Minneapolis Star Tribune

RED WING, Minn. -- Here on the Mississippi on a March day like no other, Griz and I settled in quickly to the old routine. Not the routine of catching fish, because at first we didn't. The routine instead of impaling minnows onto jigs and leaning over the gunnels of his johnboat and peering into Old Muddy, the Mississippi. Just to see what we could see. This was on a recent Wednesday and the temperature rose past 70.

The NBA's March 15 trade deadline is days away, and a few names and a few teams keep emerging in discussions. Who's going, and who's staying? A snapshot look:

The pained expression on his face betrayed Dave Hakstol's emotions last week, when the North Dakota hockey coach reluctantly raised the white flag on his support for the Fighting Sioux nickname. Hakstol, fiercely proud of that name during his three years as a player and 12 seasons as a coach in Grand Forks, had concluded the cost of keeping it is simply too high.

He was just the latest North Dakota loyalist to voice that opinion. Football coach Chris Mussman, athletic director Brian Faison, Gov. Jack Dalrymple, the president of the alumni association and several former athletes also have gone on record opposing the endless efforts to cling to the nickname. Still, the pro-Fighting Sioux forces rage on, even as their unwinnable cause wreaks havoc on an institution they claim to care about.

Once your couch sores heal and you undergo a very specific form of liposuction to remove queso from the arteries nearest your heart, I hope you'll realize what you just experienced:

The best weekend in American sports.

The NFL playoffs provided drama (the 49ers improbably coming back to beat the Saints), upsets (the 49ers and Giants winning to advance to an improbable NFC Championship Game), emotion (49ers tight end Vernon Davis crying as he hugged his coach), storylines (the quarterback who fathered a child out of wedlock, Tom Brady, beating the quarterback who says he's a virgin, Tim Tebow), and two days that gave us all an excuse to sit inside by the fireplace pretending we'd really rather be at the gym.

Long before a Minneapolis police "flash-bang" grenade burned Rickia Russell during a botched drug raid last year, the devices had sparked unintentional fires and caused injuries and deaths, even among officers trained to use them.

The $1 million settlement awarded last week to Russell by the Minneapolis City Council follows lawsuits and payouts for people injured or killed by the devices in California, Michigan, New York and other states.

The devices came into widespread use in the 1980s, and law enforcement agencies say they help save lives during drug raids and similar high-risk operations. But watchdog groups and defense attorneys say they're a menace.

You won't find the word "nagging" in the study. But scientists at the University of Minnesota have found that smokers are more likely to kick the habit if a counselor calls them every month for a year with helpful tips and nicotine patches.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Six thousand miles from home and perhaps even farther yet from his first NBA game, Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio has prepped in Los Angeles for his new life and new league by scrimmaging with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce by day and -- at least just once -- visiting the city's freak shows by night.

"I like to lead a normal life," the 21-year-old from Spain said in a telephone interview from L.A. on an unusual rainy Friday afternoon, "but I went to Hollywood Boulevard for Halloween and everybody was dressing up and it was fun. It was amazing all the people that were there. I really liked it."