Ouch.

Sometimes, when you're in a bad mood, the last thing you want to do is be comforted. You don't want any hugs, you don't want people to feel sorry or commiserate with you. The only thing that is important is sulking, stewing and moping, because well, fuck it, right?

The Rose Bowl was Jan. 1. It is now Jan. 7. I am still not okay.

I want to rant*, complain, cry and generally let it all out. But nobody who is listening gets to respond; this is my time to whine. Heaven forbid anybody continues to try and lighten my mood and actually make me laugh or smile. How dare you crack a joke! Why would you ruin the perfectly horrible mood I'm in? All of a sudden that person is the worst person in the world, beneath Glenn Beck and homeopathic doctors and the people who post up at the only spot at the bar where you can actually get a bartender's attention, and hold it for their own, even though they're not even drinking anything.

*Insert Joe Posnanski Posterisk here: I'm prone to ranting. And when I get real fired up, the rants toe the line between pure, verbalized hate and sarcastic humor. The intent is usually the former, but the impact comes off as the latter. For instance, here's the explosion I went into on the bus ride back from the Rose Bowl to the media hotel:

"Life is just a series of small victories designed for the sole purpose of building you up to this amazing state of hope and expectations, simply so it can tear you down and devastate your soul until your chest becomes a hollowed-out black void where your heart and dreams used to be. Santa Claus isn't real, true love is a lie and you always, always die alone."

Or the little eruption that came after Hunter Wendelstedt's non-call of what I thought was a pretty obvious strike three to Lance Berkman in the seventh inning of a 2-2 ballgame in the ALDS back in October. The non-call led to the wheels coming off for the Twins in that game.

"How do you not call that a strike? It was clearly on the corner, I don't know how you don't call that a strike. It ruined the game for the Twins. Hunter Wendelstedt lost that game for Minnesota. What a shitty umpire. You have like three jobs and you've just botched one of them. I hope Hunter Wendelstedt gets cancer. Actually no, I hope his entire family gets cancer and fights a long losing battle to disease, all the while he stays healthy and watches them slowly fade away until they're all on the last brink of life, when all of a sudden they go into remission and are better and it's the most joyous thing in all of the world and then, on the car ride home from the hospital, they all get hit by a fucking bus and he gets to watch them die in a fiery car wreck."

I harbor no love for Mr. Wendelstedt, as you can see.

The point is, sometimes you've just got to let a funk run its course. Eventually, the pain subsides and soothes and everything is put back into perspective. Eventually.

But until that point, there's a kind of sick pleasure in feeling down. I might not be the worst-off person in the world, but can I feel like it for just a bit?

I'm not okay with Phillip Welch missing that field goal, or with all the penalties the Badgers took, or with all the drops, or the over-thought game plan that got away from the run, or the decision not to use timeouts at the end of the first half. There's no one reason to point to in the game that explains why the Badgers lost. Remedy any one of those things and maybe the game turns out differently.

I've said that the only thing you don't want to still be asking at the end of the season is the question, "What if?" In this case, it's "What if (insert any of the things from the graph above)?" It would mean UW won and I got to experience a Rose Bowl win as a student and there would be no real regret at the end of the season. You finished winners, you finished on top.

Had TCU simply taken UW to dummytown and won by 30 points, there would be no "what if?" It would have simply been that the Horned Frogs were indeed a better team and showed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. But that's not what happened. Instead, the Badgers have to wonder if they made just one more play, what could have happened?

Looking back at the NCAA title game in men's hockey, you can say that Boston College dominated Wisconsin, especially in the third period. But it was a 1-0 game until the third and Michael Davies had a breakaway earlier in the game that would have tied it, but the puck jumped his stick and he never got a shot off on John Muse.

What if the ice was better and Davies never lost the puck? You can't say for sure. But the one thing you can be sure of is that a hypothetical victory is always more comforting than a close loss.

"What if" is the worst question in life. It reminds you that you failed at something. It reminds you there could have been something better.

So for a while, I'll keep asking "What if?" I'll lay awake at night and be spiteful, disappointed, sorry and bitter.

And it will almost feel okay.

