Jordan Mason is a man of few words.

None of the answers from the 25-year-old running back were long on Thursday afternoon as he talked to reporters for the first time since being acquired by the Vikings in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers.

That said, Mason still managed to get his point across, especially when it came to how he was approaching his opportunity with the Vikings. Asked what appealed to him about the offense that head coach Kevin O’Connell runs, Mason replied, “I love that he wants to give me the ball.”

There’s no doubt about that. Let’s just say it’s not a coincidence that the Vikings added Mason to the backfield after last season, when veteran running back Aaron Jones logged a career-high 306 touches.

The style that Mason brings to the table will be a nice complement to Jones in the backfield.

“You earn respect by hitting somebody in the mouth,” Mason said in reference to the physicality that he brings when the ball in his hands. “I guess it came from not really having too much speed. You’ve got to do something to get here. That was something I picked up early on.”

The numbers speak for themselves. Mason forced a missed tackle on 37 percent of his carries last season, according to Next Gen Stats, which was the best rate in the NFL among players with at least 150 carries. Though he showcased his shiftiness in the open field from time to time, Mason usually forced those missed tackles simply by bulldozing opposing players at the point of attack.

The power that Mason possesses in his 5-foot-11, 225-pound frame is something the Vikings could certainly use on offense, especially near the goal line, where they have often seemed allergic to asking a running back to score.

In total, Mason finished with 153 carries for 789 yards and three touchdowns with the 49ers last season, doing most of his of his damage while filling in for star running back Christian McCaffrey, who missed an extended period of time due to injuries.

Not bad considering Mason originally went undrafted out of Georgia Tech. Why does he think every team in the NFL passed on him multiple times?

“They can’t see this,” Mason said pointing to his chest. “They can’t see the heart that people have in them.”

That heart has been on display as Mason has essentially forced his way into the rotation for the 49ers and now figures to play an important role for the Vikings as they set their sights on the Super Bowl.

Since finding out he was being traded to the Vikings, Mason has already connected with Jones, fullback C.J. Ham and a few players on the offensive line. And he’s looking forward to the next chapter.

“They told me they want me to be myself,” Mason said. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

There’s not much else to say other than that.

San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) stands on the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

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Around trade deadline time in the first few days of March, when it became apparent that the Minnesota Wild were not going to mortgage the future with any “swing for the fences” deals, goalie Filip Gustavsson was asked about the comfort level of going into the stretch with essentially the roster they had.

With a grin, he noted that the team would be “acquiring” Ryan Hartman in a few days, which would be a big boost.

Hartman, who has logged nearly 400 games in a Wild sweater, wasn’t a new acquisition by any stretch, but his re-joining of the game night roster this month after serving an eight-game NHL suspension has indeed been a boost to the team at a time when offense has been at a premium.

In Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Seattle, Hartman opened the scoring early, giving him three goals and three assists in the eight games he has played since his league-mandated time off.

In a Feb. 1 loss in Ottawa, Hartman drove Senators forward Tim Stutzle into the ice head-first on a faceoff after the two had scrapped earlier in the period. The NHL originally suspended Hartman, who has previous disciplinary issues on his resume, for 10 games but reduced the sentence to eight after an appeal by the players’ union.

Wild coach John Hynes made sure that Hartman was hard at work on the ice staying in shape during the break, and said Wednesday that it was ultimately beneficial.

“I just see a guy that’s more focused,” Hynes said. “The time off was good, I think, for him mentally to reassess some things. But also, in season, you don’t get a 10-game stretch or however long that was, which was a long time to really put in conditioning, skill work, things like that.

“He’s shooting the puck well. Looks like his conditioning’s good. He’s a willing skater. But he’s playing the game focused.”

Hartman’s game has always been one of grit, going to the net, and playing on the edge when needed. As he returned to the lineup, general manager Bill Guerin said he expected a player on his best behavior, and while Hartman has maintained the grit, the veteran is adding value to the Wild in other areas lately.

“He’s good in the faceoff circle. I think his details without the puck are stronger than they were before,” Hynes said. “And then I think with the puck and/or offensively, he’s shooting it, and I think he’s making purposeful plays with the puck.

“When he has opportunities to make plays, he’s making them. When he doesn’t, I think he’s just making the simple play and setting him and his line up to play in a good area of the ice, which is in the offensive zone.”

In 56 games this season, Hartman now has 10 goals and 13 assists, playing primarily in a second line role.

