100%

Guess what started when we weren’t paying attention because it’s the World Series (I might have a little crush on Cliff Lee right now…the Phillies took the right pitcher from the Indians), the Minnesota Vikings are having a tremendous start, and NHL hockey has started (alas, Wild Hockey has not started, and you cannot convince me otherwise). The NBA season!

I’ve never been much of a professional basketball fan (high school basketball I liked; I never got into college basketball, but I went to a fairly unathletic college). In fact, my friends, brothers, and I decided that the game of basketball would be infinitely more exciting if all the fans got night vision goggles and the game was played in the dark—except the ball, which would either blink or glow in the dark (there was no final agreement). But I digress. We’re going to talk about winter sports, since baseball is waning. There are people who believe that if your team doesn’t make the playoffs, you should cheer for your division/league. I say this does not apply when it comes to the Yankees/Red Sox (they’re really the same team).

Last year, the Wild had a record of 40-33-9, giving them a 48.8% winning percentage. The Timberwolves, as we all fondly remember, had a record of 24-58, giving them a stellar 29.2% winning percentage. Shockingly, with records under .500, neither team made the playoffs.

That was then. This is now. The Wild now stand with a 3-9 record. This gives them an unimpressive 25% wining percentage. But the surprising news is…the Timberwolves have them beat by 75 percentage points—with a 100% winning percentage. Now, to be fair, the Timberwolves have played exactly one game this year—11 less than the Wild. (Things I learned this morning: NHL and NBA both have 82 games! This is a totally fair comparison of win percentages since neither team has more games.) In pre-season, the Timberwolves marked a 3-5 record (37.5% winning percentage, putting them on par with Kevin Hale’s winning percentage as head coach last year), whereas the Wild posted a 3-4 record (42.9% winning percentage). At least the Vikings are giving us a 6-1 record (85.7% winning percentage) with a 3-1 pre-season (75% winning percentage). So Minnesota fans have something to cheer about.

On the plus side for the Wild, I’ll be attending my first game Friday night. Naturally, I picked the game early in the year realizing that it would be the Marian Gaborik’s return to the Xcel Energy Center—playing against his first NHL team. However, in a very fitting tribute to the way he played for the Wild for the previous eight NHL seasons—injured (I’m being a little harsh; early in his career he played a lot, and in the ’07-’08 season he played in 77 games). As for the Timberwolves, I may actually make a game this year (a friend has season tickets, and said she’d invite me to a game—maybe then I can give an accurate report on the state of the Timberwolves!).

I really have nothing else to say, other than Mikko Koivu is the first permanent Captain of the Minnesota Wild, and I couldn’t be happier—I take that back. I could be happier if the entire Wild team actually learned how to play hockey again.