Ache #37: Bill Masterton

Bill Masterton's dream was to play pro hockey. The native of Winnipeg, he played for the University of Denver from 1958-61 where he scored 66 goals and 196 points. He was a two-time All American, was a two-time WCHA All-Star, and won the 1960 NCAA Championship with the Pioneers with a record of 30-1-1.

Masterton graduated from Denver with an engineering degree, but decided to turn pro. He signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens in 1961. He was assigned to the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. In 1962, he was promoted to the Cleveland Barons of the AHL, where he led the team with 82 points.

After he failed to make the Canadiens roster in 1962, he decided to complete his master's degree at the University of Denver. He accepted a job at Honeywell in Minneapolis. After taking a year off from hockey, he regained his amateur status and played two seasons for the St. Paul Steers of the United States Hockey League. After becoming an American citizen, he joined the US National Team in 1966, where he served as the team's captain.

When the NFL expanded from six teams to twelve in 1967, Masterton had another chance to play pro hockey. One of the six new teams introduced to the league set up in Bloomington...the Minnesota North Stars. Masterton was the first player signed by coach and GM Wren Blair. As a 29 year old NHL rookie, Masterton debuted against another new NHL team: the St. Louis Blues. It was in that game, October 11 1967, that Masterton scored the first goal in Minnesota North Star history in a 2-2 tie with the Blues.

"It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ball." - North Stars teammate Andre Boudrias

Masterton was playing in his 38th career NHL game against the California Seals at the Met Center on January 13th 1968 when tragedy struck. While carrying the puck across the blue line, he was checked by Seals defensemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris. One of their sticks got tangled in Masteron's skate and the other defender hit him with a clean check that knocked him backwards. The impact of the hit caused Masterton to lose consciousness before hitting the back of his head on the ice.

He was rushed to Fairview Southdale hospital, where doctors determined the swelling in his brain was so severe that they couldn't operate. 30 hours after the hit, his family decided to remove him from life support and passed away on January 15th 1968. He is the only NHL player to die from an injury suffered during a game.

At the time, helmets were required in NCAA hockey, but not in the NHL. Masterton was not wearing a helmet when he fell. Only a handful of NHL players were wearing helmets at the time. It would take eleven years for the NHL to make helmets mandatory to incoming NHL players...players who had signed pro contracts prior to June 1 1979 were given the option not to wear a helmet. It wasn't until Craig MacTavish retired following the 1996-97 NHL season that every player in the league was wearing a helmet.

Ache #36: The Love Boat

The 2005 season was a rough one for the Minnesota Vikings.

A year after sneaking into the playoffs at 8-8 and winning a playoff game at Lambeau Field, the Vikings started the season 1-4. They had traded Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders the previous off-season, Daunte Culpepper was hurt in Week 7 as the Vikings saw their pass offense drop from 2nd with Culpepper and Moss to 20th with Brad Johnson and Travis Taylor.

While things did eventually turn around mid-season with a six-game winning streak, that's not what media outlets and fans were talking about.

The Vikings were 1-3 heading into their Week 4 bye. Newly signed defensive back Fred Smoot was the allegedly coordinated a group outing on Lake Minnetonka. He rented two houseboats from charter company Al & Alma for the get-together of an estimated 100 guests. Prostitutes were flown in from Atlanta and Florida.

Everything that happened next was taken out of police reports from the incident. 

The first call came into police around 9:20 on the evening of October 6th to report that "seven black men" had exited a "big shuttle bus limousine" and had urinated in her front yard. Once the boats left the docks, some of the sex acts alleged by witnesses during the party included "masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex"...among other things. The cleaning crew found used condoms, lube and wrappers for sex toys all over the boats.

Seventeen key members of the Vikings were charged in their role in the party including Smoot, Culpepper, Mewelde Moore, Pat Williams, Bryant McKinnie, Nate Burleson, Ralph Brown, Troy Williamson, Travis Taylor, Jermaine Wiggins, Kevin Williams, Lance Johnstone, Willie Offord and Moe Williams. Four of those players were eventually charged with misdemeanors while the other cases were dismissed.

When the "Love Boat Scandal" hit the media, the Vikings became the object of national ridicule from sports channels to late-night TV. Owner Zygi Wilf allegedly yelled at the team for 45 minutes, including threatening to cut any and all players who were involved. Wilf, who was seeking state funding for the new US Bank Stadium, publicly apologized to Governor Tim Pawlenty and other state officials before instituting a new team Code of Conduct.

Ache #35: Darrin Nelson

Nobody in college football had ever put up numbers like running back Darrin Nelson was putting up in 1977. In head coach Bill Walsh's revolutionary West Coast Offense at Stanford, he became the first freshman in PAC-8 history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. He added 50 receptions out of the backfield and scored six touchdowns...three on the ground and three through the air.

In his sophomore season, he ran for another 1,000 yards with six touchdowns and caught another 50 passes for 4 touchdowns.

Nelson missed the 1979 season with a hamstring injury...the same year Bill Walsh left Stanford to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. When Nelson returned to the field for his junior season in 1980, he had future Hall of Fame quarterback sophomore John Elway handing him the ball. That season with Elway, Nelson ran for 889 yards and four touchdowns and caught 47 passes for four touchdowns. His senior year in 1981 was his best statistical season: 1014 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, 846 yards and five touchdowns through the air.

He graduated from Stanford as the program's all-time leader in rushing yards, receptions, touchdowns and scoring, while also setting the NCAA record for all-purpose yards. Nobody had ever ran for 1,000 yards and caught 50 passes in a single season. Nelson did it three times.

Nelson entered the 1982 NFL Draft as triple-threat running, receiving and returning back.  and was the first running back off the board: the seventh overall pick to Bud Grant and the Minnesota Vikings.

