Fitzbeat, by Larry Fitzgerald—Lynx show Minnesota how it’s done

It’s been a tough stretch of negativity in this state where all the sports teams are losing. The Twins, 63-99, finished dead last in the American League. The NFL Vikings, 1-4, are in last place in the NFC North. The NBA Timberwolves, 17-65, is the worst team in the NBA. The NHL Wild just changed coaches after missing the playoffs again, hiring 38-year-old Mike Yeo. Gopher football is in last place, 1-5, 0-2 in the Big Ten, and Gopher Men’s Basketball missed everything last year, no post-season NCAA or NIT.

So thank goodness for the refreshing Minnesota Lynx, a committed group of women who came together, jelled, and won it all, superbly coached by Cheryl Reeve and her staff. Minnesota has a champion. After six straight losing seasons, the Lynx are now the standard.

Unlike the Twins and Vikings, both teams loaded with all-star talent, the Lynx with four all-stars dominated the league with a 27-7 record, got hot in the playoffs and finished the deal.

Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Rebekkah Brunson (the league’s top rebounder), and rookie of the year Maya Moore: The starters were dominant together. They shared the basketball; they played inside-out basketball. And they got after you defensively.

They have made history by being one of the most dominant WNBA Champions ever. It’s the first World Championship team in Minnesota since the 1991 Twins.

Vikings honor
WNBA Champions

The Vikings on Sunday introduced the WNBA Champs before kickoff. The fans really gave the champs a standing ovation, and the momentum carried over to the Arizona game. The Vikings came out focused and hyped and jumped on Arizona with four touchdowns in the first quarter.

The game was in their hands to hang onto or give away. This time they finished the deal — they led 28-3 at halftime and closed the game out 34-10.

Arizona helped with two turnovers in the first quarter. Adrian Peterson scored three touchdowns in the game, becoming the first Viking to score three touchdowns in one quarter or half.

The win ended the Vikings’ five-game losing streak, which carried over from last season. The Vikings are now 1-4.

Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday-Friday at 12:17 pm and 4:17 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2), and you can follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.