Gophers transforming themselves at QB; A big night for Timberwolves, Lynx, Twins

[Music] it's your Tuesday daily delivery I am Michael Rand glad to be back for another day hope you guys are having a good day out there really good show coming up um Randy Johnson from the Star Tribune joins me on a couple of different subjects the main one being gopher football he of course covers the Gophers for the Star Tribune he is down in the Atlanta area spending some time with new gopher's quarterback Max brosmer and a bunch of Max's teammates getting a better sense of who Max is what his leadership is like things like that so we'll talk go for football we'll talk um quarterbacks for sure we'll also talk a little bit of uh Arena Football Randy covered some stories over the weekend with the Minnesota myth on the verge of folding at that point and even on the verge of folding when we talked um tues sorry Monday afternoon and then later on that day indeed getting the word that the myth are no longer after just two games so Randy and I will talk about what led up to that and then I'll get into a little bit more of the history of franchises here in Minnesota that didn't last too long um lots of other stuff to get to though pwhl Minnesota wins its first playoff game get to that towards the end of the show WNBA a beginning now uh links open tonight in Seattle home opener later this week on Friday should have more links stuff later this week hoping to get Kent Youngblood links writer on the show later this week to talk more about their season ahead or ahead of that home opener um twins Yankees starts today at Target Field um lots of stuff right this is the time when lots of stuff is going on um first though what I miss let NBA watching uh a decent amount of and following Mavericks against Thunder last night everybody ready to Crown Dallas in that series after they took games two and three in Oklahoma City Dallas seemed to be in control of game four in Dallas Mavs had you know like a six to eight point lead for a decent chunk of the early part of the fourth quarter not Out Of Reach but it seemed like they had the game under control and then Oklahoma City chips away chips away gets back into It ultimately wins 100 to 96 Mavs miss a bunch of free throws um Kyrie Irving didn't have a big scoring night although he played okay Luca donic missed a key free throw towards the end of the game they could have tied the game late if he had made both of them so they lose that series is 22 now Oklahoma City the the higher seed the number one seed in the west a young team maybe a driving ahead of its time but again impressive in the opening round of the playoffs they swept the Pelicans right out of the playoffs they have a chance now to kind of regain that uh that spot I mean I think people are taking Oklahoma City a little bit too lightly in these playoffs but the the bigger the bigger point I want to make about this is I feel like we are in a big hurry to declare things over or to declare things certain right now right like this happened in the Oklahoma City Dallas series people are saying okay Dallas has taking a 2-1 lead okay they look like they've got the veteran Squad they are going to take command of the series instead now it is 22 people want it clean people want it easy that is not usually especially being between evenly match teams in an era where there is no real Dynasty I don't think in the NBA that is not how it works it is not easy wolves Denver that brings me to wolves Denver game five tonight in Denver 930 probably more like a 940 could even be 950 tip off you're going to have to want it so are the Wolves but you're going to have to want it if you're going to watch it because this one probably won't get over until around midnight people wanted the series to be over after the two games in Denver right the Wolves won those two in Denver um including game two that 26 Point blowout nuggets come into game three you're wondering did they break their Spirit did did the Wolves just unlock something where Denver is like we can't beat this team anymore I never thought that was going to be the case I thought Denver was going to give them their best game in game three Denver comes out and routes the wolves in game three so they like okay now we got a series what's going to happen in game four can the Wolves still maintain can they you know take control again of this series go up 3-1 have that commanding lead no they could not Denver won the fourth game as well in Minneapolis on Sunday so here we are two games a piece out where you might have thought this series would be after four games albe it a strange way to get there here's the thing though like I said people wanted this to be easy whether it was just because they didn't want the drama because they thought that the Wolves looked good enough to to to sweep this you had the national narrative you had Charles Barkley everybody saying hey this thing is over wolves and four I don't know if it's false confidence if if it's not wanting to believe that this thing could get tense again these things are generally not easy these things are hard Minnesota sports can be hard but this second point on this this is not some sort of Minnesota sports curse rearing its ugly head they were not cursed in either of those two losses they lost to a team that was the defending champs last defending champs won the championship last year Nicole yic is three-time now MVP of the league a player unlike anybody we've ever seen this is this was going to be hard no matter what I don't think think you could have expected even after those two games that that