The Minnesota Vikings have reversed their usual season. The last few years they have won early and lost late. This year they are losing early and late?

It wouldn’t seem so discouraging, but for the pre-season build-up and Super Bowl possibilities forecasted for the Vikings.

Mike Tice is being criticized severely and it looks like he is jumping on his own bandwagon. After the Atlanta game he was quoted as saying. &8221;We’re just not very good right now. That’s

everybody, that means I’m not a very good coach.&8220;

He won’t find many people to argue with him.

However, Mike is assured of at least two more weeks of employment. Next week the Vikings and Tice have a bye. Maybe that’s not so good. Owner Ziggy Wilf has another week to stew and fret. The Vikes need to win badly for Coach Tice.

Speaking of losing football teams our Minnesota Gophers got stomped by 78 year old Joe Paterno’s Penn State. It appears that the Gophers are not reversing a trend like the Vikings but rather just continuing their past seasons trend, maybe losing a little earlier. Perhaps the Gophers didn’t play the “The Little Sisters of the Poor” during the early schedule, but at least one team belonged in the same conference. It appears Glen Mason is following his tried and true philosophy, win the cupcakes, a couple of Big Ten games and go to the Mediocre Bowl in the winter.

Being a fan of the Vikings and Gophers is frustrating and I’m beginning to understand why some writers are negative when reporting on their efforts.

Onto a possibly more hopeful subject. Our Twins have also disappointed their fans this season. Again it was a case of our expectations being built sky high. Both Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s guru Peter Gammons predicted World Series action for the Twins. The team didn’t come close and seemingly was not improving as the season wound down. Many fans and writers got on their case, viewing them as a failure. At least their conversations and articles gave that impression.

I’m a little more optimistic than that. After all, they did finish with a record of 83-79 winning their last three games. The Twins&8217; 1987 World Series champs won 85-77. Not too much difference. Granted the &8216;87 Twins had Hrbeck, Puckett, Gaetti, Shane Mack, Tom Burnansky and

Chili Davis. There is no question that the &8216;87 team had better hitting and position players.

However, there is also no question that our present team has better pitching. The &8216;87 team was limited to closer Jeff Reardon with &8221;Blyleven, Viola and pray to heaven.&8220;

Pitching is the foundation on which the 2006 team can be built. Good pitching cures a lot of ills. However it will not cure the lack of offense the Twins showed this summer. But if I was to try to improve a decent team, I would rather begin with solid pitching than hitting. I think there are more good free agent hitters out there than pitchers. Can you imagine what Santana would bring on the open market?

Next year’s staff will start with the best pitcher in the majors and the best pitcher in the minors in Francisco Liriano along with successful rookie Scott Baker, old pro Brad Radke and the Twins&8217; most improved player Carlos Silva. Using that as a rock solid base and with the addition of more funds, the new TV contract and increased attendance, the Twins have an additional ten million or so. With the increase in some current player salaries, it means not picking up Joe Mays&8217; option next year and letting Kyle Lohse throw and Jacque Jones swing in some other park. But surely you can get some hitting for that kind of money.

When does Spring Training start?

(Jon Laging writes a commentary on regional and state sports topics from his home in Preston. )