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It’s a shame that Chief Justice John Roberts had to take the extraordinary step of chiding President Donald Trump and his cheerleaders for their demands that federal judges who stand in the way of the administration’s decrees be impeached. No, that sort of behavior isn’t new; the insistence by politicians that judges stand aside and let them have their way has been a depressing feature of our political landscape since the beginning. But in the current moment, with Trump issuing so many orders, no small number of which may be illegal, it’s particularly important that we observe the forms of law.

Currently in Trump’s crosshairs is James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington. The president is upset because the judge had the temerity to instruct the administration to cease the mass deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members until he decided on the legality of the program. Courts do this all the time — ordering parties in effect to stand still pending argument and decision. But on this occasion, Trump took to social media, calling Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic” and “crooked” and demanding his removal.

That’s outrageous and, from the leader of the free world, inexcusable. The holder of the highest elective office in the land owes the American people the highest regard for our fading democratic norms. Roberts’s response was straightforward and forceful:

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Has this sort of thing occurred in the past? Of course, it has, far more often than we might care to admit. Early in the 19th century, believing Justice Samuel Chase to have been biased against them in key cases, the Jeffersonians went after him with a vengeance. (Chase survived his impeachment trial by the narrowest margin.) During the Reconstruction, members of Congress threatened to impeach Supreme Court justices who were considered hostile to their program.

Instances abound. The enemies of the Warren Court made no secret that their enmity stemmed from the justices’ decisions. Online you can still buy colorful “Impeach Earl Warren” buttons dating back to the era. During the 1960s, an effort to impeach Justice William Douglas picked up sufficient steam that some predicted might succeed.

Prefer a more recent example? Here’s the New York Times in March of 1996, describing President Bill Clinton’s response to a decision by federal Judge Herbert Baer to suppress evidence in a major drug case:

“The White House put a Federal judge on public notice today that if he did not reverse a widely criticized decision throwing out drug evidence, the President might ask for his resignation.”

Jon Newman, then chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, fired back that the criticism reflected “extraordinary intimidation.” By that time, Sen. Robert Dole, Clinton’s opponent-to-be in the approaching presidential election, had called for Baer’s impeachment and removal. Newman had harsh words for Dole too: “A ruling in a contested case cannot remotely be considered a ground for impeachment.”

Examples go on and on. What they have in common is the realization by politicians and activists that judges are cheap and easy targets. But when the criticisms suggest punishment, the rule of law begins to flail. Since the Trump administration began ramping up its rhetoric, federal judges have faced rising levels of reported threats.

Small wonder the chief justice felt compelled to speak up. But in taking on Trump, Roberts isn’t taking sides. He’s trying to protect the judicial branch against political assault, just as he did in 2020 after then-Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer launched his dreadful headline-grabbing attack on two justices of the Supreme Court: “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”

Roberts replied, correctly, that those at “the highest levels of government” had no business threatening judges. As a matter of fact, Trump, then in his first term, also weighed in: “There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices.”

Exactly. Perhaps Trump II should read Trump I.

No, judges shouldn’t be free from criticism, and sometimes the criticism will be harsh. That’s life in the rough and tumble of government affairs. But there’s a world of difference between an online activist calling a judge a nasty name and the President of the United States calling for the judge to be removed from office. Only the second violates democratic norms.

The bipartisan National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal, on which I was privileged to serve, addressed this issue in its 1993 final report, writing: “(F)ederal judges should not be impeached for judicial decision-making even if the decision is an erroneous one.”

Let’s not forget that what keeps norms alive is consensus. The more we ignore democratic norms, the weaker they become. I’ve written before about the way those norms of democracy have been threatened in recent years by the left’s assault on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. But the right has been laboring in those fields a lot longer. And the recklessness with which the labor is being done by the Trump administration and its supporters — yes, some backbencher has filed actual articles of impeachment against Judge Boasberg — is without parallel in our recent history.

The norms matter particularly at this moment because the administration’s flurry of sweeping orders has been met by a flurry of lawsuits. Maybe most of what the administration is attempting will survive judicial review. Maybe not. The way we find out is by trying the cases. That takes time.

Impatience with the pace of law is a commonality of our history, but is, almost always, the enemy of democracy.

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

 

The Minnesota Wild want to take the city’s 25-year-old hockey arena into the future, with lounge-style seating areas and other fresh amenities. The city of St. Paul wants to host big-name concerts, tournaments, conventions and trade shows, and more of them, to give city tax coffers — and downtown in particular — a badly-needed boost. The St. Paul Saints want $16 million in improvements at CHS Field in Lowertown, including a Ferris wheel.

On Thursday, state lawmakers from both parties reminded them all that none of their asks would come cheap, if they get funded at all.