that the series would play out just like that it was not going to be easy like that Denver was not going to just lay over lay down and let the wolves um you know roll right through these playoffs into the Western Conference finals against either Dallas or Oklahoma City so now what happens now what happens now that it's hard now that it's now that it's kind of back to square one it's a best of three Denver has the home court with two of those last three games five and if necessary game seven back in Denver what will they do now that we know for sure that it is not easy this is where you find out what kind of team you have this is where you find out if you have a team that is worth keeping together this is where you find out if you are a true Contender or if you still have another step or two in the process that is what we are going to learn tonight and it was never going to be easy that will be on on display I expect Denver's best game I don't know what kind of game Minnesota is going to bring I think we've seen enough of the Wolves this year to think they are going to be resilient that they are going to play well but we are still learning more about the Wolves than we have to learn about Denver we already knew I think or at least we should have known that they were going to give the Wolves all they could handle in Minnesota that they were not just going to go away quietly now what happens now that we know for sure this is is not easy if you want to do some basketball channel surfing and you still have access to Bley Sports North which is increasingly rare these days links open at 9900 p.m. couple of late basketball games links open their season 900 p.m. at Seattle couple of interesting things written in the last few days by Kent Youngblood one just talking about the growth of the league some of it the Caitlyn Clark effect with you know sellouts and a lot of huge crowds expected for her games when Indiana comes to play at Target Center they've expanded the seating to the upper bowl at Target Center they're moving some things around at other places but you know charter flights coming to the WNBA revenues up across the board projections being beaten right now for the league expansion on the horizon um in the next few years to 14 teams the league is growing the league is getting bigger going to be more players into this league where do the links kind of carve out that next kind of Five-Year Plan how do they get you know not just from middle of the pack which they've kind of been for the last five years six years ever since their last championship in 2017 how do they go from there to being one of the best again well they're going to start this year building around nefisa Coler and a new identity built more around defense an interesting kind of identity for this team if you think back to again their their Dynasty run of the 2010s they were you know they could play both ways but they were definitely more of an offensive minded team than a defensiv minded team they were um you know they were a team that could outscore you they were a team that had you know dynamic Hall of Fame scorers Maya Moore um Simone Augustus of course you know Sylvia fouls toward the end of her career although she was certainly great on defense as well Lindsay whan um her calling card was more offense than defense of course they could get stops when they needed to but you know right now this team looking to build its identity around defense that will be an interesting thing to watch starts like I said 900 p.m. tonight against Seattle Seattle will be back here on Friday for the home opener at Target Center and we will see where this season goes now twins Yankees twins 17 and three in their last 20 games an amazing 20 game stretch after the S and 13 Mark in their first 20 games a complete turnaround and like we talked about a few other times if we were waiting to see if they were going to be good against some of these better teams they have fared quite well against some of these better teams you know Boston comes in they they handle Boston Seattle comes in they handle Seattle they go to Toronto they handle they handle Toronto but the Yankees no matter what their record is and the and the record is usually pretty good whatever the record is the Yankees are always a measuring stick team for the twins this year should be no different Yankees 27 and 15 TI for first in the AL East twins 24 and 16 a game behind the Cleveland Guardians right now in the AL Central remember like a few weeks ago before this big 17 and three stretch started Twins were like know eight nine games back already you're wondering is the season going to be over before it starts it is certainly not over before it starts they will get an opportunity to measure themselves again against the Yankees we were talking about the competition getting better in May the twins have handled that beautifully so far but like we said the Yankees are an entirely different animal and a new way to see where this TEAM stands in 2024 open a 5.15% annual percentage yield 9month certificate from Royal Credit Union open now at rcu.org certificate 515 early withdrawal penalties could reduce earnings and principal apy accurate as a 42624 insured by NCA good to be joined today by Randy Johnson primarily covers gopher football for the Star Tribune Randy how you doing ah very good Mike spending a little time as of even right now in um in the Georgia South Carolina area I want to pick your brain a little bit gopher's offseason this is a big one and you know one of the centerpieces of this offseason was bringing in transfer quarterback Max brosmer