SI refers to the Minnesota Wild as a 'middle-of-the-road team'

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So, Sports Illustrated referred to the Wild are a middle-of-the-road team. Yeah..I guess, whatever. I would refer to the Wild as an up-and-coming team that's ready to break out.

12 Minnesota Wild

Mikko Koivu-Mikael Granlund-Erik Haula-Kyle Brodziak

Koivu isn't the player he once was and Granlund isn't yet the player he will be, but both can be effective in top-six roles for a middle-of-the-road team. Brodziak struggled last season, losing his third line spot to Haula. The rookie showed real promise in the playoffs, chipping in offensively as well as bringing the speed and energy you'd expect out of the role.

I am going to make a prediction, don't be surprised if the Minnesota Wild go deep in the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Another perspective on the Fighting Sioux nickname

Here is a link to a blog post that one of my friends on twitter sent me. While I have always been a fan of the Fighting Sioux Nickname, I honestly I don't think that this kind of rhetoric is ever going to go away. Not if UND remains the Fighting Sioux nickname remains.

But tribal members support the mascot! So it's ok!
No. It isn't. Hitler was a white guy. Can I then deduce that all white men think it's ok to murder millions of people? And don't cite that stupid Sports Illustrated poll that says 90% of Indians support mascots. That thing has so many issues with sampling and validity it's not even funny. Yeah, a few tribal members might support the mascot. But it's a sad commentary on how invisible we are in society, because most of them cite the fact that they feel "proud" to be "recognized" and "remembered". If the only way Native peoples are viewed in the US are as racist stereotypical mascots, (or in movies, tv, and advertising) is it better to be invisible, or seen as a stereotype? [Native Appropriations]

This is almost as bad as Native American activist Russell Means saying that Indians that support the Fighting Sioux nickname are stupid, words he once uttered at a protest in front the REA before construction was finished.

Related articles

• It's UND's fault because they are the Fighting Sioux (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Does the NHL have a painkiller problem?

Image via WikipediaI don’t know if the blog post needs a lot of narration but the article is worth a read and the revelations from this article are jaw dropping. One has to wonder if the NHL needs to do a review of it’s chemical dependency protocols.

Stu Hackel, Sports Illustrated --- “Today the biggest problem, which isn’t talked about…is pills. It’s painkillers,” Laperrière said.

Laperrière knows something about pain and medicating it. In addition to losing seven teeth and getting hit in the eye with pucks during the 2009-10 season, he’s had abdominal surgery, an operation to remove bone chips and scar tissue from his knee, and various hand, back, groin and neck ailments that forced him from the lineup at times during his career. “After my operations…I took two or three [pills] a day to ease the pain. But there are guys who take it just for the buzz,” he said Friday morning over CKAC Radio (audio), the French language all-sports station.

“[Painkillers] are appropriate for those who need them,” he said. “If I just had an operation, I may take my pills for two days, but the doctor gives me pills for twelve days. There are pills left over.”

And those leftover pills are apparently provided by some NHLers to their teammates.

Asked by host Michel Langevin how many players might be taking painkillers on a given team, whether or not they really need them, Laperrière responded, “The teams that I’ve played on, I would say four or five guys per team, and those are the ones I saw.”

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• Analysis: String of NHL Deaths Opens Door to Tough Questions (nytimes.com)