Vikings begin pre-season, Big Ten becomes "Big 18" and other sports news

CATHY WURZER: Time for sports. Sports guys are here, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally's the creator of Minnesota Score Magazine and the host of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. His cohost is Eric Nelson, who's also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports' Eye on Football program. Hey, guys. How are you?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Great. How are you, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: Great. So far so good.

ERIC NELSON: How are you doing, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: I am adequate, Eric. Thank you. I'm going to start with the Vikings. Why not? Let's see, first preseason game tonight in Seattle, right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: You are correct, a 9:00 PM kickoff tonight in Seattle. You won't see any of the starters is what we're being told, which is no surprise. Preseason football has basically become-- Eric likes to call it counterfeit football, but it's probably more or less-- what it is, really, is tryouts for guys that are going to be backup players, more or less. And that's what you're going to see tonight in Seattle.

You won't see Kirk Cousins. You won't see Justin Jefferson. You may not even see them next week. And I'm wondering-- and maybe Eric can talk about this. I'm wondering if you're going to see Kirk Cousins at all in the preseason. Teams have become so reticent to play their starting quarterbacks that this is what it's become now. The preseason is just three games. And we may or may not see Kirk Cousins until September 10, when they play Tampa at US Bank Stadium.

But right now the Vikings getting ready for that game tonight. 9:00 PM kickoff. So set your alarm if you plan to drift off to sleep watching the Vikings.

CATHY WURZER: No. I'll be in bed. So, Eric, what is the point, then, of these games? Who cares?

ERIC NELSON: For the NFL and their respective 32 teams to make money. If you're a season ticket holder-- and this is every team on the NFL map-- you have to purchase the preseason package to keep your season tickets.

Now, the good news is if you can't afford those spendy tickets for regular season games, check out the counterfeit games, as I call them, like Wally said, because the market usually craters. And you can get a bargain if you just want to be at a game, maybe bring your kids. Next week the Vikings open up their home preseason schedule against Tennessee. And the tickets are going for $4 on the secondary market, not including fees. So that's a bargain if you just want to get the kids into the venue and let them see the NFL.

But what I think has happened, too, Cathy, is the preseason has morphed into basically a battle for backup positions and special teams slots on the respective teams in the NFL. So it matters to these guys who are trying to make the team. But where you see a lot of the competition now are these joint practices.

Next week Tennessee will come to Minnesota three, four days early, before they play the counterfeit game. And they'll actually compete in scrimmages at the TCO Performance Center in Eagan. And I think in some ways, that's more competitive than the actual game itself.

I will tell our listeners, if you're going to watch tonight, let's see what happens with the backup quarterback position for Minnesota. Kirk Cousins, as we know, I mean, he's durable. He doesn't miss games. But do they have a solid number two guy?

Nick Mullens, a fifth year quarterback out of Southern Mississippi, should get a lot of snaps. And I think you're going to see this rookie, Jaren Hall, as well, fifth-round choice from BYU. Both of those guys are going to be auditioning to become the number two guy on the Vikings quarterback depth chart.

CATHY WURZER: OK. I will not be watching. I will I'll be in bed.

ERIC NELSON: Neither will I.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Let's talk about the Twins. They're still in first place in their division, Wally?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes. They have a four-and-a-half-game lead on Cleveland. Cleveland, as we discussed last week, raised the white flag by trading away some of their key players prior to the deadline. So they have a four-and-a-half-game lead. They've lost their last two games.

They're playing Detroit right now, as a matter of fact. They are in the third inning, no score. Kenta Maeda is on the hill for Minnesota. He is pitching for the Twins this afternoon.

But the fact that they lost a couple in a row to Detroit, you want to raise up some red flags, so to speak, as what is going on. And, their pitching staff got pounded last night. Bailey Ober got knocked around and so did some of the relievers. But I think that you just have to figure, let's just make the playoffs and see what happens. Now, the problem with that is, of course, Minnesota has lost 18 straight playoff games--

CATHY WURZER: What?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: --over the years. They haven't won a playoff game since 2002.

CATHY WURZER: What?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It's true. And you would think that you would win one in there somehow, some way.

CATHY WURZER: You'd think.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: But no, they've lost. It's got to be, I think it is, it has to be some kind of a record--

CATHY WURZER: Great.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: --losing 18 straight playoff games. Yes, wonderful. We can raise the banner on that.