Nelson wasn't terrible in Minnesota. He played in 129 games over 10 seasons in Minnesota, had 10,377 all-purpose yards and scored 23 touchdowns. He was voted as one of the 50 Greatest Vikings during the teams 50th Anniversary in 2010.

But there are three things that Darrin Nelson is remembered for in Minnesota Vikings lore:

The 1987 NFC Championship Game Drop

The Vikings finished 8-7 in the 1987 strike-shortened NFL season and backed their way into the playoffs after a 27-24 overtime loss to the Washington Redskins in Week 15. The Vikings found themselves in a rematch with the Redskins in the NFC Championship Game with a trip to San Diego and Super Bowl XXII on the line. The game was a defensive battle, with Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson getting sacked eight times. The Vikings were down 17-10 with 53 second left in the game, facing fourth down on Washington's six yard line.

"One play. Nelson. Through his hands. And the Redskins will go to the Super Bowl." - Pat Summerall on CBS

Needing a touchdown to tie, Wilson threw the ball to Nelson, who dropped it in the end zone before being hit by defensive back Darrell Green. Washington would beat Nelson's former Stanford teammate John Elway in the Super Bowl 42-10.

With the tenth pick, the Los Angeles Raiders select...

There's always a lot of second guessing that happens in the years following a draft. At the time, Darrin Nelson was the top running back prospect in the draft. The Vikings needed a running back...never mind the fact that Hall of Fame guard Mike Munchak was taken by the Houston Oilers the pick after Nelson. Nelson was the first running back off the board. The second one was selected three picks later out of USC...the 1981 Heisman Trophy winner, 1982 Offensive Rookie of the Year, 1985 NFL MVP and six-time Pro Bowler Marcus Allen.

The Trade

Nelson had a contract dispute with the Vikings prior to the 1989 season and subsequently lost his starting job to D.J Dozier. He was then packaged with Jesse Solomon, David Howard, Issiac Holt, Alex Stewart and eight draft picks to the Dallas Cowboys for Hershel Walker. When he refused to report to Dallas, the San Diego Chargers were added as a third team to the deal. Nelson went to San Diego for a fifth round pick.

Ache #34 : Wolves Pass on Giannis Antetokounmpo...twice

Benny Sieu/USA Today

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a beast. 

In his first five NBA seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, the two-time All Star averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds and four assists per game. The 6' 11" foward/guard is nicknamed 'The Greek Freak' because a) he's from Athens and b) he has freakish athletic ability.

In 2012, he was an 19 year old kid playing in the Greek A2 League. He played in 26 games, averaged nearly 10 points and 8 boards per game. That year, he was a 'special participant' in the league's All-Star game...not because he was selected to the team, but because the coaches let him play as a special treat to the fans because Greece had never seen anything like him before.

The next year, Antetokounmpo declared for the NBA draft. 

His 2013 Draft Profile wasn't that impressive. He was listed at 6' 9" and only 196 pounds (he is 6' 11", 222 lbs today). He was knocked for his inexperience, his ineptitude on defense, consistency, lack of a jump shot and the adjustment needed moving from overseas competition to the NBA.

One anonymous Western Conference executive told Sports Illustrated "I wouldn't touch him. I don't even know how good he is going to be once he reaches his potential." 

There's a decent chance that the exec was Timberwolves General Manager Flip Saunders, who had just rejoined the team after an eight-year absence. But considering he took a risk on a certain 6' 11" high school kid out of Farragut Acadamy High School with the fifth overall pick in 1995, I doubt that it was him.

The 2013 NBA Draft was Flip's first as an NBA General Manager, and he and head coach Rick Adelman had the ninth overall pick in the draft. 

After seeing Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter, Cody Zeller, Alex Len, Nerlens Noel, Ben McLemore and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope taken off the draft board, flip had options with the pick. Flip could select the National College Player of the Year in Trey Burke from Michigan, or another guard like Michael Carter-Williams from Syracuse or CJ McCollum from Lehigh. The unproven Antetokounmpo was on the board yet, too, but probably not worthy (at the time) of the ninth pick. Or he could trade the pick.

Utah and their two first-round picks (14th and 21st) called and offered both picks if the Wolves would select Trey Burke for them. Flip agreed.

Trey Burke (3) and Gorgei Deing (10) were part of

a trade package between the Wolves and Jazz

(John W. McDonough/SI)

When it was the Wolves pick again at 14, McCollum and Carter-Williams had both been taken. As had a pair of big men in Steven Adams and Kelly Olynyk.

An enticing player sat on the board at 14. Shabazz Muhammad, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, averaged 18 points and 5 boards at UCLA that season. Although he was a forward in college, he planned on transitioning to shooting guard in the NBA. Character issues had taken him from a top three pick to a mid-first round grade (after he was drafted, he was sent home from Summer League due to rules violations) but there was no question the talent and drive were there.

Shabazz Muhammad with UCLA in 2012

(Porter Binks/SI)

Saunders passed on the unknown Antetokounmpo again and selected Muhammad with the 14th pick. The Wolves used the other pick acquired in the Burke deal to select center Georgi Deing out of Louisville.

Antetokounmpo was taken off the board by the Milwaukee Bucks at 15.

In five short seasons, Antetokounmpo has gone from green prospect to All-NBA. The player who was once questioned for experience and defensive abilities won the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team in 2017. He frequently plays that point, even at nearly seven feet tall, because of his ability to handle the ball.

In 2018, his Milwaukee Bucks have their sights set on an Eastern Conference Championship.

Meanwhile, after a playoff appearance in 2017, the Wolves are back to being bottom-feeders in the West.