Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson on Minnesota sports news

A lot of folks are excited about the Twins trades this week. Why? Let's ask our sports experts Wally and Eric. Wally Longfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the cohost of “Ten-thousand Takes” sports talk show. Eric Nelson is the other host of “Ten-thousand Takes” and the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio “Eye on Football.” They joins us every week with the sports news we need to know.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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Audio transcript

CATHY WURZER: OK, we're going to go from being calm to just kind of ratcheting up a little bit, because we're going to talk about sports. A lot of folks are excited about the Twins trades this week. Why would that be?

Well, we're going to ask our sports experts Wally and Eric. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the co-host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. Eric Nelson is the other host of 10,000 Takes and the Minnesota Vikings Reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. Hey, guys, how are you doing?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, Cathy. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: Good so far.

ERIC NELSON: Good afternoon, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Good afternoon. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I think we should start with the Vikings-- why not? So I'm kind of curious here what's happening when it comes to training camp, Mr. Langfellow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, some injuries earlier this week, really, at the top of the list. And nothing major-- I think that the most concerning thing right now is Irv Smith. He had surgery on his wrist. He will be out the entire preseason, which, of course, runs into early September.

So he will hopefully be ready for opening day against the Green Bay Packers. But he's out. Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison both with finger injuries or hand injuries earlier this week. It doesn't look like either one of those is serious. But nonetheless, injuries are injuries. One interesting thing that came down this week-- the NFL was rated on what values each of the teams have.

And the Dallas Cowboys franchise is rated at a $7.64 billion worth right now. So Jerry Jones is doing pretty well-- $7.64 billion. Minnesota Vikings, 18th on that list. So the Cowboys are number one, the Vikings are 18th on the list. And Ziggy's club is worth $3.72 billion. So I think his investment is paying off.

CATHY WURZER: You think?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: You tink?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I think so. And by the way, the first NFL preseason game is tonight-- the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Yes, Jacksonville is taking on the Raiders tonight.

CATHY WURZER: Speaking of Hall of Fame, Eric Nelson, I always loved to listen to Vin Scully. He was just such a master broadcaster.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, no question, Cathy. And before I get into that, we should mention Anthony Barr, four-time Pro Bowl linebacker with the Vikings, is now going to Dallas to try to increase the value of America's Team. He signed with the Cowboys.

But you are right about Vin Scully. And I was very fortunate as a young kid growing up in Orange County, California, I listened to him often. And boy, he paints a picture on the radio. He's an icon and probably the greatest broadcaster-- ever spanning 67 years with the Brooklyn then LA Dodgers.

And we lost Vinny the other day. And the tributes continue to flood in for a guy who was universally loved. But what some people may not realize, Cathy, is Vin Scully also did NFL play-by-play on television for CBS. In fact, he was the broadcaster for the legendary 1977 Mud Bowl playoff game, Minnesota Vikings at the LA Rams. It was soggy, it was rain-soaked at the old LA Coliseum.

It wasn't one of those quintessential sunny SoCal days. I was at the game as a young kid. And after about one quarter, you couldn't see the numbers on the jerseys. And the Vikings sprang the upset, one of the great playoff wins the Vikings have ever had-- 14 to 7. And Vin Scully, of course, is calling the game in the booth.

And since then, I've watched it many times over on YouTube. And I tell anybody who's a Viking fan, young or old, pull it up and listen to Vin Scully call a Minnesota Vikings football game with Chuck Foreman scoring a touchdown and Bob Lee leading the team to a win at the Mud Bowl.

CATHY WURZER: It's classic. It is classic. Hey, let's talk Twins while we still have the opportunity here. We've got about 4 minutes left. Wally, it looks like the Twins are now in a three-team race, is that right, in the AL Central. What the heck happened there?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, and it really has been a three-team race most of the season. But they did make some moves and they hope to pull away from Cleveland and Chicago. They made several moves at the trade deadline, as most folks know.

And three of the four guys that they picked up were pivotal in their win yesterday over the Detroit Tigers. Michael Fulmer, reliever, came in in relief and threw a scoreless inning. Jorge Lopez, the closer that they picked up, came in and closed out the game and he got the save.

And Sandy Leon, probably the most little-known player in the deal, they got from Cleveland, a team that's chasing them, of all things, he had two hits and 2 RBIs to help the twins with the victory over Detroit yesterday. They have a one-game lead on Cleveland as they head into this weekend series against Toronto. And the Blue Jays are here beginning tonight.

CATHY WURZER: Eric.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Cathy, and right now, the Twins, despite being in first place, are 20th out of the 30 MLB teams in attendance. They're averaging just under 22,000 fans per game. That should change starting tonight.

Get ready for a Canadian coup d'etat. Blue Jay fans are going to flock to Minneapolis from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario. There's going to be lots of Labatts and Molson beer consumed in the next few days. Because if you look at Toronto, Cathy, on a map, it's obviously in the East.

For some of these people in Canada, Minneapolis is the closest chance they get to seeing their beloved Blue Jays play. And by the way, Toronto is very good. This will be a test for the Twins. There's going to be a lot of Blue Jay blue in the Twin Cities, probably out at the Mall of America too.

CATHY WURZER: Never know about that. Say, Wally, before we go, as we're talking about baseball, this is something that we have talked about in the past. We've done stories about the baseball and Benin little league tournament this weekend.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It is this weekend. And it's a project that I've been involved with for several years now, Cathy. And we're bringing baseball to that small country in West Africa. And this weekend we're holding a wood bat little league tournament in Robbinsdale in St. Louis Park that will benefit those kids in Africa.

We use the money to send equipment over and so on and so forth. But all weekend long, 38 teams from around the metro area will be in Robbinsdale and in St. Louis Park-- little league kids. And all the money goes towards building baseball in that small West African country. And it is a very impoverished nation. I've been there a couple of times, it really is a great project.

CATHY WURZER: And before we go, Eric Nelson, let's talk quickly here about the T-Wolves.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. Obviously, they're not playing now, but they have a young guy by the name of Ant-- Anthony Edwards-- who is gaining traction as a future star. He's now in a movie called Hustle.

CATHY WURZER: What?

ERIC NELSON: He, along with Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks-- yeah, he's on the silver screen, Anthony Edwards. They are pitching Sprite, which has a new clear plastic bottle that's good for recycling and all that stuff. And Ant said the other day in an interview, he wants to be the new face of the NBA.

And who's to say he can't? He's got a megawatt smile that could light up Minneapolis. He definitely connects with fans. He's got incredible potential. And he seems to embrace being in the limelight. So good luck to Ant, one of Minnesota's young sports stars.

CATHY WURZER: Yes. He is a star. And you guys are stars as well. Thanks for joining us. I hope you guys have a good weekend.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks, Cathy.

ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: See you later. Wally Langfellow is the Founder of Minnesota Score magazine, the co-host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. And Eric Nelson is the other co-host as the other host of that 10,000 Takes. He's also with CBS Sports Radio's eye on football.

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