L.T. and some hockey thoughts

The Vikes have met with LaDainian Tomlinson, according to reports on every major sports media outlet. LT is heading to meet with the Jets, but according to the STrib's Judd Zulgad, the Vikings "really wowed him."

With Chester Taylor likely destined for multiple levels of disappointment down in Chicago, Minnesota has a real need for a backup to Adrian Peterson. AD's pass-catching skills are still questionable at best, and Taylor could almost always be counted on to make something out of a screen. He might not have made a lot of guys miss, but he didn't hesitate, and he made sure to go forward with the ball.

Tomlinson would provide the same pass-catching skills, and with his desire just to win a Super Bowl, looks to be fine with accepting a backup role on a contender. Seems to make sense for Minnesota.

Of course, I've already spoken my mind about what LT should do. The main argument teams can't expect Tomlinson to be a feature back anymore though, so a backup role could work.

So if Tomlinson were to sign with Minnesota, here are the two ways I see it going down:

1: The addition of LT helps make the decision easier for Brett Favre, who comes back for a second last hurrah. Favre isn't as good as he was last season - but still performs at a high level. Peterson benefits from both having Favre around as quarterback and the chance to learn from Tomlinson. LT himself fits into the third-down back role perfectly, while the offense finds creative ways to utilize both Peterson and Tomlinson in the backfield, maybe even squeezing Percy Harvin in there to be extra tricky.

The Vikes don't have to waste a third or fourth round pick on a running back and can shore up their secondary and defensive line. The team looks primed to make one last good run at a title with Antoine Winfield and Pat Williams.

Favre, Tomlinson and the other veterans go out with a Super Bowl. Everyone is happy.

2: Favre still comes back when the news of adding LT reaches him. But last season was Favre's last good campaign and he struggles with interceptions and injuries. By the bye week, there's outcry to have Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels start. Tomlinson runs out of gas around the same time, and fans who are expecting too much from him call the signing a bust.

The Vikings limp into the playoffs, losing in the first round and putting Minnesotan dreams of a Super Bowl on hold for another 10 years.

So who knows. As long as expectations don't get too high and people realize LT is best used as a third down or backup back, there's probably potential for this to work. Tomlinson's best days as a feature back are over, but he could get a couple more years out of receiving 1/3 of the touches.

Hockey

As far as the Wisconsin men's hockey team is concerned, the group looks primed to make a run at the Final Five title. Alaska Anchorage should be easily dispatched this weekend, so I'm ready to head back up to the Twin Cities next weekend.

Here's a couple of notes from this week:

• The WCHA player of the week plaques from a couple weeks ago were sent to the team on Tuesday. Blake Geoffrion's was busted - the black plate where all the text was etched-in had come off and Ben Worgull had to take it off and stick it back on to fix it. High quality awards, clearly.
• Goaltender Scott Gudmandson said the team is going with mustaches instead of playoff beards. Guddy himself is getting ready to rock a pretty killer Fu Manchu.

Good and Bad

What a wonderful job I do of keeping this blog. A smattering of posts over the course of almost a year.

Anyways.

What a somewhat frustrating weekend. It started with the realization that Joe Mauer isn't signed yet, which will likely keep me up at night until he either signs, or the season starts. In the latter scenario, I find another team to root for, because any organization that can't sign the dictionary definition of a hometown hero (not to mention the best player not named Albert Pujols) is too much to deal with.

As for the rest, it's easier to break it up into "good" and "bad" sections.

The Good

The Wisconsin men's hockey team managed to skate to a pair of 5-2 victories over hapless Michigan Tech. While the games were closer than the final scores indicated, it was nice to see the Badgers carry on without 21-goal scorer and team captain Blake Geoffrion. Unfortunately, I didn't make the trip up to Houghton, seeing as I would have had to pay for lodging, and, well, the fact that it's Houghton.

That's probably about it. Also, I played a lot of Bozo Buckets, which I'll explain some other time.

The Bad

Unfortunately, most of the weekend was filled with things that frustrated me. Like Sidney Crosby scoring the game-winning OT goal. And Minnesota State letting Denver score with 18 seconds left in overtime so the Pioneers could clinch the MacNoughton Cup. And the UW women's team getting swept 3-2 and 4-3 in overtime games to Ohio State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. So much for home-ice advantage (though Eagles Nest in Verona isn't exactly 'home').

