Out of the blue

Note: This is the two-year anniversary of the print edition of Hometown Focus. While my column that week didn’t make the cut for the inaugural issue, I saved it and because I am way behind on my sleep, I am submitting it for print this week. How’s that for efficiency?

Woo-hoo! My boy KG (that’s Kevin Garnett for you kids) just won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, as if there were any doubt that he would. The Celtics are the odds-on favorites in the Eastern Conference this year behind The Big Three and because of their ferocious team defense which is keyed around KG, who has been reborn in his first season with the C’s. I’m happy for the Big Ticket or Da Kid or Da Franchise or whatever his nickname is now. He has a great shot to win his first NBA title this season, and I’ll paint myself green and run screaming naked (down my hallway) if they win this year. (Or would it be next year? I can’t remember if the NBA playoffs last six or eight months anymore.) But I’m also sad that KG couldn’t do it in Minny or should I call it ’Sota, as he does? Thanks Timberwolves for jettisoning the only player in your franchise history that I truly loved. Not that I’m bitter or anything. But if KG gets his ring, it’ll be some soothing salve on Car wash with S er vice the scar where my heart once was. By the way, how fun would an old-school Lakers-Celtics Finals be? As KG’s adidas commercials say: Nothing is impossible. (Or is it: Anything is possible?)

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Was anybody else moved by the crocodile tears Brett Favre shed at the press conference to announce his retirement last month? I have to admit, I was a little misty. And I don’t know who cried harder, Favre or John Madden. But there are already rumblings that The Ole Gunslinger may have misspoke and holstered his six-shooter prematurely. I honestly don’t know what he has to come back for. Sure, he threw an interception in the NFC Championship Game that led to the overtime loss to the Giants. And that loss led to the Giants screwing up Randy Moss and the Patriots’ perfect season in the Super Bowl. Not that I’m bitter or anything. But he also broke John Elway’s record for wins, Dan Marino’s record for TD passes (against the Vikings, no less) and received his 100,000th marriage proposal from yet another sad, lonely Wisconsinite whose best friend is a cow. It’s the perfect way to go out. And yet it seems, Favre is going to pull the whole “should I or shouldn’t I” routine for the third straight year. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s doing this in a couple years when he’s 40. Go home to your farm in Mississippi, Brett, that is, unless you would like come across the border and put on some purple. I just don’t trust this Tavaris guy.

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Speaking of the Purple, the Vikings just shipped their No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft to the Kansas City Chiefs for The Mullet, aka Jared Allen. The defensive end has had his share of problems in the past, but the man is a beast rushing the passer off the corner. With the Williams Wall in the middle, Allen and whoever the Vikings line up at the other end, this could be the best defensive line (on a team known for its defensive lines) since Chris Doleman and Al Noga lined up around Keith Millard and Henry Thomas. While it will make this weekend a little duller for this draftnik, it’s a bold move that Vikings fans should embrace, if for no other reason than his fantastic mullet. After all, is not the State of Hockey full of mullets, i.e. hockey hair? Maybe even in the future, he can have his own iPhone app where everyone can see what they would look like with a mullet. How fun would that be?

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Torii Hunter now suits up for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Johan Santana puts on the blue and orange of the New York Mets. Not that I’m bitter or anything. Hunter was my favorite Twin of the last decade, while Santana was the best pitcher I’ve ever seen in a Twins uniform. It could be a long Twins season this year without them, even though Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau still suit up for Minnesota. But the Twins always seem to play their best with their backs to the wall, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Ron Gardenhire manage the now short-handed squad back to the postseason. At least we can look forward to two years from now when the Twins will finally be playing outdoors again for the first time in nearly three decades when Target Field, which by all accounts will be absolutely gorgeous, will open for the start of the 2010 season. I can’t wait. 

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Steve McNair announced his retirement last week. Perhaps my favorite and the toughest quarterback of all time, he’ll be missed greatly by this guy. Speaking of quarterbacks, is there any doubt that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, the two toprated QBs in the upcoming draft will be busts? Not from this guy.

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Also last week, Tiger Woods came up three shots short of another green jacket at the Masters. Despite his occasional temper tantrums on the course, isn’t it nice to have such a squeaky-clean role model for all the kids out there?

Until next time…

(Ok, you got me. I may have written the aforementioned this week. But it is what I may have written two years ago.)

Brian Miller is a longtime local sports writer and the co-founder of iSportsNorth. He currently resides in Eveleth and can be reached at miller24bri@gmail.com.