Remember the good ol’ days, when athletes devoted almost full attention to performing their best in competition, and the media could write about what happened in the game, and the fans enjoyed it all within their hero-worshipping world?
Those days are long gone, and not many things have put on display the strange and weird world of sports we follow these days as much as the antics of three different superstars. And two of the three did their thing right within the borders of Minnesota.
The three are Adrian Peterson of the Vikings, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.
When it comes to football training camp time, my general reaction is – Yawn! I mean, every team is undefeated, optimism is at a high that won’t be anywhere near as universal once exhibition games start. And it is genuinely tiresome to read and hear all the breathless raves about every player on every NFL team every day of camp. Even the rookies, who are trying desperately to impress the coaches that they should make the final regular-season roster, get nothing but accolades through training camp. Then, many of them will disappear, never to be heard from again.
But here in Minnesota, there is perhaps more interest in the Minnesota Vikings training camp down at Mankato than at any time since a guy named Brett Favre dedicated a couple of seasons to lift the Vikings to true championship caliber. The reason is, of course, Adrian Peterson. He missed all of last season, in case you don’t remember, because the NFL decided to get tough and enforce a policy that really didn’t exist, because people were so upset that it had been learned that Peterson had swatted one of his numerous kids with a switch from a tree. He admitted that he overdid it, continuing to swat him harder and harder because the kid didn’t show any reaction to the pain.
Peterson was brought up that way, and, since there is no such thing as a parenting handbook, all he knew about being a dad was to do the things that had been done to him. Some of us could see that Peterson overacted, while others decided he was a worthless human being because of his “beating” of his defenseless youngster, and the majority of fans and media were outspoken in claiming that Peterson would never again play for the Vikings – and who cares? He shouldn’t, because he’s a bad guy.
Rodriguez, the Yankee star who could never live up to the wholesomeness of teammate Derek Jeter but kept on hitting home runs and providing power to the offense, missed last year’s baseball season because it was finally deduced that he had taken performance-enhancing stuff from one of those secret sources athletes seem to come up with. Rodriguez’s problem, larger than the stuff he took, was that it was determined he lied about using the stuff, right to the end. When he was suspended, the baseball world didn’t care. Rodriguez was written off as just another of those stars who attained superstardom by cheating on the things he put into his body. So when he went out, baseball fans everywhere said, good riddance.
If Peterson and Rodriguez made their returns this summer as consensus bad guys, Tom Brady was Simon Pure of the NFL, the quarterback of the New England Patriots who could only be disliked by those who can’t tolerate dominating teams, comprised of dominating players. Brady pulled it all together and led his team to a decade of glory. Then the controversy came around, that the Patriots had purposely let a little air out of the footballs because Brady wanted a softer ball, easier to grip and to catch, in the playoff game. Word came back around from the guys who let the air out that it was indeed Brady who ordered the move. After a lengthy investigation, Brady continued to deny any wrongdoing, or knowledge of the wrongdoing. Some excused him, with a “who cares?” attitude, but others were offended that he would stoop to such an absurd trick, and more offended that he continued to deny what appears to be his obvious commitment of the act. He was given a four-game suspension, and after a lengthy appeal process, it was upheld.
Where does that put us all? Well, a contrite Peterson is back in camp, and coach Mike Zimmer couldn’t be happier. Trying to keep the Vikings viable without the league’s best running back was a huge challenge, and somehow Zimmer – with a giant assist by rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater -- pretty well pulled it off. Now you insert Peterson into the backfield, even dashing through the line in a shorts-and-tee-shirt drill impressed his teammates, his coaches, and most of all, Vikings fans, who line up every day at practice and pressure Peterson for autographs.
I must say that it was always my feeling that no matter how nasty Vikings fans could be that Peterson is back, as soon as he cracks one of his sizzling runs, all would be forgiven. Turns out, it didn’t take that long. As soon as Peterson hit the practice field, Vikings fans started having visions of Super Bowls. My thought is more pragmatic: As impressive as Bridgewater was as a rookie, he now will be doubly effective with his astute play-calling and great touch on passes thrown hard or feathered when he can hand the ball to No. 28 on about half of all Vikings offensive plays.
Rodriguez has heard his share of boos all around Major League Baseball all season, and when the Yankees came to Target Field last week to face the Twins, it took only one game, when the Twins led 5-0, for Rodriguez to sock a home run, then a second home run, and then a third home run as the Yankees came back to crush the Twins. Suddenly Rodriguez, who seems more personable and, yes, apologetic, is being recognized for the superstar he is. When he gets motivated, he not only hits the ball, he hits it a long way – blasting the longest home run in the new Yankee Stadium right before coming to Minnesota to destroy the Twins. Maybe all is not forgiven, but certainly a lot of it is, as long as A-Rod keeps sending rockets out of A.L. ballparks.
That leaves Brady, whose “crime” might be the smallest of the three bad guys for the purpose of this essay, but who right now seems the most reprehensible of the three for a couple of reasons.
First, I don’t care what amount of air pressure is pumped into footballs for NFL games. In fact, I could see the NFL adopting a rule that says both teams can choose how much air pressure they want when their side has the ball. But to do it and then deny it makes the crime worse, tenfold, in my opinion. The reason? Right before the investigation, Brady was commanded to bring in his cellphone for the evidence that was on it. Apparently that was all set. And then Brady destroyed the cellphone and everything that was on it.
Now, that’s as phony as a junior high kid telling his teacher that his dog ate his homework. Only worse. Brady now seems like a spoiled brat, who, if he indeed is innocent, would have no reason to hide the evidence, let alone destroy it. That, alone, led the NFL to uphold his four game suspension. And it shades my feeling about those three athletes.
I want to see the Vikings succeed, and Peterson paid his dues by being forced to sit out an entire season for a personal parenting act that I don’t in any way agree with, but which also had nothing to do with his football play. If it was a crime, let the police handle it. The NFL should work to make its game better, and to tutor its star players on how to best blend in with society. It should not be dealing with issues that law enforcement should be handling.
Rodriguez? Same thing. I’ve never been a Yankees fan, but I am absolutely impressed with their current rocket-like climb up the standings since the All-Star break. By the way, Rodriguez never got a tumble to be one of the five final candidates for selection, a fact that may have been lost on provincial Twins fans, in the midst of their emotional clamoring for Brian Dozier to make the team. But Rodriguez has 24 home runs, 60 RBIs, and an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of something over .916. How a team plays coming out of the All-Star Game can prove vital to a whole season’s status, and the Yankees are the hottest team in baseball. Alex Rodriguez, who wrote out a note by hand taking responsibility for his ban and blaming nobody else, won’t let them fail.
As for the Patriots, they may be close to helpless in the first four games of the season without Brady, but it’s when he returns that I’ll be anxious to see how he handles playing from somewhere other than the pedestal he’s trying to maintain.

