Gopher fans might have thought they had seen the last of dome stadiums when Minnesota played its final game in the Metrodome but not so. The Gophers open their schedule on Saturday in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, named for the air conditioning company. Interestingly, the Carrier Dome isn’t air conditioned.
Tony Dungy, the former Gopher quarterback and assistant coach who won the 2007 Super Bowl as head coach of Indianapolis, has taped a message to be shown on the video board for the opening game at TCF Bank Stadium on September 12.
Sports Illustrated pro football writer Peter King is picking the Bears, not the Vikings, to win the NFC North.
Former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton will host Tim Brewster’s weekly TV show that is starting this week on Fox Sports North and the Big Ten Network. Dalton and Brewster are friends.
Last week Dalton was inducted into the Burlington High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Burlington, Wisconsin. Dalton said he won nine letters in high school including football where he made all-state before attending the Air Force Academy. His father Don was the athletic director and football coach at Burlington. The two are the only father-son combo in the school’s hall of fame, Dalton said. He also said Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo attended the high school and was inducted into the hall of fame last year.
An NHL source told Sports Headliners Marian Gaborik will have three major adjustments going from the Wild to the New York Rangers. The high profile Gaborik must deal with the abundant and aggressive New York media. The source rates the star forward a 3.5 on a scale of five for his media relations. Second, the Madison Square Garden ice sheet is far from the NHL’s best because of the arena’s busy schedule. Third, the Rangers’ practice facility is about an hour from Manhattan, not exactly like zipping from Gaborik’s downtown Minneapolis residence to Parade Ice Gardens.
Wild single-game tickets go on sale beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 12 at the Xcel Energy Center box office and 10 a.m. at all other Ticketmaster locations. The Wild have sold out every regular season and Stanley Cup home game in club history – 341 consecutive games over nine years.
In two years the Timberwolves roster could include Spanish guard Ricky Rubio and Cole Aldrich, the Bloomington Jefferson grad now at Kansas. The Wolves need a center and might be positioned in next year’s draft to take Aldrich who is likely to skip his senior year. Rubio, a 20-year-old in two years, will probably be ready to leave home in 2011.
Here’s more evidence of how the Twins have struggled to piece together a starting rotation this season. On Tuesday night Jeff Manship became the fourth Twins pitcher to make his first career start in 2009, joining Anthony Swarzak, Brian Duensing and Armando Gabino.
Duensing, who gave up no runs during seven innings in yesterday’s 4-2 Twins loss to Chicago, has an ERA of 1.42 in his last three starts.
The Twins Justin Morneau has four hits in his last 34 at-bats and has slipped to third for most RBI’s in the American League.
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