HJ Sports Blog

Two announcement made Tuesday are already getting me geared up for another season of horse racing.

Canterbury Park announced that the day for “blue-collar runners,”the Claiming Crown, is coming back home. After running in Kentucky at Ellis Park in 2006, it will be run at CBY for the eighth time in its 10-year history.

Eligibility restrictions have been relaxed, which should draw larger (that is nice!), and hopefully more competitive (also nice!) fields. Hopefully with some more corporate support, the Claiming Crown will be hit and be a permanent fixture in Shakopee.

One thing Canterbury does have going for it is the event is supported by the public en masse. It always draws huge crowds here and it is a really fun day.

The best part about this event is it has plenty of room to grow. If a way can be found to bring in more corporate support, the purses could continue to grow. That in turn would bring in more better claiming horses and have a ton of other fringe benefits. One thing is for sure…the purses, which range from $50,000-$150,000 over seven races will need to grow in the coming years.

Another positive: Canterbury horses seem to do well in this event. Call it a home-track advantage…every year it seems at least one CBY horse comes up and gets the money in one of the races.

I can’t wait for Aug. 8!

In other news…the Breeder’s Cup will be expanding again in 2008. It added three more races to the Friday card that was new to the event this year. What does this mean? I will have to take the whole weekend off. The two-day event has a reported total of $25 million in purses.

I can’t believe it, but I’m writing a blog about the Vikings and…….the playoffs?!?!?!?

After starting the season 2-6 and getting blown out by the Packers for that sixth loss, it didn’t seem like the Vikings had a chance of making the playoffs in the next century, let alone this season.

The turn around has a lot to do with that offensive line. They are leading the way in the running game that is on pace to finish in the top 10 in the history of the league, and their pass blocking is much improved.

The O-line is picking up blitzes well, and is giving Travaris Jackson a ton of time in the pocket…which in turn has given Jackson a lot of confindence. The second-year QB looks so much more poised in the pocket and is passing the ball with an authority…and it is all because the line has given him the confidence to be a quarterback.

The new and confindent QB is also making better decisions. He has learned (but still needs to do more) when to throw the ball away, and when to take off and run. His ability to know when to run has added another threat to the Vikings’ offense.

Finally, I was very impressed with Jackson’s accuracy on the timing routes against the 49ers. He is showing some touch on the ball, which is something he did not show AT ALL in his first games.

As far as the playoffs go…the Vikings seem like they are a shoe-in, but as Minnesotans, we are not getting are hopes up yet. Anything can happen in Minnesota sports, and it often does. The biggest threat to the Vikings does not appear to be Cardinals or the Redskins, but the Saints.

New Orleans has almost as easy of a schedule as the Vikings do as they sit at 6-7. With two conference games remaining, the Vikings need to hold their own at home while on national TV and wins those games to ensure they play in Janruary.

Now, it is exciting to have a winning team after it appeared we would win about three or four games this season, but the Vikings have been playing against some bad teams. Minnesota won’t have any really tough matchups the rest of the way…the Bears are starting Kyle Orton at QB…the Redskins lost their starting QB two weeks ago…and the Broncos are a very hit and miss team. It will be interesting to see how the Vikings match up against better teams when they make the playoffs.

Wow, it was nice to see the Flyers for the first since 2003. It wasn’t nice to see them top the Wild on Wednesday night, however.

At the beginning of the season, I stated in my preseason column that one of the things to watch was to see if Niklas Backstrom could handle being the main goal stopper. So far, he definitely gets a passing grade, but I am starting to get concerned. Yes, he has a nice 2.26 GAA, but has been really up and down. Did you see that final goal he gave up against Philly…unacceptable…especially in a one-goal game.

On the positive side, Aaron Voros has been a stud since joining the team. He is even seeing significant time with Gaborik and Demitra on the top line. He is a hard skater who never stops and frequently mixes it up in front of the net. I’m not sure he fully understands that he skating with two of the top offensive wingers in the NHL, but he just does his thing and it has worked so far. And with Boogaard out, his physical play is much needed.