Speaking of Sports

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

•  Fun at Donkey ball — I was just thinking how much fun the Donkey ball fundraiser for the Solems was and how great it is for the community to help out others by hosting this and similar events.

I’ve been to a few donkeyball games before and there normally isn’t much scoring, but at Minnewaska Area, there was an abundance of scoring and some pretty impressive shots.

Blake Nelson had an especially-good night, helping the BPA team win the overall title.  Nelson had a couple of early baskets during a semifinal win over the FFA team and then had the “shot of the night” with a dunk off the back of a donkey before adding a 3-pointer later in the first game for a pretty impressive trifecta of shots.  Yes, it was a great night of fun, camaraderie, laughter and good feelings from helping others.

•  Vikings let me down again — I still don’t know why I let myself get sucked into the excitement of the Vikings.  I’ve watched more of Vikings this year than I have in the past 5-10 years and I seriously thought they had a great shot to reach the Super Bowl since there really aren’t that many dominant teams in the league this year

Well, the Vikings opened the game in terrible fashion, but came alive in the second and third quarters and I was beginning to think we’d be playing the 49ers in the next round.

However, the Vikings’ defense failed to show up for the game and the New York Giants continued their playoff mastery over the Vikings with a 31-24 victory.

When I think about it, the Vikings probably weren’t going to beat the suddenly-hot San Francisco 49ers in their next game so maybe the loss saved us all from disappointment one week later.  Maybe next year . . . or not!

•  I would hate to be an NFL kicker — The Dallas Cowboys won their wildcard game over Tampa Bay in the opening round of the NFL playoffs, but their kicker, Brett Maher, almost didn’t survive the game.  Maher became the first kicker since 1932 to miss four extra points in a regular-season or playoff game; a span of 16,207 games.  All four of his misses were in the first half.

Maher, who did make an extra-point in the second half, had gone 29-of-32 on field goals and 50-of-53 on extra-points before the Tampa Bay game.

The Cowboys continue to have confidence in Maher (at least that’s what they’re telling him), but as a precaution, the team has signed another kicker to the practice squad as insurance.  I’m sure that will do a lot to settle down the nerves of Maher. 

•  Stupid bet — I’ve heard of stupid bets before and I normally try to stay away from betting because nothing is guaranteed in life, but I heard a recent story of a very bad bet for one NFL fan.

The LA Chargers held a 27-0 lead over Jacksonville in their recent wildcard NFL game, but the Jaguars roared back to claim a 31-30 victory on a last-second field goal.  It was the third-largest comeback in NFL playoff history.

Well, one bettor thought there was no way the Chargers would lose the game so he placed a $1.4 million bet at halftime for the chance to win $11,200.  First of all, I didn’t know you could actually make bets once a game has started, but I was wrong.

I can’t imagine the person enjoyed the second half very much as the Jaguars came roaring back, and I can about imagine what he looked like as he watched the game-winning field goal soar through the uprights to end the game.

His sure-thing $11,200 win turned into a $1.4 million loss.  Why do people do such things?  No word yet on where the person slept that night once he had the guts to tell his wife about the bet.  Wow!