Sid Hartman: It's been a bad time for all of our teams

I can't recall a period when this area had so many losing teams -- pro and college -- as the past few months. The Gophers and Vikings football teams didn't do well, the Gophers women's basketball team struggled, the men's team fell apart, the men's hockey team missed the NCAA tournament again, the Timberwolves have been bad all season and the Wild appears to be out of the playoffs again as well.

And you wonder if the immediate future looks bright for any of these teams.

The trend in the NBA seems to be for all the premier players to go to the big markets such as New York and Miami, and if you talk to the experts they will tell you that David Kahn, president of the Wolves, is going to have a hard time getting any big-time free agents to play here.

The Wolves won 15 games last year and aren't likely to get more than 20 this year.

The trade of Kevin Garnett to Boston started the Wolves on the way down, and it hasn't turned around yet.

After losing in overtime Saturday to Columbus coming off an 0-4 road trip, the Wild looks as if it will be missing the playoffs for the third year in a row. Losing Marian Gaborik to free agency without getting anything in return for him didn't help the team any, and with a payroll near the salary cap limit, General Manager Chuck Fletcher and company are going to have a hard time improving this team.

The Vikings, with 19 free agents and without a top quarterback on the roster, will take some time to rebuild -- and with the Super Bowl champion Packers loaded, winning an NFC North title next year will be difficult. Similarly, the Gophers, who haven't won a Big Ten football title since 1967, also will be playing with a new coach and a new quarterback as they attempt to climb out of the conference basement. They have not been able to recruit the standout defensive players that they need to win; look for it to take maybe three years to build a winner.

Yes, we didn't forget the Twins. Even though they continue to win division titles, they still haven't gone past the first round of the playoffs since 2002 and haven't won a World Series since 1991, 20 years ago.

My great tutor -- Dick Cullum, who gave me my first job in this business -- used to write about the lose and love club when mentioning the bad records of local teams.

Cullum would have a ball writing about the many losers in this community.

Gets invitationBlake Hoffarber, the Gophers senior guard, has received an invitation to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, where 45 seniors will try to sell pro scouts from the NBA and overseas that they can make the next step in their basketball careers.

Meanwhile, Hoffarber was happy to see St. Thomas win the Division III national championship Saturday with a 78-54 blowout victory over Wooster. The Tommies were led by Hoffarber's former Hopkins High School teammate Tyler Nicolai, who scored 11 points in the championship game and was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. The 5-11 Nicolai was the leading scorer for St. Thomas this season at 14.6 points per game.

"I've been shooting baskets with him since we were in kindergarten at Hopkins. He's one of my best friends. I still hang out with him. It was great having him as my point guard. He never turned the ball over. He made the right pass and he took the shot when it was there.

"He actually had a couple of chances to go to lower Division I programs but I guess he wanted to stay at home."

Hoffarber was able to go watch Nicolai play this winter when St. Thomas played Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"I usually got over to St. Thomas once a year to watch him play," Hoffarber said. "He's one of the best guys you ever met, and it's great to have this happen to him in his senior year."

Jottings• The Gophers open spring football practice Wednesday and will conclude it with a spring game April 23 at TCF Bank Stadium. However, because of the lack of numbers on the squad, there won't be a full scrimmage on that day. ... Since the original announcement of the signing of Gophers players, five additional players have signed on to join the team: Josh Campion, a tackle originally from Fergus Falls who played at Fork Union Military Academy last season; wide receiver Ge'shun Harris of Arizona Western College; kicker Chris Hawthorne, a transfer from North Carolina State; defensive back Marcus Jones of Wake Forest (N.C.) Rolesville High School; and tight end John Rabe from Ellsworth Community College in Iowa. In addition, the Gophers have received three commitments for 2012 in Waconia wide receiver Maxx Williams, who is the son of former Gophers center Brian Williams and a nephew of former Gophers fullback Ron Goetz; Andre McDonald, a wide receiver from Hopkins; and quarterback Phil Nelson of Mankato West.

• Lee Smith, coach of the Eden Prairie boys' hockey state championship team, said that only two members of the 13 seniors on the team have committed to play college hockey: Kyle Rau, the state's top player, to the Gophers and defenseman Nick Seeler, who has committed to Nebraska-Omaha to play for Dean Blais. Smith expects defenseman Dan Molenaar to end up signing somewhere. Asked if Rau was the best hockey player he has coached in his time at Eden Prairie, Smith said: "Well, he's got to be up there. His brother [Curt] was tremendous. Nick Leddy is playing for the Blackhawks right now, there's some other good ones. But as far as a high school career, I don't think anyone had a better high school career than Kyle, for sure. He's got a bright future in front of him."