Sitting shoulder to shoulder within a State Capitol hearing room, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold asked a key committee of House lawmakers for nearly $400 million in state bonding funds to cover half the proposed cost of a $796 million renovation of the Xcel Energy Center and the adjoining RiverCentre Convention Center.

“We’re creating a city anchor where people want to be, a hub of energy, business and community that reverberates beyond our border,” said Carter, addressing members of the House Capital Investment Committee.

“Xcel Energy Center is now at the edge of its intended life span,” said Leipold, who has lived downtown for 16 years. “Over the last few years, we’ve visited arenas in downtowns across the country, and seen firsthand how similar investment can literally transform communities. … This is the vital economic engine driving St. Paul. It’s hard to imagine St. Paul without it.”

Lawmakers from both parties — including Democratic-Farmer-Labor state representatives from St. Paul and Minneapolis — called the size of the Xcel Center ask little short of startling, given grim state budget forecasts, growing talk of a possible national economic slowdown and uncertain federal grant funding for public infrastructure.

Minutes after glowingly introducing the Saints request for $8 million in state bond funds to cover ballpark improvements, state Rep. Maria Perez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, criticized Carter and Leipold for surprising her with a large ask in the “front yard of my community” without first sharing with her the specifics. The mayor’s office said their presentation was informational, and a written bill was not been presented to lawmakers.

Skeptics weigh in

“If this is the number one priority for the city that I love … I’d like to see more effort to deliver this information to my office,” said Perez-Vega, after listing a litany of other St. Paul priorities, from homelessness to climate concerns, where tax dollars could be spent. “I want to talk off the record more, and I would appreciate those discussions with you and I, Mr. Leipold.”

State Rep. Fue Lee, a DFLer who represents North Minneapolis and co-chairs the House Capital Investment Committee, said a $394 million state appropriation bond would translate to an estimated $32 million a year increase in the debt service paid through the state general fund. That number may change depending upon interest rates and whether the funding was structured as one bond sale or three.

“There’s some talk that we might not even have a bonding bill this year,” said Lee, noting the Minnesota Vikings are likely to ask for funding for new fencing at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. “Is this the right time to look at some of these appropriation bonds?”

Republican lawmakers seemed no less skeptical.

Introducing the presentations on the Saints and Xcel arena requests, committee co-chair Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, said, “Next up, members, we have two bills that I understand are controversial.” She then acknowledged that both projects held statewide importance, and then qualified that remark, noting that opinion could also be construed as controversial.

Among the improvements, Leipold said the Xcel renovation will create new types of seating areas more in line with modern demand, including low-cost, lounge-style community viewing rooms. Under the title “Project Wow,” the Wild have attempted to lure the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame from Eveleth, Minn. to downtown St. Paul, a move supported by the chair of the museum’s board of directors, state Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, but opposed by some of the area’s state lawmakers.

In a letter of support from the St. Paul Area Chamber, President and CEO B. Kyle noted that the arena complex, which includes the convention center and Roy Wilkins Auditorium, draws nearly 2 million visitors to some 400 annual events, generating nearly $500 million in economic impact between spending, state and local sales tax, hotel stays and more. The renovations could boost that spending by another $110 million, she said.

Carter said downtown St. Paul faces tough challenges, with plummeting building values biting into the city’s tax base in the era of remote work and “the sudden passing of our largest property owner downtown,” a reference to the death last year of James Crockarell, whose Madison Equities properties have been falling into neglect and foreclosure.

St. Paul Saints make an $8 million pitch

Across downtown, the St. Paul Saints have $16 million in improvements lined up for the area surrounding the east entrance to CHS Field, which opened in May 2015. Tom Whaley, executive vice president with the Saints, said those improvements are needed, in part, to keep up with Major League Baseball standards, which have changed. The Minor League Saints became a AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins in 2021.

The funding also will support “The Wheel at St. Paul,” a large Ferris wheel to be located in the same vicinity as new visiting player facilities, with inspiration taken from popular Ferris wheels in Chicago and St. Louis.

Plans call for relocating visiting player locker rooms from the service level near home plate to an area to be constructed behind the left fielder outfield wall, beneath an existing berm.

A mix of state, city and team funds would also fix a moisture barrier problem that has developed behind the bullpen walls, according to the team, and remove and replace soils that were contaminated with debris, shifted from one part of the site to another and capped during initial ballpark construction.

Whaley on Thursday asked the state to cover half the cost — $8 million — with bonding dollars, with the city and team covering the rest. The request is sponsored by Perez-Vega and Rep. Samakab Hussein, Rep.Athena Hollins and others.

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