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Welcome to Tubbyville: Fans Excited
Al
Nuness, a former Gopher player and assistant coach, says
Tubby Smith is Minnesota’s best basketball coaching
hire in his lifetime. KFAN’s Dan Barreiro, often an outspoken critic and
never a homer, rated the Smith hire a “B+” on his radio program
yesterday. Fans e-mailed Sports Headliners to say they don’t know how
athletic director Joel Maturi attracted
Smith but they love the move.
Nationally, Dick Vitale told America last night on ESPN that the
Smith hire is a “home run, a grand slam” for Minnesota. Respected
basketball author John Feinstein told Barriero’s audience that
Smith was a “very good coach.” ESPN’s Andy Katz gave the hire
perspective saying that Smith was tired of the second guessing and
scrutiny in Kentucky.
Nuness, who captained the Gophers in the late 1960’s and later was an
assistant coach under Bill Musselman, said Smith is a top 10
coach. He praised Smith’s ability to teach and coach. “My hat is off
to Joel Maturi,” Nuness said. “I don’t know how he pulled this off.”
Nuness, an executive with Jostens, has met Smith and followed his
career. As the first African-American coach at Kentucky, Smith has been
subjected to racial abuse and other irrational slurs. “He got tired of
having garbage and for sale signs placed on his lawn,” Nuness said.
With
a national reputation that includes 10 years at Kentucky and an NCAA
title, Smith brings a more glamorous resume here than perhaps any local
coach or manager in memory. Whether he can maintain his image will
ultimately be mostly determined by wins and losses.
His
recruiting was criticized in recent years at Kentucky but Nuness said
Smith has long been known as a good recruiter and the effectiveness of
that task will also be determined by his assistant coaches. Nuness
suggested Smith’s recent recruiting results may have been lessened by
speculation that he wasn’t going to remain Kentucky’s coach.
At
age 55 does Smith have the energy to turn the Gophers into Big Ten
Conference champions? Nuness suggests it’s not a problem, rattling off
the names of older coaches you may have heard of including Lute Olson
of Arizona, Jim Calhoun of Connecticut and Jim Boeheim of
Syracuse.
For
anyone out there in Tubbyville who may not have heard the names, those
guys have long been considered top 10 coaches, too. |
Al Nuness, who captained the Gophers
in the late 1960’s and later was an assistant coach under Bill
Musselman, said Tubby Smith is a top 10 coach.
Joel Maturi
At age 55 does Smith have the energy to
turn the Gophers into Big Ten Conference champions?
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Goalie Raising
Awareness about Cancer
Wild goalie Josh Harding is raising
awareness about breast cancer and helping to generate money for
research. Tonight from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. he and teammate Derek
Boogaard will be at Xcel Energy Center to sign autographs for fans
attending the Minnesota Swarm-Toronto Rock lacrosse game.
A $5 donation to “Fund the Fight” is requested
from each autograph seeker and because room in the autograph line is
limited it’s suggested that fans arrive by 6 p.m. Fans can also
purchase a special “Fund the Fight” $10 ticketto the game.
Harding’s sister Stephanie, 26, from
Regina, Saskatchewan, was diagnosed with breast cancer about three
months ago. There had been no cancer in the Harding family and the
diagnosis startled Josh. “Growing up as a kid I never thought about
it,” Josh said during a recent interview. “Now I am starting to learn a
little more about breast cancer. …”
To help generate funds for breast cancer
research Harding has established a Web site, www.fundthefight.com. At
Wild games he’s wearing a custom made mask featuring pink ribbons
and the words "Fund the Fight, Find a Cure." He will auction off his
mask on the Web at season’s end. Other hockey memorabilia is available
now for auction.
“She will get through this,” Harding said.
“She has a lot of support from everybody else. Just hopefully they
caught it (the cancer) soon enough and they can get rid of it.”
Harding, 22, is in his rookie season with the Wild and has been a
backup. He has
a 2-0-1 record, with a 0.66 GAA and a .978 save percentage.
He was a
second round draft choice of the Wild in 2002. |
Josh Harding
“She has a lot
of support from everybody else. Just hopefully they caught it (the
cancer) soon enough and they can get rid of it.”
Josh Harding talking about sister Stephanie
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Worth Noting & Quoting
The
Twins season opening game at the Metrodome on April 2 could be sold out before
week’s end. Patrick Klinger, vice president of marketing, said
45,464 tickets (48,000 capacity) had been sold earlier this weekend. A
year ago at this time the Twins had sold 39,995 tickets for the opener.
The
new Minneapolis ballpark and the Twins 2006 Central Division
championship is creating more ticket interest, according to Klinger. He
said about 8,400 season tickets were sold last year but 2007 season
sales have past 9,000 and the Twins are targeting a final total of over
10,000.
Herb Carneal, who has been broadcasting Twins games since 1962 and
has health problems including diabetes, is expected to do play-by-play
on KSTP Radio for a few innings of the Twins season opener on April 2.
The
Wild’s Marian Gaborik is a passionate race car fan. He has a
race car simulator in his Minneapolis home and spends hours with it.
The simulator is custom made and he bought it last September. Although
he wouldn’t say how much the simulator cost, he told Sports Headliners
the price was five figures.“It’s an expensive toy but I like it,” he
said.
Minnesota will be making its nation-leading 31st appearance in the NCAA
hockey tournament when the Gophers play Air Force tomorrow. The Golden
Gophers have won five NCAA titles (1974-76-79-2002-03) and have advanced
to the semi-finals 19 times. Minnesota is 49-31 all-time in the NCAA’s
and has qualified for seven consecutive tournaments.
Basketball booster Ken Lien reports that Crystal Clear Sports is
covering all the class A, AA, AAA and AAAA semi-final and championship
boys’ state tournament games.
www.crystalclearsports.net
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Marian Gaborik
John M. Williams, DDS
Cosmetic & Family Dental Care
612-521-7611 |
