29 Mar 2024

Twins star Byron Buxton relishes return to outfield

by admin | posted in: News | 0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Byron Buxton trotted out to center field for the first time in a major-league game on Thursday, it was for the first time in nearly 600 days. Understandably, he was amped up and excited, leading to him nearly overthrowing right field Max Kepler on some warm-up tosses.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been throwing with Kep in right field,” Buxton said. “Just the little bitty things (Thursday) was what made me happy. It was like, ‘I played a whole nine innings in center and feel good.’ To come out the way we did and feel the way we did, and feel the way I did, I feel like the sky’s limit.”

Getting Buxton back into the outfield was an accomplishment not just for him, but for everybody who aided him along the way, from his family to the team’s training staff and everyone in between. It was an endeavor that took much longer than anybody first anticipated.

When the Twins first announced their plan for Buxton to start last year as their designated hitter as he rehabbed from the first surgery on his right knee, it was supposed to be temporary. He was supposed to transition back there later in the season but instead ended up never playing an inning in the field in a major-league game.

A second surgery on his right knee — this one to excise the plica — left Buxton in a much better place and opened the door for him to return to the outfield.

“It’s what we’re always hoping for, aiming for,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “… The lineup looks real nice when he’s sitting there and he’s in center field.”

Buxton had a chance to chase down a few flyballs in Thursday’s season opener, a 4-1 victory over the Royals. His first opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth inning when he shaded his eyes from the sun and easily retired Royals catcher Salvador Perez.

Getting that first one, he said, kind of took some of the nerves away.

“Crossing those lines … and running out to center field was a big accomplishment, and the work I had in the offseason, not just for me but the family, the coaching staff, the guys in here because it was a long road not just for me but for everybody,” Buxton said. “They had my back this whole way. Without them, it’s kind of one of those where I probably wouldn’t be in as good a headspace as where I am right now.”

That headspace wasn’t nearly as good last season, when he would sit in the dugout and dwell on at-bats that didn’t go his way with little to distract his mind while his teammates were on the field playing defense.

But even as he sat on the bench, day after day last season, waiting for his turn to hit, he said he never wondered if his body would allow him to return to center field.

“Why would I wonder? My goal is to go back to center. I ain’t wondering,” he said. “I know I want to go back to center. That’s the goal. If you wondering, you will not be back to where you want to be.”

While returning to center field was a primary focus for him, as opposed to some years in the past when he tried to set more specific goals for himself, the Twins outfielder has now shifted away from that.

“Every goal I tried to write out, you know what that goal was?” Buxton said. “Be healthy. Haven’t been healthy.”

So now he has a new goal, a new mantra that he has decided to live by — one he mentioned multiple times.

“My goal is to be present and available. Not healthy. If I’m present and available, that means I’m playing every day,” Buxton said. “If I’m playing every day, my numbers will be where they’re supposed to be.”

He was present and available on Thursday, playing the entire game in center and finishing the day 1 for 4 at the plate with a walk and a run scored.

And he’ll be present and available for himself, his teammates and his team on Saturday, when the Twins hit the field next, for Game 2.

“Every day is enjoyable,” Buxton said. “I don’t have to worry about dang DHing for three hours and not getting a hit. Now I can go out there and steal some hits. Oh for 3 now feels like 3 for 3 if I can go out there and not give you a hit.”

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29 Mar 2024

Why it was so important for the Vikings to keep Harrison Smith around

by admin | posted in: News | 0

Harrison Smith has been a fixture in the Vikings locker room for more than a decade. Originally selected in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, the 35-year-old safety has already achieved legendary status in Minnesota, his aggressive style of play synonymous with the defenses he has led throughout his career.

Frankly, the thought of Smith playing for a different team doesn’t make sense to anybody, including himself, which explains why he recently agreed to restructure his contract ahead of next season. He will more than likely retire with the Vikings as a result.

Asked this week why it was so important to keep him around, head coach Kevin O’Connell emphasized how irreplaceable Smith is even at this point in his career.

“I think Harrison Smith is a guy that probably doesn’t get enough credit for his leadership,” O’Connell said. “He’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever been around.”

That leadership will be key with the Vikings in the process of ushering in a new era in Minnesota. There has been a tangible shift within the roster, getting younger by moving on from Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook and Eric Kendricks last offseason, then Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter this offseason.

There’s a chance Smith would have been lumped into that list of departing players had he not been willing to take a pay cut on multiple occasions. He did so because he feels a deep connection to the Vikings. Thus, as soon as he decided he wanted to delay retirement once again, Smith was motivated to get something done with the only organization he has ever known.

“He wanted to be a Viking,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “He loves Minnesota. He loves our fans. He loves playing at U.S. Bank Stadium.”

The creativity with which defensive coordinator Brian Flores weaponized Smith last season also played a role in him wanting to return. After being grossly misused under former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, Smith looked much more like himself with Flores calling the shots.

“He’s a perfect fit in Brian’s defense,” O’Connell said. “Just from a standpoint of being a beacon of communication and getting back around the line of scrimmage to be impactful both in the run game and the pass game.”

There might need to be some concessions made by Smith next season after playing career-high 1,113 defensive snaps last season. That amount of playing time probably isn’t a recipe for success, so the continued emergence of young safeties Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus will be crucial in being able to deploy Smith with more intention.

“We’re not going to be able to play him as much as we did,” O’Connell said. “We want to use the depth of the safety group that we feel really strong about top to bottom there. We’re going to have to be really smart. I think we found a nice sweet spot of how we get Harrison prepared without taxing him too much that Sundays become too much as they stack on top of each other.”

