Dixon, one of the best of all time, looks to continue momentum at Road America

Scott Dixon during 2017 practice at Road America.

Scott Dixon walked away from a debris-filled crash with an inside wall at the 2017 Indianapolis 500. His demeanor for an on-camera interview during the live ABC broadcast was cool as a cucumber. As expected for the IndyCar driver nicknamed the Ice Man. He's also leaving his mark as one of the greatest drivers in the sport's history, joining the ranks of guys named Foyt, Andretti and Mears.

Heading into this weekend for the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., Dixon will try to win the event for the second year in a row. Last year, Dixon hadn't ever led a lap at the four-mile road course until that Sunday. (To be fair, IndyCar had a long break from the course with a triumphant return in 2016.) But Dixon passed Josef Newgarden on a restart in turn one to grab the lead and hang onto it the rest of the way for his 41st career victory. His win also spoiled the weekend for Team Penske, whose four cars dominated the road course last year, starting 1-2-3-4 on the grid.

This season, Dixon, 37, won the first race of the Detroit doubleheader and followed that up with a victory deep in the heart of Texas on the oval. His latest victory (No. 43 in his career) moved him into sole possession of third place on the all-time victory list in IndyCar racing, passing Michael Andretti. Dixon trails only A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti on the victory list.

The two victories this season have put Dixon, already a four-time series champion, in the points lead this season with 357. Alexander Rossi with Andretti Autosport, and the 2016 Indy 500 winner, is second 23 points behind Dixon. Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Newgarden round out the top five in the standings.

Ice Man just doing his thing 
Dixon has an IndyCar career that spans 18 seasons. He's inched his way up on the victory list, raced for one of the top teams in Chip Ganassi Racing, made it to victory lane for the 2008 Indy 500 and does it all with a calm focus. Actually, 2008 was one of Dixon's best efforts, with six total victories (including the big one at Indy) and his second series championship.

Watch him on the race track, and it's amazing the ground he can make up to gain positions. He's just an all-around good race car driver, and he doesn't seem to make a big deal out of his success either. He's pretty even-keeled.

Plus, in a time when IndyCar ratings and attendance are generally up as the sport gains traction, Dixon is putting on a show for the fans. It's not easy to stand out sometimes with such a diverse field of drivers, several winners, and a dominant Team Penske. But Dixon is showcasing what a talented race driver can do. He's one of the best if not the best of his era. After all, A.J. and Mario raced throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and early 90s. Michael followed along and overlapped before becoming the team owner he is now.

Scott Dixon will go down as the first top driver of this century.

Kohler GP back for a third year
This year's entry list for Road America contains 23 drivers, including 21-year-old rookie Alfonso Celis Jr., of Mexico, making his IndyCar debut. Indy Grand Prix and Indy 500 winner Will Power won Road America when the series returned to the track in 2016.

The 55-lap race on the 4.048-mile, 14-turn permanent road course is set for about noon on Sunday.

April baseball is filled with blizzards and down time

The backyard.

It's April 15, and it hasn't stopped snowing for two straight days. Hello, blizzard of 2018.

This also means that the Minnesota Twins haven't played much baseball lately. They beat the White Sox at home on Thursday, the start of what was supposed to be a four-game series at Target Field. Instead, the final three games of that series were postponed (not canceled; there's a difference) because of inclement weather. In this case, "inclement weather" means there was a gigantic blizzard that hit the Twin Cities.

First, Friday was a mix of cold temps, sleet and rain that contributed to the game getting called off for the night. At that point (and even earlier in the week), everyone pretty much figured Saturday's game wasn't going to happen, with the snow arriving later Friday night. Yes, Saturday was also postponed as of that morning.

Sunday was initially questionable, because who wants to postpone three games in a row? But as the feet of snow kept falling, they canned Sunday's contest late Saturday afternoon. The White Sox could head out for their next road series in Oakland (enjoy!) while the Twins flew down to Puerto Rico Sunday afternoon to prepare for their two-game series there against Cleveland this week.

Oh, and last Sunday's game was postponed, too. That was against Seattle, a day after the coldest game in Twins history was played. The Twins already have four postponements on their schedule - and again, it's only April 15. The season just started.

Of course, it's been a very odd start to the season, thanks to the weather. When they've played, the Twins have been good. Jose Berrios has pitched well; he tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts in the first-and-only game against the White Sox. Joe Mauer reached the 2,000 hits milestone that same night, and it was cool for him to accomplish the milestone in front of the home crowd on a chilly April evening.

