The Vikings never listen to me.

They don't always listen to common sense.

And that's when they turn in the pick on time.  Tell me this will be the one NFL Draft broadcast where they don't mention the Vikings trading down with themselves.

I could give you a laundry list of the many disasters over the years, but my therapist advised against it.  For every good pick over the years there is one that was horrific.  (Spoiler Alert: A lot of the Vikings first-round mishaps have involved a defensive end.)

I will instead give you my picks for the top 3 rounds.  Any draft analyst who goes farther into detail is just throwing out names of players they like.  The whole draft is a crapshoot as is.

First Round (#3 overall) -- Matt Kalil, OT, USC

This has to be the pick.  For all the Morris Claiborne talk, remember that the Vikings problems with pass defense last year were mostly due to injuries (Chris Cook's situation was caused by brain damage which qualifies as an injury) and a faulty zone defense scheme.  If you're going to draft a player who scored a 4 on the Wonderlic, and then are going to try and teach him to run that zone defense which confused veteran players all last season, that's not going to work out well at all.  If you defend Claiborne by saying he intentionally tanked the Wonderlic to fall to a better team, then he's going to love being drafted by a 3-13 team.

Kalil is a Pro Bowl offensive lineman who is good for a decade.  If the Vikings have "so many needs" as some exclaim then the pick should be someone who gives you the most value long-term.  That is Kalil.  And for all the talk about how quarterbacks need weapons, remember they also need bodyguards.

Second Round (#35 overall) -- Trumaine Johnson, CB, Montana

Johnson has height (6'2") and versatility (he can also play safety).  He would be an excellent addition to the secondary, and I never said it wasn't a need.  Just not in place of someone to block.

Third Round (#66 overall) -- Nick Toon, WR, Wisconsin

Polished route runner with good hands.  He may not be the "downfield threat" that fans constantly yelp about, but he doesn't have to be.  Troy Williamson was a "downfield threat"; how did that work out?  You can get open in ways that don't involve just outrunning a defender.  You can run a good route.  I'd rather have someone that can catch passes and move the chains.

Toon would complement Percy Harvin, who could then be implemented as an underneath receiver that would catch short passes and gain most of his yards after the catch.  Toon would also work well with the real downfield threats in the 2012 Vikings passing game: the tight ends.  John Carlson and Kyle Rudolph could both "stretch the field" by finding seams in the zone and running post patterns.

Of course if the Vikings decide to neglect the offensive line your top pass-catching tight ends will be forced to stay in and block.  You can see the domino effect of not drafting Kalil, yes?

But the Vikings probably will do something completely different than what I've said.  And they should; what the bloody hell do I know?  They've won all these Super Bowls doing it their way.

As the season closes this coming week, it's a good time to reflect upon the year that the Timberwolves had. That's not what I'm doing, however. Instead, I'm imploring you as a huge Timberwolves fan: become a crazed Utah Jazz fan in the next coming days. Wish upon that wishing star, wear your lucky boxers and say your prayers that the Jazz keep winning regular season games.

(Did Anthony Randolph's performance against Denver deny Darko Milicic a back-to-back Frontcourt Phenomena award? Click "Read More" to find out. Plus, Anthony Randolph might smile if you do.) 

With the official NBA awards yet several weeks away, I felt it was time to get in the award spirit with a ceremony of our own. The award I’m talking about, of course, is the Frontcourt Phenomena award given to the Timberwolves forward or center that posts a game that transcends their body of work so far that you seek eyewitness accounts to back up the box score. If you happen to witness a Frontcourt Phenomena worthy game, you may do things like check for a blood red moon, verify the temperature in Hell, or simply, look out the window for flying pigs.

Part II of this article is the second half of my Defense Against Hatred for the Lakers. To see the first half, click here.

In 2004, the Minnesota Timberwolves were the best team in the NBA. Yeah, you can read the independent clause of that previous sentence a couple times for moral support. It is true. The three-headed monster of Kevin Garnett, 2004's NBA Most Valuable Player, Latrell Sprewell, 2009's Wisconsin's leading tax delinquent, and Sam Cassell, Wizards' current assistant coach, was unstoppable. En route to a 58-24 record, the Timberwolves excited fans across the country and packed Target Center every game.

Though I was only in 6th grade, I can guarantee that I missed less than 10 games that year. Every morning on the bus to school, I would talk with my best friend about the previous night in the NBA - like why Trenton Hassel's high socks were the bomb, or how Jermaine O'Neal had another double-double. Coached by Flip Saunders, the motivated Timberwolves made it out of the first round of the Playoffs for the first time in franchise history. After taking down the Nuggets and the Kings, we faced the evil empire Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

"As big of a reason as any for the Timberwolves' turnaround, Rick Adelman has emerged as a Coach of the Year candidate."

I really didn’t think this would happen. I wasn’t sure with this team it was possible. I thought that they were too injury hampered. I thought that this Wolves team was done being fun the night Ricky Rubio fell to the Target Center floor while clutching his ACL. I also thought that they wouldn’t truly be fun again until next season when everyone else got healthy, not just Rubio. Today, I’m starting to get the feeling I underestimated this team.