Bill Guerin Gets Angry

Some moments will forever be etched into the brains of Minnesota sports fans forever. Things really started to get interesting around the 12:30 mark when Dan asks a question about Ryan Suter and only gets better from there. But it was the questions about Marc-Andre Fleury vs Cam Talbot and Matt Dumba vs Kevin Fiala that really set Billy off. The entire back-half is must listen. I included a few of the quotes below the video.

If I sound a little pissed off or annoyed, I am. All I hear is Matt [Dumba] getting dumped on and, you know what, it’s not easy doing what he did. Playing in the condition that he did. I like Matt Dumba. I think he’s a damn good defenseman. And people want people want to ride him out of town because Kevin [Fiala] had three good months.

Bill Guerin – Wild GM (KFAN)

“Hey listen, I know there are a lot of ‘experts’ out there. I tell people this all the time. Just be careful when you’re commenting on guys on our team, when you hear from ‘they’ or ‘somebody who told me’. Because ‘they’ don’t know what’s going on. ‘They’ don’t know the conversations we have with other teams. ‘They’ are full of crap.”

“You know what? I’m protecting my guys. I like these guys. I’m done hearing ‘this guy’s gotta go’, ‘that guy’s gotta go’. You know what? We’ll make the decisions. Nobody has to go and nobody has to stay. We have to make educated decisions.”

“Tell ‘they’ that they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about and you call me.”

Bill Guerin – Wild GM (KFAN)

Wow, what an interview…

I don’t know if Dan woke up this morning hoping to get into a verbal altercation with the Minnesota Wild’s general manager, but you could hear the happiness in his voice the longer the conversation drug on. You know it’s a good interview when half of your body desperately wants to shut it off while the other half wants to see how hostile the interaction will get.

Could we see an angry hangup from the normally well-collected Guerin? It didn’t go that far. Barreiro eventually threw him a life raft with some late jokes that helped bring Billy G out of his spiral of rage. Had the seasoned interviewer continued pushing, who knows where it would have landed.

Nonetheless, it was a memorable moment for those who caught it live, like me. Billy’s “I’m pissed off” interview will only add to Barreiro’s local (already HOF) media resume. No sweat for the Minnesota Wild GM, though. You can’t be a successful professional sports executive until you’ve put a good rant on record.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Well, Breeland started again against Cleveland but didn’t even make it out of the 1st quarter. He exited the game after giving up a 21-yard 3rd down completion ten minutes into the game, where he failed to pick up the correct assignment (see video below).

Bashaud got in front of Vikings reporters on Friday afternoon and his appearance didn’t even last four minutes. That’s all it took for fireworks to fly, though. Breeland was asked early-on about that last play of his game vs Cleveland and why he never returned after. Were the two related? What happened? He looked confused by the question and couldn’t seem to remember what play he was being asked about.

It was a great way to start an even better press conference that would only get better from here.

Breeland seemed to forget his last play vs Cleveland (a 21 yard 3rd down gain he gave up in the 1st quarter).

Luckily, I found it for him. #Vikings pic.twitter.com/2wa9OBY4Kg

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 8, 2021

Breeland vs Tomasson

You can hear two reporters asking the questions that seem to be frustrating Bashaud Breeland. After taking the above question, he turns to Chris Tomasson (Pioneer Press), who is known for some of the heated exchanges he’s had with head coach, Mike Zimmer.

Tomasson asked Breeland about his PFF grade, which ranks 103 of 103 cornerbacks in the league, and if the former Chief is embarrassed by such things. Bashaud’s response couldn’t have been any better. First, he claimed not to be embarrassed by PFF’s ranking. Then, he turns the question on Tomasson and says Chris would probably be ranked 101st in his profession, if such rankings existed.

It was a legendary player/reporter exchange that I’m just glad I watched happen in real time.

Chris Tomasson asked Breeland him if he's embarrassed by PFF ranking him the 103rd CB (out of 103) in the league. Breeland responded by saying Chris would probably rank 101 of 101 reporters if someone ranked them. ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/sW45QXMMEu

— Skol Vikes (@SkolBros) October 8, 2021

What else?

Bashaud Breeland admitted to a poor start. He wasn’t up there trying to convince people that PFF’s rankings are wrong. Instead, Breeland pointed to a difficulty he’s had adjusting to a “new team and new scheme” but that he feels he’s getting better every week.

He challenged fans and media, saying “ya’ll just watch”, followed by “I can’t wait till Sunday”. We’ll see if a different Bashaud shows up on Sunday. Here’s his full interview.

LIVE: Bashaud Breeland talks to the media https://t.co/xtfJfhLHJr

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 8, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

It’s been a difficult and lonely couple of weeks in Gopher football land. The program has dealt with 47 positive COVID cases (21 students, 26 staff) and facilities have been closed for days. They’ve been forced to cancel two games (last Saturday vs Wisconsin and this weekend vs Northwestern), a Thanksgiving turkey drive and any meal plans with friends and family.

