People in Minnesota love watching sports, whether it’s basketball or hockey. When we think of sports, we normally imagine guys running onto a field or a court to play and give their all to win. Sports are mostly thought of as challenging, rough and made for physically and mentally tough people. So who are we most likely to think of as the most physically tough people in our society? Most of use would probably think of men first. Now you’re thinking, where am I going with this? People around the world, just like Minnesotans, tend to forget that women play sports as well and even be better than men.

People in Minnesota seem unhappy with how the sports teams in the state have been losing game after game and failing to win a championship or even anything close to that in the past few years. But Minnesotans are forgetting about one certain team, a team regularly overlooked, solely because it’s women’s team. Yes, I’m talking about the Minnesota Lynx, the number 1 team in the WNBA.

“What?!” “Were number 1?” “I thought we were on a lockout?” “We have a women’s pro basketball team?” These are just some of the reactions I got when I told some of my friends at the U that the Lynx are currently favored to win the championship this year. It seems to me that women in this country are always looked down on physically, particularly in sports.

Let me give a brief history of the Minnesota Lynx for those, which I know are many, who don’t know much about the current team. The Lynx are led by the U’s own Lindsey Whalen (Point Guard), along with Rookie of the Year winner, Maya Moore (Forward), and leading scorer (16.2 points per game) shooting guard Seimone Augustus. The Lynx had the best bench in the WNBA all last season, led by guards Monica Wright and Candice Wiggins. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was awarded the Coach of the Year Award for guiding the Lynx to best record in franchise history and in the WNBA Season. Their record (27-7) gave the Lynx home court advantage throughout the WNBA playoffs. After eliminating the San Antonio Silver Stars in three games and sweeping two-time champion Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury, the Minnesota Lynx will take on All-Star Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream in the 2011 WNBA Finals. The Dream, who got swept (0-3) in last year’s WNBA Finals to the favored Seattle Storm, are looking for redemption. The Dream has caused upsets to make the Finals by defeating the number one (Indiana Fever) and two (Connecticut Sun) seeds in the Eastern Conference. Home court advantage seems not important to the Dream. By the looks of it, the Dream seems to be the toughest team the Lynx will face in the playoffs even though the Lynx won both games against the Dream in the regular season. The Dream have won two of three road games in the playoffs, therefore we, the fans of Minnesota, must make sure we show our support for the Lynx and show the Dream what home court advantage truly means.

When we think of Minnesota basketball, we see Kevin Love and the Timberwolves, but right now, especially because the NBA Lockout still hasn’t been settled (*sigh*), we should remember that Minnesota basketball is also played by the Minnesota Lynx, a pro basketball women’s team in the women’s version of the NBA, for those who don’t know. The Lynx currently hold the best season record in the WNBA and are the number one seed in the playoffs. Minnesota’s hopes and dreams of winning one of the few championships since 1992 lies in their hands (or paws, really). Our Lynx are the best and they’ve got the record to prove it, but still they’ll have to show it again in the playoffs. With the opportunity the Lynx have been given with their talented roster, this is the biggest chance for Minnesota to show everyone that Minnesota can win championships too.

Let’s take a few minutes to look back in the grand history of Minnesota sports. Minnesota in the 1950’s was the most popular basketball location in the United States, and ever since the departure of George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers, the state of Minnesota hasn’t been able to get even a taste of basketball glory. Furthermore, outside of basketball, the state of Minnesota hasn’t won a championship since the Minnesota Twins won the World Series in 1991. Yes, major sports in Minnesota, from basketball, football, baseball and hockey, haven’t been so successful. There were some good times in some of these Minnesota teams, but as of late, all the recent attempts for a championship have ended badly.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been free-falling in the NBA standings since the departure of Kevin Garnett, who failed to bring a championship to Minnesota after 11 seasons. The Minnesota Twins, who back in 1991 won the World Series, currently are the second worst team in pro baseball and is the worst team in the AL (American League). The Minnesota Vikings have had an inconsistent team since head coach Bud Grant led the Vikings to a Super Bowl win in 1969 and then departed the team in 1983. The 11 year old Minnesota Wild team have yet to win a Stanley Cup, although there were signs of a run in 2008 when the Wild won the Division title, but were quickly ousted in the first round of the playoffs and ever since haven’t been able to win 40 games or more in a single season. Our very own Golden Gophers have been unsuccessful in basketball and football in the past years and even if our hockey team has won the NCAA Championship in 2003, the Gophers haven’t made it back to the finals since 2003.

The Minnesota crowd, in championship poverty, have been cheering and praying that the Wolves would win the NBA Championship in the Garnett era, that the Vikings would win the Super Bowl, that the Twins would win the World Series, or that the Wild would win the Stanley Cup, but none of these male teams have been able to bring championship glory to the state of Minnesota in 20 years. If you would tell a fellow Minnesotan on the street right now that the women would be the one to bring a first championship in 20 years to the state, that person wouldn’t believe it, but they should believe it now. The Minnesota Lynx are on the hunt and are inching closer and closer to that coveted championship. We need to believe (I believe) they can accomplish the task ahead that they will win the WNBA championship, but they need our support and most of all we should not forget that the state of Minnesota has a team to be proud of, the Minnesota Lynx. Don’t forget that name.

Tags: cities, Sports