you know starred at the FCS level at New Hampshire you've been down um down kind of visiting with him and some of these other gopher players who are doing a lot of offse work with him what's what's kind of the the takeaway from that you'll be writing about it a little bit later on um you know in the spring here but what what what's the sense you get from from him and how much they're counting on him and kind of what this group is trying to put together yeah it's it's what what I get from him it's like a he's a really a take charge guy very organized uh Max is from um Roswell Georgia and his parents have a lak home um right across the border on Lake uh Harwell in in South Carolina uh so max organized a a group of his teammates uh basically 11 of them coming on here the uh wide receivers running back uh some tight ends uh basically for a week of uh bonding and a week of some workouts so uh yesterday they uh they were out out at the lake they're coming back to uh the Atlanta area the Roswell area uh today for some workouts and um they're going to be going to a Braves game uh on uh Tuesday so yeah it's you know a mix of things but I think it's you know Max being this is only year with the Gophers at grad transfer basically uh putting his stamp on on the program putting his leadership uh uh experience to to to value for that team it's you know he's G to be the one uh driving the bus and um the boat I think we it's a boat not a bus it's a boat not a bus yes he was actually um he was driving the Pontoon yesterday as no ORS no ORS needed no paddles needed but still yes but uh no so you know it's it's it's a chance for him to yeah just I think it's important too to to you know get to know these teammates even better I mean it's pretty interesting you bring a guy in and he's you know he doesn't know anybody and these are quickly he's a voted team captain um yeah so it's it's uh so he's definitely hit the ground running I'm sure this helps um he earlier this season this spring he had some guys down there some of his teammates down there for during spring break he's done this uh did it last year also with um uh his New Hampshire some new hampire teates so yeah it's a very organized kid or young man I should say well this seems like I mean he's what he think he's 23 right now I mean this is a more of certainly a more veteran college quarterback kind of like what the Gophers had in you know by the end of the ten Morgan era when Tanner Morgan had been here for five years six years I think maybe at some a certain point um last year obviously the transition to aan cic Manis that doesn't go as well not saying it's because he's younger or less experienced or that he's any less of a leader but I imagine this is some of what PJ Fleck envisions in addition to being able to maybe make different throws or have different touch on the ball that he envisioned when he brings in a guy like brosmer like a little bit more of that kind of older presence which you sometimes need to have at quarterback you know in addition to the arm Talent yeah it's uh it's just really shown yeah they PJ definitely wanted a more experienced quarterbacks somebody somebody who's been uh been through a lot more than aan had uh you could really tell it uh after the uh uh season finale against Wisconsin uh the Badgers had Tanner morai a SMU transfer who was a senior uh and basically you know he he was a very efficient quarterback and I believe that's PJ saw that it's like hey we need one of those we need somebody who can come in here and uh take control of the team and and I I think um you know that's definitely what they hope they're getting out out out of out of Max brosmer and and you know we we'll see this fall but you indications are that you know he's he's definitely got the command of the team at the same time they have you know this quarterback from Arkansas who I imagine they hope is a multiple year starter at some point kind of the more traditional way to build up a quarterback but you got to be you got to be Adept you got to be able to do kind of either way in this era right yeah definitely uh um Drake Lindsay you're talking about from F Arkansas he's an early and rolly freshman and he's been quite impressive uh during during spring ball so that's they have to like that uh you know he's he's learning from from Max brosmer he's a guy that uh you they think he's he's a pretty much a quick study so you that that should help help some things this season they um they had a pretty productive off seon in the portal it seemed to me and I think me know some of that's just the era we're in some of it probably amounts to a little bit of urgency and understanding the moment in terms of both hey you know going five and seven and still went getting that bull win getting to six wins there and just kind of the new era we're in do you do you feel like this is kind of a a transition point where they've they've kind of Hit the portal in a way that they hadn't before and they're kind of you know kind of reshaping maybe even how they think about how to build a program at this point yeah I think experience is a key there you know last year they probably didn't do nearly as well as they have this year in the portal and it helps when you bring a a guy in like Jackson Howard the top rated player in Minnesota last year who ended up LSU and then decided to come back home um you know that that should be an immense help you know they seem to have targeted certain areas and went after guys they wanted it and and got them it it's you know that they added quite a bit of depth at running back and as we've seen over the years