The Robbie Hummel-less Purdue Boilermakers lost to Michigan State, and in all likelihood, there will be a nice tie atop the Big Ten standings. A tie the Badgers could have been a part of, if not for an embarrassing home loss to Illinois and an even more disgusting loss to Minnesota.

And even though the Badger men swept Michigan Tech, none of the east coast teams likely did enough to nudge Bemidji St. or idle St. Cloud State from fourth in the pairwise rankings. I am probably going to cry if Wisconsin gets the No. 1 seed in the East Regional - in Albany, while the Huskies or Beavers get close and cozy St. Paul. I really do not want to go to Albany. I also really want to cover the team in the NCAA tournament.

Sigh.

A very satisfying night

Badger football win over Hawaii? Check. UW hockey sweep over Michigan Tech? Check. Wisconsin basketball trounces Grambling (is not a ) State too.

Hell, even the Wild and more remarkably, the Timberwolves, won games.

UW ran all over Hawaii, led by John Clay's 172 yards and three touchdowns. Kicker Phillip Welch reminded Wisconsin fans why they hate him by missing a field goal from the right hash wide right and clanging an extra point attempt off the left upright. Freshman jack-of-all-trades Chris Borland kicked the remaining three extra points for the Badgers.

The Badger basketball game was reportedly the most boring game of basketball in the history of ever, so long story short, UW improves to 6-1 on the season.

You can check my recap of the Wolves game here, 'nuff said.

The Wild are over the .500 mark for the first time this season, at 13-12-3. That 3-9 start has been replaced by a 10-3-3 run, including wins in the last five games.

Michigan Tech shot itself in the foot against Wisconsin in hockey last night. Mikael Lickteig went off near the end of the first period for a five-minute major checking from behind penalty. UW went on to score three times, including once on a five-on-three after another Husky decided being down one man wasn't demoralizing enough. Brendan Smith and John Mitchell scored twice each and Derek Stepan had three assists.

The Badgers are still only ranked 16th, though that should change tomorrow. Hopefully Wisconsin doesn't get too cocky after the series as they head to No. 3 North Dakota this weekend.

But if they carry a little swagger, it will be justified - some stats to consider:

• UW scores 4.12 goals per game, second in the nation - and first in the WCHA by more than half a goal.
  
• UW allows just 2.00 goals per game, tied for fifth in the nation with NoDak. UND and UW are tied atop the conference in scoring defense.
  
• Wisconsin is second in the nation to Bemidji State in scoring margin, outscoring opponents by 2.12 goals per game.
• After going 7-for-13 on the power play this weekend, the Badgers are 17th in the nation, converting at a 21.3 percent clip. They rank fourth in the WCHA.
• 20 different Badgers have scored a goal this season, with freshman Derek Lee being the most recent to get his first of the year. That mark leads the nation.
• Junior defenseman Brendan Smith has the conference lead in points and is second in the nation in overall points and points per game. He's the nation's top scoring defenseman.
• Blake Geoffrion's hat trick Friday night was the first by a Badger since 2007 and first by a UW senior since 1996.
• All three of Geoffrion's goals were on the power play, tying the school mark for most PP goals in a game by one player. He's second in the nation with eight power play goals and first in the WCHA with 12 total goals.
  

UW men's hockey live blog

Live blog of the Wisconsin men's hockey team's game against the Michigan Tech Huskies.

Click here for live blog.

Wolves lose again, Badgers win; follow me on Twitter

I'm going to start updating this more often, so bear with me as I get back into the whole blogging business.

The Minnesota Timberwolves lost their second in a row, falling 89-98 to the New Orleans Hornets. Minny is now 2-17 on the season, though Kevin Love made his season debut, scoring 11 and grabbing 11 rebounds. For the full story, check out my Examiner recap, which has a mini preview for tonight's game against Utah.

It was a better week for Wisconsin athletics, after Bucky's win over Duke Wednesday night. Wish I was there, if only for the chance to storm the court. I don't care what you say - beating a top-five ranked Duke team while UW is unranked is a storm the court situation. How many times does Duke come to the Kohl Center? Might as well make the most of it and savor the upset.

