Live from Las Vegas: Super Bowl LVIII sneaky Minnesota connections, plus this week's sports roundup

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Big weekend for football fans. The Kansas City Chiefs are playing the San Francisco 49ers Sunday for Super Bowl LVIII in Vegas. Our contributor Eric Nelson is there, one of our sports guys. He's the co-host of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show and a Vikings reporter for CBS Sports.

Eric is on the line with Wally Langfellow, the other host of that show and the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine.

Hey, guys.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Cathy, how are you?

ERIC NELSON: Cathy, happy Super Bowl Thursday.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, I'm very excited, as you know, Eric, about Super Bowl Thursday.

ERIC NELSON: Of course.

CATHY WURZER: Because you are in Vegas and you're up and about, let's begin with the Super Bowl. All right? So Super Bowl LVIII, for folks not following, give us just a synopsis as to what we what we might expect.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. Well, it's controlled chaos here in Vegas. I'm broadcasting from Radio Row. To give you an idea, as I got set up for this interview, I walked by Drew Brees, "Coach Prime," Deion Sanders, the college football coach at Colorado was making the rounds.

It's hundreds of radio and TV and podcasts all converging in one spot. It's a lot of hot air going out here from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

But there are some Minnesota angles. They're hard to find, Cathy, because the Vikings have not played in a Super Bowl since 1977. But I was part of the media scrum about an hour ago with Patrick Mahomes, the outstanding quarterback for the Kansas City Royals, and I was able to get some questions in to Patrick.

And his father is Pat Mahomes. Now, Pat's had a rough week. He did get a DWI arrest in Texas. But he used to pitch for the Twins when Patrick was a youngster. Patrick Mahomes' godfather is LaTroy Hawkins, another former Twins pitcher, who is a part-time Twins broadcaster.

So I asked Patrick about the Metrodome. He says he has very fond memories of being a youngster, running up and down the concourse and in the locker room area. He also now is a part owner of the Kansas City Royals.

So I said, well, who's your favorite baseball team behind the Royals? And he said it's the Royals, the Rangers-- because his dad pitched in New York, and he grew up in Texas-- and the Mets, and then the Twins. But he did say the Twins are his fourth favorite baseball team.

Another angle from Minnesota is Ben Bartch. He played at St. John's. That's Division III football. He's now in the Super Bowl as a backup offensive lineman with San Francisco. I talked to him yesterday at the 49ers media session.

Think about being Ben Bartch, Cathy. Cut by Jacksonville about two months ago, picked up by San Francisco. And if the 49ers win here in Vegas Sunday night, he will take a confetti shower and eventually get a Super Bowl ring, and he played at St. John's. So it's really a fabulous story for Ben Bartch.

The game is Sunday, and the Chiefs are trying to become the first repeat champions since New England and Tom Brady did it in 2004 and 2005.

CATHY WURZER: I'm very proud of you, Eric Nelson, for finding the elusive Minnesota angle. Thank you so much. I deeply appreciate that.

Wally, going to bring you in here. Let's talk T Wolves. OK? They're going to be in Milwaukee tonight?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: They are. The Timberwolves are playing the Bucks tonight, trying to bounce back from what I call an embarrassing loss to Chicago on Tuesday. They blew a 22-point halftime lead to Chicago.

Milwaukee, their opponent tonight, currently has the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, the NBA trade deadline is today at 2 o'clock. So in a little more than an hour from now. Minnesota did make a move yesterday to bolster their point guard position.

They were hoping to bring Tyus Jones back to Minnesota. Of course, the Apple Valley kid grew up here, played for Duke. He's currently with Washington. But instead, they landed Monte Morris, from Detroit, in exchange for a couple of players-- Shake Milton and Troy Brown and a draft pick.

The price for Tyus was too high. The Wolves couldn't trade a first round pick since they dealt so many of those to Utah in the Rudy Gobert deal last year. There's an NBA rule-- it's called the Stepien rule, named after former Cleveland owner Ted Stepien-- where you're not allowed to trade future draft picks from one year to the next. So the Timberwolves fall into that category since they traded so many away last year.