Even if it looks a little different moving forward, as far as O’Connell is concerned, the fact that Smith is still playing is reason enough to get excited.

“Just the idea of getting to hear Vikings fans absolutely go berserk for No. 22 running out of the tunnel again,” O’Connell said. “To me, however long Harrison wants to play, I want him playing on the football team that I’m coaching.”

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29 Mar 2024

‘Ozempig’ remains Saints’ mascot despite uproar that name is form of fat-shaming

by admin | posted in: Society | 0

For a Minnesota minor league baseball team known for a history of outlandish promotions, the idea of naming its longtime live pig mascot after the weight loss drug Ozempic made perfect sense.

The St. Paul Saints quickly found out that not everyone was amused by the pig’s name, Ozempig, or the team’s posting of a backstory about the pig’s embarrassment at gaining weight and promise to try to remain trim.

Almost immediately after the team announced the name this week ahead of Saturday’s opening day game, criticism began pouring in on social media from people distressed by the name, calling it hurtful and insensitive.

Sean Aronson, the Saints’ vice president and media relations director, said the team only wanted an amusing, topical name for its pig when it chose Ozempig from nearly 2,300 entries in its “Name the Pig Contest.” Team officials were shocked that so many people found the name offensive, Aronson said.

“In today’s world, people don’t want to be diminished, they don’t want to be made to feel a certain way and I’m not going to tell them how they feel is wrong,” Aronson said. “But I can tell you there was no ill-intent, there was no maliciousness, there was never even a discussion in the room when we were going over the name that hey, this may offend some people.”

Ozempic is among several new drugs that been effective at helping people lose significant weight. The drugs can be expensive, depending on insurance coverage, but have drawn extensive attention in part because the have been promoted by celebrities and on social media sites.

The Saints’ pig is a beloved participant in the team’s games played at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the much larger home of the Minnesota Twins in downtown Minneapolis. The animal carries out balls to the umpire and over the course of the summer becomes noticeably larger — so much larger in fact that another young pig takes over duties midway through the season.

Naming the pig mascot after the high-profile drug seemed a natural for the Saints, a Triple-A affiliate of the Twins that has a long history of amusing promotions, such as attaching a fan to a Velcro wall in the outfield and holding races in the infield between people dressed as giant eyeballs.

With such past stunts in mind, some Saints fans defended the name as a play on words and nothing more.

Aronson said team officials understood why some people are outraged and considered making a name change but decided to stick with Ozempig.

“We knew how we originally came up with the name and we’re good with it but we did discuss it and decided we’re going to keep it,” he said.

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29 Mar 2024

New viruses, including coronavirus, found in Wisconsin fish

by admin | posted in: Society | 0

MADISON — Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have found 19 viruses in wild fish, most of them never before discovered, including one coronavirus in walleyes that was previously found only in birds.

The new study, published in the journal Pathogens, found the different viruses in 103 fish sampled from Wisconsin lakes and rivers, including walleyes, bluegills, brown trout, sturgeon and northern pike.

So far, the viruses don’t seem to be hurting the fish or impacting overall fish populations, the scientists note, and there’s no indication the viruses can be passed to humans.

“We have no evidence that these viruses are making fish sick. The fish we tested were all healthy,” Tony Goldberg, a professor in UW’s Department of Pathobiological Sciences, told the News Tribune. “It’s possible some of the viruses could make fish sick under particular conditions … when the fish are stressed out for some other reason.

“But all the viruses are new, so we really don’t know anything else about them yet, except that they exist.”

The effort, funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant, is the first of its kind in North America.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fisheries technicians collect trout from a creek near Viroqua, Wis. Blood from the wild fish was tested by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who found numerous viruses in the fish that no one had seen before. (Courtesy of Bryce Richter / UW-Madison via Forum News Service)

The study found the first fish-associated coronavirus, from the Gammacrononavirus genus, which differs from the type of virus that causes COVID-19. It was found in 11 of 15 walleyes collected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Goldberg stressed that anglers should not be worried.

“None of these viruses can infect people,” he said. “It’s not a risk for people to catch, handle and eat fish because of these viruses. There’s no evidence that these viruses are causing any problems. They may just be part of the natural ecosystem of these fish.”

Of the different species of fish sampled, lake sturgeon blood contained the most viruses, 97% of samples, with brown trout samples showing the least prevalence at 6%.

This virus survey builds on previous Sea Grant-funded research in which Goldberg studied viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, an often fatal fish disease. The DNR took blood samples from healthy-looking fish across Wisconsin to test for VHS antibodies. They saved the blood and used it for this current study on viruses.

The new findings should help fishery managers when they routinely test the health of fish about to be released into state lakes from hatcheries or fish that are being shipped out of state. Sometimes, those releases are halted over concerns that the fish may carry a disease, and the study’s findings will help managers decide what is normal and what is concerning in terms of fish viruses.

“This is a huge problem for fisheries managers that happens all the time,” Goldberg said. “We recently had a case where there were thousands of muskies that were ready to be released and they came back with an unknown virus. So, do you release them? Do you just keep them there? Do you kill them all?

“Maybe there are viruses out there that are a normal part of the ecosystem, and they just infect a lot of fish, but they don’t cause disease,” Goldberg said.

While anglers shouldn’t be too concerned about the new fish viruses, they can help prevent any potential problems by not moving fish, including baitfish, from one lake to another.

“If you move a fish from one water body to another, you’re moving everything that lives on and in that fish and potentially causing problems,” he said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently designed specific tests for the various viruses and expects to test a larger set of fish blood samples from around Wisconsin. They will map the viruses found so that fisheries managers can tell what’s normal for a particular watershed and whether stocking should proceed or not.

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