It was with little (American) fanfare that Boston and Oakland brought in the MLB season last week in Japan.With painfully early start times in the states (3:00 a.m. on the West Coast), the earliest "Opening Day" date in human history (Do the MLB powers not know what the hell a March Madness bracket is?), and with players donning advertisements akin to NASCAR racers (although Tokyo is kind of in "Southern" Japan) there was little buzz about the Eastern Opener.

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Good news from Wild PR spokesman Ryan Stanzel: Kurtis Foster is back home and recovering from his broken leg.

Defenseman Kurtis Foster, who sustained a displaced fracture of his left femur March 19 at San Jose, necessitating surgery, was transported by plane today from San Jose to Minneapolis. He will be admitted to an area hospital, where he will be evaluated by a team doctor, and where he will continue the physical therapy he has been undergoing daily at San Jose's O'Connor Hospital. He will be discharged when he is physically able to move about his home under his own power. There is no set timetable for moving him into his home. His progress will dictate when he leaves the hospital.

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"The identity you think you are does not exist." -- Source and Date Unknown

And so it begins. But before we delve into what the answers are for this 2008 campaign, we must first recognize the questions, the most important of which is: WHAT THE HELL ARE WE? What are we? A small market club building toward the proverbial future (with a payroll nearing $70 million)? A retooled American League Sleeper just one season removed from a divisional title? Cheapskates? A team waiting in the weeds, preparing to pounce in 2010 upon the unveiling of our still-to-be named, uncovered (please note predicted temperature of this year's Opening Day) ballpark? Or perhaps, like so many other clubs: sanguine, hopeful, grinding, streaky, enigmatic, and perhaps, woefully average.

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Not really. But he did finally lose. Tiger's streak of seven straight tournament victories, including five PGA Tour events, came to an end today at the CA Championship. Starting the rain-ravaged tournament's final day with seven holes to play and five strokes behind, Woods couldn't close the gap on Geoff Ogilvy. He finished a shameful fifth on the leaderboard--two strokes behind the leader.

U.S. faces Canada tonight with Olympic birth at stake

The U.S. is yet to deliver a convincing performance in Olympic qualifying. The team staggered to a 1-1- draw against Cuba, then added 1-0 victories over CONCACAF minnows Panama and Honduras. Even more troubling the Americans scored just one goal from the run of play during those three matches. But the squad's lack of dynamic, attacking soccer will be irrelevant if they can knock off Canada tonight (8 p.m. CST, Fox Soccer Channel) in Nashville and claim a spot in Beijing. The other semifinal will feature Guatemala and Honduras (5:00, FSC)

The Canucks advanced by crushing Guatemala 5-0, in the process (hilariously) eliminating Mexico. So the Americans will be a facing a border rival this evening, but it won't be the one that everyone anticipated. Midfielders Freddy Adu and Stuart Holden (pictured above) have been the most impressive attacking players for the U.S., while Chad Barrett and Eddie Gaven have been notably poor. The former has displayed feet of stone, while the latter seems to lack sufficient mettle for international competition. Jonathan Spector, who lately has been starting for West Ham in the EPL, has joined the squad in Music City to bolster the defense. He'll likely be paired with the promising Michael Orozco in central defense.

Folks in the Twin Cities will be gathering to watch the match at the Sweetwater. Join us.

Well, the Gophers’ season came to a rather depressing end on Tuesday night, with a 68-58 loss to Maryland, in the first round of the NIT. The game was basically even save for the second half’s dreadful four opening minutes. In that stretch, the Terrapins took advantage of a discombobulated Gophers’ squad, fast-breaking and dunking their way to a 12-2 run. The Gophers had already been struggling on offense, failing to break 60 points or shoot better than 40% in their previous five games. This situation was not helped, to put it mildly, by the loss of their best scorer and only true one-on-one threat, Lawrence McKenzie, who injured his foot in practice. The team made some open shots early in the game in jumping to a 16-10 lead but, for the most part, they had an impossible time getting good looks.

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It's no mystery that Minnesotan sports fans are the strong possessors of the strange and unique tenet known kindly as Nostalgia. That may be putting it nicely.  Another way of noting this will be emblematic, in time, as evidenced by the great Sid Hartman's eventual gravestone which will surely include the fact that Rick Rickert signed a new two-year contract to hoop in Turkey, or some such place ... 

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As a lifelong Maryland Terrapin fan, proud owner of a "Fear the Turtle" t-shirt, and ardent believer that the day Len Bias died was the most tragic in sports history, a brief consideration of what the Gophers will face on Tuesday night.

Maryland got off to one of the worst starts in school history. They lost to a string of anemic teams prior to the ACC season: American, Ohio (University, not State), Virginia Commonwealth. Then they suddenly got their shit together and won six of seven in the ACC, highlighted by an away victory over top-ranked North Carolina. Just five weeks ago the terps looked to be a tournament lock and potentially a highly dangerous team in the post-season.

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In case you haven’t heard, the Big Ten is a little down this year (um, decade). I’ve heard lots of TV commentators attempt to counter this statement (usually by appealing to the quality of the conference’s coaches) but the tournament selection committee seems agree with the prevailing sentiment, as evidenced by the fact that only four teams were chosen for the 64-team field. Among the major conferences, only the ACC did as poorly and we saw what happened when the two leagues went head-to-head (in case you missed it, the ACC won almost every game). Even worse, the style of play that has taken hold in the Big Ten, a sludgy, defense and half-court approach, is pretty unpalatable. I really don’t know if this conservatism is a philosophic choice (some uncharitable reflection of dour midwesternism, maybe) or a response to the league’s general lack of talent, but, frankly, it’s a little depressing.

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The 8-game suspension handed down to Anaheim's Chris Pronger for stomping Vancouver's Ryan Kesler is being questioned by those who remember the 30-game suspension for a similar incident involving Wild winger Chris Simon.

First, here's a video of Pronger's actions:

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