Great Night for a Huskies Ballgame

It was one of those too-good-to-be-true summer nights in Duluth last Monday, and the Duluth Huskies were home in Wade Stadium to take on the Rochester Honkers in a Northwoods League game. It was just another second half game for the Honkers, but a pivotal one for the Huskies, who still held out hope of winning the second half pennant.

As it evolved, Rochester beat the Huskies 7-6, but it was one of those nights when it was just a treat to be at the renovated Wade Stadium and enjoy the ballgame for what it was.

Alex Strizak blanked the visitors without a hit through the first three innings, and the Huskies gained a 2-0 lead on a pop fly that fell in, and a sacrifice fly by Cal Stevenson in the second inning. It didn’t last, because the first two hits Rochester got were singles, and they were followed when Joe DeRoche-Duffin hit his 10th home run of the season, way over the center field wall, a 3-run blast that gave the Honkers a 3-2 lead. But in the last of the fourth, Stevenson, a freshman at Nevada, and a left-handed hitting center-fielder, socked a 3-run homer to right, and it vaulted the Huskies back ahead, 5-3.

The Honkers tied it with single runs in the fifth and sixth, but Stevenson singled home a run in the last of the sixth to put the Huskies back up 6-5. But in the top of the seventh, leadoff man Alex Schultz singled home William Paschal to tie it, and Schultz scored on a single by Miles Mastrobuoni for a 7-6 Rochester lead. It ended that way, but there were so many great defensive plays in the game that they figured in the outcome, and the evening’s entertainment, as much as the explosive offenses.

Paschal, playing third base for Rochester, went 2-4 with two doubles, but at third base in the last of the third inning, UMD second baseman hit a shot down the third base line. Paschal took a step and dived, spearing the hot grounder, jumping to his feet and throwing him out at first. Next up, Alex Wojciechowski, UMD’s contribution to the Huskies first base solidarity, hit an even harder rocket down the third base line. Paschal took a step and made another dive – snagging the liner with a backhand lunge before landing on the turf.

Rochester shortstop Miles Mastrobuoni, who also went 2-4 at bat, made a pair of spectacular plays behind second base later in the game, amazingly grabbing grounders up the middle both times, and throwing out one while just missing the second. Leadoff man Schultz also got two hits for Rochester.

Stevenson, meanwhile, was 2-3 with a sacrifice fly and drove in five of the six Huskies runs.

That loss could prove costly to the Huskies, but they still should be in good position to make the Northwoods playoffs as a wild card team. But here’s the weird thing about the schedule. The Huskies, after two games with Rochester Monday and Tuesday, hit the road for two games, then come home to face the Mankato Moondogs Thursday and Friday at Wade Stadium. After that, the season doesn’t end, it just ends for the Huskies home fans! The team’s final eight games are all on the road. After Friday night, the only way the Huskies will play at Wade this summer are if they make the playoffs and get a home game or two.
Regardless, the Huskies have an interesting and talented team, and if you can look past the usual provincialism and just want to find a couple of hours of entertaining baseball, time is running out on getting out to Wade Stadium and taking in a game.