you can never have enough of those guys uh you obviously with with Max brosmer they targeted a quarterback got that they had had they had one guy that um they thought were bringing from a backup from freso State he he uh committed then left now late in in the um in the uh the portal window in the in the spring they run in D whipkey from uh Virginia Tech so there's a little more depth a quarterback then so it's yeah I think uh they've navigated that uh end of the of the um roster development uh better this year with with the boort additions should there be different expectations then for next year obviously it's going to be a much it's it's wide open I mean all these new teams are coming in it's going to be the this we've talked about the schedule and how daunting that can be but like you know at this point as we sit here and in miday how do you think we kind of assess where they can get to what they're inter versus external expectations are yeah it's you know the schedule is tough so it's it's you know you no longer have the big 10 West to kind of lean on and right you might have been one win better at times with with that schedule now it's going to be be quite a bit tougher uh yeah expectations you know maybe you have maybe uh uh a season where you say you had an eight and Four Season maybe it maybe it's adjusted to a S5 you know we'll see I mean they're not picked very highly in most of the preseason um offseason prediction magazines or websites um I think maybe that's a lot of a good amount of Doom and Gloom ending from last season yeah I think with what they've done in the portal I I think they will be a bit better than that you know is it going to make the difference you know is it going to be a nine- win season uh regular season probably not I mean they'd really have to hit it hit uh hit hit their stride pretty good but you know it's it's I don't see it being another five and seven could be wrong but I I think they'll be better than that um couple more thoughts on the Gophers then I want to pick your brain on the arena league which you wrote about over the weekend in the Minnesota franchise which as of recording at least is still a franchise um you uh the golfers last year now it's it's easy to forget based on how the season ended but at at a certain point they basically they controlled their own destiny right in the Big 10 West at like the halfway point or so and then you looked at their schedule and you're like okay they're going to have a they got work to do but you know even if you saw certain things breaking breaking the right way they they could have been a factor in the in the Big 10 West Race so it's easy to forget that that season kind of like got away from them but it wasn't until kind of late that it got away from him how do you think they kind of self scouted how that season ended do you feel like they thought hey this was just you know a matter of it was it was the quarterback or it was injuries or um they just weren't as good as they thought how do you think the self Scout came out of the end of last year you know I think they they they looked at their weaknesses and tried to do what they could to shore them up you know particularly a quarterback I know they believe they've done that uh you know the the linebacker situation was tough because of the injuries um I they're they're hoping for a much better luck in that department that's you know so that's that can concerning you know I mean they the the look for development from what they had that last year with the all the young guys that they did play so that should make that situation better and especially if Cody lindenberg stays healthy um you know he he is a very good linebacker um and if if you know if you can keep him in that lineup that that's a much better position group um yeah I I believe they've addressed their needs they've uh you know they've seen the weaknesses and put in a plan to to make you know to improve those areas um I see uh cic Manis has won the starting job at least for now it ruter should we be circling that game in 2024 on the calendar that could be could be kind of fun right oh yeah you know ruter is you know proven that they're they're a program that's that's been on the rise uh yeah that'll be an interesting game if if he's starting uh it's uh it's it's got quite the subplot there and then rossy's over there too now right so that's that his not Ross I'm sorry yeah not Rossy I'm um who am I thinking of the offensive coordinator not rossie oh Shaka y Shaka yeah sharaka geez what am I talking about sorry yeah Shaka is over there now too so you've got that that whole kind of subplot as well so yeah it could be a fun season we'll see where it's we'll see where it's headed we still got you know months to go before they get going but I'm glad you're down there writing about the quarterback we can never write too much about the quarterbacks right we can never get too much on the quarterback we learn that very well from Mr Glenn cier our for quarterbacks quarterbacks um so you wrote over the weekend about some difficulties that the Minnesota the new Minnesota Arena leag League team is having the Minnesota myth um they've played two games but then they couldn't get to Albany because they they couldn't the travel didn't work I'm not exactly sure how do how we characterize that what what's your take on this yeah yeah so they they they opened the season on the road at Nashville got spanked uh 4712 they come back for their home opener uh beat um uh what what was called the Philadelphia Soul but it was basically a kind of a rag tag a uh group of uh former U from