The Badgers killed Michigan Tech in men's hockey action Friday night, winning 8-2. Blake Geoffrion got a hat trick, the first Badger to do so since Jack Skille a couple years back. Geoffrion had some help from a MTU defender on the first goal, getting the puck to go off the Husky defenseman's skate and in. The senior captain's three goals all came on the power play, tying the school record for power play goals by one player in a game. All in all, 12 Badgers registered a point on the night, led by Geoffrion's three goals and Brendan Smith's four assists. Smith is now tied with UMD's Jack Connolly for the conference lead, with 21 points (5-16-21). You can check out the live blog coverage from last night here and check back later for Saturday's live blog coverage.

I've finally succumbed and started a twitter account, so if you want, you can follow me on there.

A closer look at the Twins' All Stars

With the Twins enjoying an off day, it seems like the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at Minnesota’s three All-Stars, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan. Mauer was selected by the fans as a starter, while Morneau and Nathan are reserves.

Mauer easily earned the starting nod at catcher, collecting 4,335,739 votes – fourth among all vote-getters in MLB. While much of the media buzz surrounding Mauer recently concerns the possibility of him hitting .400, that’s a narrow view to take of a player who is so much more. As of July 6, Mauer has a .389/.465/.648 line to go with a career-high 14 home runs. His torrid May was tempered by a more human June – Mauer had a Barry Bonds-esque .414/.500/.838 May before slipping to .353/.407/.490 for the month of June. His power stroke all but disappeared as well, as he had 11 homers and 32 RBI in May but just three homers and 11 RBI in June, though some of that slide can be attributed to the Twins lacking Denard Span for much of the month.

Despite that slide and what will likely be a steady decline as the season progresses, Mauer is a solid MVP candidate, combining his insane offensive numbers with Gold Glove-caliber defense. The wear and tear of playing catcher derails any logical chance of him hitting .400, but if the Twins win the AL Central, Mauer could win his first MVP award.

Of course, Mauer could easily find himself the runner up in the MVP race to none other than his good friend Morneau. The Canadian is quietly having a monster year and easily deserves the starting nod in the All Star Game over Kevin Youkilis and actual starter Mark Teixeira. Though the fans voted Teixeira in, Morneau won the most votes by the players themselves, and rightly so.

In his 2006 MVP season, Morneau finished with a .321/.375/.559 line, along with 34 homers and 130 RBI. After the first three months of ’06, he had 21 HR and 20 RBI, similar to the 21 HR and 69 RBI he has so far this year. This year, Morneau’s seems about set to repeat his 2006 stats, entering today with a .323/.399/.601 hitting line. To put that into context with other players this season, consider Morneau’s ranking in the following categories:

Category	AL Rank	1B Rank	MLB Rank
Batting Avg	3	4	12
On-Base %	5	7	17
Slugging %	1	4	4
OPS	1	4	4
Home Runs	2	5	8
Runs Batted In	2	3	4
Total Bases	1	2	2

Morneau hasn’t just been good, he’s been the Albert Pujols of the American League – which is even higher praise, considering the year Pujols is having. The only other first basemen that come close to matching Morneau’s all-around greatness have been Pujols and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder. Considering that he’s also played in 82 of the team’s 83 games and Morneau seems a lock to at least match his 2008 runner up finish in this year’s MVP race.

As dominant as Mauer and Morneau have been offensively, Nathan has been equally as vicious on the mound. He’s second in the league with 22 saves and his 1.35 ERA leads American League closers. His miniscule .75 WHIP and .205 opponent’s batting average are also phenomenal, justifying SI.com’s decision to name him the current best closer in the big leagues. Nathan hasn’t allowed a run since May 15 against the Yankees and has only allowed a run in three of his 35 appearances. If the All Star Game comes down to a save situation for the AL, there’s no doubt in my mind that Nathan should be called on to close the game.

If the Twins’ supporting cast has a strong second half, Minnesota’s trio of All-Stars should carry the team to its fifth AL Central title this decade. Mauer and Morneau could very well find themselves battling each other for the MVP award and Nathan could be on his way to his first Rolaids Relief Man award by season’s end. Of course, there’s a whole lot of baseball left to play and projected finishes often don’t match actual finishes. As of today though, these three Twins seem safe bets to finish career years.