Roost Randy / Flip Flop
- Wade
I spent the lion's share of the day yesterday listening to AM1130 - KFAN. I've recently re-embraced the station, the latest chapter in an on-again, off-again affair that began in 1996. As a matter of fact, I actually had the station playing on all three levels of my house via three different radios- our house went on the market yesterday so I was furiously trying to get everything ready for the first time anyone would show up to see the house. Which didn't work, incidentally-- we got a call at 5:20 last night saying someone wanted to see the house at 6. I was in the middle of painting our downstairs hallway at the time, and when the phone rang I audibly prayed for it to not be someone wanting to see the house.
But I digress.
The theme of all of yesterday's KFAN callers can be summed up as such: trade Randy and fire Flip.
Randy, of course, is the Vikings' talented but mercurial wideout, whose status you've seen discussed ad nauseum on these pages and elsewhere. The recent furor comes from a report by ESPN's NFL guru Chris Mortensen, who has a source that says Purple owner Red McCombs has given the team the green light to trade Moss. I find this debate a little on the idiotic side for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think anyone with the team ever said that Randy was untradeable. For the right package (and I'm looking at you, Miami) I believe he could always be / have been dealt. Second, Red (despite his denials) is desperately trying to unload the team to either Reggie Fowler or Glen Taylor. Do you think he'd trade the team's marquee player weeks before handing the keys over to a new ownership team? Doubt it.
The second topic du jour was our straggling and struggling NBA team. They're mired at .500, and have amassed the same amount of losses at this point as they had all of last season. All of this with (arguably) more talent than last year, in that Wally Sczerbiak and Troy Hudson are back and healthy, displacing journeymen Keith McCloud and Anthony Goldwire. Apparently dismissing Sam Cassell's age and Latrell Sprewell's lack of passion, Wooves fans have now turned on coach and former Gopher (my ode to Sid) Flip Saunders. Flip has coached the team for a decade now, and is second on the tenure list of active coaches. Flip's not motivating his players, or using them right, according to rubes who expressed their opinion yesterday. Give Randy Wittman a chance, or even Kevin McHale. Would dismissing Flip lead to a change in attitude that might lead to a couple of more wins? Maybe. Would it lead to a 20-game win streak that would give the team home-court advantage in the playoffs? Again, doubt it.
Call me status-quo guy. Maybe selling / buying a house makes me yearn for some constants in other parts of my life. Or, just maybe, I'm as bored and pathetic as those guys who listen to KFAN all day.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
