Supreme confidence and the undoing of Minnesota sports

I have some exciting news to share, that my family just was unimpressed by at the Mother's Day cookout. I had a question answered by Steve Adams during MLB Trade Rumors' regular chat. It's quite the accolade, and I'm very happy about it.

Suffice to say, Steve didn't share my opinion, but also, he didn't convince me that I was wrong

The Twins thought they were going to be good enough to win the AL Central with the roster as it was. Ultimately, they are still a business, and if they thought they could do it with Carlos Santana and Anthony DeSclafani, then they weren't going to spend any more money. Like I've been saying, they didn't believe they needed the strong players now, they need them in October. 

And of course, this hubris led the Twins to a very rocky start to the season. watching Louie Varland's start to the season had quite a few Twins fans on the cusp of a breakdown. The Twins front office, again, by my theory and not necessarily thanks to evidence from anyone else, assumed they had the upper hand in the AL Central, and an abysmal start to the season made that assumption seem silly. 

Amid the Twins surge back to baseball relevance, the Timberwolves were on a blistering 6 game playoff winning streak. They swept the Suns out of the playoffs, then took the first two games against the Nuggets in Denver. Nearly anyone that spoke about basketball with any sort of national presence and knowledge of the game declared the Timberwolves a force to be reckoned with, a potential NBA champion.

Then, there was a long layoff before the series moved to Minnesota. The Wolves got to hear about how great they were while the Nuggets, 2 time defending champions, got to get angrier, and prepare to for the Wolves. As we all now are painfully aware, the Nuggets subsequently went on to peel off three straight wins. Ouch. 

Now, Minnesota, given less time to figure it out, after not thinking they would need to figure things out. Denver adjusted to them, and when you are in control, you don't ever plan to make adjustments. The Wolves are lost, now, unsure of how to get back to where they were, and with time running out. They got overconfident, and it may cost their season.

Even with the long history of sports malaise in Minnesota, you would think that people would temper their expectations when it comes to our teams. I guess this is athletes and management who don't have the 30 years of torment, or the national press, looking at Minnesota teams as though there wasn't a unique history of failing to live up to the moment. Overconfidence is a blight for any situation, and it's tough to watch, since local teams haven't won anything yet.