Morris, by the way, the new Timberwolf, he'll be a free agent at the end of the year. He has been injured most of this year. So there's a little bit of risk there for the Wolves. He has played in just six games so far this year, but he does average 10 points and four assists per game over his seven-year career. So they're hoping for the best from Mr. Morris.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Say, Eric, I know you're all about the Super Bowl, but-- but-- let's talk about the Wild.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. The Minnesota Wild returned from the All-Star break and get a win last night in Chicago, 2 to 1. So the Wild currently 5 points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Marcus Foligno got the game winner in the third period. Vinni Lettieri, who came back from the injured list, had two assists last night. And it was a family affair on the ice in Chicago. Marcus's brother, Nick Foligno, scored the Blackhawks' only goal.

Now, Wednesday's game, of course, means the Wild are back in action after the break. They're home tomorrow night against Pittsburgh. That's Marc-Andre Fleury Night, oh, by the way, as the Wild will honor the future Hall of Fame goalie, 552 career wins, second most in NHL history, behind the legendary Patrick Roy. And Fleury got a lot of those wins with the Penguins.

So Sidney Crosby in the house. Marc-Andre Fleury going to be saluted. And one other Wild note. Bill Guerin, their general manager, will be the GM of the US Men's teams that will compete in the 2025 Nations Face-Off, and then the 2026 Olympics in Milano. So quite an honor for Bill Guerin.

And one quick Superbowl nugget, Cathy. There's been a Kyle Rudolph spotting here in Vegas.

CATHY WURZER: What?

ERIC NELSON: Former Vikings tight end, part of the Super Bowl festivities.

CATHY WURZER: So here's a question. And this might be just my bad memory. But you mentioned Vinni Lettieri. I'm going to assume he's related to Tino Lettieri-- remember him?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, soccer. Yes, indeed.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So that must be his dad. All right. Just kind of curious about that. Thank you.

ERIC NELSON: You are a sports connoisseur, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, not really.

[LAUGHTER]

And Wally knows that I'm not. How about Gopher basketball? Where are the Gophs now?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: By the way, Vinni Lettieri is also the grandson of Lou Nanne. I just throw that in there for you.

CATHY WURZER: Well, thanks. I can never top you, no matter how hard I--

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I just wanted to give you more information than you probably needed to know, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: So Gopher men's hoops, they are at Iowa on Saturday, following their dramatic 3-point win over Michigan State at Williams Arena on Tuesday night. I was there for that.

What a great atmosphere it was inside the Barn. There were only 8,000 people there, but, man, it felt like it was packed to the rafters. I mean, the crowd was vocal.

I know there's a lot of talk, Cathy, about replacing the Barn. I say renovate. And I think a lot of folks who were in there on Tuesday night would agree with me. It was just a fantastic place to be. The vibe was back in the building.

The Gophers have now won three straight Big 10 games. It's the first time they have done that since 2017. They are now 6 and 5 in the Big Ten under new coach Ben Johnson, 15 and 7 overall. And really, they're still in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid. They are not out of the picture.

So a year where I think they needed to show improvement, they definitely have done that under Ben Johnson. So hats off to them.

Gopher women, by the way, they play tonight at the Barn against fifth ranked Ohio State.

CATHY WURZER: All right. And Eric, I hope you enjoy Vegas. I'm sure you will. Just be careful.

ERIC NELSON: Well, it's kind of hard not to. And, oh by the way, the Minnesota Wild have a game here Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. And my spies tell me they will arrive in Las Vegas around 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

So who knows? Maybe some of these Wild players will show up at Allegiant Stadium because they might be the only ones who can afford these sky-high ticket prices for the 49ers and Chiefs. They'll have a free night.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Have a good time down there. Eric Nelson and Wally Langfellow.

Thanks, Wally. We'll talk to you later.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Bye, Cathy.