Monday, December 31, 2012

Looking back on the sports of 2012

It's that time of year again. Ha! No, I'm totally kidding. I will not start out a blog entry with that overused phrase. I do, however, want to take a look back on 2012 sports-wise.

Local sports
With my first full calendar year spent in Austin, Minn., I really took a liking to some of the local sports. Last winter and then again this fall, I attended many Austin Bruins games at Riverside Arena. I mean, it's not like I have much of a drive to get there; it's just across the street from me.

Anyway, it's been really fun to follow the Bruins as they made a deep playoff run last spring. I also had a great time with some friends for the annual Paint the Rink Pink game back in February. For the 2012-13 season, I really should have invested in season tickets for the number of games I've been going to. The Bruins lost some key players from last season, but they've started with a bang and have piled up the points and the winning streaks.

I also got to my first Austin Greyhounds amateur baseball games this summer. There's nothing like watching an outdoor baseball game at Target Field, but the Greyhounds seemed to have a better winning percentage than the Twins this year. I enjoyed being able to go to a game on a nice summer evening that was close by.

Racing to a new track
On the IndyCar side of things, I checked another race track off my list this year: The Iowa Speedway. My dad and I attended the Iowa Corn Indy 250 back in June. Some stormy weather gave us a bit of a delay for the night race (luckily we're night owls), but once it got going it was a pretty exciting race. We saw eventual 2012 IndyCar Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay cross the line first for the win.

Bad days for pro sports
It wasn't exactly a stellar year for the Twins. They're looking at some rebuilding years, I think, and they had a bit of a coaching shake-up at the end of the season. All we can really hope for in 2013 is some improvement. In recent news, they also traded away outfielders Denard Span and Ben Revere.

The Minnesota Wild went from a huge high - signing two of the biggest free agents in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in July - to a huge low with the NHL lockout. So far, the lockout has wiped out the games that should have already been played this season. It's not looking good for the remaining games either.

Here's to 2013. Cheers!

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