like a minor arena league okay U the original Philadelphia Soul players basically uh weren't available because they got they got kicked out of their hotel in Suburban Phil because the the team hadn't paid pay the bills yeah they they went with this other group um yeah it's it's it's been a mess uh but the the myth won their um won their second game uh same score 47 unusual I yeah they were um they were scheduled to well originally they were scheduled to play Saturday at home but then Target Center but with the wolves in town so they the the game was um moved rescheduled for Albany New York and get allby Firebirds on Monday well on on Friday Ricky foggy the the coach of the myth the former UM quarterback under Lou Holtz and the former uh fighting Pike quarter quarterback previous uh Arena Football League in Minnesota team yeah he resigned another one of their assistants resigned um basically talking to SES it's you know the the team and players weren't getting the coaches and players weren't getting paid um so basically uh they they couldn't make the trip to U Albany from from today's game so yeah we'll see what's happen the arena league is kind of it's on some very very shaky footing um two teams have already folded a third the Philadelphia team they've canceled the rest of their season uh they hope to come back next year um the Rapid City marshals on Saturday players wouldn't take the field after um pregame stuff so evidently they drew their Line in the Sand uh the league was originally supposed to have uh a good number of their games on the NFL Network but then uh the production company didn't get paid and uh that that that contract was canceled so it's um it's not going well for the league right now well this is kind of reminiscing I mean the fighting Pike for all we like talk about them and remember them they were only around for one season like the arena league only in that one season in 96 um the one thing about that that uh uh time there was a lot more promotion yes I went to one of those games I was in college then I remember that like that was like right in my wheelhouse Target Center go have a good time but that was uh yeah I there were it was there was a lot of fans at the game at least that I remember going to but they only lasted a year and the league though at that point was a lot more stable like they they had a really good like decades long run where it felt like they were they had at least like carved out a niche in these kind of like secondary markets yeah so you know this league has been dormant for was it 8 10 years or whatever know after going going through bankruptcy and then you know so they decided to give it a shot shot again this with new ownership and it it's just it's not working very well it was kind of interesting that the the Miss um season over at Nashville there there was a decent crowd there it looked like there were probably 5,000 at um the the Municipal Auditorium there and I guess that's one of the uh uh cities that has done well hosting Arena Football League so it was it was they have a probably a bit better base than say Minnesota did or some of these other ones they they they've ended up putting teams in in a lot smaller markets than they probably originally hoped for like the state the state of Kansas has three teams in there which you know and smaller cities like your witcha things like that so it's it's um yeah it's I I'm curious to is it is it now with that that UFL starting right bring outdoor league is has that uh caused a little bit of a you know issue with the arena league or or is there just not enough interest in it well I love Minor League Sports I love like these smaller leagues they're they're fun if if you can get if you can get it to work but this is like this just kind of reminds me just of like I just feel like we haven't had a team like this for a while that's just like you know operating on a shoe string but this this is like this is how all the like fledgling professional Lees like you like there's stories like this from like the NBA in like the 60s 50s 60s 7s like teams starting up folding moving in the middle of the Season players not getting paid like we forget in this era of like massive TV contracts and you know these leagues that are you know kind of set for life with with all these like billion dollar TV deals like these you know the League's kind of like the arena league now used to be almost wholly dependent on what you did at the gate I me if you didn't draw fans you couldn't exist yeah and you know what makes that what you know you see leagues like this having having trouble what makes the uh the St Paul Saints even more uh remarkable is that the fact that you know they they go as an independent team originally right know they built built up what they did and and to the point where uh they end up selling and becoming a twins uh triple franchise yes it takes beautiful beautiful stadium in downtown St Paul it takes a pretty remarkable kind of set of circumstances to make that happen and you know for a while here it was hey they they have outdoor baseball the games are fun things like that but yeah to build up that fan base and to keep it going for so many years before like you said uh becoming a twins affiliate a handful of years ago that is a good point um well we'll see where this goes this week and Beyond Randy Johnson appreciate it look for that story on um all those gopher players down down with Max brosmer be coming out probably sometime that's later this month I would imagine yeah I believe so POS it could possibly be the uh Memorial Day weekend see uh I I have some work