Beantown & Minny - An uneven sports marriage

Because it happened gradually, rather than all at once, it may have escaped many of us.
But take notice.
Boston is king of the sports world right now - Minnesota is in the toilet. And those two realities are related.
It's nauseating.
The Red Sox are headed towards their second World Series title in four years, with David Ortiz leading the way. Ortiz, you may remember, came up in the Twins system, was released, and picked up by the Sox, where he's become a 21st century Babe Ruth.
The New England Patriots are looking capable of going 16-0, and while they were already in the midst of a dynasty, they seem better than ever this year for one reason: Randy Moss.
Yeah, the same Moss who put up a Hall-of-Fame career's worth of numbers in 7 years with the Vikings.
And I realized just how bad it is on Friday when I opened my mailbox and saw Kevin Garnett on the cover, clad in Celtics green, smiling alongside Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.
Ortiz.
Moss.
Garnett.
All in Boston. All with realistic dreams of a championship. It hurts.
The Boston Bruins have three Minnesota natives on their roster, so they'll probably be in the hunt for the Stanley Cup this year.
I've never been especially hard on the Twins for dumping Ortiz, because he never stayed healthy with the Twins, and when they tried to trade him not a single team in the majors, not even Boston, would offer even a journeyman reliever for him.
I also suspect his name might pop up in the Mitchell report the whole baseball world is anxiously waiting for. But it's hard not to imagine what it might be like having him bat between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

As for Moss, I never wavered in my belief that he was the best WR in the NFL, and I never thought he was nearly as much of an off-field locker room problem as the media made him out to be.
Oooh, he squirted water on a ref! So what.
Oh my God, he bumped a rent-a-cop with his car at zero MPH! Big deal.
He rubbed his butt on the goal post in Green Bay!?! Good. Fuck Green Bay and fuck Joe Buck.
Walked off the field with :2 seconds left against Washington? Shouldn't have done it, but it didn't matter at all in the end.
Who wouldn't take Moss back now? Anyone who says they wouldn't is either a racist or they don't give a damn about winning.
And you know, it would be a little easier if they hadn't lost him for nothing.
If you trade a superstar, you should get something for him. The Wolves got Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair and a 1st round pick for KG.
The Vikings got Napoleon Harris and Troy Williamson for Moss. Good work guys. Then a year later they got Ryan Cook for Daunte Culpepper. I guess that means sometime in 2010 they'll trade Adrian Peterson for a backup safety.

I hope Moss and KG get a ring. I won't actively root for either the Pats or the Celtics, but I will wish them well strictly because of those two guys. A big reason I'll be able to do that is because the Vikings and Wolves are so bad they don't even enter the discussion.
Times haven't been this bad across the board in Minnesota for quite awhile. It might be a little easier to handle that if we didn't also have to see what's happening in Beantown.