Pick up the Slack

Pick up the Slack: Super Bowl reaction

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com If someone had told me before Sunday’s Super Bowl that in the final minute, one team would punch in a go-ahead touchdown, only for the other to come within a foot of hauling in a last-second Hail Mary pass, I would have been ecstatic. As often as not championship  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Super Bowl prediction

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Every once in awhile when dealing with a work assignment, the urge to “mail it in” kicks in. Thankfully, I work with newspapers, so getting it in the mail is essential. Rim shot, please. Thank you. So, without further ado or analysis, here is my completely unscientific Super Bowl  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Fielder, Manning, Nadal-Federer and TC the Bear

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com It’s a Thursday afternoon and I miraculously find myself with an hour of downtime. If only I could land that Twins General Manager job, I could sign a couple of aging veterans and then just do relax like this all of the time. Anyway, there’s so much to cover,  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Early high school playoff previews

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com With roughly one month left in the regular season for most area teams, here are a look at some of the potential section match-ups for several of the area’s top teams looking at trying to make a run at state.   Boys Basketball   Little Falls (11-2) The Flyers  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Sorting out the weekend’s NFL, BCS action

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com In honor of my brother’s birthday, I’m going to sort this weekend’s NFL and BCS participants into “big brothers” and “little brothers.” My brother won 176 matches in high school as a wrestler and went on to win a national title in college. I, on the other hand, won  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: NFL wildcard playoff picks

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. Christmas, New Year’s, no angry voice/e-mail messages to return. Rather than let something unexpected come up and snap me out of it, I figured it would be best if I was proactive. So, I’m taking a shot at some NFL wildcard round playoff  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Thoughts on Twins, Ponder, Wild

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Hello all, and welcome to a special Christmas version of the blog (special because it’s Christmas, not because the writing is any more or less mediocre than usual). One of the biggest challenges in maintaining a blog while covering anywhere from 40-60 high school events a week is that  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Chris Paul fiasco provides further proof Stern needs to step aside

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com When it comes to general managers demanding too much in trades, David Stern now tops the list. The NBA commissioner/owner’s lackey/New Orleans Hornets president of basketball operations had quite the busy weekend. Fresh off of ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement, Stern, who along with the other 29 NBA  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: MLB and NHL improve playoff systems, BCS improves its corruption

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com There’s too much to discuss for my own good today, so bear with me as I try to touch on all of the subjects I’ve wanted to be able to for the past couple of weeks. MLB, NHL improve their playoff formats while BCS improves its corruption It boggles  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Chip Kelly, Bob Stoops cost teams shots at BCS championship game

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com The weekend after writing about the mediocrity of college football, four of the top seven teams in the country lose. Mediocre, absolutely, but at least it was entertaining to watch some of the “top” teams self-implode. Unfortunately for two of those teams, their upsets should have never happened. To  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Twins miss opportunity by bringing back Ryan as GM

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Coming off a dreadful 63-99 season, the Minnesota Twins decided to part ways with general manager Bill Smith last week after a mediocre four-year run. Good decision. Taking his place will be the guy who preceded him, Terry Ryan. Bad decision. Smith certainly struggled during his tenure, turning Johan  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: College football season has already run out of steam

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com College football has always been a little goofy. While pretty much all other sports have seasons that gradually build in tension and fan interest, culminating in some sort of exciting playoff format, college football prides itself on the importance of the regular season at the cost of having any  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Debunking the Theo Epstein mythology

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Theo Epstein is smart. Even I’ll admit that. However, little did I know that he was such a devious genius. Epstein, who presided as general manager over a Boston Red Sox organization that ended an 86-year World Series drought in 2004 before winning it all again in 2007. Now,  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Gumbel, Stern foolishness, NBA in trouble

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com HBO’s Bryant Gumbel pulled off the verbal equivalent of dining and dashing earlier this week on his Real Sports television show. Gumbel, an African American man, likened NBA commissioner David Stern to a “plantation overseer,” and claimed that Stern thought of players as “his boys.” Now, Stern has to  Read more »

Pick up the Slack: Brewers really are beasts, Texas sizzles, Series title in the Cards?

By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Wait, there aren’t any teams left from the A.L. East? What, not even the N.L. East? Nope. There aren’t any teams from the West really either, although baseball geography places Texas right next to Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle. All of this means, sadly, that not nearly as many  Read more »