catcher. Yes, Joe Mauer also won the other two, and he's about to sign a long-term contract extension that will dovetail with the opening of beautiful Target Field. He and buddy Justin Morneau gave the Twins two MVP Awards in four seasons.

Mauer's stunning season -- and return from an injury that forced him to miss the first month of the season -- overlapped with what might rank as the biggest sports story in the country in 2009: The Brett Favre saga.

Favre, already the most prolific passer in NFL history, enjoyed his most efficient and perhaps most impressive season ever, recording career bests in passer rating (107.2) and interception percentage (1.3) and leading the Vikings to 12 victories at the age of 40.

Somehow local fans continue to complain about Vikings coach Brad Childress (and by extension offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell) even though they presided over a season in which the Vikings won 12 regular season games, went 8-0 at home and earned a first-round bye for the first time since 1998, and coached Favre to his most controlled season ever.

The Vikings' braintrust has amassed one of the best rosters in football, at great expense.

The Twins played one of the most memorable games in recent baseball history, Game 163, the day after Favre beat the Packers in the Metrodome.

Fletcher and the coach he hired, Todd Richards, are setting the Wild up for future success at a time they would have been justified in throwing their hands in the air, blowing up the franchise's infrastructure, and starting over.

The Timberwolves, although often pathetic on the court, now have a coach who holds his players accountable; high draft picks in the immediate future; plenty of cap space; the emergence of Kevin Love as a potential star; and a general manager willing to at least attempt cleansing the toxic mess made by his predecessors.

Tubby Smith has restored standards to the Gophers basketball program. We can't expect to see quality opponents at Williams Arena until January, but we can count on sound defense and maximum effort from his players. He gives the Gophers a chance to contend in what is suddenly a deep and well-coached conference.

In Target Field, Xcel Energy Center, Williams Arena and TCF Bank Stadium, our towns possess four of the best places in the country to watch sports.

Yes, we are burdened by Gophers hockey and football, but new coaches should fix what ails those programs.