COLUMN: Can't blame the Wings, for now

HOME STRETCH COLUMN
By: 
Pete Temple
Express Sports Editor

Random thoughts: 

 

• There was considerable anger, at least in the pages of the Des Moines Register, after University of Iowa women’s basketball superstar Megan Gustafson was cut from the roster of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings last month. 

 

The Wings drafted Gustafson after she completed her outstanding Hawkeye career, which included her selection as Naismith Player of the Year. 

 

There were several tweets and other comments about Gustafson’s release in a recent Sunday edition of the Register, and many of them were highly critical of the Dallas management. 

 

I was a bit stunned by these reactions. Let’s suppose the Chicago Cubs had drafted a highly-touted player from Iowa, and called him up during spring training, only to release that player before the season started. 

 

My guess is that Cub fans in Iowa, of which there are thousands, would be more than understanding. Cubs fans want to win, and have little patience for players who appear to be holding the team back. 

 

The goal of any professional sports team, after all, is to compete for a championship, or at least to build toward that goal. A pro team isn’t going to sign a player just because people who loved that player in college thinks it should. 

 

In the assessment of the Wings, Gustafson was not ready to help them. You can’t blame them for that, at least not yet. 

 

To her credit, Gustafson has chosen to use her setback as motivation to work harder. She will be playing, the Gazette reported, in an event called The Basketball Tournament in July, becoming the first active professional women’s basketball player to do so. 

 

If and when Gustafson is good enough to make a WNBA roster, she will. And maybe the Wings will regret their move one day. 

 

• Speaking of pro sports, I have to gloat just a little about my Minnesota Twins, while I can. 

 

I didn’t think this roster was as bad as they showed last year, but I definitely didn’t see a 43-21 record and a 10½- game division lead (at this writing) coming. 

 

They just have a lot of things going for them all at once: decent starting pitching, a strong bullpen, and lots of home runs in an era that emphasizes home run hitting. 

 

The Twins also have the benefit of playing in baseball’s worst division, the AL Central. Cleveland which nearly won the World Series just three years ago, is fading. The White Sox will be good before long, but might be a year or two away. The Tigers are rebuilding, and the Royals, at 20-45, seem pretty overmatched. 

 

I know there’s a lot of season left, but it’s pretty fun right now. 

 

• I am also tremendously enjoying the NBA Finals, which as of Monday afternoon show a 3-1 series lead for the Toronto Raptors over the Golden State Warriors. 

 

It’s fair to say injuries have hurt the Warriors, but is anyone else curious about the Kevin Durant situation, and the strained calf that has kept him out of the Finals? 

 

Maybe I have become too cynical in my old age, but is it coincidence that Durant is on the bench with possibly the biggest payday in NBA history looming this off-season?

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