Quick Hits: Volume CCCLXVIII

 - I've been reading the writings of Twin Cities sports scribe Patrick Reusse for 40+ years, whether it was his time with the St Paul Pioneer Press, the Minneapolis Minnesota Star Tribune or his tenure on Twitter. In all that time I've viewed him as a top notch, Grade-A agitator who dings overzealous Minnesota sports fans as well as his political opposites on the right. 

But when I heard of a blowup over the weekend accusing him of being a racist, my first inclination was to summarily dismiss it. The following tweet is what got the ball rollin': 

As it turns out, the Beastie Boys tune Brass Monkey was what Reusse was referring to, specifically the lyric "Brass Monkey, that funky Monkey." Given the nearly 80-year old Reusse is not the target demographic for such a tune, it's not at all implausible he heard "f****** monkey." Upon the severe backlash he received (in addition to the Strib Sports Editor reacting), Reusse put out a statement on a friend's Twitter account, essentially saying he was leaving the platform. 

In the end, I believe the invective towards Reusse was completely misguided and I'm sorry to see he deactivated his account. However, he now has some keen insight as to the oversensitivity (and faux outrage) his allies on the political left put forth on a regular basis. 

- At that end of the 2024 Minnesota Legislative session, I pointed out how former DFL Senator Melisa Lopez Franzen appeared to be a voice of reason when her party ran roughshod over procedure in order to pass a massive spending bill (without anybody having a chance to read it) before the clock struck Midnight. 

But then I realized that even though she didn't hold political office at the time, the ol' "once a politician, always a politician" mantra was likely in play. Is there an ulterior motive to this sudden reasonableness? 

Yep. 

Former Democratic state Sen. Melisa López Franzen announced on X early Monday morning that she will be running for U.S. Senate.

“I’m running for the United States Senate to protect our Minnesota values, restore sanity and bring decency and common sense back to Washington,” she said in a video announcement.

The U.S. Senate bid comes after her Feb. 21 announcement to step down as executive director of Government and Community Relations at the University of Minnesota. López Franzen formerly served in the Minnesota Senate for District 49 from 2012 to 2022, representing parts of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, as well as parts of Edina, Eden Prairie, Bloomington and Minnetonka.

I'd been hearing for nearly two years that Sen. Tina Smith was unlikely to seek reelection in 2026, so I'd be willing to bet López Franzen was hearing the same rumor. Hence her kumbaya sentiments at the end of the '24 session was a preemptive strike ahead of a possible Senate bid. 

Cynicism in politics makes for a great b.s. detector. 

- Ever since the end of the 2024 NFL season, I've had several back and forths with fellow Minnesota Vikings fans over the fate of QB Sam Darnold. Despite Darnold being in MVP conversation as late as Week 17, I felt it was a fait accompli that he was moving on after his unexpectedly stellar year. When I expressed that sentiment, I got a lotta pushback from many fans incredulous over the possibility the team would let a "proven commodity" walk away and then pivot to a guy (JJ McCarthy) with zero NFL game reps. It never did much good to have a nuanced discussion since most never appeared interested in that. 

Regardless, I was proven correct. 

 

The Seattle Seahawks have found their replacement for Geno Smith, agreeing to a three-year, $100.5 million deal with former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The deal includes $55 million guaranteed, sources told Schefter.

Given his new deal is a $33.5 million average annual value, it now makes sense why the Vikings opted not to place the franchise tag on Darnold and then attempt to trade him. A franchise tag would have carried a $41 million cost, which Darnold's representation would have set as the floor for AAV in a mutli-year pact. It's obvious now that this year's QB market isn't as robust as the past few seasons when the likes of Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts, Trevor Lawrence and Dak Prescott got north of $50 million per season. As it turned out, QB needy teams this offseason weren't even going to approach $40M AAV for Darnold, much less throw in a 2025 draft pick on top of that.

With that......bring on the JJ McCarthy era! 

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