They opened the season in Baltimore on March 29 and lost in extra innings, but they recovered to win the series. They split a couple games in Pittsburgh, where the weather wasn't much better than Minnesota with heavy snow flurries and wind for the game-two night game.

The Twins won their home opener on April 5 to start a 10-game homestand with a few home runs in a 4-2 victory over the Mariners. Technically, the homestand is a season-long 12 games, since the Puerto Rico games are considered home games for the Twins. Still, having the Twins play 10 games in April to start their home schedule is kind of asking for the baseball-weather gods to screw you over.

With spring really not arriving at all so far, temperatures have been frigid for the brave fans who venture to the outdoor ballpark. Note: I will not get into a stadium debate in this blog. The coldest game in Twins history was 27 degrees at first pitch. The Twins lost to Seattle 11-4 that day. Technically, it was series split since the finale was postponed.

April 7, 2018: The coldest Twins game in history.

When the Twins start play in Puerto Rico, they'll hold a 7-4 record with 11 games played in 19 days. That will be the fewest number of games played in baseball, I believe. Let me also point out that the Twins aren't the only ones that have had weather issues this season. On April 15, no team from the American League Central finished a baseball game.

There are plenty of off days to start anyway. With each team's home opener in a cooler city, there's an off day after the opener. So, the Twins had two off days after they played the first games in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Then there was the off day after the home opener. They also have two off days built in around the Puerto Rico series.

It's just a strange start to the season, for all involved. First, they started the season in March. Then it's just been tough to get into a rhythm with so much cold weather and days without a baseball game. Because even when games have been played, the only relatively nice weather the Twins have experienced was in Baltimore. They came home to host the Mariners and then took two-of-three games from the defending-champion Houston Astros the beginning of last week.

Of course, there's nothing anyone can do about the weather. We just have to react to it and try to plan accordingly. In baseball terms, that usually means making up games with doubleheaders and taking away previously-scheduled off days to get the games in later in the season.

It's disappointing because the start of the baseball season is exciting. Opening Day is always fun and full of anticipation. Players are looking to get started on the right foot with their seasons individually. Teams hope to gain some momentum on their way to a division title or playoff berth at the end of 162 games. To borrow from a quote in car racing, you can't win a race on the first lap (April for baseball), but you can lose it.

It's just frustrating to not get the season started without a bunch of weather getting in the way. Here's to hoping better weather and more victories are in the future!

A closer look at my own personal March Madness

One of the things I often tell people when discussing my work is that I love all the different things I get to do. It's true. I stay busy with a variety of different assignments and beats from a variety of different media outlets. Plus, there's the social media side of things, too.

It's never more evident than this time of year when tournaments are plentiful and the baseball season is on the horizon. There's basketball, hockey, even some state swimming/diving. I enjoy staying busy trying to cover as much as I can, or as my schedule will allow.

This past week, I started out with some spring training updates from home for the Twins. It hasn't been the best week for the Twins in terms of wins-losses and plays in the field, but it's spring training, and I don't think there's been this level of optimism with a Twins offseason in a very long time. Safe to say the anticipation of the season and building on last year's wild-card playoff game is pretty high.

State hoops: 3A quarterfinal
By Wednesday, I got set up at Williams Arena to kick off the girls' basketball state tournament with a Class 3A quarterfinal game between Alexandria and eventual-champion Robbinsdale Cooper. I'd seen Alexandria play a little bit during my time in Fergus Falls since they often played each other in the section tournament. Their coach Wendy Kohler is one of the most animated and fun to watch along the bench. Cooper had a storyline with fourth-year coach Kiara Buford, a former Gophers player who also won back-to-back state titles with St. Paul Central. Her younger sister Jada was just one of the stars on this year's Cooper team.

Sometimes quarterfinal games at the state tournament level can turn into blowouts, and I was glad this wasn't the case here. Alexandria held a lead for much of the first half before top-seed Cooper took over for a 58-51 victory. Afterward, Kohler was diplomatic in her comments about tournament seeding and saying she doesn't agree with it but respects the Minnesota State High School League. Her team was unseeded and faced no. 1 seed Cooper in the first game; Kohler advocated for a 1 through 8 seeding system, rather than the 1-5 system in place now.