to do when I get back to the some writing to do but uh no it's been interesting uh you know chatting with everybody yeah cool well thanks Randy appreciate it we'll talk to you soon thanks a lot Mike Royal Credit Union smart checking accounts offer no monthly fees and no minimum balance enjoy Financial Freedom when you open your Royal Credit Union smart checking account online at rcu.org goeing insured by ncua great stuff from Randy and like I said at the beginning of the show when Randy and I recorded the future for the Minnesota myth was tenuous at best and in the hours after we recorded of course coming to find out that players have been notified that the season will be prematurely cut short the franchise lasts just two games all sorts of issues with funding things like that League seems to be on shaky footing in general right now it's not just the myth that are having problems right now getting themselves together it is a reminder of how hard it is to do this in kind of on the fringes without a major league without TV contracts the arena league was trying to get TV things together they didn't get it together it is a reminder of how these teams operate they need to basically draw fans to sell merchandise to to do it kind of the way it used to be done before TV was such a huge deal you know looking through the list they the myth join a long and illustrious list of now defunct Minnesota teams I just looking at all of these teams of course the fighting Pike the one year they played the arena league in the mid90s 1996 and of course Ricky foggy the coach of the myth who quit just a few days ago ahead of ahead of this he was the quarterback for that team but they aren't the only ones they're you know we just looking through this long list of teams that used to be here there's teams that were in the indoor football league the bidi axman theth Superior Lumberjacks things like that um you know you had other teams in the in this wheelhouse the Minnesota blue aux like Randy and I talked about you know the the roller hockey team the Minnesota ripy I don't know if you guys remember that I remember that they they started up in their mid 2000s played a couple years in the in the new ABA the new basketball association um you you had the indoor soccer outdoor soccer the kicks the strikers you had you know the fighting Pike like I said you had um you just all these teams that have come and gone the Swarm I think the swarm's still going strong the indoor lacrosse they're still they're still functioning but I think they're in Georgia now all of these teams the Minnesota moose like that are just kind of like right on the tip of our tongue the part of this lexicon all of these teams that rely so heavily on getting people through the door getting people to know about this team building a fan base as opposed to now the major Le leagues that are so heavily dependent on TV contracts things like that it's fascinating to me to see what teams make it what teams don't how long these leagues have staying power can't really remember though a team that was so short-lived as the myth two games and uh two games and done one and one will be their final record unless something weird happens and they come back one and one is their final record that brings me to the cooler in a in a league that looks like it has far more staying power in a much better plan the pwhl women's hockey league six teams a 10-year Financial commitment TV contracts in place when they came in the thing they had going for them besides that is they're the top the top league right they they're they're a top League they're not trying to they're not trying to be like a a secondary League like all these football leagues that pop up or other leagues that pop up that try to compete in a in a space where there's already a much better League establish these are the best of the best players right now playing in this league Minnesota gets its first playoff win they were on the ropes the the regular season start you know finished terribly they lost five in a row to finish the regular season squeaked into the playoffs on the last day with some help lost their first two playoff games in Toronto via shut out you're like you know think it's going to finish the year with eight losses in a row no they win two- nothing at XL Energy Center on uh on Monday get that series back to 2-1 a home game again to tomorrow to try to draw even in this best of Five series an ounce crowd of a little over 3,000 Matty Rooney has a shut out they get you know two goals they finally get on the board in the playoffs so the the Minnesota's pwl team a league that unlike you know some of these others seems to have a great amount of staying power gets a playoff win gets itself on the board so good for them and even better for them that the health of this league seems to be long-term and not shortterm that will do it for me today expecting to have chip Scoggin on tomorrow show to talk wolves he is planning to stay up late as I am to watch that game I think we're going to record something right after the game ends if there's some drama if it's a game that warrants it we might do it as a bonus special episode then have a separate other episode tomorrow to talk about all these other things that are happening links twins Yankees things like that we will play that by ear we will see if this is the game that we think it will be or not but either way chip and I expecting to bring you a show for Wednesday talking about the Wolves until then enjoy the rest of your Tuesday get your caffeine going it's going to be a late night we'll talk to you again tomorrow [Music]