CATHY WURZER: Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, yeah. It is a record. And I'm not saying that these opposing teams the Twins face in the playoffs are confident, but a lot of them pack brooms when they play the Twins because they're confident they're going to sweep away Minnesota. Maybe that changes in October of 2023.

After this game against Detroit, the Twins will travel to Philadelphia, a rare appearance in the city of brotherly love against the Phillies, who went to the World Series last year, lost to Houston, probably going to be a wild card team this season. They've been hot as of late. In fact, last night, one of their pitchers, Michael Lorenzen, threw a no-hitter against Washington. They won 7 to nothing.

Here's some no-hitter facts for you, Cathy. Philadelphia has 14 no-no's in team history compared to just 7 for the Minnesota Twins. And I'm including the days when they played in Washington, DC as the Senators.

Also, there have been 322 no-hitters in MLB history. And the sport goes back to 1876. So these things are rare, to see a no hitter.

CATHY WURZER: No kidding. Hey, we've got about four minutes left. Let's talk a little bit about the Gopher Football Team. I presume they are practicing and ready to go for the Big Ten season.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, they are. And they'll, as a matter of fact, they have some-- they have had some and will have more open practices for the media and the public coming up. But this is, and we've discussed this before, Cathy, this is probably their last chance in our lifetime to see them potentially get a shot at the Big Ten title. And I'm not just throwing it out there and being negative.

CATHY WURZER: Aren't you a little rain cloud?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: The addition of--

ERIC NELSON: Ha.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, well, all right, the addition of USC and UCLA, that's already a done deal. And then Washington and Oregon were added earlier this week. So now it's the Big 18.

There may be two more on the horizon. They may be adding Stanford and potentially Cal. Or I've heard rumors of Florida State and, get this, Clemson as being 19 and 20. No matter what the case is, there is going to be increased competition in the Big Ten.

So this is the last chance. They are in the Big Ten West, which has gotten beat by the Big Ten East, the Ohio States and Michigans of the world, every year since they've had this. This is the last chance for the Gophers to get into that game. So they have to beat out Iowa. They've got to beat out Nebraska. They have to beat out Bucky Badger.

If they can win the Big Ten West somehow, some way, and get into the Big Ten Championship game, I guess you never know. But starting next year, you're adding USC and UCLA along with Washington and Oregon, all powerhouse teams with the exception of UCLA maybe. They're not necessarily a powerhouse, but they have had some good teams over the years.

Now, the only thing I can say about this is that these schools are now looking beyond what student athlete means, Cathy. And I think that it's kind of sad because now these athletes are going to be asked, with the addition of all these West Coast teams, to travel across the country. And this isn't just football. We're talking every sport. We're talking all men's and women's sports, whether it's volleyball, whether it's baseball, women's softball. These athletes are going to have to travel cross country now to play their regular season games and matches.

And I am not sure that they are taking the student part of student athlete into account when doing this. It's all about the money and Big Ten TV Network and the networks that they have affiliations with.

CATHY WURZER: I was going to say, Eric, that would be-- it's all about money, right?

ERIC NELSON: Absolutely. I mean, every team now, every program in the Big Ten is going to get $60 million a season. So this is cha-ching. The Big Ten is NFL lite. I mean, it's just the way it is. But I'll put a positive spin on it because I think--

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Uh-oh.

ERIC NELSON: --the Gophers are really going to have to ramp up their game in football, basketball, and other sports if they want to be competitive. But let's look at it from the perspective of Gopher Nation, those fans who want to travel and see games on the road. Hey, you get trips to Los Angeles, Pasadena, Seattle, Eugene, Portland, Oregon.

CATHY WURZER: I guess. Sure.

ERIC NELSON: I mean, that's a lot more appealing than going to Bloomington, Indiana; West Lafayette, Indiana; Champaign, Illinois; Lincoln, Nebraska; Iowa City, Iowa.

CATHY WURZER: I get it.

ERIC NELSON: So, I mean, the Gophers haven't played in the Rose Bowl since '62, Cathy. Well, they're going to the Rose Bowl next season because they play UCLA and that's where the Bruins play their home games. So they may not go there in the actual bowl, but at least the fans can go to Pasadena and have some fun.

CATHY WURZER: All right.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Lord.

CATHY WURZER: Well, with that, we'll leave it there. Thank you, Eric and Wally. Have a good weekend.

ERIC NELSON: See ya, Cathy.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine. Eric Nelson is the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. That's it, for Minnesota Now here on MPR News.