Deja vu
Thursday, I had the same assignment from a year ago: The Class 3A, Section 6 boys' basketball section championship game. The opponents were the same, too, in 2-seed Orono and 1-seed and six-time defending state champion DeLaSalle.

This game between the Spartans and Islanders was played in front of a full house at Chanhassen High School that included Gophers men's basketball coach Richard Pitino; he was there to watch two of his recruits face off against each other in Orono senior Jarvis Thomas Omersa and DeLaSalle senior Gabe Kalscheur. The teams were introduced as the six-time defending Class 3A state champion DeLaSalle and the Orono Spartans, "the home of the Class 1A boys' hockey champions." I thought it was an interesting touch.

The crowd was much bigger than last year, and I'm wondering if either school had a girls' hoops team playing at state at the same time, or if there was just that much more interest in the future-Gopher matchup. Either way, it was an outstanding section final, just like the year before when DeLaSalle won by three points.

The teams were tied at the half, giving an early indication of just how competitive they are against each other. It was a tight game of runs for most of the way, with the scoring staying close. That is until Orono opened up a 12-point lead with just a few minutes to play. I started preparing to write the "Orono upset" story. Related: I should have known better.

The Islanders came back down the stretch, thanks in large part to Kalscheur's clutch shots, including a trio of 3-pointers inside two minutes remaining that got his team within two points, within one and then tied the game with 13.9 seconds left. He just kept answering; he ended up with a season-high/game-high 38 points.

It sure looked like overtime was on the horizon (which is not very friendly for my print deadline, I think to myself selfishly). But as time was expiring, the officials called a foul on Thomas Omersa with less than a second left on the clock. It sent DeLaSalle senior Christian Dickson to the free throw line, and the two shots gave the reigning champs an 80-78 victory. A comeback filled with experienced players, and a heartbreaker for the Spartans who fell short yet again.

More girls' hoops, different venue
I was back on the state tournament beat by Friday evening, this time from the floor of the newly-renovated Target Center. I haven't covered much at this Minneapolis venue, so it was fun to be on the floor on press row getting a close look at the game. I had back-to-back games, covering the Class 2A semifinals.

First, it was Sauk Centre taking on Norwood-Young America. Team names are always fun from some of the schools around the state. I think Awesome Blossoms from Blooming Prairie is still my favorite, but Sauk Centre has the Mainstreeters. Sauk Centre had to come back from a halftime deficit in their quarterfinal win over Byron, and the coach mentioned after Friday's game how similar they two contests were, at least at the start.

They were tied at the half 23-23 but used a 16-2 run in the second half to take control and coast to a 54-45 win to keep their perfect season alive. For NYA, their coach mentioned after the game that they've been to state three of the past four years, and Sauk Centre has ended their championship hopes each time (twice in the quarterfinal before this year's semi loss).

In the second game, the defending-champion Roseau Rams needed a comeback victory to beat Maranatha Christian Academy (a team that moved up from Class 1A and making its ninth straight state appearance overall). Maranatha led by five points at the half and used free throws to keep pace early in the second half when both teams when for a long time without a field goal. Kacie Borowicz just couldn't miss in the home stretch, and she scored a season-high 40 points.

The Rams won 78-66 to get a rematch with Sauk Centre in the title game.

All the sports 
Those were just my experiences with sports. So many other things happened (in no particular order, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something):

• Gophers women's basketball won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2009 
• Gophers men's hockey will not make a trip to the NCAA tournament after a perfect storm of events
• St. Cloud State lost the NCHC Frozen Faceoff
• A 16 seed beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time ever 
• Everyone's bracket is busted
• Two girls' basketball teams finished with undefeated seasons (Sauk Centre in Class 2A and Eastview in Class 4A)
• Minnesota United kicked off its season
• The Wild swept the season series against the Vegas Golden Knights
• The Vikings wined-and-dined and signed a quarterback, but I don't think much has been written about that
• Legendary race car driver and IndyCar team owner A.J. Foyt is apparently O.K. after a second attack by killer bees on his Texas ranch
• IndyCar kicked off its season last Sunday with a race in St. Petersburg, Fla. Sebastian Bourdais, who sustained severe injuries in a horrific crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during 2017 Indy 500 qualifying, won the race.
• Tennis from Indian Wells

They don't call it March Madness for nothing. Next up: Bring on baseball season!