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Fickle fans are quick to embrace local sports figures, and even quicker to spurn them Five local sports figures that find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion, and wrongly. OCTOBER 6, 2017 — 9:30PM
The passion for sports in this area has been questioned occasionally through the decades, including by me. You see 10,000 empty seats in a smallish Big Ten football stadium for a new coach’s conference opener and that idea can be reinforced.
One of the main fascinations in covering sports here has been to watch as fans make their decisions on important figures — sometimes without wavering, other times changing with the wind.
Here’s a handful of sports figures who seem to find themselves currently on the wrong side of public opinion:
Rick Spielman: The Vikings general manager has had full authority to bring in personnel since 2011, one year before getting the GM title. Fans still like to throw Christian Ponder at Spielman from that draft, even though the statute of limitations has expired.
There have been other misses for Spielman, but in truth, he has accumulated a defense with seven stars on it, and the offensive limitations can be traced more to injuries than draft failures.
One accusation is Spielman surrendered too much to bring in Sam Bradford from Philadelphia after Teddy Bridgewater’s injury. That’s as preposterous as the ongoing suggestion that the Twins should not have given a huge contract to reigning MVP Joe Mauer, a couple of weeks before they moved into a new ballpark in 2010.
The 2016 Vikings were coming off an 11-5 season, they had the potential to repeat as NFC Central champs, and a competent quarterback was a must to make that happen.
Anybody questioning the Bradford trade when they started 5-0?
Spielman did what he had to do to give the Vikings a shot. There were injuries, yes, and also a coach in Mike Zimmer who got far from the best out of his roster down the stretch.
There’s no good reason for Spielman to be in trouble, other than the possibility the rumors are true that he’s not a favorite of team President Kevin Warren.
Zach Parise:
Andrew Wiggins:
Derek Falvey:
Don Lucia:
http://www.startribune.com/fickle-fans-a...449841743/
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