Fortunately, the Gophers who have tested positive for COVID-19 have only dealt with “very, very, very mild symptoms”, according to PJ Fleck in an interview with KFAN Radio (below)

There are still two weeks (keep reading) and one game left on the Minnesota schedule that haven’t been canceled yet. And contrary to what I’ve seen and heard speculated in the papers, on the radio and over the internet, the football team plans to play those weeks. PJ Fleck was asked by Paul Allen (KFAN) about the odds of playing in week 8 vs Nebraska.

Here’s what PJ had to say:

According to PJ Fleck (on @KFAN1003 w/PA): COVID positive #Gophers have had "very,very,very mild symptoms, if they do have it", and the team plans to play against Nebraska on December 12. pic.twitter.com/PEK5vBGm1o

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) December 1, 2020

PA: “What about that Nebraska game… care to venture a guess?”

PJ: “Well, you know, we plan on playing that. We’re going to return to practice when the medical experts say that it’s safe to do so and our goal is to play December 12 at Nebraska.

And we had a team meeting this morning, talked about it, talked about, you know, we’re already in a meeting on Nebraska. I think the players just want to be able to get back to working out, get back to conditioning, get back into the steps and protocols that take place before we can actually get back on the field in practice.”

The full interview between Paul Allen and PJ Fleck on KFAN Radio is available on HERE. I’d highly recommend you listen to the whole thing. Young college students being stuffed into their dorms for Thanksgiving is fucking depressing. I don’t care what you have to say about, “everybody is sacrificing”.

Cases have “dropped dramatically”

While PJ Fleck and the rest of the Minnesota Gopher football team impatiently waits to get back on the practice field, positive cases have been falling dramatically over the last couple of days, according to University Athletic Director, Mark Coyle.

“We’ve had a high number of positive cases over the past week,” Coyle said. “And fortunately over the past couple of days, those have dropped dramatically.”

Star Tribune

What could week 9 bring?

Remember, there is a week 9 built into this Big Ten football season. The only game scheduled on that Saturday (for now) is the Big Ten Championship. However, the Big Ten was hoping to play week 9 off as a “Champions Week”.

Teams were to be seeded by record in each division from #1-7. Then, matching seeds from the East and West would line up against each other on that Saturday, all culminating in the Big Ten Championship game (West #1 vs East #1) that night.

As of now, the Big Ten still hopes to play more than just one game during week 9. Given the major cancellations that have now transpired, a rivalry game makeup week (of sorts) would be better. Instead of East vs West scrub games that nobody cares about, we could watch Minnesota battle Wisconsin for the Ax. Who says no?

There doesn’t seem to be any real reporting done on this topic yet… but I’m not the only one speculating.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

I caught up with Vikings TE David Morgan and got his assessment of the new staff, OTA’s, and what he expects from himself in this upcoming season.  (And I couldn’t help but ask for his first-hand account of the Minneapolis Miracle.)

via GIPHY

Since OTA’s were the subject, that’s where we started our conversation. I asked Morgan how OTA’s have changed for him, from his rookie year to now?  “Coming in as a rookie, it was a new team, new offense, a lot of not knowing what to expect”, Morgan said.  As he begins his 4th season (all with the Vikings), Organized Team Activities have changed quite a lot: “Things now are so much more comfortable, cool… There are friendships, established guys..  Kyle [Rudolph] and Rhett [Ellison] taught me how to be a pro”, he said.

With a mix of new and familiar faces around the building, the Vikings seem to have the perfect mixture of different personalities andm the right amount of skill to get this team to the next level.  Speaking of new faces, I asked Morgan about Gary Kubiak and what he brings to the team.  “He’s won a lot of games, his track record speaks for itself.  He knows what it takes.”  We also spoke about their first day at the facility when the new coaches got introduced…  “Coach Stefanski asked Kubiak and Coach Dennison how many Super Bowls they had been in, and they spoke about what it takes to get there.”

In contrast, Morgan recalled when the guys were sitting in the TE Room ahead of the NFCCG in Philadelphia.  “We knew a lot of great players never had gotten this opportunity, it was surreal.  We knew we had to embrace it.”  

In each season, individuals set goals for both the team and themselves.  I asked Morgan what his expectations were in Year 4, as he continues to progress with the Vikings:  “I love this team, I’m a team player.  I’m all about the team” he said.  Morgan spoke very highly of the sense of TEAM this group has “Everyone does their job.  I’m just 1/11 guys.  I do what I’m asked whether I’m blocking or catching the rock.  I want to win a lot of games, not just for this team, but for these fans and for this city.”

Lastly (I know, I know it was 2017), but I couldn’t help myself and had to asked Morgan about his Minneapolis Miracle experience from the Sidelines.

“You have to be positive.  In my heart, was I 100% sure we were going to win?  Probably not.  But you have to believe.  When Case stepped up and threw it I was sort of blocked by some OL, but moved up to the sideline.  I saw Diggs go up and thought, ‘get out of bounds!’  Then I look right down the sidelines and see him running and thinking what the hell?  Diggs untouched?  There has to be a flag.  We just won.  I took off running.  Jumping up and down.  Crazy.  Blew my mind.”

Brian Heintz | Minnesota Sports Fan